ON THE 14th of September Our Holy Orthodox Church Commemorates the Universal Exaltation of the Venerable and Life-Creating Cross

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 14th of September, Our Holy Orthodox Church Commemorates
the Universal Exaltation of the VENERABLE AND LIFE-CREATING
CROSS.

Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn. 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. 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 might 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.

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.D. A temple of Aphrodite had been raised up by the pagan Roman Emperor Hadrian upon Golgotha, to DEFILE AND COVER WITH OBLIVION THE PLACE WHERE THE SAVING PASSION HAD BEEN SUFFERED. The Venerable Helen had the statue of Aphrodite destroyed, and the earth removed, revealing the Tomb of our Lord, and three crosses. Of these, it was believed that one must be that of Our Lord, the other two of the thieves crucified with Him; but Saint Helen was at a loss which one might be the Wood OF OUR SALVATION. At the inspiration of Saint Macarius, Archbishop of Jerusalem, a lady of Jerusalem, who was already at the point of death from a certain disease, was brought to touch the crosses, and as soon as she came near to the Cross of our Lord, she was made perfectly whole. Consequently, the Precious Holy Cross was lifted on high by Archbishop Macarius of Jerusalem; as he stood on the ambo, and when the people [ beheld it, they cried out, "Kyrie Eleison" ("Lord, have mercy").  It should be noted that after its discovery, a portion of the Venerable Holy Cross was taken to Constantinople as a blessing.  The rest was left in Jerusalem in the magnificent Church built by Saint Helen, until the year 614 A.D.  At that time, the Persians plundered Palestine and took the Holy Cross to their own county.  Later, in the year 628 A.D., Emperor Heraclius set out on a military campaign, retrieved the Cross, and after bringing it to Constantinople, himself escorted it back to Jerusalem with great ceremony.  Entering the city, Emperor Heraclius was carrying the Holy Cross on his back, but suddenly the aged Emperor was unable to take another step.  Patriarch Zacharias saw an Angel directing the Emperor to take off his Imperial robes and walk beneath the Cross along the way that Christ had walked, barefoot and humiliated as He had been.  He passed this vision on to the Emperor, who stripped himself of his raiment and, in poor clothing and barefoot, took up the Holy Cross, carried it to Golgotha and placed it in the Church of the Resurrection, to the joy and consolation of the whole Christian world. [Resorcess: The Great Horologion and The Prologue from Ochrid]

_________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +

With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George