In order to make all of the above even more convincing for us, let us compare the burial of Christ with the burial of Lazarus. At the burial, the body of Lazarus was wrapped hand and foot with funeral shrouds, and his face was tied with a handkerchief (John 11:44). It is natural to assume that the body of Christ was wrapped in a shroud hand and foot, and the emperor did not simply lie on His head, but wrapped His face and entire head around His head. When the body of Christ was thus covered with the shroud and the judge, it could not be naturally reflected on one piece of linen, as can be seen on the Shroud of Turin.

And yet this image is undoubtedly Christ's; and all the signs on it are signs of Christ's sufferings! The face of Christ is regally calm, although it bears traces of a blow on the nose and eye. Not only do you not want to turn away from this countenance, which bears obvious traces of terrible desecration, but the more you look, the more you look, the deeper the thought enters your soul: "He was wounded for our transgressions, and was bruised for our iniquities" (Isaiah 53:5).

But how did the image come about? Miraculously: as on the cloths of Augarus and Veronica. Mirabiliter impressa!

As soon as we accept this assumption, all difficulties will be removed, there will be no disagreement with the Gospel, there will be no need for artificial interpretations of the Evangs. text, there will be no need to leave Christ's body lying naked in the tomb. No matter how little time Joseph and Nicodemus had before sunset and the beginning of Holy Saturday, they could not leave the work they had lovingly taken upon themselves unfinished. It would be as if rich people now buried their friend naked and without a coffin!

We should not be at all confused by the fact that on the cloths of Augarus and Veronica the image is positive, and on the Shroud of Turin it is negative. If men of science, when asked, for example, about the causative agents of cancer, do not answer with a clear reference to a certain bacillus, but with long arguments about the degeneration of tissues under the influence of various causes, and finally add that in the present state of science this question cannot be finally clarified, why should not we, people of faith, say that we do not know? for what reasons and at what moment in the three days - from Friday to Sunday - the body of Christ was imprinted on the shroud, and in a negative way?! This is a mystery of God, similar to that which surrounds miraculous icons. A holy icon influences us spiritually, and why and how it became miraculous, we do not investigate.

The Lord Jesus Christ left us His faces not made by hands, so that through them we would love Him even more and believe that He is truly the One Who came into the world of sinners to save.

Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord

When the cross lies before us, and we, having bowed down to the ground, have shown our reverence for it and are ready to kiss it with our hearts and lips, in order to express our love for the crucified Jesus Christ, – at these very moments we will talk about the meaning of the Cross of Christ.

The Cross is the guardian of the entire universe, the Cross is the beauty of the Church, the Cross is the power of kings, the Cross is the affirmation of the faithful, the Cross is the glory of angels and the plague of demons!

The Cross is the hope of Christians, the guide of the lost, the refuge of the overwhelmed, the victory in battles, the confirmation of the universe, the physician of the sick, the resurrection of the dead!

Church poets, compilers of stichera, strove not only to express its power and significance, but also to dispose us to believe in it.

It is natural for us to make the sign of the cross, to wear it on our chests, and to see it everywhere: in churches, in cemeteries, and on elevated places. The Cross, together with the preaching of Christ crucified, has entered so deeply into the life of mankind that no forces are able to destroy it. But if the time comes, it will not be seen; if such terrible days come, when people will be ashamed of the cross and afraid to show faith in it, then this will be a sure sign of the imminent second coming of Christ for the judgment of the adulterous and sinful world. Then it will appear, no longer in secret places, but in heaven, so that all will see the sign of the Son of man, the Cross of Christ, desired by us Christians, and then all the families of the earth will weep before Him (Matt. 24:30).

The Cross of Christ was not only a temptation for some in the first years of apostolic preaching, but madness for others; not only people who heard the preaching of the Crucified Lord for the first time were confused, perplexed, and did not believe that our salvation could have been accomplished in such a strange and terrible way, but also those who have been Christians since childhood, coming of age, are tempted by the preaching of the Church about our salvation through the sufferings of the Son of God on the cross. And they are not so much tempted by the fact of the crucifixion of the Son of God, as by the words of the Saviour: "If any man will walk after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and come after Me." If the sufferings of Christ are accepted by faith, then the teaching of the Church that for our salvation we too must be crucified with Christ, crucify our flesh with passions and lusts, and bear the cross of life without complaint – this teaching does not always find a response, is not always recognized as the only way to salvation. To put it simply and clearly, believers often do not understand the meaning of the sufferings, sorrows, sorrows and illnesses by which we must enter into the Kingdom of God (Acts 14:22).