Constantine fulfilled God's command and defeated the enemy. He took the Christians under his protection and declared the faith of Christ to be the dominant (main). He abolished execution by crucifixion and issued laws in favor of the Church of Christ. For their merits and zeal for the spread of the Christian faith, Constantine the Great and his mother Helena received the name of the holy kings of the Equal-to-the-Apostles, that is, equal to the apostles.

The Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor Constantine wished to build churches of God on sacred places for Christians in Palestine (i.e. , on the place of the birth, suffering, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, etc.) and to find the Cross on which the Savior was crucified. With great joy, his mother, the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Empress Helena, undertook to fulfill the tsar's wish.

In the year 326, Queen Helen set off for Jerusalem for this purpose. She put a lot of effort into finding the Cross of Christ, since the enemies of Christ hid the Cross, burying it in the ground. Finally, she was pointed out to an elderly Jew named Judas, who knew where the Cross of the Lord was. After much questioning and persuasion, he was forced to speak.

It turned out that the Holy Cross was thrown into a cave and littered with garbage and earth, and a pagan temple was built on top. Queen Helena ordered the destruction of this building and the excavation of the cave. When they dug up the cave, they found in it three crosses and a separate tablet with the inscription: "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." It was necessary to find out which of the three crosses was the Cross of the Saviour. Patriarch of Jerusalem (bishop)

Macarius and Empress Helena firmly believed and hoped that God would indicate the holy Cross of the Savior. On the advice of the bishop, they began to bring crosses one after another to a seriously ill woman. No miracle occurred from the two crosses, but when the third cross was laid, she immediately became healthy. It happened that at that time the deceased was being carried past for burial.

Then they began to lay crosses one after another on the deceased; and when the third cross was laid, the dead man came to life. In this way they recognized the Cross of the Lord, through which the Lord performed miracles and showed the life-giving power of His Cross. Empress Helena, Patriarch Macarius and the people around them venerated the Cross of Christ with joy and reverence and kissed it.

Christians, having learned of this great event, gathered in an innumerable multitude to the place where the Cross of the Lord was found (found). Everyone wanted to venerate the Holy Life-Giving Cross. But since it was impossible to do this because of the multitude of people, everyone began to ask at least to show him. Then Patriarch Macarius stood on an elevated place and, so that everyone could see, he raised it up several times.

The people, seeing the Cross of the Saviour, bowed down and exclaimed: "Lord, have mercy!" St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperors Constantine and Helena, over the place of the suffering, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, built a vast and magnificent church in honor of the Resurrection of Christ. Churches were also built on the Mount of Olives, in Bethlehem and in Fevron at the Oak of Mamre. Empress Helena brought part of the Cross of the Lord to her son, Emperor Constantine, and left the other part in Jerusalem.

This precious remnant of the Cross of Christ is still kept in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ. After the discovery of the life-giving Cross of the Lord, Judas, who indicated the location of the Cross, became a Christian. Then, for his virtuous life, he was ordained bishop with the name of Kyriakos and elevated to the cathedra of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

He suffered for Christ under Julian the Apostate. The Holy Hieromartyr Kyriakos is commemorated on October 28 (November 10 New Style). In memory of the finding of the Cross of Christ and His Exaltation, the Holy Orthodox Church established the feast of the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord. This feast is one of the great feasts and is celebrated on September 14 (September 27) During the all-night service (at Matins), the Cross is brought out for veneration.

After the great doxology, the priest, dressed in all priestly vestments and holding the Holy Scripture over his head. A cross decorated with flowers, while singing "Holy God"... He carries it out of the altar to the middle of the church and places it on the analogion. During the triple singing of the troparion "Save Thee, O Lord, Thy people"..., the priest censes the Holy Scriptures. Cross. Then, during the singing: "We worship Thy Cross, O Master, and we glorify Thy holy resurrection," everyone bows and kisses the Holy Cross. Cross. The Holy Trinity is adorned.

The cross is green and flowers as a sign that through it (i.e. , through the suffering and death of the Savior on it) eternal life has been granted to us. On this feast day, a fast is established in order to deepen the reverent remembrance of the Savior's sufferings on the Cross. In spite of the final victory of Christianity over paganism, the pagans nevertheless tried once again to oppose the Christians, under the emperor Julian the Apostate.

Julian was the son of the brother of Constantine the Great. Although he was first brought up in Christianity, when he became emperor, he began to worship idols and declared himself a pagan and greatly oppressed Christians. Having opened a persecution against Christians, Julian allowed the Jews to rebuild the Jerusalem temple and gave funds for this. But the Lord defended the holy faith.

According to the testimony of not only Christian, but also pagan writers, an earthquake and clouds of fire bursting out of the ground forced to stop the restoration of the Jerusalem Temple initiated by Julian. Even those stones that remained in the depths of the earth from the former temple were thrown away, so that in the full sense of the word there was not one stone left upon another. So, the pagan Ammianus Marcellinus, a contemporary of the emperor Julian and an admirer of him, writes: "terrible clouds of flame, often bursting out of the foundation, made this place impregnable, burning those who worked repeatedly; thus this enterprise was stopped by the elements, which drove away the workers stubbornly" (Book 23, Ch. 1).