The Orthodox Church, born on the eve of the appearance of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord to the world and become, in the person of the Apostles, an eyewitness to the great feat of love, even unto death and death on the cross, has since accepted the sign of the Cross as a salvific symbol for the faithful, and not only as a symbol, but as a saving power by which enemies are defeated.

Testimonies about the veneration of the Cross of the Lord have been preserved in the apostolic writings that have come down to us and in the writings of the teachers of the Church. And the living examples of this power, appearing at all times, brought to life a special rule of veneration of the Cross, established at the Sixth Ecumenical Council, which took place in the year 680 in Constantinople.

Its 73rd canon reads: "Since the Life-Creating Cross has shown us salvation, it behooves us to use all diligence, so that honor may be given to him through which we have been saved from the ancient Fall."

The first is the terrible and glorious Cross of the Lord, which from an instrument of execution has become an instrument of power and glory. This is the Cross that lifted up from earth to heaven the innocent and voluntary Sufferer Christ the Savior and with Him nailed the sins of the whole world. The Cross, watered with His pure blood and with it washing away all sinful defilement. A cross that absorbed a multitude of malicious glances, mockery and blasphemy. The Cross, at the foot of which only two people were weeping: the Mother of the Crucified One, by Whose very heart the weapon of the Cross passed, and the only disciple whose love was not frightened away by the horror of suffering.

This Cross ascended above the world for a short time, in order to hide in the earth for a long time by the malice of man. But this short time was enough for the Life-Giving Cross to conquer the world and give it life.

By a long and difficult path of humility the Lord Jesus Christ entered into His glory, but the humiliation of the Life-Giving Tree, on which He offered Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world, lasted incomparably longer. The glory of the Crucified One had already filled all the ends of the world, and the Life-Giving Wood of the Cross, hidden in ignorance and ignominy, awaited its hour for another three centuries.

Already the Cross crowned the Church of Christ, the sign of the Cross by the power of Christ crucified on it strengthened the human weakness of the first Christians, who went to torture for their faith, and the only Life-Giving and Saving Tree was still hidden from the eyes of men.