By Jacqueline Kelly –
The Cross is loved and revered by all Christians. As Christians we share the same faith and are all called to a mission of love. We are all given a cross to bear and the means with which to carry that cross. The cross is our way to Jesus and to salvation. It represents Christ’s victory over death. Everywhere in the world Jesus is still carrying the Cross. Our cross is His cross.
Exaltation of the Holy Cross is called Universal Exaltation of the Holy and Life giving Cross or Soul-saving Cross It is the official English translation of the Roman Missal, while the 1973 translation called it “The Triumph of the Cross” and also the “Invention of the Cross” derived from the Latin word “invenire” meaning “to find”.
In the Eastern Church the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross is referred to as the Elevation, Recovery or Adoration of the Cross. It is observed in various Protestant traditions including Lutheranism and Anglicanism. In the West, the Anglican Church refers to it as Holy Cross Day.
Holy Cross Day is particularly popular in England, perhaps because Saint Helena is believed to have been the daughter of a British King. Many Churches in England have “Holy Cross” or “Holy Rood” in their names. Rood refers to the wood of which the cross was made. Roodmas [Rood Mass] and Crouchmas [Cross Mass]. In Philippines, it is known as “Santacruzan”.
In Armenia, September 16 is observed as the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross [Khachverats in Armenian]. The feast continues for several days. It is considered as one of the five major feasts of the Armenian Church and the most important of the four feasts of the Holy Cross.
Exaltation of the Cross is observed by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches on September 14. It is the historical recovery of the True Cross from the Persians and its return to Jerusalem in the 7th Century.
FIRST CENTURY: Bury the Cross and All Memories of Christ
After the death and resurrection of Christ, both the Jews and Roman authorities in Jerusalem made efforts to conceal anything connected with Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection. At Christ’s tomb, near the site of His crucifixion, they had piled up earth over the site, and a pagan temple had been built on top of it.
According to ancient tradition, when the body of Christ was removed from the Cross, to prevent His followers from finding it, the Cross on which Christ had died had been hidden by the Jewish authorities.
The cross was thrown in a pit and then covered with stones and earth. The pagan Roman Emperor tried to completely eradicate from human memory the holy places where our Lord suffered and was resurrected for mankind. Emperor Hadrian [117-138] gave orders to cover the ground of Golgotha and the Sepulchre of the Lord, and to build a temple of the pagan goddess Venus and a statue of Jupiter. Pagans gathered at this place and offered sacrifices to the idols there.
FOURTH CENTURY: Finding of the Cross
After 300 years, by Divine Providence, the great Christian sacred remains, the Sepulchre of the Lord and the Life-Creating Cross, were discovered and opened for veneration. This took place under the reign of Emperor Constantine the Great [306-337] after his victory in the year 312 over Maxentius, ruler of the Western part of the Roman Empire, and over Licinius, ruler of its Eastern part. In the year 323 Constantine became the sole ruler of the vast Roman Empire.
In 313 he had issued the Edict of Milan, by which the Christian religion was legalized and the persecutions against Christians in the western half of the empire had come to a halt. The ruler of the Eastern half of the Empire, Licinius, although he had signed the Edict of Milan to oblige Constantine, still fanatically continued the persecutions against Christians. Only after his defeat did the 313 Edict of tolerance of Christians extend to the Eastern part of the empire.
Emperor Constantine, having gained victory over his enemies in three battles with God’s help had seen in the heavens the Sign of the Cross, and written beneath it: “By this you shall conquer”. Enthusiastic about the promise and its realization, and ardently desiring to find the Cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified Constantine, sent his mother, Empress Helena, to Jerusalem to find the Cross which had not been seen for three hundred years, providing her with a letter to Saint Macarius, Patriarch of Jerusalem.
Although the holy Empress Helena, was already in her declining years, she set about to complete the task with great enthusiasm. In her search for the Holy Cross, she made inquiries with Christians and Jews, but for a long time her search was unsuccessful. Finally, they directed her to a certain elderly Hebrew man by the name of Judas, who informed her that the cross was buried where the temple of Venus stood. They demolished the pagan temple and, after praying, they began to excavate the ground. Soon the Tomb of the Lord was unearthed. Not far from it were three crosses, a board with the inscription “INRI” [lesus Nazarenus Rex ludaeorum- Latin for “ Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”] ordered by Pilate and four nails which had pierced the Lord’s Body.
In order to discern on which of the three crosses the Saviour was crucified, Patriarch Macarius alternately touched the crosses to a corpse. When the True Cross of the Lord touched the dead man, he came back to life. Having beheld the raising of the dead man, everyone was convinced that the Holy Cross was found. During the discovery of the True Cross another miracle took place: a grievously sick woman, beneath the shadow of the Holy Cross, was healed instantly. These miraculous events were witnessed by many and caused many Jews, including Judas, to seek Baptism. [Judas quickly changed his name to Kyriakus]. He was appointed Bishop of Jerusalem and died a martyr under the tyrannical reign of Julian the Apostate in 363.
Upon the excavation site, Constantine ordered a Basilica to be built to house the venerable relics. The construction of the Basilica took almost ten years and it was finally completed in 335. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was consecrated on September 13, 335. On the following day, September 14, the festive celebration of the Exaltation of the Venerable and Life-Giving Cross was established. Christians came in large numbers to venerate the Holy Cross, beseeching the Patriarch, Macarius, to elevate the Cross, so that even those far off might adore it.
Then the Patriarch and other spiritual leaders raised the Holy Cross, and the people reverently prostrated before the Venerable Wood exclaiming, “Lord have mercy”. Saint Helena took part of the Life-giving wood of the Holy Cross, and the four nails of the crucifixion of Christ, with her to Constantinople. The holy Empress journeyed to the holy places connected with the earthly life of the Saviour, building more than 80 churches at Bethlehem the birthplace of Christ, on the Mount of Olives where the Lord ascended to Heaven and at Gethsemane where the Saviour prayed before His sufferings and where the Mother of God was buried after her death.
Saint Helena continued to adorn churches and chapels and she built a convent for nuns in Jerusalem. She travelled all over the East helping the poor, freed many from the chains and banishment. She died in Rome in 328 and there Constantine had his mother buried in a magnificent mausoleum.
SEVENTH CENTURY: The Loss of the Cross
During the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Phocas [602-610] the Persian Emperor, Choesroes II, in a war against the Greeks, defeated the Greek army, conquered and plundered Jerusalem and captured both the Holy Cross of the Lord and the Holy Patriarch of Jerusalem, Zacharias [609-633] taking them back to Persia. The Cross would remain in Persia from 614-629.
The Byzantine Christian Emperor, Heraclius, the successor of Phocas, moved by the thought of the hardships and horrid outrages of battles, sought for peace, but Choesroes drunken with conquest, would not allow it even upon unfair terms. Heraclius therefore, earnestly sought help from God by constant fasting and prayer, and through His good inspiration gathered an army, joined battle with the enemy, and prevailed against three of Choesroe’s chief captains and three armies.
SEVENTH CENTURY: The True Cross Comes Home
Another event connected to the Cross of the Lord is remembered on this day- its return to Jerusalem from Persia after thirteen years of captivity. At the Battle of Ninevah, 627, Emperor Heraclius defeated Choesroes. Choesroes was shattered by these defeats, and, when in his flight, in 628, he was about to cross the river Tigris, he proclaimed his son Medarses as partner in his kingdom. Choesroes’ eldest son Siroes [also known as Kavadh II] plotted to murder his father and brother, and implemented it
Then, in order to gain recognition and endorsement from the victorious Emperor Heraclius, the Persian Emperor, Siroes, made peace with Emperor Heraclius and returned all the territories that his father, Choesroes, had captured from the Byzantine Emperor. Part of the terms of peace and being recognized as the Persian Emperor were that Siroes would have to give back the Cross of the Lord and the other relics that that had been stolen from Jerusalem. The Cross therefore was to be taken back to Jerusalem after thirteen years of captivity in the power of the Perisans and to be placed in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, built where Jesus was crucified.
Christians were overwhelmed with joy when the sacred relic was brought back to Constantinople [now Istanbul] in 629 that special coins were made to commemorate the event.
Thus, with great solemnity the Life-giving Cross was transferred to Jerusalem. Emperor Heraclius came to Jerusalem in 629, and in royal robes and the imperial crown carried the Cross of Christ into the temple of the Resurrection. The Emperor was accompanied by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Zacharias. At the gates through which they ascended Golgotha, the Emperor suddenly stopped and was not able to proceed farther. The Patriarch of Jerusalem, Zacharias, rebuked him, saying: “How can an Emperor proudly carry the Cross into Jerusalem dressed in fine clothes, when Jesus carried the Cross in shame and humiliation?”
So, the Emperor took off his fine clothes, put on sack cloth and walked barefoot, and thus, without further hindrance was able to carry the Cross into the Basilica. On September 14, the Sacred Cross was restored to its place in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. To commemorate this victory and restoration of the True Cross in the 7th century, the Church of Rome adopted the “Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross” on September 14.
From the Crib to the Cross, His Life was a testimony that God is supreme.
“The sufferings endured for God are the greatest proof of our love for Him.”
[Saint Alphonsus]