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Commemoration Of the Appearance Of The Glorious Cross

Commemoration Of the Appearance Of The Glorious Cross

The church celebrates the appearance of the glorious Cross of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christtwice: The First on the sixteenth day of the month of Tute, 326 A .D . by the hands of therighteous Empress St . Helen, the mother of Constantine the great, the righteous Emperor . ThisSaint when her son Constantine accepted the Faith in the Lord Christ, she vowed to go toJerusalem . Her righteous son prepared everything needed to fulfill this holy visit .When she arrived to Jerusalem with multitude of soldiers, she asked about the place of the Crossbut no one would tell her . She took one of the jewish elders and pressured him by hunger andthirst until he was forced to direct them to the place where they might find the Cross at the hill ofGolgotha . She ordered them to clear out the site of Golgotha where they found three crosses andthat was in the year 326 A .D . However, they did not know the cross upon which Our Lord Christwas crucified, they brought a dead man and they laid upon him one of the crosses and then theother but he did not rise up but when they laid the third cross upon him he rose up immediately,then they realized that this was the Cross of Our Lord Christ . The Empress and all the believerskneeled down before the Holy Cross, and she sent a piece of it with the nails to her sonConstantine . Immediately after, she built the churches that were mentioned on the Sixteenth dayof the blessed month of Tute . The Second celebration that the church commemorates the Cross is on the Tenth day of themonth of Baramhat by the hands of Emperor Heraclius, in 627 A .D . When the Persians weredefeated by Heraclius they retreated from Egypt to their country . On their way back they passedthrough Jerusalem, a persian prince entered the church of the Cross which was built by EmpressHelen . He saw a great light shinning from a piece of wood located on a place decorated with gold .He thrust his hand to it and there went forth from it fire which burned his fingers . The Christianstold him that this is the base of the Holy Cross and they told him how it was discovered and noone was able to touch it except a Christian . He deceived the two deacons who were standing toguard it and gave them much money so they would carry this piece and go with it with him to hiscountry . They took it and put it in a box and went with him to his country along with those whowere captured from the city of Jerusalem .When Emperor Heraclius heard that, he went with his army to Persia, fought with them and slewmany of them . He traveled about this country searching for this piece of the Holy Cross but hecould not find it, for the Persian prince had dug a hole in his garden and ordered the two deaconsto put the box in it and buried it and then he killed them .One of the captives of that Persian prince which was the daughter of one of the priests, waslooking out of the window by chance and saw what happened . She went to Heraclius the Emperorand told him what she saw . He went with the bishops, priests and the soldiers to the place . Theydug there and found the box, they took the piece of the Holy Cross out, in 628 A .D ., wrapped itin magnificent apparel and Heraclius took it to the city of Constantinople and kept it there .May the blessings of the Holy Cross be with us and Glory be to God forever . Amen .