Why does the priest perform the laying on of hands in the shape of the cross?

Christ used His hand to bless the children (Matt. 19:13, 15). At His ascension, He took His disciples out of Bethany where “He lifted up His hands and blessed them” (Luke 24:50). When He opened the eyes of the blind man, He “put His hands on his eyes” (Mark 8:25). In healing the sick and exorcizing demons, He laid His hands “on every one of them” (Luke 4:40). He used both hands on each one to bless, to heal, or to free them from unclean spirits as He placed His hands on them in the shape of the cross. Otherwise, why did He need to use both hands in every situation?

In any case, the priest lays his hands on the candidate for baptism to grant him a heavenly blessing, enlightenment for his inner sight, and liberation from the devil and all his powers. This is God’s work in the Holy Baptism. In his Confessions , St. Augustine refers to the practice of making the sign of the cross on the forehead of the candidate for baptism when

1328 E. C. Whitaker and M. E. Johnson, Documents of the Baptismal Liturgy (revised 3rd ed.) (Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2003): pp. 47–48.

1329 Hippolytus of Rome, On the Apostolic Tradition 20 (PP 22:105–106).

1330 Origen, Against Celsus 3.51 (ANF 4:484–485).

1331 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 1.3, 3.3, 4.36, 21.24 (NPNF II/7).

he describes his own journey towards acceptance into the Church.¹³³² He links the signing of the cross with the Church conceiving them in her womb: “You have not yet been born again by the Holy Baptism, but by the sign of the Cross you have been already conceived in the womb of your mother, the Church.”¹³³³ He also says that they are blessed by the sign of the cross, prayers, and the laying on of hands. He says that even if they did not yet partake of Christ’s body, they are receiving something sacred. He meant by this the bread that they eat. However, Bingham argues that it was holy salt that the baptism candidates used to taste as a symbol of the believers who are the salt of the earth.