The first Two fingers and the thumb held up, expecially in pictures of patriarchs and 'fathers of the church' is a Trinitarian sign--a sign that the saint (nearly always) knew that the Trinity is the three persons but one being, etc., etc., instead of believing one of the . . . interesting heresies running around the early church, such as Arianism. (yes, I looked it up; it's been a while.)
The hand was held that way when a priest, bishop, or abbot signs the cross to bless someone or something, too. Ann in CT --- On Fri, 5/15/09, Saragrace Knauf <[email protected]> wrote: > the hand positions in artwork??? .the one I was really > thinking of was where the hand is held up and the forefinger > touches the thumb....of course I can't find a picture of it > right now. It seems to me that I remember it as a > typical gesture in the paintings of Christ and/or the > Madonna. > > Sg _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
