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Feast of the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross
This feast commemorates the discovery by the Empress St. Helen, Mother of St. Constantine of the Cross in the fourth century. St. John Chrysostom records in 395 A.D. that three crosses were found preserved on the traditional site of Golgotha and that the Cross of Our Lord was easily identified by both its position and the inscription. The Holy Cross remained for veneration until 4 May, 614 when the Persians invaded, burned the Basilica and removed it. in 628 A.D. Emperor Heraclius defeated the Persians and had the Cross returned to Jerusalem. Over the centuries the remains were dismembered for relics, some of which still remain. St. John Chrysostom's Encomium on the Holy CrossThe Cross has dissolved hatred towards Man, has brought reconciliation, has made the earth heaven, has mingled men with the angels, has conquered the bastion of death, has neutralised the strength of the devil, has dismissed the power of sin, has rid the earth of error, has restored the truth, has driven away the demons, has torn down pagan temples, has upset sacrificial altars, has dispelled the smell of burnt offerings, has planted virtue, has fiunded churches. The Cross is the Will of the Father, the Glory of the Son, the Joy of the Spirit, the Pride of Paul. The Cross is brighter than the Sun and more joyous than its rays. The Cross has torn up our debts, has rendered useless the prison of death. The Cross is proof of the Love of God, the unshaken wall, the unconquered weapon, the security of the rich, the richness of the poor, the weapon of the threatened, the rebuke of the passions, the kingdom of virtue, the wonderful and strange sign. The Cross has opened Paradise, has admitted the thief and has guided the human race from impending disaster to the Kingdom of God. Fr. Gregory |
