Who are celebrating today, Wednesday, September 14 – Great feast of Orthodoxy

Today, Wednesday, September 14, is the day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and of Saint Theocleus.

Those named Theoklis, Theokleas, Theokleia, Stavros, Stavrianos, Stavrakas, Stavrakios, Stavris, Stavrakis, Stavroula, Stavriani, Stavrina, Stavria are celebrating.

The feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, according to ekklisiaonline, is connected to the great historical events of both the Byzantine Empire and Christianity. At the same time, however, it refers to the Crucifixion and the Death of the Lord, which was actually the first Elevation of the Holy Cross with Jesus Christ himself crucified. That is why today is celebrated with strict fasting. Moreover, the Gospel read during the Divine Liturgy is the same as that read on Good Friday.

With the establishment of the feast of the Universal Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the verification of the psalm verse is perpetuated in perpetuity: “I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted among the peoples” (psalm. 45,11). And indeed Jesus was lifted up because he was crucified in a high and elevated place, so that he could be seen by the whole crowd of people.

Christ was exalted, because not only His Crucifixion, but also His Resurrection was made known and preached throughout the world through His disciples and Apostles.

The Lord was exalted because, through His sacrifice on the cross, He raised human nature to the height of deification. This is the first raising of the Holy Cross that took place amid great sorrow and suffering at Calvary.

But through the Cross the devil is defeated, sin is solved, Hades is defeated, Christ is resurrected, death is abolished and human nature through the person of Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Father and we can now say that all blessing came through the Cross and originates in construction.

Therefore the Cross is the manifestation of Christ in the world, for this reason the church solemnly sings: “Behold, through the Cross joy has come to the whole world”.

In 326 AD however, a year after the First Ecumenical Council, Saint Helen went to Jerusalem to worship the Holy Land and to thank God for the victories and triumphant successes of her son and the first Christian emperor, Constantine. Then he brought the sacred pilgrimages out of obscurity and built splendid temples.

He wanted to build a glorious temple on the site of Golgotha ​​where Christ was crucified.

But there, 200 years ago, the Roman Emperor Hadrian, to prevent Christians from worshiping the holy place, had built a pagan sanctuary dedicated to Aphrodite.

Saint Helen demolished the pagan temple, cleared the place and built a Christian temple. Immediately after that he looked for the Holy Cross of the Lord and with the help of the Lord he found it buried in the earth.

Saint Helen retrieved three crosses

Saint Helen brought up three crosses and everyone’s question was which was the Lord’s Cross.

Patriarch Makarios gave the solution: he approached the coffin of a dead woman with the three crosses.

As soon as the Holy Wood rested on her she was resurrected. So when the Church of the Resurrection was finished and with all its splendor it was inaugurated on September 14, 336.

The Patriarch, because the number of people was great, so that everyone could see and worship the Holy Cross of the Lord, he went up to his pulpit was in the middle of the Temple and raised the Holy Wood and the faithful worshiped crying: ‘Lord have mercy’.

Since then, the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross was established and the church in the middle of the Church raises the Cross in a basilica because it was the plant that had grown in the place where the Cross was hidden.

The second Ascension

But we also have a third Ascension that took place in 614 AD.

Then the Persians conquered Jerusalem and among the spoils they took, they also seized the Holy Cross and with Him as a prisoner the Patriarch Zacharias. However, Emperor Heraclius managed to defeat the Persians, freed the Patriarch and brought back the Holy Cross with honors.

On September 14, 614, he ascended with the Holy Cross to Golgotha. But suddenly he stopped, his feet stuck to the ground and it was impossible to move forward. Then the Patriarch told him to take off his shoes and his royal crown.

As soon as he did it, he started and so unhurried and humble he ascended holding the Sacred Wood which he raised for the third time on the pulpit of the Church of the Resurrection and the people chanted with rapture: ΄Lord, save your people’.

Today, raising the Cross towards the four points of the horizon and singing “Lord have mercy,” we confess that by ascending the Cross, Christ wanted to unite the ends of the earth, the width, the length, the depth and the height in His body so that we have through Him the introduction to the Father.

Absolute

Ἦhos a’.
Lord, save your people and bless your heritage, victory over the kings against the barbarians and your kingdom preserved by your cross.

Kontakion

Ἦhos d’. Self-memorial.
You who rose willingly on the Cross, in your name a new state, your sufferings you bestow, Christ the God, Euphrano in your power, our faithful Kings, victorious sponsors of them, against the wars, the alliance had you, weapon of peace, undefeated trophy.

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