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This is a gesture known as the Christogram, and is considered the original "sign of the cross." The fingers are positioned to form the Greek letters ICXC, an abbreviation of the Greek name of Christ: IHCOYC XRICTOC. This gesture is unbiquitous in Renaissance images of Christ and the apostles, as well as in portraits of Saints and clergy.

The Christogram is used today as a traditional gesture of blessing by priests in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Curiosly, the same gesture is known in Hindu and Buddhist traditions as the prana mudra, a symbol of healing.

Related Symbols:

Related Resources:

• Sacred Geometry
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• Sophia
  Sophia, in Gnostic belief, was the wife of Christ, the soul of the world, and the Wisdom of God.
• Gnostic scriptures, Texts
  The Gnostics were early Pagans and Christians with a very unique theology. Gnostic texts were found to be so threatening that many were destroyed or hidden, only to be rediscovered two thousand years later. Gnostic scriptures and source materials including the a gospel attributed to Mary Magdalen, and Gnostic exegesis of Canonical texts.