In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!
Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ! This year, the day of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord coincided with Sunday, which for us is a little Pascha.
Although Sunday is the day of the resurrection from the dead of the Lord Jesus Christ, the rite of the Exaltation of the Cross is performed in every cathedral. During this rite, the bishop, representing Patriarch Macarius, who lived in the fourth century, raises the Wood of the Cross while the choir repeatedly sings, “Lord, have mercy…” As he does so, he blesses the four corners of the earth.
The Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord is a special one of the Twelve Great Feasts, on which a strict one-day fast is prescribed. It brings together the remembrance of two events: the finding of the Cross during the reign of Emperor Constantine in the fourth century, and the return of the Cross to Jerusalem during the reign of Emperor Heraclius in the seventh century.
Emperor Constantine and his mother, Empress Helena, erected a magnificent church encompassing the Edicule of the Resurrection, Golgotha, and the place where the Life Giving Cross was found. All these holy places remain beneath the vaults of the church today. The church was later restored after centuries of invasions and destruction.
During the successive conquests of the Holy Land by the Persians and, later, the Arabs, the Holy Wood was taken by unbelievers. The Byzantine emperor Heraclius, who lived in the seventh century and whose campaigns are compared to those of Alexander the Great, was able to return the Cross of Christ after his victory over the Persians. Out of reverence for the Cross, he removed his crown and imperial robe and carried the Cross in rags and barefoot through the city of Jerusalem to Golgotha. Later, in the seventh century, the Egyptian sultan Saladin, having defeated the Crusaders and following the death of the last of the 200 bravest knights, seized the Wood of the Cross. Until his death, he refused under any circumstances to return this holy relic to Christians. Only after his death was the Holy Cross returned to Jerusalem, where the Wood of the Cross was divided into small fragments to be given to all the local Orthodox Churches. Today, the largest portion of the Life-Giving Cross is kept at the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Jerusalem. On feasts dedicated to the Holy Cross, the Patriarch of Jerusalem brings it out several times a year during a short procession within the Church of the Resurrection of Christ.
Such is a brief history of the Holy Wood in New Testament times. There is also an Old Testament Jerusalem tradition concerning the origin of the Holy Wood, but we will recall that on the next feast dedicated to the Cross of the Lord.
The faithful Prince Vladimir Monomakh said this in his testament to his children:
“Every evening, as you kiss the Cross, repent of your sins and cry out to the Lord with all your heart: ‘Lord, as You had mercy on the thief, the publican, and the harlot, so have mercy on us, for Your name is Love.’” Likewise, when we wake in the morning, leave the house, and go to bed, we should make the sign of the Cross over ourselves, saying this short prayer:
“Protect me, O Lord, by the power of Thy Precious and Life-Giving Cross, and preserve me from every evil.” Amen.
† Bishop Theodosius of Manhattan
