WE WORSHIP YOUR CROSS, LORD…

On April 2, on the eve of the Week of the Veneration of the Cross in Lent, the All-night vigil in the Holy Trinity Church in Balakovo was celebrated by priest Alexander Kuzmenko.

On Saturday of the third week of Great Lent, in all Orthodox churches during the All-Night Vigil, the Cross is brought from the altar to the middle of the church, which is worshiped by the clergy and parishioners. Worship of the Cross of the Lord is intended to remind believers that the path to the Resurrection lies precisely through the cross and the salvation of the soul is impossible without a struggle with sins and passions, without sorrows and suffering. The Cross is taken back to the altar on Friday of the fourth week of Great Lent. That is why the entire week is called the Worship of the Cross.

After the Great Doxology, the priest performed the rite of bringing out the Honest and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord for veneration.

“The Cross is the guardian of the entire universe, the Cross is the beauty of the church, the Cross is the power of kings, the Cross is the strengthening of believers, the Cross is the glory of angels and the plague of demons.” This is how one of the church hymns explains the meaning of the Cross for the whole world. “With the reed of the Cross, having dipped it in the red ink of Your blood, You, Lord, royally signed for us the forgiveness of sins.”- says one of the stichera of the holiday.

LENT SERMON

Today, having carried the Honorable Cross into the middle of the church, we remember with reverence and prayer the Savior’s feat on the cross. It is no coincidence that it is in the middle of Great Lent that the Holy Church directs our gaze to the Cross of the Lord - so that remembering the suffering of the Savior will give us courage and strength.

Every person in his life faces trials and injustice. Every person suffers, some more, others less. And many people, at the moment of suffering, grumble at God, asking: “Why, Lord, did I have such a difficult lot?” Remembrance of the Cross should help us understand that if God Himself endured human untruth, envy, slander, beatings, torture, death, if He experienced such cruel suffering, being absolutely innocent and sinless, He drank the most bitter cup that can be drunk on this earth, then this means that in suffering there is great meaning. The meaning of the Savior’s suffering is that it atoned for human sins, and through His suffering on the cross the doors to eternity were opened for us.

Therefore, we cannot grumble at God when we also have to suffer. You cannot grumble at the One who drank the cup of the most severe suffering. We don’t complain about people who suffer more in this life than we do - we, as they say, are speechless. Moreover, our thoughts should not rebel against God, so that we do not offend Him with our murmuring. But on the contrary, as Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk said: “We must admit from the heart that God does great mercy to us when he punishes us with his fatherly rod, although this is sad for our weak flesh. For the Lord punishes whomever he loves (Heb. 12:6). Therefore, you should not grumble, but thank Him for this.”

The Cross of Christ teaches us to accept suffering with humility. Of course, it is impossible to pretend that nothing is happening when life deals painful blows, but they should not break our will, destroy our personality and life. We must turn everything to the good: failures in life, illnesses, and sorrows that God sends to us, remembering that if the Lord deigned to suffer for the sake of saving people, then our sorrows also have a saving significance for us. The strength of a Christian lies, first of all, in the fact that, trusting in the will of God, trusting in the Lord, he is able to steadfastly and without complaining overcome pain and suffering, and therefore be internally strong and invincible.

The Savior, looking at us from the Cross, calls on everyone, following His example, not to turn away from their own cross, but to bear it in such a way that this bearing of the cross opens the doors of salvation for us, makes us stronger, wiser, and more spiritually elevated. All this is possible through a Christian attitude towards the cross, one’s sorrows and suffering. The Lord gives us not only an example, but also strength. When, from the depths of the misfortune that has befallen us, we turn our gaze to Him, our fervent prayer, then in response to it God gives strength to overcome trials, stopping our bearing of the cross when it exceeds our strength and capabilities.

May the Lord help us all in the ability to bear our cross in life, become stronger under its weight, rise spiritually, grow in faith, thereby opening the doors of salvation, which are not locked for anyone, for in order for us to be able to enter these doors . The Lord took upon Himself the suffering of the cross and cruel death. By the power of God, may we gain strength in bearing our cross in life.

The third Sunday is called Week of the Cross. Its name comes from the fact that on Saturday evening, according to a special rite, veneration of the Honest and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, which has become for us “ tree of life” and opened the entrance to the blissful heavenly Fatherland lost by pristine man. Remembering the suffering on the cross that the Lord endured for the sake of our salvation, we ourselves must strengthen ourselves in spirit and continue our fasting feat with humility and patience.

History of the establishment of the Week of the Cross

“On the same day, in the third week of Lent, we celebrate the veneration of the Honest and Life-Giving Cross, for the sake of sin. For the sake of the fourty-day fast, in some way we are crucified, killed by passions, and the feeling of grief, the imams, is despondent and falling. The Honest and Life-Giving Cross is offered, as if to repose and strengthen us, remembering the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ and consoling us. Even if our God were crucified for our sake, how much we owe to Him for the sake of His work.

... Just as the path is traversed by duty and sharply, and burdened by labor, even where the tree is blessed and leafy, they rest little while sitting, so now, in Lenten times, the sorrowful path and feat, planted in the midst of the God-bearing Father, the Life-Giving Cross, gives us weakness and peace , and arranging those who were useful and easy for the work before them.
... The Holy Pentecost is like a bitter spring, for the sake of contrition and the grief and sadness that exists for us from fasting. Just as in this environment, the divine Moses placed a tree and sweetened it, so God, who led us through the wise Red Sea and Pharaoh, with the Life-giving Tree of the Cross, delights, even from the fourty-day fast, grief and sadness. And consoling us, as if we were in the desert, He will lead us all the way to wise Jerusalem with His resurrection" ( Lenten Triodion, Synoxarion on the Sunday of the Cross ).

The Gospels do not provide much detail about the cross on which Christ was crucified. The discovery of the Holy Cross took place in 326, when it was found Saint Queen Helena during her pilgrimage to Jerusalem:

...divine Constantine sent blessed Helen with treasures to find the life-giving cross of the Lord. Patriarch Macarius of Jerusalem met the queen with due honor and together with her looked for the desired life-giving tree, remaining in silence and diligent prayers and fasting. (“Chronography” of Theophanes, year 5817 (324/325))

The history of the discovery of the Holy Cross is described by many authors of that time: Ambrose of Milan (c. 340-397), Rufinus (345-410), Socrates Scholasticus (c. 380-440), Theodoret of Cyrus (386-457) .), Sulpicius Severus (c. 363-410), Sozomen (c. 400-450).

For the first time in surviving texts detailed history the finding of the Cross appears in Ambrose of Milan in 395. In his “Word on the Death of Theodosius,” he tells how Queen Helena ordered to dig at Golgotha ​​and discovered three crosses there. According to the inscription " Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews“She found the true Cross and worshiped it. She also found the nails with which the Lord was crucified. All the few indications from historians closest in time to the search boil down to the fact that the crosses were found not far from the Holy Sepulcher, but not in the Sepulcher itself. There was a possibility that all three crosses used in the execution that day could have been buried close to the crucifixion site. Sozomen in his work he puts forward the following assumption about the possible fate of the Cross after the body of Jesus Christ was removed from it:

The soldiers, as the story tells, first found Jesus Christ dead on the cross and, having taken Him down, gave Him away for burial; then, intending to hasten the death of the robbers crucified on both sides, they broke their legs, and threw the crosses themselves one after another, at random.

Eusebius of Caesarea describes the excavation site as follows:

Some atheists and wicked men intended to hide this saving cave from the eyes of people, with the insane intention of hiding the truth through this. Having used a lot of labor, they brought earth from somewhere and filled the whole place with it. Then, raising the embankment to a certain height, they paved it with stone, and under this high embankment they hid the divine cave. Having completed such work, they only had to prepare a strange, truly tomb of souls on the surface of the earth, and they built a gloomy dwelling for dead idols, a hiding place of the demon of voluptuousness Aphrodite, where they brought hated sacrifices on unclean and vile altars. (Eusebius of Caesarea, “Life of Constantine.” III, 36)

The place where the Cross was found is located in the chapel of the Finding of the Cross of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Jerusalem, in a former quarry. The location of its discovery is marked by a red marble slab with an image of a cross; the slab is surrounded on three sides by a metal fence; this is where the Cross was initially kept. To the chapel of the Finding of the Cross from the underground Armenian Church St. Helena is led down by 22 metal steps, this is the lowest and easternmost point of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher - two floors down from the main level. In the chapel of the Finding of the Cross, under the ceiling near the descent, there is a window marking the place from which Elena watched the progress of the excavations and threw money to encourage those who worked. This window connects the chapel with the altar of St. Helen's Church. Socrates Scholasticus writes that Empress Helen divided the Life-Giving Cross into two parts: one she placed in a silver vault and left in Jerusalem, and the second she sent to her son Constantine, who placed it in his statue mounted on a column in the center of Constantine Square. Socrates reports that this information is known to him from the conversations of the residents of Constantinople, that is, it may be unreliable. The remaining part of the Cross in Jerusalem was located there long time, and the believers worshiped the honest tree. In 614, Jerusalem was besieged by the Persian ruler Khosra II. After a long siege, the Persians managed to capture the city. The invaders took away the Tree of the Life-Giving Cross, which had been kept in the city since it was acquired Equal to the Apostles Helen. The war continued for many years. Having united with the Avars and Slavs, the Persian king almost captured Constantinople. Only the intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos saved the Byzantine capital. The Persians were defeated. The Cross of the Lord was returned to Jerusalem. Since then, the day of this joyful event has been celebrated annually.

At that time, the order of Lenten church services had not yet been finally established and some changes were constantly being made to it. In particular, I practiced transfer of holidays that occurred on weekdays of Lent to Saturday and Sunday. This made it possible not to violate the strictness of fasting on weekdays. The same thing happened with the Feast of the Life-Giving Cross. It was decided to celebrate it on the third Sunday of Lent. On these same days, it was customary to begin preparing the catechumens whose sacrament of baptism was scheduled for. It was considered correct to begin instruction in faith with the veneration of the Cross of the Lord. This tradition existed until the 13th century, when Jerusalem was conquered by the Crusaders. From now on further fate shrine is unknown. Only isolated particles of the Cross are found in some reliquaries.

Divine service on the Week of the Cross. Troparion and Kontakion

At Matins on the Sunday of the Cross, after the Great Doxology, the priest takes the Cross out of the altar. When singing the troparion “Save your people…” The cross is placed on a lectern in the center of the temple. “We worship Your Cross, Master...” the priest proclaims and bows to the ground. After the clergy, they approach the lectern in pairs and all the worshipers, first male, then female, bow and kiss the Cross, and at this time the choir sings special stichera dedicated to the redemptive suffering of Christ the Savior.

R aduisz life-giving places, red flowers of paradise2, the imperishable tree, the pleasure that has given us eternal glory. and 4 also the cruelty of the Poltsy 2, and 3 the festivities of the festivities are celebrated, and 3 the assemblies of the faithful celebrate. weapons are invincible, affirmation is indestructible. This is a victory, congratulations2. xt0you are not in the same age, and3 wait for us to achieve, and3 great mercy. (Lenten Triodion, stichera on the Sunday of the Cross)

In a similar way, the veneration of the Cross of the Lord is performed two more times a year - on the first day of the Dormition Fast (August 14, n.st.), when the “Origin of the Honest and Life-giving Cross of the Lord” is celebrated, and on the twelfth holiday (September 27, n.st.). During the Week of the Cross, the fourth week of Great Lent, during the daily service, the veneration of the Cross also occurs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with a special rite during the reading of the hours.

Troparion, tone 1.

With 22 gD and your people, and 3 blessings 2 of your dignity, grant victories to the Russian power against resistance, and 3 your preserving the people.

Kontakion, tone 7.

No one else ardently guards the gates of the E3dems. so you will find the most glorious thing, the great tree, the mortal sting, and destroy the year’s victory2. I have come for all of you, who are in this place, come back to heaven.

Folk traditions of the Week of the Cross

In Rus', on Wednesday of the Week of Cross Worship, it was customary in all peasant houses to bake crosses from unleavened wheat dough according to the number of family members. They baked either a chicken feather in the crosses, “to make the chickens grow,” or rye grain, “to make bread grow,” or, finally, human hair, “to make the head easier.” Anyone who came across a cross with one of these items was considered lucky.

On Wednesday of the Week of the Worship of the Cross, the fast was broken, and small children went under the windows to congratulate their owners on the end of the first half of the fast. In some areas, this custom of congratulations was expressed in a very original form: congratulatory children were placed like chickens under a large basket, from where they sang in thin voices: “ Hello, master-red sun, hello, hostess-bright moon, hello, children-bright stars!... Half of the shit broke, and the other bent" It was customary to pour water on the simple-minded congratulatory children, and then, as if as a reward for the fright they had endured, they were given crosses made of dough.

Iconography of the Week of the Cross

As usual, the crucified Christ is depicted on the cross. Below, under the feet of the Savior, a footstool is depicted, on the top of the cross there is a board with the initial letters of Pilate’s inscription “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” (I.N.C.I) or the inscription “Jesus Christ”. On large temple images, crucifixes are depicted on both sides of the cross. Holy Mother of God and the Apostle John the Theologian, who, according to the Gospel, stood at the very cross during the execution. The icon “Worship of the Cross” depicts a cross surrounded by heavenly forces.

Churches dedicated to the Holy Cross

In Jerusalem, on the spot where, according to legend, the Tree of the Cross grew, a monastery was founded. Monastery of the Holy Cross and its location are mentioned in many tales and legends. According to one of the legends, the time of creation of the monastery is the period of the reign of the Byzantine emperor Constantine the Great and his mother Helen, that is, the 4th century AD. e. According to another legend, the founding date of the monastery is the 5th century. And this event is associated with Tatian, the king of Iberia (Georgia). It is believed that Tatian, king of Iberia (Georgia), made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and decided to build an Iberian monastery west of Jerusalem, on land that Constantine the Great had granted to Mirian, another Iberian king. According to the third legend, the monastery was built during the reign of Emperor Heraclius (610-641). Returning victoriously from the Persian campaign, Heraclius camped at the place where the monastery is now located. This place was revered due to the fact that the Tree of the Cross grew there - the tree from which the Cross of Christ was made. The Holy Cross itself, which Heraclius returned from Persia to the Holy Land, was erected on Calvary. Irakli ordered to build a monastery on the chosen site.

In the city of Aparan, Aragatsotn region of Armenia, there is Church of the Holy Cross. It was built at the end of the 4th century. In 1877 the temple was restored. Belongs to the Armenian Apostolic Church

Also on the island of Akhtamar (Türkiye) there is an early medieval Armenian Monastery of the Holy Cross. Built in 915-921.

Soulful teaching on the Week of the Worship of the Cross

The Cross of the Lord is a sign of victory over death and the forces of hell, the royal banner of Christ God, preceding His glorious appearance in the Holy Resurrection, as stated in the synoxarion of the Week of the Cross. The cross is our shield and weapon in the fight against invisible enemies and our own mental and physical passions and vices; in it we find true spiritual strength and strength when we strive to follow our Savior. Honoring the Cross and the suffering of the Lord, we shed both sorrowful and joyful tears, in hope of our own inner renewal and resurrection, which would have been impossible without the Great Sacred Sacrifice, which took place two thousand years ago on Calvary.

If the Sinless Lord Himself endured so much and suffered in His Most Pure Flesh for the sake of our salvation, then all the more we, sinful people, defiled by passions and vices, must suffer and endure, subduing carnal whims and lusts for the sake of the purification and enlightenment of the immortal soul.

The Christian religion is a “crusader” religion, as the Apostle Paul says: “It has been given to you for Christ’s sake not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him.”(Phil. 1:29). AND “Through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom of God”(Acts 14:22). Carry your cross within your strength, i.e. crucifying bodily lusts and desires is a narrow and cramped path of salvation for every Christian. Worshiping the Holy Cross of the Lord and “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.”(Heb. 12:2), we are encouraged in spirit and gain courage for exploits in order to reject conceit and pride and patiently follow in the footsteps of the holy fathers, who left us a worthy image and example to follow. That sorrow and patience are really necessary for internal self-education and spiritual growth, many edifying teachings say, instructing us on the path of virtue and improvement.

“...It is impossible for anyone to be saved without suffering and inconvenience, O my soul. What can I tell you about the Creator Himself of heaven and earth, of all creation, visible and invisible?! Wanting to save the human race from enslavement to the devil and hellish prisons, to save our forefather Adam from the curse and crime, God became man, incarnate from the Holy Spirit. The Father sent His Son - Word in Holy Virgin and was born without male seed. And the Invisible became visible. And he stayed with people. And He accepted reproach, dishonor, spitting and beatings on His most pure face from mortal man. And he was crucified on the Cross, and struck on the head with a cane, and, having tasted vinegar and gall, was pierced in the ribs with a spear, and put to death, and placed in a tomb. And He rose again on the third day by His power. O great miracle, amazing both to the angel and to people: the Immortal wanted to die, not wanting to see how the creation of His hands was tormented by the violence of the devil in hellish confinement!
Oh, your utmost meekness and indescribable love for mankind for our impoverishment and orphanhood! Oh, terrible and amazing sight of Your long-suffering, Lord! My mind is terrified and great fear attacks me, and my bones tremble when I talk about this. The Creator of all invisible and visible creation - but He wanted to suffer from His creation, from corruptible man! And the angels are horrified before Him, and all the powers of heaven incessantly glorify their Creator, and all creation sings and serves with fear, and the demons tremble. And so he endures all this and suffers: not from powerlessness, not from subordination, but by His will, ours for the sake of salvation, showing us an example of humility and suffering in everything, so that they also suffer, as He suffered, which my soul heard about.” ("Flower Garden" of Hieromonk Dorotheus ).

On Sunday Liturgy per week of the Worship of the Cross read Gospel of Mark(chapter 37), in which the Lord speaks about the path of self-sacrifice for the sake of the eternal salvation of the soul. Blissful Theophylact of Bulgaria deeply and edifyingly reveals to us the meaning of this church Gospel Word.

And calling the people with His disciples, He said to them: If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his soul will lose it; but whoever loses his life for Me and the Gospel will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? (Mark 8:34–37)

Since Peter reproached Christ, who wanted to hand himself over to be crucified, Christ calls on the people and speaks publicly, directing his speech mainly against Peter: “You do not approve of the fact that I take up the cross, but I tell you that neither you nor anyone else You will not be saved unless you die for virtue and truth.” Notice that the Lord did not say: “He who does not want to die will die,” but “whoever wants to die.” As if to say, I don’t force anyone. I call not for evil, but for good, and therefore whoever does not want it is unworthy of it. What does it mean to deny yourself? We will understand this when we learn what it means to reject someone else. Whoever rejects someone else, whether his father, brother, or someone from his family, even if he watches him being beaten or killed, does not pay attention and does not sympathize, having become alien to him. So the Lord commands us, that for His sake we too should despise our body and not spare it, even if they beat or blame us. Take up your cross, it is said, that is, a shameful death, for the cross was then considered an instrument of shameful execution. And since many robbers were crucified, he adds that with the crucifixion one should also have other virtues, for this is what the words mean: and follow Me. Since the command to give oneself up to death would seem heavy and cruel, the Lord says that, on the contrary, it is very humane, for whoever loses, that is, destroys his soul, but for My sake, and not like a robber executed or a suicide (in this case death will not be for My sake), he says, he will save - he will find his soul, while the one who thinks to save his soul will destroy it if he does not resist during the torment. Do not tell Me that this last one will save his life, for even if he acquired the whole world, everything is useless. No amount of wealth can buy salvation. Otherwise: he who acquired the whole world, but lost his soul, would give everything when he burned in the flame, and thus would be redeemed. But such a ransom is impossible there. Here the mouths of those who, following Origen, say that the state of souls will change for the better after they are punished in proportion to their sins are stopped. Yes, they hear that there is no way to give a ransom for the soul and to suffer only to the extent that it is supposedly necessary to satisfy for sins.

For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of His Father with the holy Angels. (Mark 8:38)

Internal faith alone is not enough: verbal confession is also required. For since man is dual, sanctification must also be twofold, that is, the sanctification of the soul through faith and sanctification of the body through confession. So, whoever is ashamed to confess the Crucified One as His God, He will also be ashamed and recognize him as an unworthy servant when He comes no longer in a humble form, not in humiliation, in which He appeared here before and for which some are ashamed of Him, but in glory and with the army of angels » (Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria, interpretation of the Gospel of Mark, ch. 8, 34-38).

The Word of the Cross is foolishness for those who are perishing, but for us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18).

It may seem hard and strange to modern man listen to instructions about abstinence and “submission of the flesh to the spirit,” about various self-restraints and even some (however, moderate and reasonable) exhaustion of the flesh. The Holy Fathers point out that the root of such an opinion and reasoning lies in our voluptuousness and self-pity, our favorite habits, when the Church Charter sets clear boundaries and standards of behavior in the life of a Christian, and the inner old “I”, according to carnal wisdom, begins to object and asking “why?!”

That is, why fasts, bows, long prayer rule? Isn’t there a kind of ostentatious ritual action here, the so-called “ritual belief”, which has a clearly defined external form and at the same time devoid of any internal spiritual content? But only ignorant people can speak and think this way, who themselves have not yet tasted exactly that spiritual, quiet joy that is given to us after testing, after sorrows and deeds, enlightening the eyes of the heart for pure and concentrated prayer. When we bow to the ground, we confess our fall into sin and humility before God, the consciousness of our unworthiness, we remember that we ourselves are dust, and to dust we will return. And when we rise from bowing, it is as if at the same time we rise in soul to a better and new life, which we find in observing the Christian commandments. What is difficult to explain in words, a person himself easily understands when he learns the corresponding life experience.

The Cross and Resurrection of the Savior reveal to us the highest heavenly mysteries, incomprehensible to any scientific philosophy, because they teach not earthly sciences, but the true path of virtue, which alone leads to the Eternal Heavenly Fatherland. For, as the holy fathers say: “There are many so-called wisdoms on earth, but all of them will remain on earth. The deepest wisdom of all is to save one’s soul, since it lifts the soul to heaven into the Kingdom of Heaven and places it before God” (“Flower Garden” by Hieromonk Dorotheos). The power and wisdom of Christianity is the Cross of the Lord, by worshiping which we hope to reach the day Happy Easter, where we will find a worthy reward for the ascetic labors and hardships endured.

The word about the cross...for us who are being saved is the power of God.
1 Cor. 1, 18

On Sunday of the third week of Great Lent, at the all-night vigil, the Life-Giving Cross is brought into the center of the church, which the believers worship throughout the week.

Like a traveler tired of long journey, rests under a spreading tree, so Orthodox Christians, making a spiritual journey to Heavenly Jerusalem - for the Easter of the Lord, find in the middle of the path the “Tree of the Cross”, so that under its shade they can gain strength for the further journey. Or just as before the arrival of a king returning with victory, his banners and scepters march first, so the Cross of the Lord precedes Christ’s victory over death - the Bright Resurrection.

During this worship the song is sung:

We bow to Your Cross, Master, and we glorify Your Holy Resurrection.

In the middle of Lent, the Church exposes the Cross to believers in order to, by reminding them of the sufferings of the Lord’s death, inspire and strengthen those who fast to continue the feat of fasting. The veneration of the Cross continues in the fourth week of Lent - until Friday, and therefore the entire fourth week is called the veneration of the Cross.

“The cross is the guardian of the entire universe, the cross is the beauty of the church, the cross is the power of kings, the cross is the strengthening of believers, the cross is the glory of angels and the plague of demons.” This is how one of the church hymns explains the meaning of the cross for the whole world. “With the reed of the cross, having dipped it in the red ink of Your blood, You, Lord, royally signed for us the forgiveness of sins,” says one of the stichera of the holiday.

About the Worship of the Cross

... “The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18). For the spiritual one judges everything, and soulful person does not receive the things of the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:15, 14). For this is madness for those who do not accept with faith and do not think about the Goodness and Omnipotence of God, but investigate divine affairs through human and natural reasoning, for everything that belongs to God is above nature and reason and thought. And if someone begins to weigh: how God brought everything from non-existence into existence and for what purpose, and if he wanted to comprehend this through natural reasoning, then he will not comprehend. For this knowledge is spiritual and demonic. If someone, guided by faith, takes into account that the deity is good and omnipotent, and true and wise and righteous, then he will find everything smooth and even and the path straight. For without faith it is impossible to be saved, because everything, both human and spiritual, is based on faith. For without faith, neither the farmer cuts the furrows of the earth, nor the merchant on a small tree entrusts his soul to the raging abyss of the sea; neither marriages nor anything else in life happens. By faith we understand that everything is brought from non-existence into existence by the power of God; By faith we do all things correctly, both divine and human. Faith, further, is uncurious approval.

Every act and miracle-working of Christ, of course, is very great and divine and amazing, but most amazing of all is His Honorable Cross. For death has been overthrown, ancestral sin has been destroyed, hell has been robbed, the Resurrection has been given, we have been given the power to despise the present and even death itself, the original bliss has been returned, the gates of heaven have been opened, our nature has sat at the right hand of God, we have become children of God and heirs not through anything else, but through the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. For all this was arranged through the Cross: “all of us who were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ,” says the apostle, “were baptized into His death” (Gal. 3:27). And further: Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom (1 Cor. 1:24). Here is the death of Christ or the Cross, which clothed us in the hypostatic wisdom and Power of God. The power of God is the word of the cross, either because through it the power of God was revealed to us, that is, victory over death, or because, just as the four ends of the Cross, united in the center, the height, and depth, and length, and latitude, that is, all visible and invisible creation.

The cross was given to us as a sign on the forehead, just as circumcision was given to Israel. For through him we, the faithful, are distinguished from the unbelievers and are known. He is a shield and a weapon, and a monument to victory over the devil. He is a seal so that the Destroyer will not touch us, as Scripture says (Ex. 12, 12, 29). He is the rebellion of those who lie down, the support of those who stand, the staff of the weak, the staff of the shepherd, the returning guide, the prosperous path to perfection, the salvation of souls and bodies, the deviation from all evils, the author of all good things, the destruction of sin, the sprout of resurrection, the tree of Eternal Life.

So, the tree itself, precious in truth and venerable, on which Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice for us, as consecrated by the touch of both the Holy Body and the Holy Blood, should naturally be venerated; in the same way - and nails, a spear, clothes and His holy dwellings - a manger, a den, Golgotha, the saving life-giving tomb, Zion - the head of the Churches, and the like, as the Godfather David says: “Let us go to His dwelling, let us worship at the footstool of His feet.” And what he means by the Cross is shown by what is said: “Become, O Lord, to the place of Your rest” (Ps. 131: 7-8). For the Cross is followed by the Resurrection. For if the house and bed and clothing of those whom we love are desirable, how much more is that which belongs to God and the Savior, through which we are saved!

We also worship the image of the Honest and Life-Giving Cross, even if it were made of a different substance; We worship, honoring not the substance (let it not be!), but the image, as a symbol of Christ. For He, making a testament to His disciples, said: “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven” (Matthew 24:30), of course the Cross. Therefore, the Angel of the Resurrection said to the wives: “Seek Jesus of Nazareth, crucified” (1 Cor. 1:23). Although there are many Christs and Jesuses, there is only one - the Crucified One. He did not say, “pierced with a spear,” but, “crucified.” Therefore the sign of Christ must be worshiped. For where the sign is, there He Himself will be. The substance from which the image of the Cross consists, even if it were gold or gems, after the destruction of the image, if this happened, should not be worshiped. So, we worship everything that is dedicated to God, paying respect to Him Himself.

The Tree of Life, planted by God in Paradise, prefigured this Honest Cross. For since death entered through the tree, it was necessary that Life and Resurrection should be given through the tree. The first Jacob, bowing to the end of Joseph's Rod, indicated the Cross by means of an image, and, blessing his sons with alternating hands (Gen. 48:14), he very clearly inscribed the sign of the Cross. The same thing was indicated by the rod of Moses, which struck the sea in a cross shape and saved Israel, and drowned Pharaoh; hands stretched out crosswise and putting Amalek to flight; bitter water that is sweetened by the tree, and a rock that is torn and pours forth springs; the rod that gives Aaron the dignity of the clergy; the serpent on the tree, lifted up as a trophy, as if it had been put to death, when the tree healed those who looked with faith on the dead enemy, just as Christ, in the flesh that knew no sin, was nailed for sin. The great Moses says: you will see that your life will hang on a tree before you (Deut. 28:66). Isaiah: “I stretched out My hands all day long to a disobedient people, who walked in an evil way, according to their own thoughts” (Isaiah 65:2). Oh, that we who worship him (that is, the Cross) would receive our inheritance in Christ, Who was crucified!

Venerable John of Damascus,
Exact statement Orthodox faith book 4

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

Come, faithful ones, let us worship the Life-giving Tree... - today the Holy Church calls its children to the foot of the Honest and Life-giving Cross of the Lord. This Golgotha, having stepped over time, approached us, invading our consciousness with the memory of itself. For on it the Cross ascended - which is the ladder to heaven, and on the Cross - the One who said: “...I am the way and the truth and the life...” ().

The Cross of Christ is the great saving power of all earthly beings. It extends both into the longitude of all times and into the breadth of all places, its height to heaven, and its depth to the abysses of hell.

And today, on the day of the half-life of the saving feat of fasting, the Lord condescends to those who are tired and exhausted under the burden of fasting, giving them His love, and strength, and a gentle reminder that they have not yet fought sin to the point of bleeding. The Lord today reminds us of the uniqueness and immutability of the path of salvation - the path of the Cross and suffering - and inspires us with hope. Light Christ's Resurrection visible only from the Cross.

The life-giving Tree of the Cross - the Cross of Christ - was grown in the middle of the earth by God's love for people, so that the destructive cross - from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, taken upon oneself in paradise by man's self-will and disobedience to God - could be transformed into a saving Cross, again opening the doors of heaven.

The Cross of Christ has been raised above the world since the time of the Lord’s saving suffering. But every person who comes into the world from birth inherits the cross of his forefathers and invariably carries it through life until the end of his days. The earth is a vale of weeping and sorrow, a place of exile for those who transgress God’s commands - full of sorrows and suffering. The thistles and thorns of sinful habits and passions, with which we become familiar and enjoy, simultaneously wound the soul and inflame the circle of life.

Take a closer look, our friends, at the life of people outside of Christ. How often it ends in spiritual death much earlier than physical death. Evil and sin devour everything human in a person, evil is insatiable, and man is insatiable in evil. And this is also suffering, but suffering is not saving; The reward of this suffering will always be inevitable death and destruction of the soul. The cross of life without Christ is vain and fruitless, no matter how heavy it may be.

One’s cross can be transformed into a saving cross only when one follows Christ with it.

Christ our Savior "...He Himself bore our sins in His Body on the tree, so that we, having been delivered from sins, would live for righteousness..." ().

The Cross of Christ became a sign of the glory of Christ Himself and a weapon of His victory over sin, curse, death and the devil. And we today, standing before the Cross of Christ, feeling on our shoulders* (*Ramo, ramen - shoulder, shoulders) the weight of our life's crosses, we must look carefully at the only saving Cross of Christ, so that in Christ we can recognize the truth of life, in order to understand its bright meaning.

And today, at the Cross of the Lord - the preached Holy Gospel and from the Cross of the Lord - the sight of the Divine Sufferer, they proclaim to us for our salvation the all-holy commandment: “...if anyone wants to walk after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and come after Me.” ().

Our friends, let us rise from the ground, look at the Cross of Christ, before us is an example of complete and true self-sacrifice. He, being the Son of God, came into the world in the form of a slave* (* image - appearance, image), humbled Himself and was obedient even to death, and death on the cross. He denied life itself to save us. The Lord Savior calls us to reject sin and death, which sin feeds for us.

The work of our salvation begins with the denial of ourselves and our sinfulness. We must reject everything that constitutes the essence of our fallen nature, and must extend to the rejection of life itself, surrendering it entirely to the will of God. God! You know everything; Do with me as you please.

We must recognize our everyday truth before God as the most cruel untruth, our reason as the most complete unreason.

Self-denial begins with a struggle with oneself. And victory over oneself is the most difficult of all victories due to the strength of the enemy, because I myself am my own enemy. And this struggle is the longest, because it ends only with the end of life.

The struggle with oneself, the struggle with sin will always remain a feat, which means it will be suffering. And she is ours internal struggle, gives rise to another, even more severe suffering, because in a world of evil and sin, a person who follows the path of righteousness will always be a stranger in the life of the world and will encounter hostility towards himself at every step. And every day the ascetic will more and more feel his dissimilarity with those around him and experience it painfully.

And self-sacrifice inevitably continues to demand that we begin to live in all its fullness for God, for people, for our neighbors, so that we consciously and uncomplainingly accept and submit to all sorrow, all mental and physical pain, so that we accept them as God’s permission for the benefit and salvation of souls ours. Self-sacrifice becomes part of our saving cross. And only through self-sacrifice can we raise our life-saving cross.

The cross is an instrument of execution. Criminals were crucified on it. And now the truth of God calls me to the cross as a criminal of the Law of God, because my carnal man, who loves peace and carelessness, my evil will, my criminal pride, my pride still resist the life-giving Law of God.

I myself, having recognized the power of the sin living in me and blaming myself, grasp at the sorrows of my life’s cross as a means of saving me from sinful death. The consciousness that only sorrows endured for the Lord will assimilate me to Christ, and I will become a participant in His earthly fate, and therefore in heaven, inspires me to feat and patience.

The cross of Christ, a nail, a spear, thorns, abandonment by God - these are the continuous, uneasy suffering of Golgotha. But the entire earthly life of the Savior from birth to the grave is the path to Golgotha. The path of Christ is from suffering to greater suffering, but with them also the ascension from strength to greater strength, His path to death, which swallows up death. “Where is your sting, death, where is your victory?”

The Cross of Christ is terrible. But I love him - he gave birth to the incomparable joy of Holy Easter for me. But I can only approach this joy with my cross. I must voluntarily take up my cross, I must love it, recognize myself as fully worthy of it, no matter how difficult and difficult it may be.

To take up the cross means to generously endure ridicule, reproach, persecution, and sorrow, with which the sinful world is not stingy to bestow upon the novice of Christ.

To take up the cross means to endure, without grumbling and complaining, hard work on oneself that is invisible to anyone, invisible languor and martyrdom of the soul for the sake of fulfilling the truths of the Gospel. This is also a fight against the spirits of evil, which will violently rise up against the one who desires to throw off the yoke of sin and submit to Christ.

To take up the cross is to voluntarily and diligently submit to the hardships and struggles that curb the flesh. While living in the flesh, we must learn to live for the spirit.

And we need to turn Special attention that each person has his own life path must lift up his own cross. There are countless crosses, but only mine heals my ulcers, only mine will be my salvation, and only mine will I bear with the help of God, for it was given to me by the Lord Himself. How not to make a mistake, how not to take the cross according to one’s own will, that arbitrariness that in the first place should be crucified on the cross of self-denial?! An unauthorized feat is a self-made cross, and bearing such a cross always ends in a great fall.

What does your cross mean? This means going through life along your own path, outlined for everyone by the Providence of God, and on this path to experience exactly those sorrows that the Lord allows (You took vows of monasticism - do not seek marriage, are bound by family - do not strive for freedom from your children and spouse). Do not look for greater sorrows and achievements than those on your path in life - pride will lead you astray. Do not seek liberation from those sorrows and labors that are sent to you - this self-pity takes you off the cross.

Your own cross means being content with what is within your bodily strength. The spirit of conceit and self-delusion will call you to the unbearable. Don't trust the flatterer.

How diverse are the sorrows and temptations in life that the Lord sends to us for our healing, what is the difference among people in their physical strength and health, how varied are our sinful infirmities.

Yes, every person has his own cross. And every Christian is commanded to accept this cross with selflessness and follow Christ. And to follow Christ is to study the Holy Gospel so that only it becomes an active leader in carrying our life’s cross. The mind, heart and body with all their movements and actions, obvious and secret, must serve and express the saving truths of Christ’s teaching. And all this means that I deeply and sincerely recognize the healing power of the cross and justify God’s judgment over me. And then my cross becomes the Cross of the Lord.

“Lord, in bearing my cross, sent down to me by Your right hand, strengthen me, who is completely exhausted,” my heart prays. The heart prays and grieves, but it already rejoices in sweet submission to God and its participation in the sufferings of Christ. And this carrying of one’s cross without grumbling with repentance and glorification of the Lord is great power the mysterious confession of Christ not only in mind and heart, but in deed and life itself.

And, my dears, it begins so inconspicuously in us new life, when “...it is not I who live, but Christ lives in me” (). A miracle incomprehensible to the carnal mind occurs in the world - peace and heavenly bliss are established where only groans and tears were expected. The most sorrowful life praises the Lord and rejects from itself every thought of complaint and grumbling.

The cross itself, accepted as a gift from God, gives rise to gratitude for the precious fate of being Christ’s, imitating His suffering, and gives birth to incorruptible joy for the suffering body, for the yearning heart, for the soul that seeks and finds.

The cross is the shortest path to heaven. Christ Himself passed through them.

The cross is a fully tested path, for all the saints have traversed it.

The cross is the surest path, for the cross and suffering are the lot of the elect, these are the narrow gates through which they enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

My dears, today we worship the Cross of the Lord in body and spirit, let us graft our small crosses to His great Cross, so that His life-giving powers nourish us with their juices to continue the exploits of Great Lent, so that fulfilling the commandments of Christ becomes the only goal and joy of our lives.

Honoring the Honest Cross of Christ today, with submission to the will of God, let us thank Him for our small crosses and exclaim: “Remember me, Lord, in Your Kingdom.” Amen.

We present to the attention of readers a previously unpublished article by St. Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. It was written when he was an archimandrite of the Kholm Theological Seminary, in the territory of modern Poland, and published in the magazine “Conversation”, which was published in Warsaw. The publication was prepared by senior Researcher department modern history Russian Orthodox Church XX century PSTGU Natalia Aleksandrovna Krivosheeva.

That's Lent. Its Fourth Week is called “Worship of the Cross.” It is called so because on the third Sunday of Great Lent, at Matins, the holy cross is brought into the middle of the church for veneration, and remains there until Friday. Why is the Holy Church doing this?

Travelers traveling a long and difficult journey, if they find a branchy tree on the road, sit under its shade, rest here and then, relieved and gathered strength, continue on their way. Likewise, during Lent, the Church offers the life-giving tree of the Lord’s cross to those who go through the path of exploits, labors and hardships for “relief, cooling and consolation.”

The time of fasting is an intensified time of deeds of piety. If ever, then it is in fasting that you need to crucify your flesh with its passions and lusts. True fasting consists in alienating oneself from everything bad, keeping one’s tongue away from every idle word, especially rotten and inappropriate words, leaving hatred and rage, removing from oneself all lusts and desires of the flesh. Removal from this should not constitute fasting, not compulsion and labor for us, but the most suitable thing, peace and joy. But our nature is damaged by sin and we are accustomed to breaking laws, and therefore whoever wants to be free from sins finds this far from easy. To support a Christian in such godly labors and deeds, the Church offers as consolation and encouragement life-giving Cross Christov.

We have to fight sin, crucify our passions and lusts, and suffer. But didn’t Christ the Savior wage an intense struggle with the representatives of [evil] - the devil and evil people? Didn't He suffer greatly from them? Wasn't He crucified? And after all, we suffer for our own sins, we receive “in deed,” but He, the Most Merciful, suffered not for His sins, but for others, for our human ones!

In order to remove the “thorn of sin” from our flesh, we have to curb it by fasting, strict abstinence from everything that serves to please it. Didn’t Christ fast for forty days, even though he had a sinless nature? Miraculously satisfying others, did He not Himself hunger and thirst? During Lent, the Church strongly encourages us to spend time in vigil and prayer. But didn’t Christ the Savior devote all the time that remained free from teaching and doing good to people to a conversation with His Father, to fervent prayer to Him? So, this means that the path of fasting is the path of Christ, and whoever wants to serve Him must follow Him, and for this they promise him bliss and glory from Christ, for “where the cross is, there is glory.”

With the concept of the cross we connect not only the concept of suffering, but also of glory

With the concept of the cross we connect not only the concept of suffering, but also the glory that follows suffering. Thus, on the cross the Savior endures great suffering. The innocent person is condemned to a shameful execution and nailed to the cross; crowned with a crown of thorns, his rib is pierced, he endures reproach and reproach, and experiences severe torment. But at the same time, on the Cross He accomplishes that great work of redemption of people, for which He came to earth, and thereby not only glorifies Himself, but introduces others into the Kingdom of glory and glorifies even the Cross itself: from that time on, the cross is no longer a shameful instrument of execution, but, on the contrary, the most dear and sacred object for Christians. Therefore, Christians, if they follow the path of exploits and struggle with sin, if they humbly and diligently bear their cross, that is, various disasters, deprivations, grief, etc., let them be consoled: the Kingdom of God is taken by force, and they, as those who use it for This effort, with the help of God, will take him. If they share in the sufferings of Christ, they will also share in the glory of Christ; if they die with Him, they will rise with Him.

But the gracious power of the Cross of Christ not only provides reinforcement and consolation for those “enlightened by fasting,” but can also touch the hearts of those of us who continue to lead a sinful, vain life in fasting, and can awaken them from the heavy sleep of sin. Perhaps a glance at the Divine Sufferer who suffered death on the cross for our sins, will remind those who call themselves Christians that they were baptized with the death of Christ, pledged to serve the Lord, and not the world and sin, and not their own whims and passions! Perhaps a glance at the instrument of the terrible suffering of the Son of God will shake someone’s heart and produce a saving change in thoughts and feelings! Perhaps souls will appear, although they are sinners, but have not yet reached the point of extreme blindness and bitterness, who will return from the temple, as many returned from Golgotha ​​- beating their hearts!

May these hopes of the Holy Church come true and be justified, and may the Cross of Christ serve us all for salvation!