Why Christians Venerate the Holy Cross
“When, then, you see a Christian worshipping the Cross, know that his adoration is not given to the wood, but to Christ Crucified. We might as well worship all wood, as Israel worshipped woods and trees, saying, “Thou art my God, and Thou hast brought me forth.” It is not so with us. We keep in churches and in our houses a remembrance and a representation of our Lord’s sufferings and of those who fought for Him, doing everything for our Lord’s sake.”
The Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross of Christ
On September 14th we celebrate the feast of 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.
The Elevation of the Venerable and Life-Giving Cross
Saint Helen, the mother of Saint Constantine the Great, when she was already advanced in years, undertook, in her great piety, the hardships of a journey to Jerusalem in search of the cross, about the year 325. A temple to Aphrodite had been raised up by the Emperor Hadrian upon Golgotha, to defile and […]
The Orthodox Celebration of the Power of the Cross
The Exaltation of the Cross celebrated of September 14 is one of the twelve great feasts in the yearly Church cycle. It commemorates two historical events: first, the finding of the Life-giving Cross in the year 326, and second, its recovery from Persia in 628. History of the Feast In the first centuries of […]
The Procession of the Holy Cross (August 1st)
On August 1st the Church celebrates the feast of the Procession of the Venerable Wood of the Holy Cross of the Lord. In the Greek Horologion of 1897 the derivation of this Feast is explained: “Because of the illnesses that occur in August, it was customary, in former times, to carry the Venerable Wood […]
7th century Anglo-Saxon Teen with Golden Cross Discovered
March 16, 2012 University of Cambridge Extraordinary 7th century discovery on outskirts of Cambridge offers unique insights into the origins of English Christianity. One of the earliest Anglo-Saxon Christian burial sites in Britain has been discovered in a village outside Cambridge. The grave of a teenage girl from the mid 7th century AD has […]
THE SIGN OF THE HOLY CROSS
