Today, September 27, Orthodox believers, including those in Belarus, celebrate one of the great twelve holidays.
This is the Exaltation of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord. The holiday was established in memory of the discovery and exaltation of the Cross of Christ.
The event is associated with the end of the persecution of Christians by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great at the beginning of the 4th century.
Sign
This happened after, according to legend, the emperor and all his warriors saw a Cross in the sky with the inscription “By this, conquer.”
The next night, Jesus himself appeared to the ruler of the empire with the Cross in his hand and told him: with this sign he will defeat the enemy.
Therefore, I recommended making a military banner with the image of a cross.
Constantine listened and followed the advice. Afterwards he celebrated the victory over the enemy. And then he became the patron of Christians, declaring their faith the main one.
The Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor Constantine wanted to build churches in places sacred to Christians – where Christ was born, suffered, died and resurrected.
The emperor also conceived the idea of finding the Cross on which Jesus was crucified. His mother, the holy equal-to-the-apostles Empress Helena, took on the project.
Jerusalem
In 326, she went to Jerusalem. There she learned that the Cross she was looking for was in a cave covered with earth, above which stood a pagan temple.
Having dug up the cave, they discovered three crosses in it and a separate tablet with the inscription “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.”
In order to find out on which cross Christ was crucified, Patriarch Macarius began to bring the crosses one by one to the seriously ill woman. Only one of them healed her.
At that time, a dead person was carried for burial. Three crosses were also placed on the deceased - from one of them, the one that healed the woman, he came back to life.
The news of the discovery of the Life-Giving Cross spread quickly – soon there were so many people there that not everyone could even see it.
Then Macarius placed it on a high place. And Helen brought part of the Cross to her son, and left the other in Jerusalem.
Emperor Constantine ordered the construction of a temple in that city in honor of the Resurrection of Christ. He also built temples on the Mount of Olives, in Bethlehem and Hebron.
How is the holiday celebrated today?
Today, in keeping with tradition, on the eve of the holiday, priests place a flower-decorated Cross on the altar in churches and place a lit candle in front of it.
This is how the night vigil begins. And during the evening service, the Cross is often brought out for veneration.
In cathedrals and large churches the rite of the Exaltation of the Cross is performed.
By the way, on the day of the Exaltation of the Cross there is a fast in memory of the suffering of the Savior on the cross.
On this day, people collected various medicinal plants that were believed to have healing powers.
