Readings from Bishop THOMAS

By Archpriest Steven Rogers

From The Word, September 1998 

As the church begins its journey through the liturgical year in September, she presents us with the starting point of our salvation — the Cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

On September 14, we celebrate the great feast of the Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross. During the service, the priest proceeds through the church lifting up a flower-laden cross. As the service continues, the clergy and all the faithful bow down and venerate the precious instrument of our salvation.

Historically, this feast commemorates the discovery of the True Cross by St. Helena, the mother of St. Constantine. Upon its discovery, word spread throughout the Holy City. As huge crowds gathered to venerate the Cross of the Lord, St. Makarios, Patriarch of Jerusalem, carried it up into a pulpit and lifted it up before all the people, who began to cry out repeatedly, “Lord have mercy.” The feast also commemorates a second “lifting up of the Cross” in 629. After having been captured by the Persians upon their conquest of Jerusalem, the Cross was recovered by the Emperor Heraclius, who took the cross to Constantinople where it was exalted in the Great Church of Hagia Sophia.