{"id":2429,"date":"2019-09-26T20:57:54","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T02:57:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/svetisimeon.org\/en\/?p=2429"},"modified":"2019-09-26T20:59:32","modified_gmt":"2019-09-27T02:59:32","slug":"o-much-hymned-tree-of-the-cross","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svetisimeon.org\/en\/?p=2429","title":{"rendered":"O Much-Hymned Tree of the Cross"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

O much-hymned Tree of the Cross!\nO Life-bearing Tree of the Cross! O thrice-blessed Tree of the Cross! O\nhonorable Cross, joyous sign of our redemption! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Show us sinners the path to the\nsalvific life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear friends! \u201c\u2026For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God<\/em> (1 Cor. 1:18). Yesterday we visibly touched this power, having participated in the Elevation of the Cross of the Lord<\/a>. The Life-creating Wood passed by each of us, carried out from the Holy of Holies, from the earthly Heaven, from the altar of the Lord. It passed by and was lifted on high, and descended to the earth to again be raised, overshadowing all corners of the earth, that everyone would see, understand, and feel the power and authority of this great sign of victory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not by human invention that this wondrous feast has come into\nthe world, combining within itself three events of the Lifegiving Tree at\ndifferent points in history, and it\u2019s not by human efforts that it has been preserved\nin the world for seventeen centuries already. The feast\u2019s Gospel reading points\nto that strength which constantly and absolutely possesses the mutable and\nimpermanent world. The strength and power of the Cross<\/a> is the great\nsacrifice\u2014the Savior\u2019s sufferings on the Cross, beginning with His unjust\ncondemnation to death, to the piercing of the ribs of His most pure body, from\nwhich flowed blood and water, feeding the world unto Eternal Life. The Gospel\nends with the assurance that the truth of this fearful story is testified to by\na witness of this Golgotha sacrifice and is transmitted that those who hear it\nmight believe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Orthodox Church, born on the\neve of the appearance of the Lifegiving Cross of the Lord to the world, and\nhaving become in the persons of the apostles a witness to the great podvig<\/em>\nof love\u2014even unto death and the death of the Cross\u2014has since then received the\nsign of the Cross as a salvific symbol for believers, and not just as a symbol,\nbut as a salvific strength, which defeats the enemies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Testimonies of the veneration of\nthe Cross of the Lord have survived in apostolic writings and in the writings\nof the teachers of the Church that have come down to us; but the living examples\nof this power, manifesting in all times, called to life a special canon on the\nveneration of the Cross, established at the Sixth Ecumenical Council<\/a>,\nwhich took place in the year 680 in Constantinople. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its 73rd canon reads: \u201cInasmuch\nas the Lifegiving Cross has shown us salvation, it befits us to take care to\nrender due honor to that through which we were saved from the ancient fall.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, the Cross of the Lord is\nterrible and glorious, having turned from an instrument of execution into an\ninstrument of power and glory. This Cross, lifted up from the Earth to Heaven,\nis the innocent and voluntary suffering of Christ the Savior, and with Him are\nnailed the sins of the whole world. The Cross is soaked with His pure blood and\nby it cleanses every sinful defilement. The Cross has taken upon itself a host\nof evil gazes, mockery, and blasphemy. But two people wept at the foot of the\nCross: the mother of the Crucified One, through whose own heart passed the\nweapon of the Cross, and the lone disciple whose love was not frightened by the\nterror of sufferings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Cross was elevated above\nthe world for a short time, to then be long hidden in the earth by human\nmalice; but this short time was enough for the Lifegiving Cross to subdue the\nworld and revivify it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was by the long and difficult\npath of humility that the Lord Jesus Christ entered into His glory, but\nincomparably longer was the humiliation of the Lifegiving Wood, upon which He\noffered Himself in sacrifice for the sins of the world. The glory of the\nCrucified One had already reached unto the ends of the universe, but the\nLifegiving Tree of the Cross, hidden in obscurity and shame, awaited its hour\nfor three centuries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cross had already crowned\nthe Church of Christ; the Sign of the Cross, by the power of Christ crucified\nupon it, was already strengthening the first Christians with their human\nweaknesses, helped them go to their sufferings for their faith. But the one and\nonly Lifegiving and Salvific Tree itself was still concealed from the sight of\nman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christianity spread and grew\nstronger. The powers of this world reflected upon the Divine origin of He Who\nwas crucified and lifted upon the Cross. Emperor Constantine the Great<\/a> was\nhonored, along with all his armies, to see God\u2019s sign\u2014the Cross shining among\nthe stars and the inscription radiating around it: \u201cIn this sign conquer.\u201d And\nthe Sign of the Cross gave him the path to many victories in battle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By this manifestation, the\nmemory of the first Cross of the Lord was revived in the consciousness of\nChristians, and with it the faith that this great sanctity could not die. By\nthis time, the Church was already filled with many living testimonies to the podvigs<\/em>\nof cross-bearing, but she lacked the celebration, and glory, and joy of that\nsingular Cross from which shone the victory over death. Thus, the octogenarian\nHelen, the mother of the first Christian emperor Constantine, took upon herself\nthe search for the Cross of the Lord. The Holy Spirit inspired this queen\n(later called the equal-to-the-apostles), to the joy of the Crucified One and\nto the joy of Orthodox Christians, to invest many labors and efforts in order\nto find this shrine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pagan emperors and evil Jews\nhad tried to wholly destroy the memory of the sacred events and sacred places\nwhere our Lord Jesus Christ suffered for man and resurrected. The Tomb of the\nLord and Golgotha were covered over with dirt, and a pagan temple was erected\non the artificial hill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now the Christian empress\nwas seeking traces of the lost treasure among the Jews, hostilely disposed\ntowards Christians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How great is the power and\nauthority of God, you can judge for yourself: To the empress\u2019 question\naddressed to the eldest of the Jews: \u201cWhere did your ancestors hide the Cross\nof Christ?\u201d\u2014they pointed her to a certain elder Jew, Judas, who at the repeated\nquestion, obviously against his own wishes, led her to the place of the temple\nof Venus and said, \u201cOn this very place you will find the Cross of your Christ.\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judas betrayed Christ to the\nCross, and three hundred years later another Judas contributed to the\nmanifestation of the glory of Christ. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The search yet continued for a\nlong time after the removal of the temple, and hope turned into hopelessness,\nuntil the Lord Himself deigned to reveal to people the sacred object resting in\nthe ground. The sweet fragrance of the Holy Spirit coming out of the ground put\nan end to the search. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the seekers were again\nplunged into bewilderment. Instead of the one sought-after Cross, they found\nthree, and they were all exactly the same. The plaque with the inscription that\nhung on the Cross of the Savior was found later in another place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Macarius, heading the search\ntogether with Queen Helen, exclaimed: \u201cIf the providence of God does not wish\nto leave the Cross of the Lord in the ground forever, then can it allow it to\nremain in uncertainty? Can it allow that instead of the Cross of the Lord,\nhonor would be given to the cross of a thief? God Himself will show us the\nCross of our Savior.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All three crosses were carried\ninto the house of a pious woman lying on her deathbed. After the fervent prayer\nof the holy hierarch, the crosses were placed one by one on the dying woman.\nOnly by the touch of the last cross did the strength of life enter the sick. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All those present for the\nmiracle unanimously offered glory to the Cross of the Lord, but this\nidentification was too little for the glory of the Lifegiving Wood of the\nCross. It pleased the providence of God that the glory of the Cross would shine\nby those who did not want to confess it, that by the might of the venerable\nWood, unbelief and the enemies of the Cross of the Lord would be crushed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning from the home of the\nhealed woman to Golgotha, the Christians met a funeral procession. The pious\nand full-of-faith hierarch Macarius daringly laid the Cross of the Lord upon\nthe deceased, and the Cross of the conqueror of death and Hell again dissolved\nthe bonds of death, quickening the dead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

News of the perfect miracle,\nwhich shook those present, flew throughout Jerusalem in the blink of an eye,\nand gathered believer and non-believer alike to the foot of the Cross on\nGolgotha. Countless people desired to see the miraculous Tree, at least from\nafar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

St. Macarius and Empress Helen,\nstanding on a dais, elevated the Pure Cross as high as possible in all four\ndirections, that all could venerate it. The people, engulfed by pious awe,\nexclaimed as a multitude, \u201cLord, have mercy!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The force of the impact of the\nLifegiving Tree was so great that a host of Jews were baptized, including the\nelder Judas who had pointed out the place of the concealment of the Lord\u2019s\nCross, taking the name Cyriacus in Baptism and becoming the bishop of Jerusalem\nat the end of his life by the mercy of God. He himself ascended to his martyric\ncross during the reign of Julian the Apostate, in the short span of his life as\na Christian. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus was accomplished the\nfinding of the Cross of the Lord. 326 years after the Crucifixion of the\nSavior, the Lifegiving Tree of the Cross of the Lord again became a preacher of\nthe power and divinity of Christ. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHonorably and righteously\nvenerate the Cross of Christ,\u201d St.\nDimitry of Rostov<\/a>, the Russian Chrysostom, says in his homily on the\nElevation, \u201cfor by this blessed Tree was death slain and life granted. By the\ntree of Paradise we were killed, and by the Tree of the Cross we are revived;\nby the first we were expelled from Paradise, by the second we ascend to Heaven;\nby the first the enemy defeated us, by the second we defeat the enemies.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After finding the Lifegiving\nCross of the Lord, the equal-to-the-apostles Emperor Constantine ordered the\nerection in Jerusalem of a majestic and spacious church in honor of the\nResurrection of Christ, including within itself both the Tomb of the Lord and\nGolgotha. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The church was built over ten\nyears and was consecrated on September 13, 335; the Cross of the Lord was\nerected in the church the next day, and on that day was established the feast\nof the Elevation of the Precious and Lifegiving Cross of the Lord. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And for the first time that day\nthe Church sang, \u201cBefore Thy Cross, we bow down in worship, O Master, and Thy\nholy Resurrection we glorify!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet another, third event\nconnected with the life of the Cross of the Lord is remembered this same day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 614 to 628 the Precious\nWood suffered captivity by the Persians. The Tree was kept, by the providence\nof God, in a foreign land. The pagans, struck by the miracles that accompanied\nthe ark with the Cross, did not dare to touch the sacred Christian object. With\nthe victory of the Greek emperor Heraclius over the Persians, the Cross\nreturned to Jerusalem. The return of the Cross, and its elevation above the\nTomb of the Lord was celebrated on the day of the feast of the Elevation of the\nLifegiving Tree of the Cross of the Lord. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, my dears, three\nsimultaneous events from the life of the Cross of the Lord consecrate this day,\nwhich I repeat as a reminder to you\u2014the finding of the Tree of the Cross, the\nbuilding of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ on Golgotha, the bearing\nof the Lifegiving Cross into this church, and the final return of the Lifegiving\nTree from captivity and its installation on Golgotha on its original place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty centuries have passed\nsince the great events of the Savior\u2019s sacrifice on the Cross on Golgotha, when\nChrist ascended into Heaven in glory. The Cross remained on earth, continuing\nthe great deed begun on Golgotha. And the Cross lives to this day, as a living\nperson, taking upon itself both unlimited love, and equally unlimited hatred. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As at the first saving Cross of\nthe Lord, love and hatred and loyalty and betrayal withstood one another\u2014as it\nshould be\u2014so the Cross is a stumbling block to the life of the world in all\ntimes. For some\u2014the godless\u2014it is relentless and hateful to the arena of\nsufferings which lead to death. The grief and suffering of this earthly life is\nthe lot of all those born on earth. For others\u2014the followers of Christ\u2014the\ncross of such sorrows and sufferings becomes the beloved arena of the highest\nspiritual enjoyment, walking the path behind their beloved Christ to life\neternal in glory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cross continues to live in\nthe world\u2014for some unto salvation, and for others unto destruction. The battle\nof good and evil at the foot of the Cross continues for the sake of love and\nhate of Him Who sanctified the Wood of the Cross. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don\u2019t have to go deep into\nhistory for examples\u2014let\u2019s take the living examples of our days. What malice\nand rejection of the Cross do we see now in all those who have departed from\nthe Orthodox Church of Christ, and especially in the Protestants and sectarians\nwho blaspheme the Cross of Christ and our Sign of the Cross, and accuse the\nOrthodox of idolatry for venerating the Cross. The Cross as the keeper of the\nentire universe, the Cross as the keeper and confirmation of every man in truth\ndoes not exist for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the rejection of the Cross,\nthey reject the very path of salvation, the path of following after Christ, and\nthey become the plaything of the demons on the path to perdition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another example: In 1992, love\nfor Christ gathered pilgrims from the whole world to Jerusalem for the feast of\nthe Bright Resurrection of Christ. The Holy Fire hadn\u2019t even gone out in the\nlampadas, and in their hearts they yet trembled, having just experienced the\nmiracle of the descent of the Divine grace and the Paschal Resurrection joy,\nand the Paschal week as one day, glorious in the Church of God, when a\nblasphemous, defiant heart, breathing malice, had already prepared a terrible\nact of blasphemy. On Saturday of Bright Week, the criminal hand uprooted the\nHoly Cross which stood so many centuries on Golgotha. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But God is not mocked. The\nscorner cursed himself. The Lord saw this battle from the heights of His glory,\nand invincible is the victory\u2014the Cross of Christ\u2014given to the faithful as a\nweapon against enemies, visible and invisible, unto the last day of the world,\nunto the day of the glorious and dread second coming of the Lord. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The appearance of the Lord of\nGlory on the Earth will be revealed as nothing other than the great sign of the\nCross of the Lord in the heavens, which all peoples of Earth will see; which\nevery person will see. They will see it, and weep, and tremble. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will be the third great\nappearance of the Cross, in anticipation of the appearance of the Savior at the\nDread Judgment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us affirm, my dears, our\nintentions by the Lifegiving power of the Cross of Christ; let us fix our\nreverent attention upon it, and especially on this present day of the feast of\nits elevation and its glorification in our heart and bodies; let us bow before\nthe Cross in tenderness of heart, and in contrition of spirit, for it is\nimpossible to worthily glorify the incomprehensible power and majesty of the\nCross of the Lord. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that we would at least to\nsome small degree be prepared to receive this unfathomable manifestation, the\nHoly Church commands us by its Typikon: \u201cOn the day of the Elevation, cheese,\nand eggs, and fish we dare not touch,\u201d because the veneration of the Cross\nconsists in the mortification of the flesh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

O, merciful Lord, by the\ninvincible and Divine power of Thy Cross, do Thou protect, bless, and save us!\nAmen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

September 14\/27, 1993 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Archimandrite\nJohn (Krestiankin)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit! O much-hymned Tree of the Cross! O Life-bearing Tree of the Cross! O thrice-blessed Tree of the Cross! O honorable Cross, joyous sign of our redemption! Show us sinners the path to the salvific life. Dear friends! \u201c\u2026For the preaching […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t