The Universal Exaltation of the Honorable and Life-Giving Cross in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

The Universal Exaltation of the Honorable and Life-Giving Cross presents before us each year that event through which man entered into the Kingdom of God: the Lord's sacrifice upon the Cross. For, according to the Hymnographer, “On the Cross the Lord slew him who had slain us; having been put to death, He brought us back to life and made us beautiful, and in His compassion, because of the abundance of His goodness, He deemed us worthy once again to live in the heavens.” We shall point out below some of the aspects of this mystery of the Cross, through which we have also been saved.

1. The Cross of the Lord: History and Mystery

Approaching the Lord's sacrifice upon the Cross is therefore no easy undertaking. Although it has historical coordinates—it took place at a particular time and in a particular place: in Judea under Pontius Pilate, as we confess in the Creed, “Who was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate”—something that no one can deny, even if he is the greatest atheist, it nevertheless far surpasses what human senses and faculties are capable of perceiving: a man suffering under cruel tortures. The Cross constitutes the greatest of mysteries, because upon it suffers God who became man, God Himself according to His humanity.

September: Day 14: Teaching 3: Exaltation of the Honorable and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord

 

September: Day 14: Teaching 3: 
Exaltation of the Honorable and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord
 
(Mere outward veneration of the Cross of Christ, without inward veneration, is displeasing to the Lord who was crucified upon it.)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Today, brethren, we celebrate the Feast of the Exaltation of the Honorable and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord. The Church has gathered us in the temple for its solemn veneration. And so, following her example and instruction, we fall on our knees before the Cross of the Lord, bow our heads before it, and kiss it with our lips. But is such an honoring of the Cross sufficient for true veneration of the Cross of the Lord?

Outward, bodily veneration before the Cross alone is not sufficient. The holy Cross is the visible representative of the invisible presence of the Lord who was crucified upon it; therefore, we must bow before it as before the very presence of Him who was crucified upon it. Man consists of body and soul; both his soul and body have alike been redeemed at the price of the blood of Christ; therefore, he must venerate the Redeemer who was lifted upon the Cross both with soul and body.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 14

The Month of September

Day 14

15. How Christians Should Conduct Themselves When Carrying Holy Icons and Banners in Cross Processions

(Sermon for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Honorable Cross of the Lord. Menaion, September 14)

To the Rural Parishioners

When, brethren, a cross procession goes forth from our church, those of you who undertake to carry the holy icons and banners from the church ordinarily conduct yourselves in a manner that is not entirely becoming. Almost invariably, disputes arise among you over who is to carry what; and then, once you have taken the holy objects into your hands, while waiting for the clergy to come out of the church, you either begin engaging in idle conversation among yourselves or, even worse, begin arguing with one another or exchanging jokes. This is not good—very far from good, brethren!

For a cross procession is a great and solemn act, and when we conduct one, we should not do so with arguments and laughter, but rather with lamentation and tears. For this is what Blessed Symeon of Thessaloniki says concerning the cross procession:

Holy Hieromartyr Iakovos of Voutza in Smyrna (+ 1922)

By Stavros Melidonis, Attorney,
Vice-President of the Association of Smyrnaeans

The tragic centenary of the Asia Minor Catastrophe brings to the forefront the deaths of thousands of martyrs, with Chrysostomos of Smyrna standing as the foremost figure among them. Through his martyrdom, he became a Saint of our Orthodox Church, fulfilling the verse from the Revelation of John addressed to the Angel of the Church of Smyrna: “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

Alongside Chrysostomos of Smyrna and the company of the Asia Minor Saints stands the figure of the Hieroethnomartyr Archimandrite Iakovos Archantzikakis, who surrendered his soul to the Lord after enduring a horrific martyrdom at the hands of the Turkish çetes in Voutza of Smyrna on 27 August 1922 (Old Style).

Archimandrite Iakovos Archantzikakis was born in the village of Ziros in Sitia in 1872. At the urging of his uncle, the Hieromonk Kornelios Giakoumakis of the Holy Sepulchre, he went to Jerusalem in order to study at the renowned Theological School of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem.

Homily for the Sunday Before the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (St. Cleopa of Sihastria)

 

Homily for the Sunday Before the Exaltation of the Holy Cross 

 

(Concerning the Sign of the Son of Man) 

By St. Cleopa of Sihastria

“Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven” (Matthew 24:30).

Beloved faithful,

One of the great signs that will herald the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for judgment will also be the appearance of the Holy and Life-Giving Cross. It will appear upon the clouds of heaven, brought by the angels of God with great and ineffable glory, the radiance of which will surpass the light of the sun a thousand times. This appearance of the sign of the Son of Man, that is, of the Holy Cross, will bring great and unspeakable joy to all faithful Christians who have honored it and bowed down before it, the altar sanctified by the Blood of Christ. But it will bring great terror and trembling upon the wicked and unbelieving who have not honored the sign of the Son of Man, that is, the Holy Cross.

A thousand years before the Incarnation, the Holy Spirit revealed that the Holy Cross is the sign of Christ God's victory, which He would give to Christians as a powerful weapon by which Christians would conquer their invisible enemies. Thus the Psalmist says: “You have given those who fear You, O Lord, a sign, that they may flee from the face of the bow” (Psalm 59:4). The Most Holy Spirit revealed at that time that, through the signing with the Holy Cross, Christians would draw upon themselves the light of the face of God, as it is written: “The light of Your face has shone upon us, O Lord” (Psalm 4:6).

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 13

The Month of September

Day 13

14. The Devil Cannot Overcome the Church of Christ

(Sermon on the Consecration of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, which is in Jerusalem. Menaion, September 13)

The Lord said: “I will build My Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). What do these words of the Lord mean? They mean “that no hostile forces, not even the powers of Hades and Satan, will be able to overcome the Church founded by Christ, ... that no evil counsels, machinations, or actions of hidden forces will overcome it” (Mikh., Commentary on Matthew, p. 297); “that the Church of Christ will exist until the end of the world, that it will stand firmly upon the earth, and that no attacks of the enemy—the devil, together with all his accomplices—will destroy it.” (Euseb., Instruction on the Faith, Part 2, p. 273). Is all this really true? Is it true that no attacks of the enemy—the devil, together with all his accomplices—will destroy the Church of Christ, and that no evil counsels, machinations, or actions of hidden forces will overcome it? Of course it is true, brethren, for on the one hand you yourselves know that heaven and earth will pass away sooner than the words of the Lord will pass away; and on the other hand, it is true also because the devil has already shown his powerlessness in his struggle against the Church of Christ and has suffered defeat at the hands of Christ. From where, you may ask, is this latter thing evident, and when did it happen? From the following account, which we shall offer you, you will see from what this is evident and when this took place.

Homily for the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos (St. Sergius Mechev)

  

Homily for the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos

By Holy Hieromartyr Sergius Mechev

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!

A few days ago, by the mercy of God, we entered with you into the New Ecclesiastical Year, and today we celebrate the first great feast of the annual liturgical cycle—the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos.

In order to understand the meaning of this feast, and together with it the meaning of the other feasts of the Church, we must first of all remember that the life of the Church is a mystery, incomprehensible to those who are outside the Church.

It is not by chance that the most important thing in the life of the Holy Church—Her center, through which we become partakers of the grace of God—we call MYSTERIES.

By our own created mind, we could not comprehend this mystery. But the Lord, in His mercy, gradually reveals it to those who live in the Mysteries, who draw near to this source of grace and drink its living water.

Homily One on the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos (St. Justin Popovich)

Homily One on the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos 

By St. Justin Popovich

(Delivered in 1964, at the Monastery of Ćelije)

This Holy Great Feast of today bears the joy of the whole universe, as it is said in the beautiful hymn: “Today the Most Holy Mother of God brings the Lord Christ into the universe!” It is as though God were driven out from the earth—and indeed He was driven out from the earth. God was driven out from the earth by us human beings, beginning with our first foremother Eve. The Most Holy Virgin brings God back into the world. That is a great joy. Her troparion today speaks to us of that great joy and of that great truth.

The Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God, it is said in the troparion, “proclaimed joy to the whole universe,” to the whole world. Why? Because with her, in truth, the Lord Christ came into this world! He, because of her and through her, became man and gave us everything that He, as the God-man, could give us: He gave us all the joys of Paradise on earth and upon the earth, which became hell because of our sins, because of human sins; not because of some others, not because of the sins of the devil and his black angels, but because of man, because man fell through an indescribable fall. And the Most Holy Mother of God, giving birth to the Lord Christ, gave birth to salvation for the world. Hence, in the Orthodox Church, there are so many prayers, so many hymns to the Most Holy Mother of God.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 12

The Month of September

Day 12

13. On the Incorruption of the Holy Relics

(From the Life of Holy Hieromartyr Autonomos. September Menaion, Sept. 12)

All truly Orthodox Christians venerate with faith the incorrupt relics of the holy Servants of God, approach them with reverence, and often travel great distances in order to venerate them and pray to the holy Servants of God who repose there in incorruption. This is how Orthodox Christians regard the relics of the Saints. But people of this age do not regard them in the same way, whether they are lame in faith, limping on both knees, or entirely unbelieving. And when the subject of the incorruption of relics comes up with them, they usually say: “I do not understand this! What is this all about? Can a body really remain incorrupt after lying in the earth for so many years?” and so forth. Are people of this age speaking the truth to us when they say such things, or not?

When the Hieromartyr Autonomos was killed by unbelievers, his body was buried by a certain deaconess named Maria and remained in the earth for a very long time. After many years had passed, a soldier, by the direction of God, discovered it and brought it out of the earth. The blessed Symeon the Metaphrastes then saw the Saint’s relics, and this is what he says about them: