Chapter 14

Concerning the Feast of the Finding and the Exaltation of the Precious Cross

The feast of the finding of the Precious Cross, which was established in the Church from the time of Saint Helen, bears witness to the historical truth of the finding of the Precious Cross. The Church celebrated the feast of the finding of the Precious Cross on March 6, as appears written in the records. On the same day there was also a commemoration of the finding of the precious nails, and on that day (6 March) the feast of the Exaltation and veneration of the precious Cross was also celebrated, because the Exaltation followed immediately after its finding. This took place so that all the people might see the Cross of the Lord and venerate it, which Macarius, the bishop of Jerusalem, raised up and displayed, having ascended to a high place. Today the Church simply has this feast recorded in the commemorations and makes mention of it on that day, but without celebrating a feast and festival. The reason why the feast of the finding of the precious Cross on 6 March ceased to be celebrated as a festival today is, as we have ascertained, the following:

Because 6 March falls on the third Sunday of the Lenten season when Pascha falls on 3 April, the holy Fathers, who ordered all things well, deemed it good that the feast of the finding of the precious Cross should always be celebrated magnificently on that Sunday, so that it might strengthen those who are contending in the contest of virtue during the long course of the fast of Great Lent, according to the commentator of the Triodion; that is, there is, in a sense, a transfer of the feast even in those years when 6 March does not fall on the third Sunday of the Lenten season. Something similar happens in the feasts of Gregory Palamas, John of the Ladder, and Mary of Egypt for the same purpose, namely that each Lord’s day of the Fasts might display a brilliant example of virtue for the encouragement and strengthening of Christians who are struggling. For this reason I believe that the feast of the Veneration of the Cross is the feast of the Finding; and for this reason the feast of the Finding ceased to be celebrated any longer. But since the holy Fathers did nothing arbitrarily they neither did nor were able arbitrarily to transfer the feast of the Finding to another day, for this reason we believe that the feast of the Finding is the same as the feast of the Veneration of the Cross.

This is supported also by the absence of troparia and canons in the feast of the Finding on March 6, and by the fact that the canons and troparia found in the feast of the Veneration of the Cross appear to go back to much earlier times and are adapted to the Finding of the Precious Cross.

An example, among other things, is the following: “Today there is joy in heaven and on earth, because the sign of the Cross is manifested to the world, this thrice-blessed Cross; for when it is set forth, it pours out eternal grace to those who venerate it.” The feast of the Exaltation of the Precious Cross, celebrated on 14 September, is a second Exaltation that took place under Patriarch Zacharias in the time of Heraclius. It was established for the following reason: Chosroes, the leader of the Persians, having conquered Palestine and Jerusalem, led many Christians captive to Persia, among whom was also Patriarch Zacharias, whom he had held captive for fourteen whole years. At the same time he seized and carried off with him the precious wood of the Precious Cross. Emperor Heraclius marched against Chosroes and defeated him. He freed the Patriarch and those taken captive with him from captivity, and the wood of the Cross. Now before the Emperor set out from Constantinople, he ordered that a supplication be made to God throughout the whole city, which the Patriarch celebrated with all the clergy, and at which the Emperor was present, attending all night long, along with the multitude of Christians; and they prayed for the victory of the emperor and his armies, and for the liberation of the precious wood and the captives. After the glorious victory over the Persians and the liberation of the Cross and the captives, the emperor, offering a tribute of thanksgiving to God, ordered that the commemoration of the second Exaltation of the Precious Cross in Jerusalem, which took place after their return from the war, be celebrated annually. This second Exaltation took place under Zacharias in Jerusalem, and from there it spread throughout the whole empire and is celebrated to this day. In the Calendarium utriusque ecclesiae of Nicolaus Nilles (Oeniponte, 1897), p. 228, we read the following.

“Even if perhaps from the year 320, when the life-giving Cross was found by Saint Helen, the saving wood was publicly set forth in festival by the bishop and, as the Imperial Menologion says, was established for Exaltation, nevertheless the present feast had its origin properly in Jerusalem on the 14th of September 335, which was the day after on which the consecration of the martyrium of the Resurrection took place, when, that is, the Holy Cross, with all the bishops present assisting, was solemnly raised up and shown to the people from the ambo, for the consecration of perpetual veneration. Hence the Paschal chronicle further calls the aforementioned consecration ‘the dedication of the church of the holy Cross of the manifestation’, which is today’s feast.”

The feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, celebrated annually on this day, later acquired greater splendor because of the commemoration of the great victory of Heraclius over the Persians in the year 626 and the recovery of the Precious Cross and its deposition in Jerusalem.

The feast of the Finding and first Exaltation of the Precious Cross, that is, the feast of the Veneration of the Cross, was formerly known only among the Easterners and for about three centuries was celebrated only in the Eastern regions. From the time of Heraclius, however, the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross became universal throughout all the churches of the East. At the same time it was embraced by Pope Honorius and spread throughout all the Churches of the West.