FEAST OF THE EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS.
Two events in connection with the
Honorable Cross of Christ are commemorated on this day: first, the
finding of the Honorable Cross on Golgotha and second, the return of
the Honorable Cross from Persia to Jerusalem. Visiting the Holy Land,
the holy Empress Helena decided to find the Honorable Cross of
Christ. An old Jewish man named Judah was the only one who knew where
the Cross was located, and, constrained by the empress, he revealed
that the Cross was buried under the temple of Venus that Emperor
Hadrian had built on Golgotha. The empress ordered that this
idolatrous temple be razed and, having dug deep below it, found three
crosses. While the empress pondered on how to recognize which of
these was the Cross of Christ, a funeral procession passed by.
Patriarch Macarius told them to place the crosses, one by one, on the
dead man. When they placed the first and second cross on the dead
man, the dead man lay unchanged. When they placed the third cross on
him, the dead man came back to life. By this they knew that this was
the Precious and Life-giving Cross of Christ. They then placed the
Cross on a sick woman, and she became well. The patriarch elevated
the Cross for all the people to see, and the people sang with tears:
``Lord, have mercy!'' Empress Helena had a silver case made and set
the Honorable Cross in it. Later, the Persian Emperor Chozroes
conquered Jerusalem, enslaved many people, and took the Lord's Cross
to Persia. The Cross remained in Persia for fourteen years. In the
year 628 the Greek Emperor Heraclius defeated Chozroes and, with much
ceremony, returned the Cross to Jerusalem. As he entered the city
Emperor Heraclius carried the Cross on his back, but suddenly was
unable to take another step. Patriarch Zacharias saw an angel
preventing the emperor from bearing the Cross on the same path that
the Lord had walked barefoot and humiliated. The patriarch
communicated this vision to the emperor. The emperor removed his
raiment and, in ragged attire and barefoot, took up the Cross,
carried it to Golgotha, and placed it in the Church of the
Resurrection, to the joy and consolation of the whole Christian
world.The Passing of our Holy Father John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople.
Respectfully Taken From the:
"The Prologue of Ohrid"
by St. Nikolai of Zica, Serbia(Velimirovic)
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