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."

But the sign of the Cross also commands the elements! This is evidenced by the following story from the life of St. Sava the Sanctified.

"And it happened that there was a brother who had the obedience of bread, and was soaked with rain, and it was winter, and the sun did not shine; And if I have no place to dry my clothes, put them in the furnace on top of the wood, and forget them. At a little time the brethren came to bake bread and kindled a fire, which did not lead, like a baker put his clothes in it to dry. And the wood is already burning, the baker will remember his clothes and grieve for their sake. And there was also the blessed Sava, who had seen the sorrow of his brothers, despised himself, and, making the sign of the cross, entered into the flame of the furnace. And about a miracle! The lad Sava, for the sake of love for his brother (moreover, protected by the power of the cross), was unharmed from the furnace, wearing the clothes of his brethren intact in his hands, and his own belongings were unburned. When the brethren saw this miracle, they were terrified" (Life of St. Sava, December 5).

And so, my friends, let us make the sign of the cross with faith, so that it may be for us also to be saved from dangers and to victory over evil demons.

Invincible and incomprehensible and divine power of the honorable and life-giving Cross, do not forsake us, sinners!

Was the Body of Christ nailed with three or four nails?

For a long time, Orthodox and Catholic crucifixes have been distinguished by the fact that the feet of Christ on the Orthodox crucifix have a more natural pose and are nailed with two nails, and on the Catholic crucifix - with one. And how were they actually nailed? And where did the Catholic tradition come from?