This feast is related to two incidents. The first one is when St. Helen found the Cross under the soil of Golgotha while she was building churches in Palestine. And the second incident is when the Cross was put in the Church of Resurrection and the Persians came and stole it when they occupied Jerusalem in 628. But when the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius triumphed over the Persians he got the Cross back to the Holy City and the Patriarch raised it in front of the faithful.
This is where the expression “exaltation or elevation of the Cross” came from. On the feast day a procession is done before the liturgy when the Cross is put on a tray full of flowers and on a table in front of the altar. The priest raises it over his head and then goes down to the ground with it while chanting “Lord have mercy” five-hundred times, and then he gives a flower for the people that kiss the Honored Cross.
In our Church, we don’t have a Cross without the crucified drawn or sculptured on it so that it becomes an icon. Worshiping, therefore, is to the image of the crucified on the hope for Resurrection.
Our entire faith is based on Christ’s crucifixion and Resurrection. And we celebrate this crucifixion in many different occasions outside the holy week, and this feast is among those occasions. Without Christ’s death, we have no hope. And if he didn’t die and resurrect, we wouldn’t have any resurrection or any base for our faith. The Love that Christ preached appeared in a special way on the Cross and was transfigured in Resurrection. Love is not just a teaching. It is the reality of crucifixion and of the rising of Christ from the dead. We express this through putting the cross in the child’s neck after his Baptism in order for him to understand all his life that he was buried with Christ and that he will rise on the hope of eternal life.
This feast renews our invitation to live a new life and to become new creatures through the Holy Spirit. The Cross is a symbol of this reality that the Savior revealed to us and that we try to experience through tasting all the beauties of Christ if we wanted to overcome our desires. As much as we are emancipated from our desires, we would be declaring that we follow Christ the Resurrected from the dead.
The new life means repentance, which is coming back to Jesus’ visage and leaving all the temptations of the world. “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me”. First, you decide to walk behind Christ and to endure everything with patience, and at the same time to love the brothers so that people would see you free from sin and “Resurrectional” people.
Yes, you are in pain exactly as all humans are, and Christ carried your pains. You will suffer everyday and you might be really worried; and if you wanted happiness, you shall get it from Jesus once you give him your heart to dwell in. This means that you should take the Cross as your companion in order to endure this existence and elevate with it.
However, the rising of existence with you and elevating it to Christ requires from you struggling in order to know God’s word in the Bible. Read it daily and meditate in it so that the Lord sees that your face became luminous and that you are walking into a new life. In addition to knowing the Bible, you should experience daily prayer and participate in the Divine Liturgy every Sunday.
You have no life unless you spoke to God in the morning and evening so that you gain the feeling for God, for his mercy, greatness and embracing.
Renewing your spiritual life is what ensures your power to carry the cross and walk towards Resurrection.
The sign of the Cross on your face and chest should be completed through being aware of the importance of the Cross and through staying attached to it through this sign in order to know that you are heavenly.
Translated by Mark Najjar
Original Text: “عيد ارتفاع الصليب” –Raiati 37- 11.09.2011
