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).

A contemporary and fellow disciple of Julian, St. Gregory the Theologian, in a sermon against Julian, says that at that time there was a shining cross in the sky and the clothes of the spectators were sealed with crosses. Many of the outside spectators, as historians write, ran to watch this spectacle of the struggle with the mysterious fiery element. The enemy of Christianity had to confess his own impotence, but did not repent of his malice.

In the battle with the Persians, the enemy's arrow struck Julian. As he was dying, he cried out with sorrow: "Thou hast conquered me, O Galilean"! (this is how he called the Lord Jesus Christ). After the death of Julian the Apostate, all subsequent emperors of the Roman Empire took care of the establishment of Christianity throughout the empire. But from the seventh century onwards, new sufferings began for Christians in the East. In 614 .

the Persian king Chosroes took possession of Jerusalem, handed over ninety thousand Christians to the Jews for execution, took Patriarch Zachariah with many other Christians into captivity, burned down the Church of the Resurrection, stole the jewels of the temple and carried off the Cross of Christ to Persia. After 14 years, in 628, the Greek emperor Heraclius defeated the Persians, returned all the captive Christians, led by Patriarch Zachariah, and St.

The cross was returned to Jerusalem with honor. Rejoicing and thanking God, the emperor Heraclius wished to bring the Cross to Jerusalem himself. But at Golgotha an invisible force stopped the Cross, and the king was powerless to carry it. Then Patriarch Zachariah pointed out to the emperor that the Son of God – the King of Heaven – carried the Cross to Golgotha in humility and humiliation. The emperor humbly obeyed the Patriarch, took off his royal robes and barefoot brought in the Holy Synod.

The Cross to the church on Golgotha, where the Patriarch again erected the Holy Cross over the people. Soon after this great event, the false prophet Mohammed appeared in Arabia. Suffering from childhood epilepsy (nervous seizures) and hallucinations (ghostly visions), he himself believed in his vocation to create a new religion, and at the age of 40 he preached his own sermon. In 632 .

with his followers, he conquered Mecca (in Arabia, the birthplace of Mohammed) and established his faith. Then his followers conquered Egypt, Syria, Palestine and Jerusalem itself by force of arms. Gradually, Mohammedanism (the teaching of Mohammed) spread more and more, and the Greek Empire became weaker and weaker. Finally, in the middle of the XV century (1454 )

, under Emperor Constantine Palaiologos, the Turks conquered Constantinople itself. Ecumenical Councils Among Christians there sometimes appeared people who incorrectly expounded Christian teaching and wished to impose their false teachings (false, incorrect teachings) on the whole Church. The Church calls such false teachings heresies, and false teachers heretics.