Hi,

I was wondering if are at mass, and decide to cross from the right to left, as the Eastern christians do...is that against church law? At one time did not all Christians cross from right to left before the schism?

Thanks

There is no law prescribing how the congregation should make the sign of the Cross. That being said, it is not a good idea to act in a singular way. What we do at Mass, we do together.

I have no idea when the practices diverged.

It looks like according Google that Pope Innocent III was the one who changed it.

You can't believe everything Google finds; doubly so if it points you to a site with an axe to grind.

I doubt there was ever any one person who initiated the change, it is almost certainly one of those things where the eastern and western practices gradually diverged over time. There are lots of examples of this.

When in Rome, do as the Romans.

So when visiting those Byzantines become a literal double crosser

We have no idea.

Oh, a wise guy. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.

I am familiar with two ways of the Sign of the Cross.

Heck, I even saw a young woman sign herself the Eastern Orthodox way in Communist and atheist Russia years ago.