[Orthodox Metal] Exaltation of the Holy Cross (326) - 2024-09-14

Exaltation of the Honorable and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord
Day of celebration: 14 September

Elevation of the Holy Cross
The Roman pagan emperors tried to completely destroy in mankind the memories of the sacred places where our Lord Jesus Christ suffered for people and rose again. Emperor Hadrian (117 - 138) has ordered to fill with earth Golgotha and Empty Tomb and on an artificial hill to put a temple of pagan goddess Venus and statue of Jupiter. Pagans gathered to this place and made idol sacrifices. However, 300 years later, by the Providence of God, the great Christian shrines - the Holy Sepulchre and the Life-Giving Cross - were rediscovered by Christians and opened for worship. This happened under the Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor Constantine the Great (Comm. 21 May), the first of the Roman emperors to stop persecution of Christians. The Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine the Great (306 - 337) after victory in 312 over Maxentius, ruler of the Western part of the Roman Empire, and over Licinius, ruler of its Eastern part, in 323 became the sole ruler of the vast Roman Empire. In 313 he issued the so-called Edict of Milan, by which the Christian religion was legalized and the persecution of Christians in the Western half of the Empire ceased. The governor Licinius, though and signed in favor of Constantine the Milan edict, however actually continued persecution on Christians. Only after his final defeat and on the Eastern part of the empire spread the decree of 313 on religious tolerance. The Equal Apostle Emperor Constantine, who by the help of God won victory over his enemies in three wars, saw the sign of God in the sky - the Cross with the inscription "This is the victory". Eager to find the Cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, the Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine sent his mother, the pious Queen Helen (Comm. 21 May), to Jerusalem, supplying her with a letter to the Patriarch Macarius of Jerusalem. Although the holy queen Helen was by this time already in her old age, she enthusiastically undertook the fulfillment of the commission. She ordered the destruction of the pagan shrines and idol statues that filled Jerusalem. In search of the Life-Giving Cross, she questioned Christians and Jews, but for a long time her search was unsuccessful. Finally, an old Jew named Judas was pointed out to her, who told her that the Cross was buried where there was a temple of Venus. The temple was destroyed and, after prayer, they began to dig the ground. Soon the Holy Sepulchre and near it three crosses, a plaque with an inscription made by Pilate's order, and four nails that pierced the body of the Lord were discovered. To know on which of three crosses the Savior was crucified, Patriarch Macarius alternately laid the crosses on the deceased. When the Cross of the Lord was laid, the dead man came to life. When everyone saw the risen man, they were convinced that the Life-Giving Cross had been found. The Christians, who had come in countless numbers to worship the Holy Cross, asked St. Macarius to raise and elevate the Cross, so that all could, though from a distance, reverently contemplate it. Then the Patriarch and other clerics began to raise the Holy Cross high, and the people, crying out: "Lord, have mercy", reverently worshiped the Honored Tree. This solemn event took place in 326. At the finding of the Life-Giving Cross, another miracle took place: a seriously ill woman was immediately healed when she was exposed to the Holy Cross. The elder Judas and other Jews believed in Christ and received holy Baptism. Judas received the name Cyriacus and was later ordained bishop of Jerusalem. In the reign of Julian the Apostate (361 - 363) he accepted martyrdom for Christ (Comm. of the Holy Martyr Cyriacus on October 28).

Read more at https://days.pravoslavie.ru/Life/life1529.htm

Troparion of the Exaltation of the Honorable and Life-Giving Cross
Tone 1
Save, O Lord, Thy people /and bless Thy possessions, /granting victories against opposition /and preserving Thy dwelling by Thy Cross.

Kontakion of the Exaltation of the Honorable and Life-Giving Cross
Tone 4
Ascend to the Cross with your will, / to the namesake of your new life, / grant your bounty, O Christ God, / cheer us with your power, / giving us victories to match, / to those who have your weapons of peace, / invincible victory.

Magnification
We magnify Thee, / O living Christ, / and we honor Thy holy Cross, / by which we have been saved from the work of the enemy.

Intercession
Tone 8
Magnify, O my soul, / the Most Holy Cross of the Lord. You are the mystery, O Mother of God, paradise, / who raised up Christ without cultivation, / by which the life-giving Tree of the Cross was planted on the earth.