My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
On the 1st of August, Our Holy Orthodox Church Commemorates the Procession
of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn of the CROSS. First Tone
SAVE, O Lord, Thy people and bless Thine inheritance, grant Thou
unto the faithful victory over adversaries. And by the power of
Thy Cross do Thou preserve Thy commonwealth.
Kontakion Hymn of the CROSS. Fourth Tone
THOU Who wast raised up on the Cross of Thine own will, O
Christ our God, do Thou bestow Thy compassion upon this, Thy
new commonwealth named after Thee. Gladden with Thy sovereign
mighty our most Orthodox hierarchs, and vouchsafe them victory
over every false teaching; and as Thy help in war may they possess
the weapon of peace, the trophy invincible.
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The Forefeast of the Procession of the CROSS of our Lord Jesus Christ, from the imperial palace into Conastantinople, was introduced on the previous day, the 31st day of the month of July. With gladsome hearts, we keep festival at the Glorious Procession of the Cross that has illumined our souls and hallowed our bodies by the grace of Christ voluntarily nailed on it and lifted up in the midst of the earth to save our race and unite it with the hosts on high.
Today, for the Slavonic Feast of the Savior and the Theotokos, we chant that which was spoken of by Moses: "Ye shall see your life hanging before your eyes." More precisely, this refers to the passage wherein we read that "Moses prayed to the Lord for the people; and the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make thee a serpent, and put in on a signal-staff; and it shall come to pass that whenever a serpent shall bite a man, everyone so bitten that looks upon it shall live" (Numbers 21:8). The brazen or bronze serpent lifted up on a pole by Moses in the desert is interpreted by the Holy Fathers of the Church AS A TYPE OF THE PASSION OF SALVATION ACCOMPLISHED BY MEANS OF THE CROSS. Saint Kyril of Jerusalem writes: "It was Life, which hung on the Cross, says Moses weeping, ‘And thy life shall be in suspense before thine eyes; and thou shall be afraid by day and by night, and thou shalt have no assurance of thy life" (Deutoromy 28:66),’ …This was the figure which Moses completed by fixing the serpent to a cross, that whosoever had been bitten by the living serpent, and looked to the brazen serpent, might be saved by believing" (Numbers 21:9; John 2:14).
Does then the brazen serpent save when crucified, and shall not the Son of God, the incarnate Logos/Word and Christ Jesus, save when crucified also? On each occasion LIFE COMES BY MEANS OF THE WOOD. For in the time of Noah the preservation of life was BY AN ARK OF WOOD. In the time of Moses, the sea, on beholding the emblematical rod, was abashed at him who smote it. Is then Moses’ rod mighty, and is the Cross of the Savior powerless?" Therefore, we chant today, "Christ, becoming incarnate, accepted both crucifixion and death, thereby releasing man from the curse, pouring forth incorruption upon the Thrice-Blessed Tree."
The Feast of the CROSS is kept jubilantly especially by Greeks and Russians, who established it jointly during the reign of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (1143-1180). Both sovereigns achieved victories in 1164, vanquishing the enemies of each respective realm with the help of God. In both campaigns the soldiers carried crosses, from which a supernatural brilliance radiated. As we read in the notice for the 31st of July, the custom of having the CROSS of Jesus process through the city streets was a tradition of long standing. The hot month of August, oftentimes hosted diseases and epidemics. Hence, the Wood of our Lord’s Cross was an effective antidote for those who venerated it with faith. The faithful welcomed the Precious Relic as an unfailing fountain of sanctification and healing and gifts, and took refuge in it as their common defense against sufferings and pangs and passions–no matter how chronic the latter. In the Capitol, they also performed the blessing of hte waters.
On this day the Russian Church also combines the commemoration of the Honored Cross with the Baptism of Rus, which took place on the 1st day of August, in the year 988. In 1627, a joyous command, issued by order of Patriarch Philaret of Moscow and All Rus, entitled "Account of the Order of Services in the Holy, Cahtolic, and Apostolic Great Church of the Dormition," furnished the following explanation of today’s celebration: "On the day of hte Procession of the Venerable Cross, there is a church procession for the sanctification of water and for the enlightenment of the people, throughout all the towns and places." The present practise in the Russian Church conducts the Lesser Sanctification of Water today, either before or after the Divine Liturgy. By reason of this divine office of Blessing of the Waters, this first feast of our Lord in the month of August is sometimes called "Savior of the water." There may also be a blessing of new honey, which is why the feast is also known as "Savior of the Honey."
We chant the praises of THE CROSS, the Invincible Weapon and Guardian of the Orthodox, and embrace it with faith, seeking its power to rescue from the snares of the enemy and to guide us to the haven of salvation. When the Cross was fixed in the earth, the demons were wounded and fell. When it was borne aloft by the armies of Christ, adverseries were laid low. Let us reverently kiss the Cross, the Glory of Christ, and draw near to our Lord, crying to Him to exalt the horn of His Christian peoples and to grant us peace. Whensoever Thou, O Lord, shouldest come to judge the world, with Thine Angelic Host going before Thee and Thy Cross shining more brilliantly than the sun, we implore Thee, O Christ, to have mercy on us and save Thy people by the power of Thy Cross. [Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church]
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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 