The Orthodox Parish of St Aidan & St Chad, Nottingham
ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE
EPISCOPAL VICARIATE OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND
Exarchate of Parishes
of Russian Tradition in Western Europe
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The Church has just celebrated the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This is a most interesting feast, because after the death of our Lord, the Jews of course were embarrassed by what had happened, and they tried to conceal the place of His Crucifixion, disposing of the crosses and filling up the place, even making it a rubbish dump.
Eventually a pagan temple to Venus was placed on the site. For most people it was a forgotten site. But the Empress Helena, in her eightieth year, had a dream, or a vision, that she should recover the Cross of Christ. She went to Jerusalem, and there she found a man who, from his family memory, was able to tell her exactly where the Cross would be found. His name was Judas, but he was not a Christian. Helena required her men to dig as he advised, and they found three crosses. They were identical, and they could not tell which one was the Cross of our Lord.
The Patriarch of Jerusalem, Macarius, said, ‘I know of a woman who is desperately ill; let us go to her.’ So they took the three crosses to her. The first two, which the Patriarch laid upon the woman, had no effect, but the third Cross brought her immediate relief and cure.
About this time, there was a funeral cortege passing by, and the Patriarch went and laid the Cross on the man who was dead, and he was brought back to life. Now the crowds of people were ecstatic at the miracles that were happening, but they could not get near the Cross, so as you see in the icon, the Patriarch held up the Cross. He exalted the Cross so that all could see, and could venerate it.
This is not only the origin of the Feast, but it is also the origin of the liturgy of the Feast. When we celebrate the vigil of this Feast, the priest holds up the Cross to the east and to the west, to the north and to
The Church has just celebrated the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. This is a most interesting feast, because after the death of our Lord, the Jews of course were embarrassed by what had happened, and they tried to conceal the place of His Crucifixion, disposing of the crosses and filling up the place, even making it a rubbish dump.
Eventually a pagan temple to Venus was placed on the site. For most people it was a forgotten site. But the Empress Helena, in her eightieth year, had a dream, or a vision, that she should recover the Cross of Christ. She went to Jerusalem, and there she found a man who, from his family memory, was able to tell her exactly where the Cross would be found. His name was Judas, but he was not a Christian. Helena required her men to dig as he advised, and they found three crosses. They were identical, and they could not tell which one was the Cross of our Lord.
The Patriarch of Jerusalem, Macarius, said, ‘I know of a woman who is desperately ill; let us go to her.’ So they took the three crosses to her. The first two, which the Patriarch laid upon the woman, had no effect, but the third Cross brought her immediate relief and cure.
About this time, there was a funeral cortege passing by, and the Patriarch went and laid the Cross on the man who was dead, and he was brought back to life. Now the crowds of people were ecstatic at the miracles that were happening, but they could not get near the Cross, so as you see in the icon, the Patriarch held up the Cross. He exalted the Cross so that all could see, and could venerate it.
This is not only the origin of the Feast, but it is also the origin of the liturgy of the Feast. When we celebrate the vigil of this Feast, the priest holds up the Cross to the east and to the west, to the north and to
the south, while the choir sings ‘Lord have mercy’ a hundred times on each occasion, holding up the Cross so that all may see and all may venerate.
You have heard me say before, that we hear of two trees in the Garden of Eden. There is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, from which Adam and Eve ate, and we also hear of the Tree of Life. When Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden, we hear no more of the Tree of Life. But Christians realised that this ordinary tree, that was carved into a cross and put there on Golgotha for our Lord to be crucified on, is in fact the new Tree of Life. And what the Empress Helena discovered was that very same, new, Tree of Life.
So, we think in these days of this Tree, upon which the Lord of life hung for the salvation of the world. And when, after baptism, we wear a cross around our necks, and when we come, as we will at the end of this liturgy, to venerate the Cross, we are filled with joy that God went to all that trouble to save us, to lift us from the despair of Adam and Eve, and bring us back to the Tree of Life. We hear in the Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 1:23-24) that though this Cross is a stumbling block to the Jews, and others, and foolishness to the Greeks, and others, for us who are being saved it is the wisdom of God and it is the Power of God. And when we venerate the Cross, we are rejoicing in that wisdom of God, that power of God, which within us is slowly transforming us into the image of His love, bringing us from death into life.
And so on this great feast, ‘We venerate thy Cross, O Master, and we glorify Thy Holy Resurrection’, of which we are now a part. Amen.
You have heard me say before, that we hear of two trees in the Garden of Eden. There is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, from which Adam and Eve ate, and we also hear of the Tree of Life. When Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden, we hear no more of the Tree of Life. But Christians realised that this ordinary tree, that was carved into a cross and put there on Golgotha for our Lord to be crucified on, is in fact the new Tree of Life. And what the Empress Helena discovered was that very same, new, Tree of Life.
So, we think in these days of this Tree, upon which the Lord of life hung for the salvation of the world. And when, after baptism, we wear a cross around our necks, and when we come, as we will at the end of this liturgy, to venerate the Cross, we are filled with joy that God went to all that trouble to save us, to lift us from the despair of Adam and Eve, and bring us back to the Tree of Life. We hear in the Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 1:23-
And so on this great feast, ‘We venerate thy Cross, O Master, and we glorify Thy Holy Resurrection’, of which we are now a part. Amen.
Fr David, 30/9/07
Sunday after the Exaltation of the Cross
Sunday after the Exaltation of the Cross