And Christ the Lord showed us an example of all this, humbly giving himself over to crucifixion, so that everyone who believes in Him would learn not to despise humble love, but to show it constantly, considering it the best adornment of his Christian life. Amen.

The Word on the Cross

O three-blessed tree, on which Christ the King and Lord was crucified!

In these brief words of the church hymn there is both praise of the holy cross and an explanation of the miraculous fact that the cross, the instrument of the most shameful execution, has become our adornment, has become honorable, treblessed, that instead of bringing a curse upon the Crucified One, for it is said in the Holy Scriptures: "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree," the cross itself was sanctified and became an instrument and symbol of blessing.

In Rome, only slaves were crucified; A slave there was not considered a person: a guilty slave, without any trial or appeal to the authorities, was simply thrown into the pool by the master to be eaten by the moraines.

In the Roman provinces, only rebels and robbers were crucified. And suddenly, in the same Rome, in the arena of the Colosseum, in the very arena, the sand of which is soaked in the blood of Christian martyrs, a cross is erected with the inscription: "Ave sruх, unica spes nostra" (Praise to the Cross, our only hope!).

What happened so that such a miraculous metamorphosis could take place?!

The cross was sanctified by the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, on it. And that which had hitherto been terror, shame, and torment became loved, revered, praised, desired, and reverently kissed.

Listen to the stichera and troparia with which the Church blesses the honorable cross! It is felt that these words could have been spoken for the first time only in Jerusalem, only at the original wood of the Cross of the Lord. This means that the Church of Christ from hoary antiquity, one might say, from the first day of its existence, already loved and revered the cross of the Lord. This love was passed on to us. And an amazing thing! We even outwardly, in the very manner of our veneration of the Cross, resemble the first Christians. A pilgrim to Palestine at the end of the fourth century, the Spanish nun Silvia, describes how the Cross of the Lord was kissed at that time: "People passed by one after another; all - bending down and touching the Cross first with their foreheads, then with their eyes, and, having kissed the Cross, they pass"...

The fact that the Cross will one day become a sign of victory and salvation is mentioned as a foreshadowing in the Old Testament. Thus Moses, during the battle between the Jews and the Amalekites, stood on the top of the hill, and when he lifted up his hands (crosswise), he overcame Israel, and when he lowered it, he overcame Amalek, so that for the final victory Aaron and Hur supported his hands until the setting of the sun (Exodus 17:11).

The cross is a sign-sign of our salvation. The prophet Ezekiel has the following passage in his book (chapter 9, verse 46): the Lord showed him in a vision the destruction of Jerusalem for its apostasy from God. The Lord sent an angel and said: "Go through the midst of the city, and make a sign on the foreheads of people who mourn and sigh for all the abominations that are committed in the midst of it." And to the other angels he said: "Go and smite without pity and without mercy the old man, the youth, the virgin and the child, beat to death, but do not touch one person who has a mark."

What is this sign? This is the letter "tau", which was written - T, i.e. approximately in the same way as the Golgotha Cross is depicted by some archaeologists. Thus, in this destruction of the Jerusalemites, those who had the sign of the cross on their foreheads were spared. In the same way, in a moment of danger, we first of all touch our foreheads, making the sign of the cross. And it is truly the power of God, which saves man.

The ancient historian of the Christian Church, Theodoret of Cyrus, has the following legend about Julian the Apostate: "Finally, Julian found a man who promised him to predict what would happen to him in life. Having brought Julian to a certain idolatrous pagan temple, that man began to summon evil demons. When the demons appeared in their usual form, terror involuntarily communicated itself to Julian and forced him to make the sign of the cross on his forehead. Seeing this sign of Christ's victory and their own defeat, the demons instantly disappeared. The wizard learned the reason for their flight and began to reproach Julian. Julian confessed to him his fright, and at the same time expressed amazement at how great was the power of the Cross, if the demons could not resist its image."