PseudoCyril Discovery of the Cross

A discourse of Saint Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem, which he delivered concerning the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, on the day of his manifestation, which is the seventeenth of the month of Paope. He spoke also concerning the word which the Lord spoke in the law of Moses: "You shall do these things three times in the year." He spoke also concerning the honor of the Cross, which was revealed in the place of the skull of the Savior. He spoke also concerning Isaac the Samaritan, who baptized him. And he delivered a discourse in the place of the Resurrection, which is the Holy Eirene, while he was doing reverence to the Cross, with all the people, the orthodox, gathering together into the holy church, in the peace of God. Amen. The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many islands be glad. The Lord

... He placed upon himself a garment. The Lord reigned. He placed upon himself a power. He bound it. O my teachers, my instructors, and my God! For we see in thoughts that are scattered among themselves, the holy prophets, David, the father of Christ according to the flesh. He said, "The Lord has reigned. Let the earth rejoice. Let the islands that are beautiful be glad." He also said in the same spirit, "The Lord has reigned from the tree." For the Holy Spirit, who spoke through the mouth of all the prophets, it is he who revealed himself like tongues of fire on the day of holy Pentecost. David, the righteous king, also says, "The Lord has reigned. Let the peoples be joyful." O hymnographer David, for a little while you say, "The Lord has reigned. Let the earth rejoice." You speak of a rejoicing of the whole earth. And again you speak of a separation of the islands and a gladness. And a grief of heart for men who do evil. For the anger of man brings a grief of heart, and it does not simply delight the hearts of those who hear, unless they find their interpretation or that which will tell them its meaning. And so then we entreat the Holy Spirit, who is one in essence with the Father and the Son, that he may open the eyes of the heart.

We are small in his true knowledge. These things he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets. For we are not worthy of this. But if we rejoice in her cross, and the whole orthodox people, these who have gathered together into this holy place today, from every region, glorifying her cross, worshipping and adoring him who ascended upon the cross, our Savior Jesus Christ, so that he may give to all of us the way to contemplate his law and to understand his commandments.

The Lord, the King, we have seen. Let us understand. He gave his attention to a certain hour, so that he might reign within him in a public revelation. Is it not he himself who is the kingdom and the lordship from eternity? Did he not say [it] from the beginning, through Daniel the prophet, the man of desire, that his kingdom is a kingdom forever, and his lordship from generation to generation, and his dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth? And again, that the king of the whole earth is the Lord. And again, that God is the eternal king. Do you wish to understand, O heretic, enemy of God, that the king of kings is Christ? Listen to Matthew and Luke the evangelists, as they say: When Christ was born, behold, Magi came from the East to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is the king of the Jews who was born?" For we saw his star in the East, and we came to worship him, for they gave him great honor as a king. Do you wish to understand? Listen, I will tell you. For as with a king, a tyrant rises up against him, wishing to rule over him and his country; he takes his soldiers captive, kills them, seizes his cities, and places them under his control, so that they pay tribute to him. The kings who are there, he grieves over all his multitudes because another king has taken them from him.

He pondered within himself, saying, "How shall I fight with the tyrant? For those who are under his authority serve him as slaves and obey him. Therefore, if he goes out to the city, he fights with him, overcomes him, takes his multitude from him, and frees them all from the tyrant who had taken them captive." They sound trumpets with trumpets, shouting with joy, "Their own king

...the waters, he saved them and ruled over them another time. At that same time, sin was active in the world, and lawlessness was profitable. Wickedness had overthrown the governing principle, which is the mind. The tyrant had taken them all captive and was killing them. Each one did what was pleasing to him openly. Simply, the cares of the devil were spread out over the whole inhabited world, and no one restrained the tyrant who did these things to them. For they had fled to one another, they had taken refuge under the wing of that one, thinking they would be saved. But this was not the case, for what was written was fulfilled concerning them: "They abandoned the straight spring of living water," and also, "Death is what watches over them." Therefore, the prophet cried out, saying, "There is no one to save, and there is no one to help." No human being is able to save them. For what men? They are subject to weakness, and they are bound by sickness, and they are brought to trial in a place of judgment, and they give account for all they have done. Nor can angels save them, for they are incorporeal. They have neither bone nor flesh, and they are immortal. For they are ministers of fire, being servants in the service of the one who created them. And they are not able to free themselves from captivity. But the Lord of the servants, if he wishes to make them free, by the glance of his eyes alone, he does so.

...the waters, he saved them and ruled over them another time. At that same time, sin was active in the world, and lawlessness was profitable. Wickedness had overthrown the governing principle, which is the mind. The tyrant of the powers of heaven and earth was troubled on account of those he had taken captive, to deliver them from the hand of the evil tyrant, the evil devil, who had prevailed over the men who had become his desire. Then the king of glory came forth from heaven, and he did not bring a great multitude with him, to take the captivity from the hand of the evil tyrant in Hades. For he did not come...

...openly, in great glory, he did not give the glory of his father who did not abandon him, nor did they wish to take it from him, but he bore the humiliation, this one who struggles with the evil devil within him. I speak of the pure flesh which he clothed himself with, the flesh which he gave himself, as he wished. The flesh which did not fall into a snare, nor did it enter into a path to a snare, a flesh in which he received the trial of all things within it, until sin and deceit, for he did not sin, nor did deceit fall from his mouth, a flesh in which God is within it and without, within and with it God is, so that men might see him. Outwardly also he performed great wonders and all healings. His hand stretched out, it raised the dead, that is, the son of the widow who was in the river. For he lived again, and after he was dead, he was laid in his tomb, they carried him out to the tomb to bury him. He stretched out his fleshly hand, of men and God, and placed it on the place of his bed which was upon him. Those who stood up from him stood on their feet. And by a single word, he raised him, he gave him to his mother, and she took him and went to her house, rejoicing and blessing God, and she did not hide her face, looking at him in wonder. And the multitudes ran to him, crying out.

...they wished to know him, both men and women who had come out to him, mocking him openly according to the custom of the Gentiles. They turned back, after they had set the servants to enter their houses until they turned back again. They saw the miracle that had happened. They saw the garments, rolled up at his mouth, dead, hung upon the shoulders of men, entering the city, bearing witness with their eyes to the truth. And when everyone saw the miracle, they believed in Jesus Christ. The Pharisees, however...

The archangel Michael. The boat sailed in a storm until he went to his city in peace. The businessman, when he came to his house, he told his wife and his children the things he had seen and the things he had heard and the things that had happened to him in the city of Galonia of the Philippians. Afterward he spoke the word to them little by little, saying, "Truly I have seen the sun, which we worship, is not a god, but a servant of the God of the Galileans. His great son is a wise man." He said to his father, "I will know this very hour." The young son went up to the roof of his house and cried out to the sun, saying, "I adjure you by your great light and your heat that fills this whole world, if you are not the true God, to inform us that you are a servant of his according to the way my father told me." And immediately a voice came to him, saying, "Well done, young son who seeks the true God. I am not the true God as the Greeks say, but I am a servant of his, to obey his command. However, if you seek the true God, behold your father has known him since he was in the city of Galonia of the Philippians.

And you also, he calls you until his mouth, for you are prepared for a great diakonia for him. These things, when the voice was sent, it ceased. The little son said to his father, “Truly, you have known God from the region from which you came. But I also, together with you, we will go to him in joy.” His father said to his wife, “If she is scandalized, there are eight hundred nomismata for us. Take them if your heart is not with me. I will take one hundred nomismata and go and receive the remission of our sins.” His wife said to him, “If

A woman who is great is the one who is troubled. If they reach their mouths, they are drowned in a death because of the desires of their heart which are perverted. Therefore, after these things, the Samaritan walked with the pistos, wishing to drown in the spring which is in Gabaon, with all his vessels. This is the spring where Jesus, the son of Nau, built an altar upon it. When he divided the children of Israel in the land of the Peret, he purified them in that place there upon the spring. Now the Samaritans say that whoever will drown in that spring, or will hide his feet, or his vessels in it, they will not need to hide them again. And the sun set. As for the sun, it set, and darkness came upon them at once. The pistos and the Samaritan came upon a lake of water. They went down to drink, for the pistos and their children and their animals were thirsty. The Samaritan found water from him and drank, and he and his animals had no need. The Samaritan said to one of the Christians, “What is this trouble that you go to Jerusalem to worship a piece of wood that is honored? For they killed a man, a prophet, upon it. It is not fitting to worship him. Because of this, you died for the ibe, and your children, and your animals, for God was angry with you and made the water bitter.

He did not hear these things, namely a presbyter, a lover of God, whose name was Apa Bacchus, an orthodox man, who was silent at what the Samaritan was saying. For he was uttering great blasphemies against the holy wood of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Apa Bacchus answered, saying to the Samaritan, "What is your name, or where are you from?" The Samaritan answered, "Isaac is my name, and Moses.

and Jesus. They did not give me the law, but those there spoke with God. The Son himself of Mary: he is a prophet of God, whom the Jews sought to crucify because he abolished the laws of the Sabbath. God saved him from their hands, and he went upon a mountain. No one knew what had happened to him. They became in other places, and another said, "Jesus is also a prophet." They killed him upon a piece of wood, a cross. This one now you are in haste to worship him from the beginning, as you go to worship him. And it is not fitting to worship the work of human hands, but we shall worship God alone, as he spoke with the Father Moses, giving him the law: "You shall not worship a foreign god." When Apa Bacchus the presbyter heard these things, he became angry with a divine anger, and he said to the Samaritan, "Truly, the name of the patriarch was given to you as gold, but your faith is empty, and you are sick in your sins. Nevertheless, a name and a form do not benefit a man if he does not have the pearl, which is the orthodox faith. Truly, I bless the nations more than you, for those there do not know knowledge, and they do not despise the creation of God in the manner you speak, saying that all the works are contemptible to me, which God created for the faithful to receive with gratitude. Do not be arrogant, O Samaritan.

You know what is written: that every work which God created is good, and there is nothing standing outside, for they are received with grace. O foolish Samaritan, we do not worship this cross as God, but we worship him, and we glorify him, because the Son of God glorified him, for he fulfilled his economies upon it. Listen to me, O Samaritan, I will speak with you. The work of iron has been revealed.

He is a wonder, this one which Moses made in the wilderness at that time. As for the living thing, it takes one of the children of Israel and comes in a moment before the iron thing, and it looks at its face until it rests. For the ancients said that the things there which God spoke inwardly to the children of Israel are only evil. But when one of them takes one, their limbs fall apart and they fall down little by little until they are completely consumed. If the iron thing nullifies the thing of the worm, which is the garment, this one about which God spoke with Moses concerning it, then the wood of the cross itself does not nullify the place of the spiritual thing, this one which you have within you, which is the devil. The wood of the cross became a dwelling place for my Lord Jesus Christ. The wood of the cross, which became a face for God, he ascended upon it himself, by his own will, and he died for us. We men who sin, when the Lord turned his face upon it, he let the wind go according to the will of his good Father. The wood of the cross itself is the one which bore there the crown in the midst of the thorns, which is set up with God the Father by his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, who ascended upon it for us. The ark which Noah made at that time according to the command of the Lord.

She stood up for the people and the animals, when they escaped to the water at the time of the flood. But you, O Cross, who are over them, you stood up for the one who commanded Noah to build the ark. And he gathered to himself every kind, when he brought in provisions, as a good steward, when he gave a seed to the world. You also, O Cross, are the one who made the world new, when the blood of the side of the immaculate one, Christ Jesus the Son of God, was poured out from above.

Isaac the Samaritan, when he heard these things that Apa Pachomius was saying, marveled and spoke with him, saying, "Behold, you have said that Moses performed great wonders, that he destroyed the serpent of brass that was killing those whom it would bite. What is this wonder that your cross has done, that I may also believe in it?" Apa Pachomius answered him, saying, "O Isaac the Samaritan, Moses never saw the cross, nor his wonders, but you have heard about it nonetheless. If you yourself were to see the power of Christ, you would believe in the cross and his holy cross." The Samaritan said to him, "If Moses and Jesus speak to me, I will not believe in this wood of which you speak, for I have not seen a power come forth from it." Apa Pachomius the presbyter answered, "It is not for your sake alone that I will perform this sign of wonder, but for the sake of this multitude that has come to worship the wood of the holy cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that they may not be scandalized in their faith. I will pray to the one who ascended the cross, who died for our sake, of his own will, for our salvation." And he prayed over the basin, saying, "The one who caused the rivers to flow beneath a rock, so that every race of men and the sea might drink from them, you have placed it as a channel, with the rivers flowing downward to it, and it does not diminish, though it is drawn upon.

Who is it that has found the foot of your wisdom? O God, the friend of humanity, from the beginning, for you gathered together the monads into a single unity. You strengthened the land that is outside in the heart of the water, and you divided the water, making it into three parts. You placed one part under the firmament, and another part in the sea and the rivers, and another part beneath the earth. Your foreknowledge has placed them in a good measure.

as the other region that has no rivers within it, of your goodness, the gathering of the end of the day, that which still has need of water, which is beneath the earth, it will stand at its mouth. He who heard Moses the prophet made the waters that are in Elim bitter become twelve springs. You gave him a sign of a tree, which is the tree of the holy cross. You have power to make this water bitter, for you alone have authority over all things. Now then, O Lord my God, as you revealed the tree to Moses so that all the people of Israel might believe, now also let the cross be glorified. Now you are glorified in all your works, and do not let the nations say that their god is weak. Apa Bacchus prays to God, and a voice came to his mouth saying, "He who believes in me will move the mountain, for this stone will not move, and no one will be able to believe. For he who believes in the cross, that it has power to work wonders, will grasp what he seeks, and he who takes me will receive what I have sent." Now then, what I have given you will become for you because of the faith in your heart. He who holds to the steadfast faith, his is the whole. And thus the holy Apa Bacchus took two small pieces of wood and bound them together.

of the type of her holy cross. He threw them into the water basin. He cried out, saying, "The water, Christ has healed it through his cross. Let it become healing water from now on, and also forever and ever. Those who believe in the cross of Christ will drink from it with faith. The enemies of Christ, these do not believe in him and his cross; they will not drink from this basin, but it will become for them vinegar, sour and bitter." When Apa Bacchos finished, he cried out to the crowd with the voice of the Gospel: "Let whoever opposes come to me and drink. Whoever believes in the cross of Christ." And the crowd of believers went to the basin, drew from it, and found it sweet as honey and good only. And when those of unclean spirit looked down into the basin, they searched and saw a small cross in the form of a lamp of light. And they all cried out, "One is Christ and his glorious cross." When the Samaritan heard these things, he became afraid and did not wish to speak about the cross again. And when the Samaritan grew old, he went, saying he would baptize water in his vessels. And when he found no one, he despaired, not knowing what to do, and he and his men were troubled by the old age. And when he was compelled by the old age...

He arose and went to the basin, he and his men, saying, "They will wash in the water and drink." He looked down into the basin, the Samaritan, and saw a type of her holy cross, which was like a lamp of light. Yet he took for himself courage, cast fear away from himself, and filled the basin with water and drank. He found relief, for he was healed, and he was healthy and sound. The Samaritan cried out, saying, "Truly, Christ and his cross work wonders among the water." And immediately he went to the holy man, Apa Bacchos. He said to him, "Take for yourself the money and bring it to the road with me, and give it to the poor, and show me the place of the holy cross, that I may worship it." The presbyter said to him, "My son, one does not take money for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Yet if you are sincere, arise and go to Jerusalem, seek the holy place of the Resurrection, and go to the church there.

Apa the father, the bishop, gathered with the orthodox, celebrating the feast of her holy cross, saying, "This is the day of its revelation. And if you go, he will show you the way of salvation, and you will see the power of Christ and his holy cross." Then the holy presbyter, wishing to strengthen the heart of the Samaritan in the faith, made the sign of the cross with them, that they might fill the basin with water, which was like vinegar, sharp. Immediately they knelt and drank from it in faith. And a great multitude came to the holy one, Apa Bacchus the presbyter, receiving a blessing from his hand. And when he saw that the multitude was pressing upon him, he alone went and hid himself. He came to Jerusalem. The multitudes who were at the basin arose and came to Jerusalem. And he also, Isaac the Samaritan, came with them, dwelling with them, along with those who were with him. We will tell you a great wonder that happened, and it is not a falsehood. For the men who were around the basin told us, when we spoke with him, that the holy one, Apa Bacchus the presbyter, prayed to the Lord, and the water, which was bitter and like vinegar, became sweet water. They said that when he went down to that basin, they saw with their eyes the type of her cross, which was like a lamp of fire, giving light only. And when they drank,

They found it still moist, and they marveled at what had happened. If they had not known beforehand that its water was from Lomes, outside, because one of them knew writing, he saw inscriptions written on a jar, inscribed in Greek, written in this manner: "The holy Apa Bacchos wrote them: 'Concerning the matter of the water, Christ and his holy cross caused it to be moist, so that the faithful might hear of the revelation from it, with openness and grace, and it would become

They received healing. They took the wood of the cross themselves, those who do not believe in its power and the life-giving and saving cross. If they hear from within, it will become for them a well-prepared and sharpened ointment. When the faithful heard these things from the one who read the writings, they took from the water and drank, and they found it still moist. They were marveling, for they were contemplating the place of the cross of light in the basin below, which was like a lamp of fire. And if the sick are immersed in the water, they are healed. And the basin is in the field of the idol, in a diaspora. If enemies of the cross pass by, they will be thrown into the basin, and its water becomes like a well-prepared and sharpened ointment and burns them. If they confess Christ and believe in his holy cross with their whole heart, it becomes moist and cool for them. Because of this matter, many nations hasten to enter into the knowledge of Christ through the sign of the cross manifesting to everyone from the basin there, shining like a flame of fire. And a multitude of faithful from that field gathered together with one heart, and they built a church around that basin. They called it the type of the cross. And I, the least, Cyril.

I sanctified it, and the wonder happened. I saw it with my eyes. Behold, then, I have made it known to you in the love of God. If we have done as we have done, we have washed the headband of the cross of the Lord Christ. And concerning the verse that is written in the Psalms, "The Lord has reigned, let the earth rejoice," and also concerning the word that the Lord spoke to Moses, "Keep these three seasons for me each year," and also concerning Isaac the Samaritan,

I baptized it. These, then, we will complete for you. We give a completion to the word according to the will of God and the glory of the holy cross, this which we celebrate today, together with the one who ascended upon it, our Lord Jesus Christ. It happened also when Isaac the Samaritan came into Jerusalem; he inquired immediately about my humble self, I, Cyril. They informed him through a deacon that I was celebrating in the place of the Resurrection, at the feast of the holy cross. He said, "You will bring me to him. I am not a Christian, but I am a Samaritan. Since I have seen a great wonder through the power of the cross." And the deacon came and informed me, and I received him, to bring him to me, saying, "Go, bring that sheep which is straying, that you may bring it into the church of Christ. He will hear the word of instruction, and if his repentance appears openly to anyone, we will baptize him." The deacon then went to him and said to him, "Come into the church, that you may see the power of the holy cross." And he placed the man in a place in the church. He saw a great fear and a multitude wearing linen garments. He was afraid and troubled; he came, thinking to flee outside the church, except that the deacon gave him courage, saying, "Do not be afraid, for Christ will receive you.

And he continued listening to those who were speaking, while the oration of our discourse was being completed concerning him, in Ezekiel the prophet, fulfilling it to the end, saying, "I do not desire the death of the one who has sinned, in order to turn him back, that he might repent, from his evil path, that he might live." And again, "Joy arises in heaven over a sinner who repents." When he heard these things, fear seized him, and his spirit took courage as he listened to the words of God, and he gave his attention well to the words.

And he continued listening to those who were speaking, while the oration of our discourse was being completed concerning him, in Ezekiel the prophet, fulfilling it to the end, saying, "I do not desire the death of the one who is listening to them, and their sword is before him like a fire, they are sharp like a knife, according to the way the prophet said: 'The Lord said to me, "Behold, I have put my words into your mouth like a fire, and the people like wood for burning."'" Then we shall complete the hypothesis of the discourse concerning the word that is written in the Psalms: "The Lord has become king, let the earth rejoice, the kingdom of the only-begotten son of God, the father and his great glory, he covered the humiliation, he came to us, he humbled the proud like a murderer who did not kill him immediately, but left him bound until the providence of the father. When he fulfilled the providence concerning him, according to his will, the Savior, according to the economy of the will of his father, they will crucify him, he will die and rise from the dead, and he will plunder Hades, he will bring out the captivity, he will go with them to his good father, he will sit upon the throne of his glory at the right hand of his father." And the army of the heavens cried out, saying, "The Lord has become king, let the heavens rejoice, let the earth rejoice, for he has saved his people, he has delivered them from captivity. The Lord has become king, he has given them strength, he has bound her.

that is the flesh which he took from the holy virgin Mary. He placed it upon himself, and it became one with him, united with him, in his divinity. He went up into the heavens and sat at the right hand of his Father, upon the throne of his glory. He created a power and bound it to her, which is the wood of the holy cross. And he set it within her mouth. He took it with him to the height. And he will bring it again with him at his second coming, when he comes to judge the living and the dead.

the righteous and the sinners will behold the cross, those who believed in it, walking before it, and they will rise up for the cross, the angels, like standard-bearers. But someone will say to me, “Why was it made, and why will they bring the cross to the place of judgment? Why will they bring it? Because of the lawless Jews and all who do not believe in the cross of Jesus, so that they will not think that the judge who is coming is alone. He judges the living and the dead. For he is coming in the glory of his Father and with his angels. He will reveal himself from the sign of the cross in the sky, for it is the cross itself, the hope of all who place its seal upon themselves. They are not completed without the baptism without the cross. Does not the priest seal the colobothra with the sign of the cross on its finger? It is not completed without the holy place. The cross is what pursues demons and impure spirits whenever they are sealed with the holy living water, the boundary of the kingdom of the heavens. For I see, O my sons and daughters, that the time has progressed. I also see the multitude who have come to the feast, wishing to hear the word of God in purity, fulfilling what the Lord said: “Do for me three keros.” While saying it.

why was it made, and three times. The month of the new moon of the fourteenth of the month, which is Pharmouthi, when it came to the hand of Moses to sacrifice a perfect sheep, complete in a year, and they anoint with the blood the doorposts of their houses, so that the destroyer might not destroy their firstborn. We also, the people of the Christians, have sacrificed the lamb without blemish, Christ Jesus the Lord for us. This one whom the true mother, Mary the virgin without blemish, bore, for he was crucified on the cross in the month of the new moon, on the fourteenth

The moon, which was split, again upon the rock of stone of Golgotha, which is the place of the skull. They pierced him, to his right side. Blood and water came out. His blood touched something. Behold, it is fixed to the rock of stone of Golgotha, and that blood will not flow out until the consummation of this age, with a reproach of the Jews and a great shame for them. We Christians also, we have taken it, we have placed it as a seal upon our houses, which is the sign of the cross and the nails. When we go out from the blood of the sacrifice, and we drink from it, and we eat his flesh, we are saved from destruction, we triumph over the devil and all his evil thoughts. Where was the body of the Lord placed? They placed it in a tomb, and this place is celebrated today. And who raised him from the dead? No one can speak of this matter. Nor can anyone know the deed except the Father alone, who raised him from the dead. For it is said in the book of the Psalms: "The Lord arose like one who is drunk, like a warrior who has given way to wine." Who first opened his door, or to whom did he appear? Was it not this Mary Magdalene, the mother of Mary, who is her sister? She bore him without a male, she nursed him without milk, she raised him without care and toil.

He spent forty days revealing himself to the apostles, eating and drinking with them. Afterwards, he commanded them, saying to them, "Go out into the whole world, teach all nations, and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." And he prayed for them at that hour for the Paraclete, and after that, the holy Pentecost, which is the gift that the Lord spoke of to Moses, saying, "Rejoice.

...in your heart, with your wife, with your children, with your servants, with your cattle, with your possessions under lock and key, and with all your things. For the feast of Pentecost is fitting for us, it is the day on which the Spirit came upon the apostles. For just as a diligent farmer goes to his field, cleanses it, cuts down the thorns and the weeds and the briars that have grown in it, and then takes a pruning knife in his hand, smooths it, and plows it with the hoe, then looks to the other side of the air, so that the north wind may come upon them, and they all give and make a good pruning for the sake of the wind and the moisture that comes upon them from the sky through God. This is also the way of our Lord Jesus Christ and the holy men, who are the fathers the apostles. He cleansed them from all error and all deceit, until the holy Pentecost. He sent upon them the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth. He filled them with all knowledge. They spoke in other languages which they did not know. They performed great deeds and wonders, bearing the things of the Lord. One performed a hundred, one performed sixty, one performed forty. This now is the other side of the feast of Pentecost, according to the commandment of the Lord, not in early meals nor in late wine and beer, but in gatherings.

with psalms and with singing, saying, "Let us go out into the open, let us give praise to him with psalms, for he is God, and we are his people." When he goes up to his father, he sits at his right hand, and they cry out, saying, "The Lord has reigned over all the nations, the holy God sits on his holy throne." And the Lord said to Moses, "Do this for me three times a year." What then is the great festival of this day? O

my beloved, this which occurs in the first month of the year, that is the feast of the revelation of the cross. And we will reveal to you the reason why we celebrate the holy cross today. For the Jews denied the resurrection of the Lord, saying that he did not rise from the dead, but that his disciples came by night and stole him while we were sleeping. And their thoughts were to hide the glory of the cross, according to the testimony of Ierinnaios, Joseph, and Philumon the Hebrew, concerning the anger of the Jews against the disciples of the Lord and the cross of the Lord. There was great wickedness in the heart of the Jews, who crucified the Lord, concerning the wood of the holy cross, wishing to burn it after the Lord rose from the dead. The wood of the cross was hidden in the ground in the place where they crucified the Lord. When the disturbance subsided little by little, because the disciples were hidden for fear of the Jews, Joseph of Arimathea arose and came to Nicodemus and said to him, "Behold, the Jews have conspired with the chief priests and the council of the Sanhedrin, saying, 'Let us burn the cross.' Now then, let us take it and hide it, so that they may not do what they intend to do.

They arose, the two of them, and came to Golgotha that night. They found the holy wood of the cross of Jesus and the titulus of Pilate, and they took it into their possession, along with the other nails that were fixed to it. These had been fastened to the body of the Lord, to his hands and his feet. They hid them with the things of the thieves, and they did not bring them into the cave for fear of the Jews. And Joseph said to Nicodemus, "Let us remove the wood from beneath the cross, and we will take it and the crosses and place them inside the tomb, in the place where the body of the Lord was laid. For it is mine. And I did not place a body in it, or is this not the body of Jesus?" And behold, he arose from among the dead. They did these things, and they brought them into the tomb. For they were near the place where he was crucified. They rolled the stone to the mouth of the tomb and departed. And no one knew what they had done for a long time. The martyrs used to go to the tomb daily, praying there at night in secret. And also they would bring the sick, and they would receive healing through Jesus and his holy cross. As for the demon of those who were possessed, if they touched the tomb, they would cry out, "Jesus has appeared to us in the flesh!" And when he was crucified, behold, the wood of the cross pursued him in the tomb, causing us suffering and casting us out from the bodies we had clothed ourselves in. Listen also to this other great wonder.

the fathers of the ancients said concerning the name: There was a man, a Jew, at that time in Jerusalem, who was very wealthy. His name was Cleopas. He was a paralytic, never walking on his feet, nor could he mount any beast, but they would lift him onto a litter and carry him, and they would take him to the place he wished to go. And that man did not follow the counsel of the lawless Jews, those who crucified the Lord of glory for the sake of a name. He reached out his hands to his servants, saying, "Do not associate with the lawless Jews, those who wish to kill Jesus the Nazarene out of envy and jealousy. I myself know that he is the Son of God, according to the prophecies of the fathers the prophets. And Mary his sister bore him in a holy spirit, she who is the daughter of Cleopas, who is called Joachim, the brother of my father. And I believe that she knew no man." A spirit

...he was holy, for he came up to the height, according to the voice of the archangel. This righteous man, however, named Cleopas, had a son who was an only child, whose name was Heruphos. This one fell ill with his fatal sickness. But after a few days he rested, and Cleopas called his servants. He said to them, "Bring me a stonecutter to hew the stone, let him hew the tomb for my son, beside Jesus the Nazorean, and bury my son in it. And when I die, bury me also in it." They did according to his word, and they prepared the tomb. Heruphos, the son of Cleopas, was still alive. And after two days he rested. That day was the Sabbath, and they did not wish to take his body out of the tomb, lest they violate the Sabbath. But on the next day, which is the first day after the Sabbath, they took him out of the tomb onto a bier. His father also carried him to the bier. They raised him up and took him out with them, following behind, and he wept for his son with great wonder. When they arrived at the tomb of Jesus, they placed his body down on the ground, and they buried his father beside the tomb of Jesus. And Cleopas did not wonder at his son, weeping and crying out, "O my beloved son, would that these were not my days, when Jesus the Nazorean is on the ground.

...he raises the dead. And I also will go to his door. I entreat him: "Raise him for me! For indeed he raised others." And they bury the body with us today. He raised Anna, the daughter of Iaeiros, the archisynagogos, the brother of my mother. Behold, another one in the body today. He raised Lazarus, the brother, from among the dead. But, O my beloved son, if this is his will, the Lord Jesus will receive you into his kingdom until...

...indeed. He raises them for me, says Cleopas, with great faith in Christ Jesus. Immediately, a great light came forth from the tomb of Jesus. Cleopas saw with his eyes a luminous cross coming out of the tomb. It settled upon the bier of the dead man. And immediately the dead man rose and sat up. When his father saw that his son had risen and sat up, he embraced him in the joy of his heart. He stood on his feet, as if he had never been ill. But the Jews who were walking with him were seized with great fear, for they saw the dead man sitting up and his father running frantically from one side to the other. And they took up stones there, covering their mouths. He rose and stood in their midst. And the Jews were saying to him, "Who is it that raised you?" He said to them, "A man of light came out of the tomb, standing under a luminous cross. He stood over me and raised me, and I lived again. Behold, you see me." And they were saying to Cleopas, "How did you walk? Or who healed you?" He answered with great joy, saying, "The one who raised my son, the second time since he died, it is he who healed me in this way." He took the hand of his son and went with him into the city.

in great joy, blessing God and his only-begotten son Jesus Christ the Lord, crying out, saying, "Great is the power of Jesus the Nazarene." And again, "You have placed your power in the holy cross, giving life to those who believe in it." In the place of grief, you have given me a twofold joy and delight: the resurrection of my son and his healing that has happened for me. All the people heard what had happened.

...the waters, marveling, Cleopa and [others] because he was released from his sickness that was with him; his son, because he arose from among the dead. And he had them bring to him the widows and the orphans; he did for them a great reception, and he distributed to them a great sum of money from his treasure. And his servants he made free. He went to the apostles and his sons; he received baptism himself and all his household in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And they became chosen disciples, proclaiming Christ and his cross. The Jews, when they saw the miracle that had happened, believed in Christ Jesus. But the scribes and the Pharisees, when they heard that a great miracle had happened at the tomb of Jesus, said, "Let us burn it with fire." The great synagogue and the Jews answered, saying to the high priests, "It is manifest that it has been shattered by a stone; fire does not take hold of it. But if the matter is pleasing to you, let the Jews cast it into the river, so that its memory might not remain at all." And this counsel pleased them all. They proclaimed throughout the whole city of Jerusalem, saying, "Men and women, if they come out from their houses and their workshops as far as their stables, let them bring them daily.

...they fall upon the tomb of the deceiver, saying, "Jesus, the one who will not be found, does he do this?" They make him an apostasy synagogue. They cut him a drachma of bronze. And the council took place in all of Jerusalem, in a custom they performed daily, until the time of Ousphasianos the king, this one who destroyed Jerusalem, and until he came upon all the Jews, not allowing them to go out to do this. According to the accounts of Josephus and Ierinnaios and the historiographer: From the time of the destruction of the gate of the temple, from that time until Ousphasianos, as it were, great piles of dung came to be upon the tomb of Jesus, rising up to the whole city. For a great destruction came upon the Jews by Ousphasianos, for he killed among them three hundred and thirty, and he exiled three hundred thousand to Egypt. He wrote to Ptolemy the archon of the Pentapolis, saying, "Do not allow the Jews to find any freedom at all in the land of Egypt, nor allow them to come to the market, nor allow them upon the wine and the oil, nor upon the salt at all, nor those who are born and those of the race, and let them all wear sackcloth and hair in the land of Egypt, until a search of sheep goes out from your hand. And the Jews gave themselves much labor, more than their fathers.

...in the time of Pharaoh, they were slaves of the Egyptians. If a small child threw himself among a hundred men, he would be strong. And the Hebrew would not do any evil to him, but they would entreat him to go to their door. For the Lord had humbled them because of the audacity they had committed against his door. Then the whole generation there, those who had crucified the Lord of glory, came to an end by slaughter, being killed by the rivers, and also by famines and by plagues. God brought these upon them because of their sins. As for the rest, those who were hidden in Jerusalem, they changed the custom of their fathers. It was not possible to speak of it again. Then great dung heaps came upon the skull of Jesus and upon Golgotha, so that no one would remember him again. Nevertheless, they call the dung heap of Golgotha of Jesus "Golgotha." The devil will not cease from this, saying to those who became his servants, "I will remove the memory of the cross from the midst." He does not know, however, that it is the truth.

of the cross, receiving glory. Beside the rivers and every one who believed in it, they are not hindered from the gate of the heavens. And if those who are the instruments of the devil wished to hide the cross, they were not able to hide it at all, nor to paint it in the heart of the unbeliever, the cross. They would make all its remembrance like an image, looking at it like an image, looking at it. If they hid it a little, it would not be equal to the sun in its power, for it hides at night and appears by day. It is like a bridegroom coming out of his bridal chamber. Likewise, the cross was hidden by the Jews because of their evil anger against the Lord Jesus Christ. But it appeared, being a lamp more brightly, giving light to the altar and the sacrifice. The cross is the strong one of the rivers, the God-loving ones. They place it as a vine for them, and they place it upon their shoulders of gold in their hands. The painting also is in the house of the rivers, the cross. They pursue it in the streets, upon the stelae and the corners of houses, so that it may be for them a strong one, and for every one who passes by. Upon the ships also is the cross, saving them from the storms and the strong winds. Upon the common property of the kings, it gives grace to them. Also upon the hand of every scribe is the holy cross, so that those who will subscribe under it.

O the power and the glory of the Christians, and of the faithful. They do no work of the world without the cross. They do not build a church without the cross. They do not establish the altar without the cross. They do not offer sacrifice upon the cross. They do not ordain a bishop or a cleric without the cross. They do not baptize without the cross. They seal them in the baptismal font by the cross. He who has the cross has great help there. For the cross restrains the smallness of heart. The seal also annuls the anger of the serpent. Flee to the anger upon the table of the faithful. He blesses their food by those who seal them. In the dinners and those who drink the wine in joy. It destroys the unbelieving enemies of the cross, as it destroyed Diocletian, making him blind in both his eyes. For he did not leave him for himself in the snares, but he became an enemy to his own mouth especially. And also the manner of Maximinianus, who caused him to be troubled while alive, and his tongue was loosened within his mouth, because he blasphemed against the cross. And also it destroyed Julian the Apostate, the cross, because he abandoned it. That apostate became a head of the devil, like the Antichrist, blaspheming the holy scriptures, which he recited many times, because he confessed with his mouth of untruth.

not with its unbreakable bond. For he did not wash them, nor did he honor them. Truly, he did not wash them, nor did he care for them. For he understood their intention, and he gave glory to the veneration of the Christians, which is the cross. He will not die a bad death. For he became an enemy of the cross of life. Because of this, the rest of the water, which they pour out, he drank it, opposing himself, that lawless one there, for he drank from the midst of the waters of the river. And he himself was drowned. And his body did not receive a tomb, like a poor man, nor did his body receive burial. Since he became an enemy of the holy cross. Therefore, let us not love the work of those there, for their destruction will come. Let us not become enemies of the cross, lest what happened to the Jews happen to us. For those who mocked the wood of the holy cross, wishing to hide it, they cut off their own children with their own hands. They ate from outside

they themselves were not pure, because of the great hunger, to be loosed by the God of truth, Jesus Christ. The Lord, because of the audacity they brought into his mouth, for they sold him. And again they wished to hide his holy cross, according to what Joseph and Ierinnaios the Apocryphal said in their archialogies concerning what happened to the Jews. But it shall not be, O brethren, that we should lack faith in Christ and his holy cross, so that all the evil ones do not come upon us, for great is the power of the cross. I will dare to say that the father of all humanity, Adam, and all his children, who are we, and this one whom God created according to his likeness and image. If Adam resembles the image of God according to the scriptures, is not the entire cross the God the Word, when he stretched out his hands upon the holy cross? For it became a type of him, until he saved us from our sins, we who believe in him, even as we ourselves bear his type, when we stretch out our hands in prayer. Therefore, let us follow our orthodox fathers, who have rested, giving glory to the saving cross. I will tell you, however, the great chapter, the most of which God has granted us through Constantine, the God-loving king. This one who shone like a star giving light.

he appeared to us from heaven; this is Constantine. He was a shoot from good roots, a lover of God above all. Therefore Christ gave glory to him through his holy cross, so that he would be honored in every place and in every city until the day of his death. This one adorned the churches with every kind of royal decoration, placing his hope in God, Christ Jesus, and his holy cross. He remained steadfast within his faith, with a firm trust, and he opened the gate of the heavens for those who serve idols. He granted great honor to the orthodox fathers, the bishops, and the holy churches in every place that submitted to him. He hid their enemies, he cast them down, namely Constantine, who gave glory to the holy cross. And this one does not know the cross of old, because of the multitude of his idolatry, which was scattered in every place by the apostate emperors Diocletian and Maximian. But Constantine was from righteous and Christian parents, and he himself became like them in their manner of work. For he was like a lamp shining light for all those who are on the whole earth. Therefore everyone desires to see him, because of his wisdom and his intelligence.

with his courage. He was far removed from every form of idolatry. Because of this, Diocletian loved him and entrusted the entire empire into his hands, for he was a fellow king from the race of the ancient Roman kings. And he was a polymist solely, but as for every war he went to, the Lord would humble the enemy before him, because he loved him. It happened one day during the war, the God-loving King Constantine, while fighting against the Persians in his youth, in a place called Challamach, and the multitude of Persians were more numerous than he. They gave bribes to seven other nations so that they would join them in giving aid to them. And they said, "We will take all the territories of Romania and leave none for them." They built bridges over the rivers so that they could cross the strait. And they said, "We will kill Constantine the polymarch, who has destroyed our entire territory.

We then went to Antioch, and we took the king and all his wealth and his captives. But Constantine was troubled in his spirit, saying, "Who is it that has the power to fight against this multitude of nations?" When he arose, he sent to the Persians, saying to them, "Do not fight against each other until I take counsel with myself and with the multitude. If I am not able to fight against you, I will give you the country, and I will withdraw." And in this manner the Persians rejoiced, thinking that Constantine had fled from them. Constantine turned away that night, his heart heavy with grief. The window was open beside him, and his eyes were gazing up to the sky, thinking of a way out through the greatness of the grief that was with him. He saw in the midst of the heavens a cross of light, and there were letters written upon it in Roman characters, and he read the letters that were written in that form: "Constantine, through this sign you will conquer those who are against you. And seek God of the fathers, and you will find him." And when he arose in the morning, he was amazed, and he said, "Which God is this sign?" And he summoned the priests and all the great of the entire exarchy, and he asked them about the sign that he had seen, "Which of the gods is this sign?" Some of them said to him, "It is the Pantos, the Phiblarion, the conqueror.

And the victor of the battle revealed himself to you, to give you the crown. And thus let us go out to him. Others also said, "This is Heracles; it is he who goes out to him." For they are the ones who wish to give you the crown in the battle. Constantine, however, did not know what he would do. If he were a Christian, or a son of Christians, and he did not know...

The sign of the cross, because there was no church built at that time, nor did the cross appear, because that was the time when the churches were destroyed in it. For he was born at the time of the persecution. But he turned his face inward toward Christ and his fathers in secret. Still, Constantine the patrician was thinking of these things. A soldier gave his face, a strong and godly man, whose name was Eusignius. Eusignius now did not reveal himself, because it was the time of the persecution. But he turned his face to Constantine and said to him in secret, "My lord, listen to the word of your servant. The sign that you saw in the sky is not of the gods of Diocletian the king. But it is of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, and he came down to this world, he took flesh in the holy virgin Mary. He made the flesh and the divinity one of a kind. He spent thirty-three years, he did all the works of humanity, except sin alone. He performed great healings. The dead he raised, the blind he gave light, demons he cast out. The leprous he cleansed, the sick he healed. Simply, there is no number of his wonders and the powers he did on earth. The godless Jews envied him.

They raised him up, they bound him, and they handed him over to the governor Pilate, the hegemon, who began the trial. He was released from the hand of the Tiberias, and when he did not reach the judgment of death, he wished to release him. But the Jews became angry, they rioted, and against his will he handed him over to them. They did to him according to their will. Then the Jews took Jesus, they lifted him up onto a piece of wood of the cross, and they crucified him along with two others. He died upon it.

the cross. And they brought him down, they placed him in a tomb. He rose on the third day, according to the scriptures. He went up into the heavens, he sat at the right hand of God, and he comes to judge the living and the dead, drawing after him this sign which you saw in the sky. Constantine, when he heard these things from Eusignius, said, "Truly, the sign which I saw, give me the victory. I will believe in it, that it is the God of the fathers." And immediately Constantine took his good spear, he placed on it a cross of gold, he set it before him. And when the preparation of Constantine was completed with the Persians, they went forth to wage war with them. Constantine, trusting in the sign which he had seen in the sky, went forth. The Lord gave him the victory from the sky on that day. The whole multitude of the Persians and all those with them fled before him, two of them going on a single road, and they were slain among them up to their borders. When Constantine saw with his eyes... Constantine, among a multitude of soldiers, their swords drawn in their hands, pursuing them. And when the victory came to him through the cross, he turned back into the city with his number of soldiers.

None of them offended. And these things happened according to what the synographers of the Hebrews wrote from the beginning. But God, who establishes the kings and moves them, struck Diocletian in both his eyes because of what he did in his service of idols. And in this manner they cast him out from his throne. And through the providence of God, the unsynclitus and the bouleuterion of the two cities, Rome and

The anarchy happened to Constantine. They seated him upon the throne of Rome. They placed upon him the crown of the kingdom and the purple. And the great ones of the two cities gave him gifts. And they glorified God because of his goodness and his philanthropy, which he revealed outwardly to everyone. Immediately he released all the prisoners everywhere, as he granted a lasting peace to the churches. He wrote an epistle to the Orthodox bishop in every place, that they should pray for him and for his entire kingdom, that God might protect him. And a great peace surrounded him on every side. With great good things, God granted them to the churches through his hand and through the presidents of the churches. It was fitting for them to build churches everywhere, for the glory of his kingdom. A son was born to him. He named him Constantius, after his own name. After these things, another was born to him. He named him Constans, also after his name, from the great to the small. They placed upon them the crown of the kingdom and the purple. And they informed King Constantine that they worship idols in many places. And immediately he sent a decree to every city, that they should destroy the temples.

they took their crowns and placed them on the proestos of the churches. And they found great sums of money within them; they distributed them for the building of the churches according to place, according to the command of the king. Constantine arose quickly, taking with him his mother and his sister the virgin, and a magnificent retinue, and a multitude of soldiers and servants, and great holy bishops. He went with them into Jerusalem. And he caused them to bring

...to him. The great ones of the Jews, and he inquired from them, "I wish for you to tell me the place of the wood of the cross where they crucified Jesus, and the tomb in which they placed the body of God, according to the dignity of my kingdom." The Jews said, "O Lord King, it is a great time since they crucified Jesus. It is more than many generations ago. For this city was destroyed and burned by the king Vespasian. He killed our ancestors of old, and he took them captive, and he exiled them to Egypt. If a few escaped the destruction of Vespasian, behold, we are now slaves of the Lord King, the Romans, until now." The king said to them, "Great folly clings to you, that you do not wish to tell me the place where they crucified the Lord, and the wood of the holy cross, and the tomb in which they placed his body." The Jews answered, saying, "O Lord King, inquire of those who know the law well among the Jews, and the chief priests among them. And they will tell the king what he seeks. There is one among us who knows this city, for they know what the king seeks." And the king said to them, "Tell me those who know the law well among you.

...you. Go in peace to your homes. And they gave him seven men, saying, "These are the ones who know the law well, for they are the high priests." And these are their names: Judas, James, Abidon, Adonias, Jesus, Silom, Jason. And the king said to them, "If you wish to live in the life of this world and the other world, then quickly tell me the place of the wood of the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ, and the tomb in which they placed his body." If you do not wish...

Tell me where it is, and I will destroy your bodies with tortures, and your souls as well; the Lord will burn them in an unquenchable fire. One of them answered, whose name was James, "May my lord the king live forever! Command me to speak what I know. For this city has been destroyed three times by the kings of the Romans, and our fathers were killed. Others were exiled to Egypt, and until now they are there, and they have not been allowed to return to their homes again. If there are a few left of our race, behold, they are in this city, subject to the tribute of the Roman kings, paying them taxes, and they have not been able to do any of the works. But they live according to the law of our fathers. The matter you seek, however, is beyond us; we do not know it. But King Constantine had them thrown into a cistern without water, and they were given neither bread nor water until they died. After seven days, they went down into the cistern and cried out, 'Let the lord king command that we be brought up, and we will tell the lord king what he seeks.' He commanded that they be brought up. For their bodies had been changed by the dampness of the cistern, so that they were not far from the ground. One of them, whose name was Judas, said, 'Let my lord the king command...'

They gave him a little water, and I will tell you everything you are asking about. The king said to bring clean bread and water, and he had them eat and drink. When Judas and his companions had strengthened their hearts, he cried out, saying, "My lord the king, lover of God and lover of mankind." Father David said in the Spirit, "We have not heard them; we have learned of them from what the fathers sent, which was not hidden from their children in another book." He also said,

My father Symeon said, "My father Judas asked, 'In which region was Jesus crucified?' The Jews gathered together and held a single council. When they learned that he had risen from the dead, they placed great iron guards at the tomb, saying, 'His disciples will not steal him at night, for we do not know when we sleep.' Our fathers deceived themselves about the resurrection of the Lord because of their hardness of heart. Afterwards, a power came forth from the tomb of Jesus, as if it were raising the dead. It cast out the demon from men. The Jews became angry about this matter. They proclaimed this word which the Jews had thought about: 'Let all the Jews who are in Jerusalem and all who are near them come and lie down upon the tomb of Jesus.' They proclaimed this abominable thing: 'Whoever comes out of their houses, let them be brought to the tomb of Jesus.' But they did this for a long time until a certain Aspasianus, the king of the Romans, came. He destroyed the whole race. They did not stop doing this until great distress occurred. You have there, O king, extracts from the gospels of Jesus Christ: 'What is the place where they placed him?' And the king commanded that the gospels be brought to him.

He cried out over them, and he found them without any difference among them. As for his four, but that they had taken him to the place of Golgotha, which is the place of the Skull, where they had crucified him. And the tomb is in that place, and they placed his body in it, near its entrance. The king Constantine answered and said to Judas, "Show me the place of Golgotha, and you will be free." And Judas said, "Let your majesty trouble yourself to come with me, and I will show you Golgotha, which is the place.

of the Cranion. And the king arose, with his God-fearing mother Helena and the nobles who were with him. He took them to Golgotha. He took them to a great heap of dung that was raised up over the entire city, about a hundred cubits. It was making a circuit of thorns and reeds, surrounding and filled with brambles, at the place of the tomb and the Cranion. Judas said to the king, "Behold Golgotha, according to the Greek; according to the Hebrew, it is Gabbatha." When the king saw the great heap of dung and the deserted place, he was greatly troubled. But when Judas saw the king, that he was downcast, he said to him, "Let not my lord the king be disturbed. There is a certain... to do his whole will, for indeed, for the sake of the race, they have done these great evils. Now then, let us send out throughout the entire kingdom. Let all the Jews be gathered in the kingdom, and let them bring their cattle and their equipment for threshing and their sacrifices, because the fathers who are evil, their children also will be evil. The fathers eat leeks and salt; let us take away their children as a pledge. And thus the counsel was pleasing to the king and his nobles. And thus the king wrote immediately throughout his entire kingdom, saying thus: 'I am Constantine the king, who is subject to the feet of Jesus Christ.'

the great king of the city, according to place, with their boundaries, up to a village or a district in which there are a hundred men within it, these who are under my royal authority, so that they might gather all the Jews who dwell near you, and you shall send them to Jerusalem with their cattle and their equipment for threshing, and their supplies. And whoever among them is found to have hidden something, he shall be put to death, and they shall not remember him or his house. When they had taken

The scribes of the king. All the Jews were gathered according to place. They sent them to Jerusalem with their equipment for digging, and with their cattle, and with their loads. And they came from every region to Jerusalem, like the stars of the sky. And the king commanded to send ergodioctes, so that they might hasten to send them into the work. He left two hundred soldiers in Jerusalem with chiliarchs, and with hekatontarchs, and with hegemonies, to compel all the Jews to work day and night until they completed the command of the king Constantine. And he placed beside his mother holy bishops, that is Apa Athanasius, the archbishop of Antioch, and Apa Joseph, the archbishop of Jerusalem, who is the twelfth bishop who sat in Jerusalem after the holy apostles, apart from the council. I, however, also Cyril, I am apart from them. [one line wanting] these. He brought them into the church. I proclaimed his holy name. The God-loving king arose, and truly loving Constantine. He went to Rome concerning the affairs of the kingdom. Then the queen Helena called the great Jews. She said to them, “Come, complete what the king commanded.

so that you would be alone at the time of death. And the soldiers forced them by day and by night. The word of the king had power only, and they wished to complete the rest of the king's command. The first day they worked within it, according to the way we learned, on the sixth and the twelfth of the month of Martios, which is Parmhot, and on the sixth and the fifteenth of the month of Thoth, the head of the tomb alone appeared. They informed Queen Helena, saying, "Behold, they have found the tomb of the Savior." And immediately

They arose, together with all the bishops and all the nobles. They came to see the tomb, and they prostrated themselves, worshipping upon it. And behold, a great light shone upon it like a flame. Judas took a vessel for himself, and he dug in the ground on the east side of the tomb, along with many other bishops with him. They dug and found a great stone that was sealed. And the mouth of the tomb opened. For evening had come on that day, and they withdrew until the next day, not entering the tomb. And the faithful of the people slept there, and they beheld the light giving radiance like fire until the light came down. When morning came, the queen arose first with the bishops and the faithful. They went out to the tomb of Jesus. They took with them shovels and lanterns filled [with oil]. They looked into the tomb of Jesus. They saw three crosses lying together, (and a title of wood lying beside them). And when they had cleansed the tomb, the bishops entered. They took the wooden title and found its inscription, written in Hebrew. They gave it to Judas, and he read it aloud, while the queen and all the multitude listened. And these are the words written on it: "I am Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus.

They brought the cross of Jesus and the two thieves, out of Golgotha. And they placed them into the tomb, which is the place where the body of Jesus was laid. He arose from among the dead. And we did this at night, because of the fear of the Jews. No one was allowed to know what we had done, because the Jews would take counsel to burn it.

of her sign, of Jesus Christ. Because of this reason, then, we brought them out from the place of Golgotha. We placed them in the place where the body of the Lord was laid within it. And the cross, upon which the titulus was written, "Jesus Christ," is that. And the bishops took hold of it. They brought it to their chamber. They venerated it. They raised it up and gave it to the queen. And she placed her chamber under its protection for a great time. She bowed down to it, together with the great axiomatikoi and the axiopistoi. And she had it covered with a purple cloth, which belonged to Constantine the king. She had it covered with fine linens. And she had it adorned on the outside by her hand, until she wrote to the king concerning what had happened. She had the soldiers compel the Jews to purify the place well, and she had them take the census of all the people. She fell upon them, they making a fire and the three hundred, out of the race of the Hebrews. And Queen Helena wrote a letter to her son, saying, "Blessed are you, and the good things that will come to you, because the Lord, to whom I gave the nail, has granted it to you. You have sought, O my beloved son. You have found. You have opened for yourself the door of the resurrection of the Lord. You have found what the whole world is not worthy of.

of her holy sign, of the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed are you, O my beloved son, because you have set aside the care of your world and your worthless riches until you found that which is more choice than any choice riches and precious stones of every beautiful kind. You have troubled yourself. Come, let you see that which the God bears. Rather, that which God bears. If you see its face in its aspect and its appearance, your smallness will become new like an eagle. Trouble yourself, O my beloved son, and come, and prostrate, and worship, and

she greeted her cross, the one you saw in the vision, as it gave you the victory in the contest. Constantine, when he had received the letters of his mother, read them. And when he learned that they had found what he was seeking, that is, her holy cross of the Lord, great joy and gladness came to him. He arose quickly and came to Jerusalem. His mother and all the bishops, when they were told that the king had come, went into their city. They took the honored cross, wrapped it in the king's purple robe and in honored linen cloths, placed it on a white mule, and went with it before the king, many millions of people. And when the king Constantine, the God-loving king, saw her cross, he dismounted from his chariot, seized the cross, carried it to his bosom, and wept over it. He lifted his eyes to heaven and said, "I have seen my Lord Jesus Christ, the God of my righteous fathers, in the incarnation of the flesh. He will work great wonders through the one who rested upon it, her life-giving cross. And again I have seen the Savior of the whole world giving strength to those who seek him, those who believe in him through her holy cross." And the bishops and the philosophers were singing spiritual hymns.

They drew near before the king, with her cross, until they entered the city. And when they had entered the city, they went into the temple and sang the hymn: "Rejoice, O Zion, the city of the great king, the Christ! For behold, the king has come to you in joy, with the great ones who are with him, giving glory to the king, the Lord, who reigned through the power of the cross." And the king went into the place where the work was done. He went to the tomb of Jesus and prostrated himself on the ground, saying, "I receive

the grace of you, the only-begotten son of the father, because the place where they placed the holy body, I made prostration to it. And he saw all the places where the Jews had purified them, and he went to the rock of Golgotha, the place where they crucified the Lord, and he worshipped on high, and thus he took the cross and placed it inside the tomb until he built its entrance as a shrine, according to its glory in a worthy manner. And the king spoke with the bishops, saying, "I wish to build a new city in the place where the Lord stood by means of a cloud. In my desire to rest from them, from those who sought to kill me, who are the Persians. And I will build churches fitting for Christ in this place, for the glory of his holy cross." The bishops answered him, saying, "May God the Almighty, to whom all belongs, and his only-begotten son Jesus Christ the Lord, and the Holy Spirit, protect you and your great authority with a great peaceful time until you complete the entire plan you have in mind." And thus they gave the foundation of the church, and he appointed all the craftsmen, each in his craft, and he made the overseers remain over the works of all the workshops. And he also gave his mother abundant wealth, apart from what was his.

so that he might reveal to them the buildings of the churches. And he commanded them to bring to him a multitude of stones of alabaster, and of jasper, and of marble, and of wood of boxwood, and of silver, and of bronze, and of pure gold. Simply, he had them bring all the equipment of the construction. He entrusted the entire district to his mother, and he left her in Jerusalem to build a church at the place of the tomb, which is called Holy Resurrection.

Holy agape, holy eirene. And they built another one, and they called it the Holy Demiurge... ...of the Cranion. And he built the platia and the places that are honored. And the king Constantine turned again in a safe manner, giving glory to Christ and his holy cross. He sent to Jerusalem all the necessary things that they needed. And those who worked in Jerusalem worked anew, almost as if they worked more than those who worked on the temple of Solomon in its time. And they worked until the holy places were completed. They adorned them like the firmament. ...of his side. The holy Apa Joseph, the holy one of the city, consecrated them, and many orthodox bishops were with him, for they had come to the finding of the holy cross. And the day on which they consecrated the holy church within it was the seventeenth of Thoth, which is the day of the revelation of the holy cross and the holy tomb. And they baptized Judas by Apa Joseph the bishop and the other orthodox bishops. And Judas himself became an orthodox Christian man, chosen. And a multitude of Jews and a multitude of Gentiles were baptized. They came to the holy offering of the holy Eucharist, and I gave thanks for their holy night, by Apa Joseph.

Behold, a cross of light appeared outside the heaven of the tomb of the Savior, from the beginning until the sixth hour of the day. And all the multitudes who were dwelling in Jerusalem and all those who were surrounding it were beholding it. And at the time of the sixth hour, it went up into the heaven, while all were gazing after it—the righteous and the sinners. And they were grieved in their hearts because they would not behold it again. In the morning, however, when it happened, they came to

the tomb, that they might pray. They saw the cross of light inside the tomb, casting its rays of light outward, like a lamp. When these things had happened in this manner, the holy Apa Joseph wrote a letter, together with the God-loving and pious Eusebius. They informed the king Constantine about all the things that had happened. And he marveled and gave glory to God and his holy cross. And after these things, Apa Joseph rested. They installed Judas in his place. He fulfilled twenty years. [nearly a line wanting] to the teaching from our fathers the apostles. And he became a bishop in his episcopate, because of the confession of his orthodoxy. When Judas fell asleep, one named Mark received his episcopate. This is the first who became bishop outside of Jerusalem. All these things I have related to your love, revealing to you openly what is fitting, that we might celebrate the revelation of the glorious cross, which is the seventeenth of the month Thoth. Behold now, the matter has been revealed to us through all the proofs. [nearly a line wanting] the revelation of the cross and the dedication of the holy churches of the Resurrection, which is the seventeenth of the month Thoth, according to the Egyptians. Behold these things and what I have said up to this point.

to the glory and honor of the holy cross. Let us also go to the place, and we will give our attention to the baptism and the holy sacrifice, for the time has advanced, especially because of the labor of those who have come to us at this holy place today, glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ and his holy cross, which saves everyone who believes in it. For indeed, the words of God are more precious than gold and precious stones; they are sweeter than honey and milk. The servants of God preserve them. Do not let them fall into neglect, but make pilgrimage to the holy cross.

openly, we all together, both the works and the nations, do not let us fall into the glory of Christ, bless him only in their tongues. We think outwardly from our hearts concerning the multitude of gods of the Greeks, one word, one suffering, one confession of the people, one faith fulfilled in the heart. The sacrifice, however, concerning an irrational beast, which is in its hour, they call it cameleopardalis, it is very large, it resembles a camel in its face, and a bull's face behind it, it has the strength of a camel, and also its form resembles a camel, as it cannot reach the heart of the high tree, it eats from them outwardly, it is of various kinds, it is wild. This one is confused in its heart and its body. This is also the way of the heretics, of the godless, they do not have a single thought. For the name of the cross, they do it only for men. If only a man is Christ, and he is not a god, O heretic, you serve yourself as a man. Your heart is also of various kinds, and you did not remain in a single thought, O heretic. Except for a little, say three times thus: that Emmanuel is not a god. Your hatred, O heretic, is the sign of orthodoxy. You flee from it, your hatred and your thought say in vain.

...do not let us fall into the glory of Christ, bless him only in their tongues. We think outwardly from our hearts concerning the multitude of gods of the Greeks, on ...the holy [temple?]... and cut off their words, in the instruction of the old man. Do not, O Christian, who is worthy of Christ, do not let us think of the things of the heretics, nor let us go into their churches to pray, for they are not churches. But create for yourselves a good thought and a perfect faith toward God and his holy cross. And say...

...in your whole heart, that he is not a god, this Manoel, because he became a man. And his divinity did not change into his humanity at any single hour or moment, but rather he gave us glory, because he bore flesh. He is God in truth, except in the substance of the Father and the Holy Spirit. He who made his cross an altar of sacrifice, and he himself is the one who receives his own sacrifice. And you yourself, O Isaac the Samaritan, who wish to... reach Christ through the baptism of your... because we have... to me and the words of Apa Bacchus the presbyter, and believe in God with your whole heart. I will go to the baptism, and you will receive it in purity and faith. For the character is what constitutes the faith and the predisposition. If you are a hypodymus in your whole heart, then we are prepared to fulfill your wish. Isaac the Samaritan cried out with a loud voice, saying, "I believe and I confess the Lord..." ...the holy virgin... and they... him under... He arose from the dead on the third day. He went up into the heavens, he sat at the right hand of God, and he comes to judge the living and the dead.

He gives to each one according to the works. And in the confession over these, with a straight heart and with all those with him, they received baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. ... give glory to God and to his holy cross. For truly great is the glory of God and the glory he has granted to us, and to the race of us Christians, that we might become equal to him in all the works that we do, that they might be pleasing.

God at all times. And worship of her cross at all times, because of what he placed upon it. This is the glory for him and his good father, and the Holy Spirit, the consubstantial, now and at all times, forever and ever, amen. This day, or of the year, this one, year 1693. Sarageno 48? Let Christ be king over us, amen. Remember me in love, I the sinful one beyond the whole earth, the unworthy of the name "D...markoure." The ... of my Apa Maeos. Remember me in love, for I am a small one. I do not think... receive teaching... ... ... of the fathers... ... of the widow, the peace... ... alms of the father... ... of the God-loving... ... the ... of Mashnka... ... of the district, the region of... ... He who spoke of his own sufferings, he established the chapel of books. He placed it in the church of the holy cross, for the salvation of his soul. May God bless him with every spiritual and heavenly blessing, him and his wife and his children and all that is his. May he write his name in the book of

The life. He makes it a festival of the joy of his resurrection, and all his holy things, amen. Grace for the writer, knowledge for the reader, repentance for the hearer, amen, so be it. Jesus Christ, charin (grace).