The Exaltation of the Holy Cross
In short: On September 14, the Church places the Cross in her midst and lifts it up before the faithful. We do not venerate an object as something magical, but the sign of Christ's love, for He accepted the Cross and made it the place of His victory.
What we celebrate
The feast recalls the finding of the Wood of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, in the time of Saint Helen, the mother of Emperor Constantine. The Tradition of the Church says that Patriarch Macarius of Jerusalem lifted up the Cross so that the people could see it and venerate the One crucified upon it.
The feast also became linked with the consecration of the church built over the place of the Lord's Resurrection in the fourth century, and later with the return of the Holy Cross to Jerusalem after it had been carried away by the Persians in the seventh century. Through all these layers of history, the center remains the same: the Cross of Christ is lifted up not as a museum memory, but as a living sign of salvation.
Why the day is kept as a fast
The Exaltation of the Holy Cross is a great feast, but it is kept with fasting. Its joy is full of light, yet it is not light-minded. The Cross shows how far God's love goes: to crucifixion, to entering death, so that death may be conquered from within.
That is why the Church does not call us on this day to noisy happiness, but to awake gratitude. We venerate the Cross, make the sign of the Cross, and may wear it upon ourselves, but not as a talisman. It is the simple confession that we belong to Christ crucified and risen.
What this changes for us
The Cross does not make suffering good in itself and it does not ask anyone to love pain. It shows, however, that Christ does not stand far from human wounds. He entered them, bore them, and opened them toward the Resurrection.
That is why the Apostle can say that, for those who are being saved, the word of the Cross is the power of God (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:18). And the Gospel read around the feast recalls the serpent lifted up by Moses in the wilderness, a sign fulfilled in the Son of Man lifted up for the life of the world (cf. John 3:13-17).
In our own life, to carry the cross does not mean seeking trouble, nor remaining silent before evil. It means remaining with Christ in the place where we are tested, without letting bitterness cut us off from Him.
- Find September 14 in the Orthodox calendar and notice the fasting rule.
- If you can, go to the Divine Liturgy and to the veneration of the Holy Cross.
- Make the sign of the Cross more attentively than usual, as a short prayer of the body and the heart.
- Pray for someone carrying a heavy cross, and look for a concrete way to stand near them.
Sources
- The Menaion for September, the 14th day — the service of the feast
- The Synaxarion for September 14 — the finding and exaltation of the Holy Cross
- John 3:13-17 and 1 Corinthians 1:18 — biblical readings connected with the mystery of the Cross