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+++ Holy Cross Day On this day are commemorated two events connected with the Precious Cross of Christ: the first, the finding of the Cross on Golgotha and the second the returning of the Cross to Jerusalem from Persia.
Staying in the Holy Land, the holy Empress Helena decided to took for the Precious Cross of the Lord. An old Jew called Judah was the only person who knew the whereabouts of the Cross, and, under pressure from the Empress, he revealed that the Cross was buried under the Temple of Venus that the Emperor Hadrian had built on Golgotha. The Empress ordered that this idolatrous temple be pulled down, and then, digging deep below it, she found three crosses. While the Empress was in uncertainty about how to recognise which cross was the Lord's, a funeral procession passed by. Then Patriarch Macarius told them to place the crosses one by one on the dead man. When they placed the first and second on him, the dead man remained unchanged, but when they placed the third on him, he was restored to life. By this, they knew that this was the Precious and life-giving Cross of Christ. After that, they placed it on a sick woman, and she recovered. Then the Patriarch raised the Cross aloft for all to see, and the people sang with tears: 'Lord, have mercy!' The Empress Helena had a silver casing made, and placed the precious Cross in it.
Later, King Chozroes conquered Jerusalem, took the people into slavery and carried the Lord's Cross off to Persia, where it remained for fourteen years. In 628, the Greek Emperor Heraclius was victorious over Chozroes and brought the Cross back to Jerusalem with great ceremony. Entering the city, Heraclius was carrying the Cross on his back, but suddenly the aged Emperor was unable to take another step. Patriarch Zacharias saw an angel directing the Emperor to take off his imperial robes and walk beneath the Cross along the way that Christ had walked, barefoot and humiliated as He had been. He passed this vision on to the Emperor, who stripped himself of his raiment and, in poor clothing and barefoot, took up the Cross, carried it to Golgotha and placed it in the Church of the Resurrection, to the joy and consolation of the whole Christian world.St Placilla the EmpressThe wife of the Emperor Theodosius the Great, she was a true Christian in both thought and deed. She was especially distinguished by her help to the poor and the sick. When someone told her that this was not consistent with her imperial dignity, she replied: "It befits the imperial state to help with money; my personal endeavours (towards the poor) I give to Him whose good will it was to give me this state." She entered peacefully into rest in about 400. Our Holy Father, the Martyr Macarius of Salonica A disciple of Patriarch Niphon at the time that the latter was labouring in the asceticism of silence at Vatopedi, Macarius longed for martyrdom for the sake of Christ, and begged St Niphon"s blessing to seek it. The discerning Patriarch, perceiving that this was God"s will, blessed him for the way of martyrdom. Macarius went to Salonica and, in the midst of a crowd of Turks, began to speak of Christ as the one, true God. The Turks seized him and threw him into prison. When he was brought to trial, Macarius cried out to the Turks: "Oh, that you would come to know the truth and be baptised in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit!" The Turks beheaded him in 1527. At that moment, Niphon saw this in his spirit at Vatopedi, and told a monk of Macarius"s death by martyrdom, saying: "Know, my child, that your brother Macarius has today died a martyr, and is borne to heaven, triumphing and rejoicing in the Lord. May we be worthy of blessing by his prayers!" (From the Athonite Patrology).Our Holy Mother Maria of TarsusShe at first lived a life of harlotry. Two monks travelling through Tarsus stayed at the inn where Maria plied her trade. When she approached the monks, they rebuked her and pushed her away as unclean. She suddenly repented and vowed to sin no more from that moment. The monks took her with them to a women"s monastery, where Maria lived in asceticism till old age. She had the gift of wonderworking during her lifetime and after her death. Martyr Papas of Lycaonia (305)Martyr TheoclesChild-martyr ValerianHoly Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council Repose of St. John Chrysostom (407) The Repose of Sainted John Zlatoust'/Chrysostomos: Saint John Chrysostom died on 14 September 407, but because of the feast of the Exaltation of the Life-Creating Cross of the Lord, the commemoration of the saint was transferred to 13 November, where the account about him is located. On 27 January is made a commemoration of the transfer of the holy relics of Saint John Chrysostom from Komaneia to Constantinople, and on 30 January – is the celebration of the Sobor/Assemblage of the Three Ecumenical Hierarchs. |
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