Universal Exaltation of the Holy Cross

From Full of Grace and Truth blogspot, September 14, 2009 entry:

The Universal Exaltation of the

Precious and Life-Giving Cross of Christ

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"The joy of human life springs forth from the Cross."
Elder Ephrem of Katounakia

(http://vatopaidi.wordpress.com/)

The Universal Elevation or Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross of Christ - Commemorated on September 14 (icon taken from: http://vatopaidi.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/elevatio.gif)

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The Elevation of the Venerable and Life-Creating Cross of the Lord: The pagan Roman emperors tried to completely eradicate from human memory the holy places where our Lord Jesus Christ suffered and was resurrected for mankind. The Emperor Hadrian (117-138) gave orders to cover over the ground of Golgotha and the Sepulchre of the Lord, and to build a temple of the pagan goddess Venus and a statue of Jupiter.

Pagans gathered at this place and offered sacrifice to idols there. Eventually after 300 years, by Divine Providence, the great Christian sacred remains, the Sepulchre of the Lord and the Life-Creating Cross were again discovered and opened for veneration. This took place under the Emperor Constantine the Great (306-337) after his victory in the year 312 over Maxentius, ruler of the Western part of the Roman empire, and over Licinius, ruler of its Eastern part. In the year 323 Constantine became the sole ruler of the vast Roman Empire.

In 313 he had issued the Edict of Milan, by which the Christian religion was legalized and the persecutions against Christians in the Western half of the empire were stopped. The ruler Licinius, although he had signed the Edict of Milan to oblige Constantine, still fanatically continued the persecutions against Christians. Only after his conclusive defeat did the 313 Edict of toleration extend also to the Eastern part of the empire. The Holy Equal of the Apostles Emperor Constantine, having gained victory over his enemies in three wars with God's assistance, had seen in the heavens the Sign of the Cross, and written beneath: "By this you shall conquer."

Ardently desiring to find the Cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, St Constantine sent his mother, the pious Empress Helen (May 21), to Jerusalem, providing her with a letter to St Macarius, Patriarch of Jerusalem.

Although the holy empress Helen was already in her declining years, she set about completing the task with enthusiasm. The empress gave orders to destroy the pagan temple and the statues in Jerusalem. Searching for the Life-Creating Cross, she made inquiry of Christians and Jews, but for a long time her search remained unsuccessful.

Icon depicting St. Helen and St. Makarios uncovering the Life-giving Cross of Christ (taken from: http://www.ekklisiastikos.com/2009/06/blog-post_1819.html)

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Finally, they directed her to a certain elderly Hebrew by the name of Jude who stated that the Cross was buried where the temple of Venus stood. They demolished the pagan temple and, after praying, they began to excavate the ground. Soon the Tomb of the Lord was uncovered. Not far from it were three crosses, a board with the inscription ordered by Pilate, and four nails which had pierced the Lord's Body (March 6).

In order to discern on which of the three crosses the Savior was crucified, Patriarch Macarius alternately touched the crosses to a corpse. When the Cross of the Lord touched the dead one, he came to life. Having beheld the raising of the dead man, everyone was convinced that the Life-Creating Cross was found.

Christians came in a huge throng to venerate the Holy Cross, beseeching St Macarius to elevate the Cross, so that even those far off might reverently contemplate it. Then the Patriarch and other spiritual leaders raised up the Holy Cross, and the people, saying "Lord have mercy," reverently prostrated before the Venerable Wood. This solemn event occurred in the year 326.

Another icon of the Exaltation of the Precious Cross, also most likely depicting people being healed in the foreground (taken from: http://christopherklitou.com/icon_14_sept_exaltation_of_cross.htm)

During the discovery of the Life-Creating Cross another miracle took place: a grievously sick woman, beneath the shadow of the Holy Cross, was healed instantly. The elder Jude and other Jews there believed in Christ and accepted Holy Baptism. Jude received the name Cyriacus and afterwards was consecrated Bishop of Jerusalem. During the reign of Julian the Apostate (361-363) he accepted a martyr's death for Christ (see October 28). The holy empress Helen journeyed to the holy places connected with the earthly life of the Savior, building more than 80 churches, at Bethlehem the birthplace of Christ, and on the Mount of Olives where the Lord ascended to Heaven, and at Gethsemane where the Savior prayed before His sufferings and where the Mother of God was buried after her death.


St Helen took part of the Life-Creating Wood and nails with her to Constantinople. The holy emperor Constantine gave orders to build at Jerusalem a majestic and spacious church in honor of the Resurrection of Christ, also including under its roof the Life-Giving Tomb of the Lord and Golgotha. The temple was constructed in about ten years. St Helen did not survive until the dedication of the temple, she died in the year 327. The church was consecrated on September 13, 335. On the following day, September 14, the festal celebration of the Exaltation of the Venerable and Life-Creating Cross was established.


Another event connected to the Cross of the Lord is remembered also on this day: its return to Jerusalem from Persia after a fourteen year captivity. During the reign of the Byzantine emperor Phocas (602-610) the Persian emperor Khozroes II in a war against the Greeks defeated the Greek army, plundered Jerusalem and captured both the Life-Creating Cross of the Lord and the Holy Patriarch Zachariah (609-633).


The Cross remained in Persia for fourteen years and only under the emperor Heraclius (610-641), who with the help of God defeated Khozroes and concluded peace with his successor and son Syroes, was the Cross of the Lord returned to the Christians.

"This is the largest known fragement of the True Cross in the world. It is treasured at the Holy Monastery of Xeropotamou, Mt. Athos. A hole from the nail that went through our Saviour's right hand, can be seen surrounded by diamonds at the lower portion of the vertical cross-bar." (taken from: http://uncutmountainsupply.com/proddetail.asp?prod=GTC10)

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With great solemnity the Life-creating Cross was transferred to Jerusalem. Emperor Heraclius in imperial crown and royal purple carried the Cross of Christ into the temple of the Resurrection. With the emperor went Patriarch Zacharios. At the gates by which they ascended Golgotha, the emperor suddenly stopped and was not able to proceed farther. The holy Patriarch explained to the emperor that an angel of the Lord was blocking his way. The emperor was told to remove his royal trappings and to walk barefoot, since He Who bore the Cross for the salvation of the world from sin had made His way to Golgotha in all humility. Then Heraclius donned plain garb, and without further hindrance, carried the Cross of Christ into the church.

In a sermon on the Exaltation of the Cross, St Andrew of Crete (July 4) says: "The Cross is exalted, and everything true gathers together, the Cross is exalted, and the city makes solemn, and the people celebrate the feast". (taken from: http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?SID=4&ID=1&FSID=102610)

Another icon of the Exaltation of the Precious Cross (taken from: http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?SID=4&ID=1&FSID=102610)

St John Maximovitch on The Exaltation of the Precious Cross"Before the time of Christ, the cross was an instrument of punishment; it evoked fear and aversion. But after Christ's death on the Cross it became the instrument of our salvation. Through the Cross, Christ destroyed the devil; from the Cross He descended into hades and, having liberated those languishing there, led them into the Kingdom of Heaven. The sign of the Cross is terrifying to demons and, as the sign of Christ, it is honored by Christians.

"O Lord, save Thy people and bless Thine inheritance. Grant victory unto Orthodox Christians over their adversaries, and by the virtue of Thy Cross, preserve Thy community."

The beginning of this prayer is taken from the twenty-seventh Psalm. In the Old Testament the word "people" designated only those who confessed the true faith, people faithful to God. "Inheritance" referred to everything which properly belonged to God, God's property, which in the New Testament is the Church of Christ. In praying for the salvation of God's people (the Christians), both from eternal torments and from earthly calamities, we beseech the Lord to bless, to send down grace, His good gifts upon the whole Church as well, and inwardly strengthen her.

The petition for granting "victory to kings" (Grant victory to Orthodox Christians over their adversaries) (ie: to the bearers of Supreme authority), has its basis in Psalm 143, verse 10, and recalls the victories of King David achieved by God's power, and likewise the victories granted Emperor Constantine through the Cross of the Lord.

This appearance of the Cross made emperors who had formerly persecuted Christians into defenders of the Church from her external enemies, into "external bishops," to use the expression of the holy Emperor Constantine. The Church, inwardly strong by God's grace and protected outwardly, is, for Orthodox Christians, "the city of God." Heavenly Jerusalem has its beginning. Various calamities have shaken the world, entire peoples have disappeared, cities and states have perished, but the Church, in spite of persecutions and even internal conflicts, stands invincible; for the gates of hell shall not prevail against her (Matt. 16:18).

Today, when world leaders try in vain to establish order on earth, the only dependable instrument of peace is that about which the Church sings:

"The Cross is the guardian of the whole world; the Cross is the beauty of the Church, the Cross is the might of kings; the Cross is the confirmation of the faithful, the Cross is the glory of angels and the wounding of demons." (Exapostilarion of the Exaltation of the Cross)"

(from a sermon on the Exaltation of the Cross by St John of Shanghai and San Francisco; taken from: http://www.orthodox.net/articles/exaltation.html; see the following for another sermon by St. John Maximovitch on the Holy Cross: http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2009/09/cross-preserver-of-universe.html)

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"Why do we honor the Cross with such reverence that we make mention of its power in our prayers after asking for the intercession of the Mother of God and the Heavenly Powers, before asking for that of the Saints, and sometimes even before asking for that of the Heavenly Powers? Because after the Saviour's sufferings, the Cross became the sign of the Son of Man, that is, the Cross signifies the Lord Himself, incarnate and suffering for our salvation."
St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ (http://www.monachos.net/content/forum/showthread.php?t=4057&highlight=akathist+cross)

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Detail of icon of showing the Exaltation of the Precious Cross (taken from: http://vatopaidi.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/feast_of_the_cross.jpg)

Apolytikion in the First ToneSave, O Lord, your people, and bless your inheritance, granting victory to the faithful over the enemy, and by your Cross protecting your commonwealth.*

(*Note: this is the text adopted by the National Forum of Greek Orthodox Church Musicians.)

Kontakion in the Fourth ToneYou who were lifted on the cross voluntarily, O Christ our God, bestow Your tender compassions upon Your new community to which You gave Your name. Cause our faithful emperors to be glad in Your power, granting them the victories against their adversaries. And for an ally, Lord, may they have You, peace as their armor, the trophy invincible.

OikosPaul, who was caught up into Paradise beyond the third heaven, and who heard the unspeakable and divine words that it is not permissible for tongues to utter, writes to the Galatians what you, as lovers of the Scriptures, have read and already know. “God forbid,” says he, “that I should boast except in the Cross of the Lord, whereby He suffered and thus killed the passions.” This very Cross of the Lord, then, let us all surely hold as our boast. For this wood is our salvation, the shield of peace, the trophy invincible.

Doxastikon of the Praises in the Plagal of the Second Tone
Today the Cross of the Lord comes out, and the faithful receive it with longing, and they obtain healings of soul and body and of every infirmity. Let us kiss it with joy and with fear: with fear, for we are unworthy because of sin; and with joy, because of the salvation, which Christ the Lord grants us, since He was nailed to the Cross, and He has great mercy.

(hymns taken from: http://sgpm.goarch.org/ematins/bilingual/Sep14.pdf; also, the Engomia (Lamentations) of the Holy Cross (in Greek) are available here: http://voutsinasilias.blogspot.com/2009/09/14.html, the Akathist to the Holy Cross (in English) is available here: http://www.geocities.com/canonical_orthodox_2000/akathist_holy_cross.html, and the Paraklesis (Supplication) service of the Precious Cross (in Greek) is available here: http://www.agiooros.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=5589.)

Your Cross do we worship O Master, and Your Holy Resurrection do we glorify!