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).

The Holy Gospel tells us that, when the fullness of time comes, before the dread Last Judgment, the Holy Cross will appear coming upon the clouds of heaven, as we read: “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming upon the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30). Yes, my brothers, all the peoples of the earth will mourn at the appearance of the Cross of Christ in heaven and at the sight of His coming to judge the world. What will the pagan peoples say then when they see the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, surrounded by all the angelic hosts and by the appearance of the Holy Cross in heaven? What will those who crucified Christ say then? What will Pilate say, who, after having Him scourged, gave the Jews and his soldiers permission to crucify Him? (Mark 15:15). What will the chief priests Annas and Caiaphas do? What will the elders and Pharisees and the entire assembly of the Jews say then, at the sight of the Righteous Judge and the Holy Cross coming upon the clouds of heaven?

What will the sectarians who defame the Holy Cross say then, when they see the sign of the Son of Man coming upon the clouds of heaven? What will all those who call themselves Christians but curse and blaspheme the Cross of Christ say? Woe and alas to the blind, the wicked, and the unbelieving, for then each one will see what he has done in life, but it will be too late, and there will be no time for repentance.

The Divine Fathers of the Church say that together with the Cross of the Lord, the other instruments and signs of Christ's Passion will also appear in heaven, such as the spear, the nails, the crown of thorns, the sponge, the reed, the whips, and the ropes. And some of the Holy Fathers say that together with the appearance of the Holy Cross in heaven, the Cross will also be marked upon the faces of all the righteous, as we read in the Apocalypse: “Let us mark the servants of God upon their foreheads” (Revelation 7:3).

By the sign of the Holy Cross that will be upon the foreheads of the righteous, the angels will recognize the chosen, in order to gather them, according to the testimony of the Apostle, “to meet the Lord in the air.” By this sign the Shepherd will recognize His rational sheep. The Commander will recognize His soldiers, the Judge His righteous, the Father His children.

Some of the Holy Fathers say that together with the appearance of the Holy Cross in heaven, in the air, the Ark of the Old Law will also appear, as having been a foreshadowing of the Cross, as it says in the Apocalypse: “And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the Ark of His Covenant was seen in His temple” (Revelation 11:19). This will prove that the New Law of Grace is united with the Old, and that the same God gave and established both Laws.

The Blessed Augustine also writes concerning the mourning of the pagan peoples and the sects at the appearance of the Cross in heaven, saying:

“Then all the tribes of the earth will lament and mourn, seeing the Cross, their accuser. For the Cross will convict them, and by its appearance their sin will be made known, and they will confess their madness and their bondage, but without benefit. They will mourn because there it will no longer be possible to repent, nor to escape the justice of God, nor the sentence of the curse. Therefore they will lament their past sins, the terrors that will stand before them at the appearance of the Most Just Judge, and the eternal torments and punishments that are about to overtake them. Thus they will mourn their wretched and pitiable fate. The Cross, which before was the sign of love and peace, the hope of sinners, the consolation of the sorrowful, the refuge of the despairing, when it appears in heaven, will be the sign of all punishments and the terror of all pagans and unbelievers, the dreadful fear of sinners, unto the destruction of those who have been blasphemers of the Cross.

They will find no place of escape or support then, those blasphemers and unbelievers, where they might hide from the sight and exceedingly terrifying radiance of the Cross of Christ, which in heaven will shine a thousand times more brightly than the sun. Then the Cross, the tree of deliverance and the light of life, will shine upon them, not as until now, as a sign of deliverance and salvation through Jesus Christ, Who was sacrificed upon it for our salvation, but it will shine like lightning and like thunder for punishment and vengeance upon the unbelieving and blaspheming.”

The Cross then will appear for still greater joy and gladness to the faithful who, for love of Him Who sanctified it with His Most Precious Blood, have carried it throughout their lives against tribulations and sorrows. These have kissed the sign of the Holy Cross with great reverence, with love and with tears, for the glory of God and for the salvation of the world.

The Holy Apostle Paul says: “The word of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). All pagans and unbelievers will know this truth when they see the Holy Cross, the sign of the Son of Man, coming upon the clouds of Heaven with glory and ineffable radiance. Then the unbelievers and sectarians will know that the Holy Cross is the weapon by which Jesus Christ, our Savior, crushed the gates of Hades, emptied its chambers below, and opened the heavenly gates; through it He cast down the power of the enemy and the sting of death and destroyed the worship of senseless idols.

This is the sign of the Son of Man, the victorious sign with which Almighty God, the God of Christians, has subdued the whole Christian world and brought it to the true worship of His honorable and glorious name. By the sign of the Cross every knee bows before Him, of those in heaven, of those on earth, and of those under the earth (Philippians 2:10).

The Cross is called the “Sign of the Son of Man.” It is the tree of salvation and of life, because upon it Christ, our Life, brought salvation to the world: He stretched out His hands toward us to embrace us through this tree; He bowed His head to kiss us and to bow down always to our prayers. From this tree flowed the balm of His Most Holy Blood, to heal our unhealed spiritual wounds.

High upon the wood, the Most Holy Lord opened His breast, to gain us within His heart and to deliver us from the coming wrath. These gifts of the Cross we receive now. But on the great day of the Last Judgment, none of these gifts will be found at the Cross. Where then is the opening of Christ's hands? Where is the bowing of His head? Where is the pierced and opened side? Where is His Blood? Where is Christ, risen from the dead? Hear the Prophet Hosea, who says: “They will go to seek the Lord, but they will not find Him, because He has withdrawn from them” (Hosea 5:6). O bitter word, O poisonous saying! But we, so that we may show ourselves joyful at the glorious and victorious appearance of the Cross, let each one of us say with the Holy Apostle Paul: “But far be it from me to boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14).

Therefore, it is of great benefit for us to have great reverence for and honor the Cross of Christ while we are still breathing this air. Let us turn with all our heart toward the sign of the Son of Man, which He sanctified with His Most Holy Blood, and let us say with all our heart:

“You, O Lord, Who took pains to seek me and find me, and were crucified to deliver me from the bondage of the devil, I pray to You and bow down before You, for the sake of this Cross upon which You were stretched out and nailed and suffered with such love for mankind for our salvation; upon which You sprinkled it with Your sweat, Your tears, and Your Blood; above which You prayed to the Father for the forgiveness of Your enemies; You promised Paradise to the robber and gave Your spirit to Your Father. I pray to You and ask of You that on the day of judgment Your Cross may become for us an instrument of life and not of death and destruction; that it may become for us the key to Paradise in heaven, so that we may reign with the Son forever.”

Beloved faithful,

If we read carefully the Holy Scripture, the teachings of the Holy Apostles, the Lives of the Saints, and the words of the Holy Fathers, we can find thousands of miracles that have been performed through the sign of the Son of Man, that is, through the Holy Cross.

Among these many miracles, at the end of this sermon we will mention at least one that happened in the regions of India.

In a city there, one of the Christians had moved there from another city and had forgotten in the house where he had stayed a Cross upon which the image of our Lord Jesus Christ was depicted. An idolater who found this Cross showed it to many people from the area who shared his faith, saying, “This is the God of the Christians.” As that word spread among the inhabitants, the news reached their ruler, who summoned the man who had found the Cross and ordered him to show it to him. About three hundred men were present around the governor. So he took it into his hands and, looking at it attentively, asked his people whether this truly was the God of the Christians. And one replied, “Yes, this is truly He!” Then the governor said: “This is the God who helps the Christians, a condemned man and one who was hanged?” And they all spat upon the Cross and returned it into the hands of the one who had brought it.

But, O most glorious miracle! As soon as that man took the Cross from the governor into his hands, the Savior's head, which on the Cross had been bowed toward the right, began to turn toward the left, and He looked with living and open eyes upon all those who were present. Then they were all overcome with great fear and fell to the ground, except for the one who held the Cross in his hands.

After some time, when they had all come to themselves, rising as though from a deep sleep, the governor cried out in a loud voice: “Truly, great is the Lord of the Christians!”

Then he built a small church in that place and adorned it, placed in it the wonderworking Cross of Christ, and they began to honor it and bow down before it with all reverence. And that governor, together with his son, received Holy Baptism from a Christian priest and, living with great reverence in the true Orthodox faith of Christ, in his advanced old age he fell asleep in the Lord.

Therefore, my Christian brothers, if those pagans, merely at the image of the Savior upon the Cross, suffered such terror that they remained speechless like the dead, what will they suffer at the dread Last Judgment—the pagans, sectarians, and unbelievers who blaspheme the sign of the Cross of Christ—when they see it coming upon the clouds of heaven with ineffable glory and an outpouring of light and exceedingly great radiance? Will they not say: “This is the wood that was a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. This is the wood through which Christ crushed the gates of Hades and unlocked the chambers below and opened the heavenly gates and cast down all the powers of Hades and of death”?

Beloved faithful,

In concluding this sermon, I ask you to honor the Holy Cross with great reverence and not to follow people who have strayed from the true and right faith, who do not bow down before the Holy and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord. These are people who are sick in their thinking and understanding and sons of perdition, through whom the devil leads away from the Church of Christ those who are weak in faith and ignorant of the Holy Scripture, and all those who are uncertain in the true faith. Flee from these people and from their teachings; remember that the Orthodox Church is our spiritual mother, who gave birth to you to a new life through water and the Spirit, and do not separate yourselves from her, for the Church is the Body of Christ (Ephesians 4:5), whose members you are. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.