Instead of patiently bearing the cross of life with faith in the crucified Savior and thereby preparing itself for the Kingdom of God, the humanity of our time is exerting all its strength and capabilities to settle down with all the comforts here on earth. This craving for earthly well-being, for a sorrowless life, gives rise in individuals to coldness towards God, lack of faith, and even complete falling away from faith, and in the masses - an irrepressible attraction to social and state revolutions, which are supposed to lead to universal happiness.

Once the devil tempted the first people: "If you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you yourselves will be like gods." In other words, give up on God, don't listen to Him, and you'll feel good, better than you are now. Isn't the same thing happening now? If you want happiness, as the former seducer the devil asks everyone, then renounce the Gospel, which demands of you fasting, abstinence, repentance, and weeping over sins; renounce Christ, Who was crucified, Who promises you the Kingdom of Heaven, and you will settle down beautifully on earth, you will be happy. And since the desire for happiness and well-being is innate in man, it is difficult for him to resist this seductive call, it is difficult for him to struggle with his desire to live here to all his pleasure. And therefore the number of faithful disciples of our Saviour is becoming less and less.

Fortunately for us, we do not see that people who have rejected the Lord would be really happy, that their lives would flow without sorrows. This is a lesson and a saving warning for us!

But the best remedy against this temptation is closeness to the Lord Jesus Christ, Who was crucified, it is true, but also resurrected and promised us, His faithful disciples, the inheritance of eternal life (John 12:25-26).

Whoever is with the Lord always has the image of the crucified Christ before his eyes. Whoever is with the Lord remembers the resurrection of Christ. Whoever is with the Lord awaits the life of the age to come, holds fast to this hope and draws strength from it to bear his cross to the end.

And so, fellow brethren, making the sign of the Cross on yourselves, be transported in your thoughts to Christ Crucified, behold Him with the eyes of faith, be strengthened in faith and love for Him, – then no temptation will be able to separate us from the Lord. Amen.

Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord

The work of God's love for man began in the Bethlehem cave and ended on Golgotha. And all of it is permeated with the deepest humility.

Christ, the Son of God, is born in a cave, "for there is no place for Him in the monastery." And the poorest child is born in the house, and the Creator of the worlds humbles himself to a position in a manger. Out of Herod's malice, He flees to Egypt, as if He could not defend Himself in His homeland, as if there were no secret place in all Palestine to hide the Divine Infant for a while.

He goes to John on the Jordan among tax collectors and sinners and is baptized, as one of those to whom the Baptist's call was addressed: "Repent!"

He walks on the earth, not having where to lay his head. He lives in poverty to Whom the kings of the earth would gladly give all their riches and give up their palaces, if they believed that He is the Messiah.

Finally, he is betrayed by one of His disciples and hears another of those closest to Him deny with an oath that he does not know Him.

He endures mockery and humiliation, hears the cry of the maddened crowd: "Crucify Him!" ascends to the cross and dies, abandoned not only by the crowd of thousands who recently shouted "Hosanna" to Him, but also by His disciples.