The Cross – The Life-Bearing Plant (Photios Kontoglou)

Sketch of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross by Photios Kontoglou

 

The Cross – The Life-Bearing Plant

By Photios Kontoglou

“Come, all nations, let us venerate the blessed wood, through which eternal justice was accomplished.”

The Cross is the most honorable and holy symbol of all Christians. And yet, this Cross was, before Christ was crucified on it, a sign of dishonor, condemnation and curse, because the most terrible criminals were condemned to be nailed to it. Christ, who changed everything, also changed the meaning that the Cross had in the souls of people, completely changed their feelings and from a disgusting and cursed tool, transformed it into a venerable and beloved symbol.

Christians place the Cross everywhere, on the domes and bell towers of the church, in their homes, on women's ornaments, on their buildings, on flags, on the masts of ships, in high places so that it can be seen from afar. The old pious Christians, from the faith they had, saw it everywhere, even in natural phenomena, as Saint Justin the Philosopher and Martyr writes.

The old ones, in everything they did in their lives, crossed themselves. I saw some Russian fishermen, who are called Kazakhs, and who live around a lake called in Turkish Manyas Gölü, near Panterme (Turkish Bandırma), who, no matter what work they do, will cross themselves, whether they eat, or drink water, or sneeze, or yawn, or cough, or do work, or sit down, or get up.

The shape of the Cross is very old. It was an Indo-European symbol of happiness and fire and they called it the Swastika.* They say that it is made of symbolic letters. It is found written on the chest of the Japanese Buddha and this is the so-called cross of Buddhism. It is still engraved on the scepters found in ancient Troy, on Celtic coins, on Christian shrouds, on a sarcophagus found in the Church of Saint Ambrose in Milan from the early years of Christianity.

But the Cross of Christ is a new symbol sanctified by His precious blood. Saint John Chrysostom writes that the Honorable Cross, despite being buried in the ground for many years, did not rot at all and was like brand new. The same Saint states that the Cross measured a span in thickness. Other historians say that it was fifteen feet long and eight feet wide. According to tradition, it was made of three kinds of wood - cypress, pine and cedar, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, which says: “In cypress and pine and cedar, you will glorify your holy place.” The nails were also found with the Cross. An ancient Bishop of Gaza named Paisios says that there were four. Others say that three nails were found. One was placed by Constantine the Great in the bridle of his horse, to protect him in war, according to the prophecy of the Prophet Zechariah, who says: “In that day there shall be upon the bridle of every horse Holiness to the Lord Almighty.”

The shape of the Cross is painted by the hagiographers around the head of Christ with the three letters, O, Ω and N, “ο ών”, “He Who Is”. The Crucified One is placed on the top of the Iconostasis, above the Beautiful Gate and on the right and left they place the Panagia and Saint John the Theologian in a posture of lamentation, the so-called “grieving” in the language of iconography.

As for the hymnography which is truly divinely inspired in the Orthodox Church, the hymns and troparia of the Veneration of the Cross can be said to be among the most divinely inspired. The canon “Stavron charaxas” has a prophetic grandeur both in words and in sound (plagal of the 4th): 

“Inscribing the Cross upon the waters, Moses marked a straight line before him with his staff and divided the Red Sea, opening a path for Israel who went over dry land. Then he marked a second line across the waters and united them in one, overwhelming the chariots of Pharaoh. Therefore let us sing to Christ our God, for He has been glorified.”

"O thrice-blessed Tree, on which Christ the King and Lord was stretched! Through you the beguiler fell, who tempted mankind with the tree. He was caught in the trap set by God, who was crucified upon you in the flesh, granting peace unto our souls."

Notes:

* Hitler also used it and called it a “swastika”.

Source: From an article in ELEFTHERIA – 9/14/1952. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.