Homily Two on the Procession of the Honorable Wood of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
(Delivered in 1963)
By Archimandrite Kirill Pavlov
(Delivered in 1963)
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today the Holy Church glorifies the power of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord, and at the same time remembers the sufferings of Christ, which He endured on the Cross. The reason for the establishment of this feast was an extraordinary event, miraculously revealed to the inhabitants of the capital of the Greek empire from the Tree of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord.
A severe plague broke out in Constantinople, which took thousands of lives daily. And so the city's inhabitants turned to God with prayer, adding to this a religious procession with the Tree of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord through the streets of the Byzantine capital, sprinkling all the houses and buildings with holy water. And since at the end of the religious procession the plague immediately ceased, then in memory of this miraculous event it was established to celebrate the Cross of the Lord every year on August 1. In addition, other events were added to this event, in which the power of God was also miraculously revealed: the victory of the Greek army over the Saracens, and the Russian army over the Volga Bulgarians, since these events also took place on August 1 by the power of the Life-giving Cross and the prayers of the Most Pure Mother of God. But, remembering these events and glorifying the power of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord, the Church also now remembers the sufferings of Christ.
In the Gospel set for today, you heard a touching account of the last hours and minutes of the earthly life of Christ the Savior. The Holiest of Holies, the Sinless One, goes to the pagan Pilate, mocked and insulted by the frantic crowd making noise around Him. With insane anger and bitterness, the high priests, scribes, elders of the people and all the Jewish people demand a shameful death for the Immortal One: "Crucify Him, crucify Him" (John 19:6)! Pilate, a pagan who did not know the Divine teaching, driven by a sense of justice, tries to free Him: "You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him" (John 19:6). But their threats to accuse him before Caesar force the governor to hand the Lord over to the hands of the enemies for crucifixion.
After many new sufferings and humiliations, the Lord ascends to Golgotha, carrying a heavy Cross, is nailed to the Cross and gives up the ghost, hanging between two thieves. Such immeasurable humiliation, such a terrible death! And the question arises: why this terrible sacrifice?
"He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; by His stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5), answers the Holy Prophet Isaiah. The entire human race at the time of the Savior's coming to earth was in sin, people had forgotten God, forgotten His Divine Law, even the Jewish people chosen by God had perverted and forgotten the Law.
All have sinned, all have transgressed God's commandments, and therefore deserve eternal damnation and death. God is all-good and all-merciful, but He is also infinitely just. Divine Truth was outraged by human wickedness, human sins. It was necessary to satisfy this holy Truth. But who among men could take upon himself the mediation before God's Justice, when each man himself was infected with sin? Moreover, human sins were extremely great, and the sacrifice for them had to be the greatest.
And this is the highest sacrifice that the Son of God became. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). By the death of the Savior on the Cross, we are redeemed from sin, the curse, and death. The Blood of the Innocent was shed on the Cross, so that the guilty could escape the wrath of God they deserved. What ineffable mercy, what goodness of God is imparted from the Cross to sinful mankind! Christ died for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3). The sins of the whole world are nailed to the Cross. He who ascended the Cross and shed His most pure Blood became the eternal Mediator for us before God the Father.
His wounded palms lovingly embrace the entire human race and bring all who wish to the Father. That which previously separated the creature, the disobedient sons of men from the Creator, is destroyed by the Sacrifice of Golgotha. And the Cross from a shameful instrument of capital punishment has become for believers the most precious, the most honorable weapon in their hands for the fight against the enemies of our souls. Erected on Golgotha, it shines brightly over the entire earth, warming with its rays the cold and hardened hearts of men.
Come, all you who grieve, to this Cross, look upon it and you will find peace for your souls. As the bronze serpent erected by Moses of old healed those wounded by the serpent when they looked at it, so the Cross of Christ gives healing to the souls of men when they resort to it and pray before it with love.
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem says: "The cross is a great protection given to the poor as a gift, and to the weak without effort. This is God's grace: a sign for the faithful, and a fear for evil spirits." By marking ourselves with the cross, we surrender ourselves to the guidance of the Lord Himself and, like a shield, we protect ourselves from the wiles and powers of the enemy. For instance, in the life of the Holy Apostle John the Theologian, it is narrated that a poor Christian, having nothing to repay his creditor, asked a Jewish sorcerer to give him poison. He took it twice, but the poison had no effect, because the Christian marked the vessel with the poison with the sign of the cross each time. Another example: a certain shepherd was dying from a snake bite. However, when a pious elder poured water into his mouth in the shape of the cross, invoking the great name of the Holy Trinity and the name of the Great Martyr George, the shepherd recovered.
Furthermore, it is said that the devil once attacked Saint Cyprian, beating and choking him. Cyprian was unable to defend himself against him; he simply raised his hand and made the sign of the cross – and the devil immediately recoiled from him like an arrow, then roared like a lion and vanished. Such is the power of the cross, which we must reverently impose upon ourselves with a vivid remembrance of the Savior of the world crucified on the Cross.
When we make the sign of the cross, we are clothed with Divine power, which at that time overshadows and protects us from all evil. That is why the cross is placed on us at birth, with the cross on our chest and in our hands we swim across the stormy sea of life's troubles, with the cross we are accompanied to the place of our final rest, and on our grave itself a cross will be placed as a sign of our salvation.
Today, as we worship the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, let us kiss it with sincere love and filial devotion to the Lord, believing that Christ crucified on the Cross is not a simple man, but the God-man.
With fear and trembling let everyone approach the Cross and with tenderness glorify the Lord with their lips, crying out from the depths of their soul: "We venerate Your Cross, O Master, and we glorify Your holy resurrection!" Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
