On the Procession of the Honorable Wood of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord (2)
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
(Delivered on August 1, 1963)
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Holy Church glorifies the power of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, and at the same time remembers the sufferings of Christ, which He endured on the Cross. The reason for the establishment of this feast was an extraordinary event, miraculously revealed to the inhabitants of the capital of the Greek state from the Wood of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord.
A severe pestilence broke out in Constantinople, which claimed thousands of human lives every day. And so the residents of the city turned to God in prayer, adding to this a procession with the Wood of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord through the streets of the Byzantine capital, sprinkling all the houses and buildings with holy water. And as at the end of the religious procession the pestilence immediately ceased, in memory of this wonderful event it was established annually on August 1 to celebrate the feast of the Cross of the Lord. In addition, this event was joined by others, in which the power of God also miraculously appeared: the victory of the Greek army over the Saracens, and the Russian army over the Volga Bulgarians, since these events also took place on August 1 by the power of the Life-Giving Cross and the prayers of the Most Pure Mother of God. However, remembering these events and glorifying the power of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, the Church now also remembers the suffering of Christ.
In the Gospel set for today, you have heard a touching account of the last hours and minutes of the earthly life of Christ the Savior. The Most Holy of Holies, the Sinless One, is brought to the pagan Pilate, humiliated and insulted by the frantic crowd making noise around Him. With insane anger and bitterness, the chief priests, scribes, the elders of men, and all the Jewish people demand a shameful death for the Immortal One: "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" (John 19:6). Pilate, a pagan who did not know the Divine teaching, moved by a sense of justice, tried to free Him: "Take Him and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him" (John 19:6). But their threats to accuse him before Caesar force the ruler to deliver the Lord into the hands of his enemies for crucifixion.
After many new sufferings and humiliations, the Lord ascends to Golgotha, carrying a heavy Cross, here He is nailed to the Cross and gives up His spirit, hanging in the midst of two thieves. Such an immeasurable humiliation, such a terrible death! And the question arises: why this terrible sacrifice?
"He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5), answers the holy prophet Isaiah. By the time of the Savior's coming to earth, the entire human race was in sin, people had forgotten God, they had forgotten His Divine Law, even the Jewish people, chosen by God, had perverted and forgotten the Law.
All sinned, all transgressed the commandments of God, and therefore deserved eternal damnation and death. God is all-good and all-merciful, but He is also infinitely just. Divine truth was indignant at human unrighteousness, at human sins. It was necessary to satisfy this holy Truth. But who among the people could take upon himself intercession before the Justice of God, when each person himself is infected with sin? Moreover, human sins were extremely great, and the sacrifice for them had to be the greatest.
And it was such a supreme sacrifice that the Son of God became. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). By the Savior's death on the Cross, we are redeemed from sin, damnation, and death. The Blood of the Innocent was shed on the Cross, so that the guilty could escape the wrath of God that they deserved. What ineffable mercy, what goodness of God is given from the Cross to the sinful human race! "Christ died for our sins" (1 Corinthians 15:3). The sins of the whole world are nailed to the Cross. He Who ascended to the Cross and shed His most pure Blood became an eternal Intercessor for us before God the Father.
His wounded hands lovingly embrace the entire human race and lead all who wish to the Father. That which formerly separated creation, the disobedient sons of men, from the Creator, was destroyed by the Sacrifice of Golgotha. And the Cross, from a shameful instrument of the death penalty, has become for the faithful the most precious, the most honorable weapon in their hands for the struggle against the enemies of our souls. Erected on Golgotha, it shines brightly over the entire earth, warming with its rays the cold and hardened hearts of people.
Come, all you who mourn, to this Cross, look upon it, and you will find rest for your souls. Just as the brazen serpent erected by Moses of old healed those wounded by the serpent when it was looked upon, so the Cross of Christ gives healing to human souls when people run to it and pray with love before it.
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem says: "The Cross is a great protection, given to the poor as a gift, and to the weak without labor. This is the grace of God: a sign for the faithful, and fear for evil spirits." By making the sign of the Cross, we surrender ourselves to the guidance of the Lord Himself and, as with a shield, protect ourselves from the snares and forces of the enemy. Thus, for example, in the life of the holy Apostle John the Theologian it is narrated: a poor Christian, having nothing with which to pay a debt to his lender, asked a Judean sorcerer to give him poison. Twice he took it, but the poison did not work, because each time the Christian made the sign of the Cross over the vessel with the poison. Or another example: a certain shepherd was dying of a snake's bite. But when a certain pious elder poured water on the cross into his mouth with the invocation of the great name of the Holy Trinity and the name of the Great Martyr George, the shepherd recovered.
Also, once the devil attacked Saint Cyprian, and began to beat and strangle him. Cyprian could not defend himself against him in any way, he only raised his hand and crossed himself — and the devil immediately, like an arrow, jumped away from him, then, like a lion, roared and disappeared. Such is the power of the sign of the Cross, which we must put upon ourselves reverently and with a living remembrance of the Savior of the world crucified on the Cross.
When we make the sign of the Cross, we are clothed with Divine power, which at this time overshadows and protects us from all evil. That is why the Cross is placed on us at birth, with the Cross on our chest and in our hands we swim across the stormy sea of life's troubles, with the Cross we are escorted to the place of our final rest, and on our grave itself a Cross will be placed as a sign of our salvation.
As we venerate the Life-Gving Cross of the Lord today, let us kiss it with sincere love and filial devotion to the Lord, believing that Christ crucified on the Cross is not an ordinary man, but a God-man.
With fear and trembling, let each one approach the Cross and with tenderness glorify the Lord with his lips, crying out from the depths of his soul: We venerate Your Cross, O Master, and glorify Your holy Resurrection! Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Holy Church glorifies the power of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, and at the same time remembers the sufferings of Christ, which He endured on the Cross. The reason for the establishment of this feast was an extraordinary event, miraculously revealed to the inhabitants of the capital of the Greek state from the Wood of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord.
A severe pestilence broke out in Constantinople, which claimed thousands of human lives every day. And so the residents of the city turned to God in prayer, adding to this a procession with the Wood of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord through the streets of the Byzantine capital, sprinkling all the houses and buildings with holy water. And as at the end of the religious procession the pestilence immediately ceased, in memory of this wonderful event it was established annually on August 1 to celebrate the feast of the Cross of the Lord. In addition, this event was joined by others, in which the power of God also miraculously appeared: the victory of the Greek army over the Saracens, and the Russian army over the Volga Bulgarians, since these events also took place on August 1 by the power of the Life-Giving Cross and the prayers of the Most Pure Mother of God. However, remembering these events and glorifying the power of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, the Church now also remembers the suffering of Christ.
In the Gospel set for today, you have heard a touching account of the last hours and minutes of the earthly life of Christ the Savior. The Most Holy of Holies, the Sinless One, is brought to the pagan Pilate, humiliated and insulted by the frantic crowd making noise around Him. With insane anger and bitterness, the chief priests, scribes, the elders of men, and all the Jewish people demand a shameful death for the Immortal One: "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" (John 19:6). Pilate, a pagan who did not know the Divine teaching, moved by a sense of justice, tried to free Him: "Take Him and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him" (John 19:6). But their threats to accuse him before Caesar force the ruler to deliver the Lord into the hands of his enemies for crucifixion.
After many new sufferings and humiliations, the Lord ascends to Golgotha, carrying a heavy Cross, here He is nailed to the Cross and gives up His spirit, hanging in the midst of two thieves. Such an immeasurable humiliation, such a terrible death! And the question arises: why this terrible sacrifice?
"He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5), answers the holy prophet Isaiah. By the time of the Savior's coming to earth, the entire human race was in sin, people had forgotten God, they had forgotten His Divine Law, even the Jewish people, chosen by God, had perverted and forgotten the Law.
All sinned, all transgressed the commandments of God, and therefore deserved eternal damnation and death. God is all-good and all-merciful, but He is also infinitely just. Divine truth was indignant at human unrighteousness, at human sins. It was necessary to satisfy this holy Truth. But who among the people could take upon himself intercession before the Justice of God, when each person himself is infected with sin? Moreover, human sins were extremely great, and the sacrifice for them had to be the greatest.
And it was such a supreme sacrifice that the Son of God became. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). By the Savior's death on the Cross, we are redeemed from sin, damnation, and death. The Blood of the Innocent was shed on the Cross, so that the guilty could escape the wrath of God that they deserved. What ineffable mercy, what goodness of God is given from the Cross to the sinful human race! "Christ died for our sins" (1 Corinthians 15:3). The sins of the whole world are nailed to the Cross. He Who ascended to the Cross and shed His most pure Blood became an eternal Intercessor for us before God the Father.
His wounded hands lovingly embrace the entire human race and lead all who wish to the Father. That which formerly separated creation, the disobedient sons of men, from the Creator, was destroyed by the Sacrifice of Golgotha. And the Cross, from a shameful instrument of the death penalty, has become for the faithful the most precious, the most honorable weapon in their hands for the struggle against the enemies of our souls. Erected on Golgotha, it shines brightly over the entire earth, warming with its rays the cold and hardened hearts of people.
Come, all you who mourn, to this Cross, look upon it, and you will find rest for your souls. Just as the brazen serpent erected by Moses of old healed those wounded by the serpent when it was looked upon, so the Cross of Christ gives healing to human souls when people run to it and pray with love before it.
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem says: "The Cross is a great protection, given to the poor as a gift, and to the weak without labor. This is the grace of God: a sign for the faithful, and fear for evil spirits." By making the sign of the Cross, we surrender ourselves to the guidance of the Lord Himself and, as with a shield, protect ourselves from the snares and forces of the enemy. Thus, for example, in the life of the holy Apostle John the Theologian it is narrated: a poor Christian, having nothing with which to pay a debt to his lender, asked a Judean sorcerer to give him poison. Twice he took it, but the poison did not work, because each time the Christian made the sign of the Cross over the vessel with the poison. Or another example: a certain shepherd was dying of a snake's bite. But when a certain pious elder poured water on the cross into his mouth with the invocation of the great name of the Holy Trinity and the name of the Great Martyr George, the shepherd recovered.
Also, once the devil attacked Saint Cyprian, and began to beat and strangle him. Cyprian could not defend himself against him in any way, he only raised his hand and crossed himself — and the devil immediately, like an arrow, jumped away from him, then, like a lion, roared and disappeared. Such is the power of the sign of the Cross, which we must put upon ourselves reverently and with a living remembrance of the Savior of the world crucified on the Cross.
When we make the sign of the Cross, we are clothed with Divine power, which at this time overshadows and protects us from all evil. That is why the Cross is placed on us at birth, with the Cross on our chest and in our hands we swim across the stormy sea of life's troubles, with the Cross we are escorted to the place of our final rest, and on our grave itself a Cross will be placed as a sign of our salvation.
As we venerate the Life-Gving Cross of the Lord today, let us kiss it with sincere love and filial devotion to the Lord, believing that Christ crucified on the Cross is not an ordinary man, but a God-man.
With fear and trembling, let each one approach the Cross and with tenderness glorify the Lord with his lips, crying out from the depths of his soul: We venerate Your Cross, O Master, and glorify Your holy Resurrection! Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.