The Raising of the Holy Cross

The Orthodox Church celebrates the day of the Raising of the Holy and Life Giving Cross on 14 September each year.We celebrate the finding of the Holy Cross on 6 March each year. In Orthodox Churches,the Cross is brought out every Easter Thursday during the Part of the Service that night that celebrates the Lord's Crucifixion, for the People to venerate.

With His Death on The Cross Our Lord destroyed the hold that the evil one had over death and , thus, over us.The Death of the Lord on the Cross, opened up the Gates of Paradise to us all and gave us all the chance of Eternal Life.

The Cross protect.Iit is the Beauty of the Church, it gives Strength to Kingdoms and to the Faithful.It is revered and worshipped by the Angels and it is hated and is the eternal wound of the evil one and his cohorts.It is the Symbol of Life and Salvation.It is a Symbol of Victory over the evil one.It is a Symbol of Victory over death.

Some believe that the Cross on which The Lord was crucified, was made by the romans by cutting branches from a huge tree which had grown from a combination of three other trees-a pine tree,a cedar tree and a cypress tree. When the Lord God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19) only a good man called Lot and his wife and two daughters were spared. God rained down "fire and brimstone from the skies on Sodom and Gomorrah," (Genesis 19:24-25) and destroyed the two cities. Lot was warned never to look back as he fled the City.His wife turned back and she turned into a pillar of salt. Lot went and settled in the hills with his two daughters.He lived in a cave.His two daughters,fearing that they would find no husbands in the normal way, decided to get their father drunk and sleep with him, so that they could bear children, and keep the family alive through their father. They got Lot drunk and one night the elder slept with her father. The next night the younger did the same. Thus Lot sinned and his two daughters became pregnant via their father. The elder bore a son called Moab and the younger bore a son called Benammi. When Lot found out what had happened he confessed his sins to his uncle Abraham. Abraham gave Lot the three staffs which the three Angels had given him at Mamre.He told Lot to plant them and to water them with water from the river Jordan. If those staffs budded then it would be a sign that the Lord God had forgiven Lot for his sins. Lot watered these three staffs daily for many years. Slowly these staffs grew into a massive three pronged tree. It was from here that the Cross of the Lord was made.

Others say that the wood of the Cross came from a seed of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden. When Adam was dying he asked his son Seth to go to the Archangel Michael and beg for a seed from the Tree of Life. When Adam died ,the seed was placed in his mouth and he was buried. The seed grew into a tree and emerged from his mouth. Many centuries passed and the tree was cut and wood used to build a bridge over which the Queen of Sheba passed as she journeyed to meet King Soloman. The Queen of Sheba was so amazed by the story behind the building of the Bridge that she fell down on her knees and worshipped it. She told King Soloman,that wood from the Bridge would bring about the replacement of the Covenant between God and his people,and a new order would be installed. King Soloman feared the destruction of his people,so he had the wood buried. After fourteen generations, the wood from the Bridge became the wood used on the Cross of the Lord.

There were two Raisings of the Holy Cross.The first happened in about 312 AD when St Constantine , the first Christian Emperor of Rome marched against Maxentios and won a great battle after the Holy Cross appeared to him in the sky.
St Constantine, as a mark of his love for the Lord, decided in the twentieth year of his reign to issue a decree banning the use of the Cross as an instrument used in the execution of prisoners in the Roman Empire. This Custom has been observed ever since.

The Second Raising of the Holy Cross occured in the Church in Jerusalem on the day dedicated to the death of St John Chrysostom, 14th September 326. When the Cross was found by St Helena she took it to the Church in Jerusalem for the faithful to see and venerate it. Many people turned up, so much so, that the Patriarch Makarios raised it high up on the pulpit . The people then sang the "Lord Have Mercy"-KURIE ELEISON-chant continuously. It was from this day that the Feast day dedicated to the Holy Cross first began. St John Chrysostom's Day was then moved back to 13 November so as not to clash with this day which became a day of Celebration to the Holy and Life-Giving Cross.

St John Chrysostom wrote of the Cross:
"Kings removing their diadems take up the Cross,the Symbol of their Saviour's death;on the purple,the Cross;in their prayers,the Cross;on their armour,the Cross;on the Holy Table,the Cross;throughout the universe,the Cross;The Cross shines brighter than the sun."