Inventio crucis

Alexander the Monk, Discourse on the Finding of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross. Having received the command of your paternal holiness, I became greatly dizzy. For you ordered my nothingness to compose a historical account concerning the finding of the life-giving wood, the all-holy and venerable cross, on which our Lord Jesus Christ, stretched out willingly, destroyed the power of the devil and the tyranny of death, and bestowed incomprehensible salvation upon those who believe in him. This injunction, being far beyond my ability, I received with timidity in undertaking it; for the labor belongs to others, not to us; for we have been initiated into none of the encyclical education, nor have we acquired training from practice, but we are truly unlearned, not only in speech but also in knowledge, because of the long-standing dominion of passions within us. Since, however, I do not shrink from the danger of disobedience, I will attempt, out of desire for obedience, to deliver the command to completion, casting everything upon God and upon your prayers. We will say nothing of our own (for we are of yesterday, according to the saying, and we know nothing); but whatever we have been able to find from ancient histories (for many others have labored on this subject, some well and nobly, others differently), and whatever we have received from tradition handed down from the beginning, these things, with God to speak, I have diligently set forth, having cared for the truth everywhere. Do you, most holy ones, correct what is lacking, and pray for us. We will make the beginning of the discourse from Him who is the beginning of every beginning.

The only-begotten Son of God, who is in the bosom of the Father, the life-giving Word from the living Father, who is in the beginning, toward the ever-existing God, who is the "radiance of the glory and the character of the hypostasis" of the eternal Father from the beginningless beginning, the inexhaustible beginning, the life from everlasting life without end, the spring of immortality from the life-giving source, the precise and unaltered image of the invisible God, the impression of the Father who begot him, the ineffable light from incomprehensible light, the life-bestowing stream of the life-giving source, the consubstantial and co-throned, and co-powerful, and co-good with the Father who begot him, who has everything that the Father has except unbegottenness, who together with the Father and the Holy Spirit (who always proceeds from the Father) and through himself brought forth all things, and from non-being into being. For nothing existed except the Holy Trinity, consubstantial, always existing in its own properties, that is, hypostases, or persons, the uncreated nature, the inexhaustible divinity, the lordly dignity, the perpetual joy, the simple and uncompounded and unformed essence, which always exists in the same way, neither having begun nor about to cease. This living and active and all-powerful Word of God, then, by the will of the Father and the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, brought forth all creation, visible and invisible, at the appropriate time into being from non-being, knowing, of course, by divine foreknowledge, when, and where, and how, and how many things must come to be. For infinite ages, so to speak, passed, in which nothing existed except God alone, who is glorified in Trinity.

For the three are one in which the Godhead resides; for He did not bring forth beings out of any need of His own—the Divine is without need—but from immeasurable goodness, so that there might be more partakers of His grace. Having thus brought forth and adorned all things with fitting order, He creates man last of all, fashioning the body from the earth, which had already been prepared, and from Himself bestowing a rational and intellectual soul, not pre-existing, nor being a part of God, as the deranged and frenzied Origen blasphemously asserted some substantial pre-existence of souls, and the monstrous restoration that follows from it, which he introduced in an old-womanish, or rather impious, manner. For what is contained in the holy and divine Scripture, that "God breathed into his face a breath of life, and man became a living soul," does not indicate any pre-existence of a soul; nor would it if it had been said, "And man took a living soul." But neither was that breath the soul of man, but rather to show, as in a riddle, that the all-holy Spirit is not alien to the creative power, according to the Prophet saying, "By the Word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the spirit of His mouth all their power;" and again, "Spirit of God that made me, breath of the Almighty that teaches me." Therefore, having wrought all things magnificently, the Word of God revealed them by the manifold of His power.

And why do I speak of the multitude of His power, when He made and makes all things by a mere nod, having His power always concurrent, according to the Prophet who says, "All that the Lord willed, He did." But the ecstatic Origen dared to say that the power of God is limited, and having spewed forth countless other blasphemies, both excessive and inexpressible, in his treatises, he filled the world with boundless nonsense; and he received a condemnation worthy of his own audacity by synodical decree. But let us return to the subject at hand. Therefore, having made man according to His own image and likeness, God placed him in paradise, as Scripture says, to work not at all on the food that perishes, but on that which endures for eternal life, and to guard, evidently, the life-giving commandment given to him by the Creator. But let no one blame me for lengthening the preface in this way, for it is not in vain, nor without purpose; but since it was our intention to make mention of the cross, I wished to show the glory of the life-giving cross from above, and from the beginning shining throughout all creation. And consider whether it is not so; for it is possible to see with all precision that God made every visible and invisible creation in the form of a cross; for having made breadth, length, height, and depth, He clearly delineated the type of the cross in mystery, and in these the whole exists. And this, I think, is what was said by the most wise Paul.

For he says, "For this reason I bend my knees to the Father," and so forth, "that you may be able to comprehend, together with all the saints, what is the height, and depth, and breadth, and length." But also all that is precious in the whole creation was generated in the form of a cross by the Creator with superior wisdom. The four-footed animals, indeed, signify the type of the cross through their shape without dispute. For the inspired prophet says: "I saw the Lord sitting on a high and lofty throne," and so forth, "and Seraphim stood around him, and their legs were straight, six wings to each one, and six wings to each one, and with two wings they covered their faces, with two their feet, and with two they flew." Mystically, through the highest powers, the glory of the life-giving cross was shown. But also the luminaries flash their light in the form of a cross, and man was also formed in the shape of a cross. For anyone standing and stretching out his hands unquestionably forms a cross through his posture. And paradise also has the symbol of the cross, that is, the tree of life, from which the primordial serpent, through an excess of envy, permitted man to eat, quickly casting him out of paradise through deceitful disobedience, and through the most evil disobedience delivering him to sin, and through sin casting him down into the most bitter death. And sin progressed from that most evil beginning through each generation.

and generation, until it reached the very bottom of evils. But the divine Word did not turn away from his own creation even then, nor did he abandon the one he made in his image, nor did he cast off the one tyrannized by the devil's malice; rather, he did not cease visiting each generation, and calling back the erring man symbolically, as in a riddle, through the life-giving cross. For, being good, he did not wish that the one created for incorruption and being an image of his own nature should, because of the devil's wickedness, proceed to utter destruction. But when the whole earth was corrupted by unnatural unions and condemned to obliteration, then he saved the righteous Noah with his whole household for the regeneration of the world from the universal shipwreck by means of a small piece of wood. Likewise, the great patriarch Abraham received the promises of God through wood with an oath, when he was sent to the high land to sacrifice his beloved son, whose manner of obedience God accepted, showing him a ram caught by its horns in a Sabek plant, which is interpreted as "release," through the type clearly prefiguring the future release of the sins of the whole world through the nailing of the spiritual Lamb to wood. And as the tradition holds, the high land is holy Golgotha. And what does Jacob's worship at the top of his staff mean, except that the patriarch prophetically indicated that the life-giving cross must be worshipped by all who believe in Christ?

All the wonders and signs that Moses performed in the land of Egypt, and in the wilderness for forty years by the command of God, he performed through the rod, the lawgiver here also indicating by a symbol that everything is possible for the one who believes in the crucified Christ. And what need is there to speak of all the prophets, who openly proclaimed the glorious cross and the salvation that was to come to the world through it? For what is more manifest than to say: "In cypress and pine and cedar together glorify my holy place"? For since the holy and consubstantial Trinity in one of its hypostases arranged the salvation of men through the cross, it is fitting that the weapon of salvation was also assembled from three kinds of wood. For the holy place is the holy catholic Church, in which all the faithful, bearing the life-giving cross, glorify the immaculate and all-hymned Trinity in joy and exultation. Thus always, from Adam to all who were saved, until Christ, righteousness was symbolically awarded through the precious cross. But when the fullness of time came for the glorious presence of the divine Word in the flesh, then indeed did he reveal all the wealth of his innate philanthropy toward us, not because of our works, but because of the goodness befitting the benefactor himself.

For He did not wish, through the bowels of mercy and the same philanthropy, that man should be tyrannized by the devil's malice until the end, but by the will of the Father and the good pleasure of the Holy Spirit, He who is always present and nowhere circumscribed, for our sake and for our salvation, inclined the heavens and descended, not being separated from the heavens, and dwelt in the womb of the holy, glorious, and ever-virgin Mary, her soul together with her members having been previously purified by the Holy Spirit. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us," not by changing His own divinity into humanity—for the Word of God is immutable and unchangeable—but by uniting to Himself, in hypostasis, flesh from the bowels of the Theotokos, having a rational and intellectual soul, without confusion, without change, without separation, without division. And it is said "in hypostasis" because the Word of God was not united to a pre-formed man, but the Word Himself, being perfect in His own hypostasis, assumed His own perfect incarnation, being always one Christ, Son, Lord, and King of all. Therefore He is born from the bride who knows no marriage,

being from the seed of David and Abraham, truly and not in appearance, being true God with the assumption, and for this reason the holy Virgin is properly and truly Theotokos, who bore Him in the same manner as she conceived Him. For she conceived incorruptibly, and gave birth in a manner befitting God. For He who was incarnate from her was God, and He had no need of a door for entrance or exit. But He who was born from her in truth, Emmanuel, being perfect in humanity, one and the same existing in each nature, always preserving in Himself the difference or peculiarity of the natures that came together into one person and one hypostasis. Our Lord Jesus Christ was born in the flesh in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod. For the rulers from Judah had already ceased, according to the prophecy, having lasted until a certain high priest Aristobulus, who also placed a royal diadem upon himself. But Pompey, the general of the Romans, besieged him and sent him bound with his sons to Rome, and imposing a portion of tribute upon the Jews, he appointed Hyrcanus, the brother of Aristobulus, as high priest. This Hyrcanus cultivated friendship with a certain Antipater of Ascalon, an idolater, the father of Herod, whom he appointed governor of the region. And Herod, his son, was capable in affairs and suppressed many bandit chiefs by his courage.

When Hyrcanus was taken captive by the Parthians, and Antipater was murdered, and there was no one to uphold the affairs of state, Herod seized the rule, giving very large sums of money to the Romans and becoming their treaty-bound ally. When Caesar Augustus set out for Egypt with as large an army as possible for the war against Cleopatra, to whom the rule of Egypt had devolved, she being of the Ptolemaic line, Herod met him, providing no ordinary service both in troops and money. God delivered Cleopatra into the hands of Caesar, and thus the dynasty in Egypt ceased in the twelfth year of the reign of Caesar Augustus. On his return to Rome, having found Herod well-disposed, he proclaims him king of Judaea by decree of the senate, placing a diadem upon him. This man, upon entering Jerusalem, when the Jews were unwilling to receive him as an alien, slaughtered many of them, plundered the city and the temple, and used his authority wickedly, burning all the records of the tribes and their lineages that had been deposited since the time of Ezra, so that the Jews might no longer know from which family or tribe they came, nor who were the native-born and who the so-called proselytes; and he placed the high priestly vestment under his own seal, and thereafter fearlessly sold the high priesthood to certain obscure persons for sufficient sums of money. In the forty-second year of Caesar Augustus, a decree went out from him that the whole inhabited world should be registered.

This was the first census, as the sacred history of the Gospels says. And this census, that is, the taxation, Caesar entrusted to a certain most loyal and greatest member of the senate, Quirinius, whom he appointed governor of Syria, that is, of Judaea, in the thirteenth consulship of Augustus and Silvanus, in which consulship our Lord Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judaea, according to the prophecy, in the thirty-third year of the reign of Herod son of Antipater, on the eighth day before the Kalends of January. But Epiphanius, the great and holy bishop of the Cyprians, strenuously insists, affirming that the true birth of our Lord Jesus Christ from the holy Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary took place on the eighth day before the Ides of January. All the other God-wise teachers of the holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, however, as with one voice, determined that the birthday of Christ is on the eighth day before the Kalends of January. But to adduce the testimonies of all of them at the present time, I consider superfluous. For our discourse now is not about this. But having brought forward one notable teacher, whom the divine Epiphanius himself also brought forward as agreeing with his words, I will leave it to those who encounter this to choose the better. Ephraim the Syrian, therefore, himself no ordinary teacher of piety, in his discourse on the victory of light, speaks thus: "In the bright month of Xanthicus is the conception of the bright fruit and light; then the darkness, having run swiftly, was not able to darken the luminous conception." And after other things:

In the cave occurred the birth of the light that scattered our darkness. And in the month in which the darkness wanes, a perceptible and moving light arose for us. The month of his conception interpreted for you the type that Moses indicated through writings; and the month of his birth likewise revealed to us the mystery." So the Lord Jesus Christ is born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the forty-second year of the reign of Augustus Caesar, in the consulship previously recorded, in the thirty-third year of Herod son of Antipater, in the thirtieth year of the subjugation of Egypt, on the eighth day before the Kalends of January according to the Fathers, when also the Magi arrived in Jerusalem, seeking the newborn king, whom the star from the East guided as far as Judaea. Having entered the imperial city and lost the guide, they lamented and questioned the natives, informing them also about the celestial guide. When Herod heard this, being shrewd, he understood that the sign was not human. For, he said, many kings have been born in Jerusalem, but for none of them did a star appear in the East. So after diligently questioning the scribes, he learns from the prophecy that the Christ was to be born in Bethlehem; and secretly summoning the Magi, he ascertained from them the time of the star's arrival, and deceitfully sent them away, promising them, as is likely, great gifts, so that when they found the child, they would report to him.

Again, the one who had formerly guided them appeared to them, and they followed him with great joy as far as Bethlehem, and having found the longed-for King and worshipped him with gifts, they were instructed by an angel, and they returned to their own country by another road. Then Joseph also, according to the divine command, fled into Egypt with the child and his mother, and was there until the death of Herod. From the arrival of the Magi and the mockery of Herod and their return to their own country, two years are reckoned. Then Herod, enraged, perpetrated the slaughter of the infants in the thirty-fifth year of his reign. Immediately thereafter, a heaven-sent wrath came upon him, and, afflicted with grievous illnesses, he ended his life, having held his rule for thirty-eight years. He left four sons as successors of his kingdom and his wickedness. Then, by a command of the Lord, Joseph returned from Egypt with the child and his mother, the child being four years old, and he settled in Nazareth, while Archelaus was tetrarch of Judaea. For the sons of Herod were called thus: this Archelaus, and Herod, and Philip, and Lysanias, because each of them held a fourth part of the kingdom. In the eighth year of the reign of Archelaus, the Lord began to teach in the temple, having come into the midst of the teachers, being twelve years old in bodily age. And having gone down with his parents by grace to Nazareth, not long after Joseph met the end of his life, being considered by all to be the father of the Lord.

Archelaus, having lasted yet one more year, ended his life without leaving an heir. Augustus Caesar, having completed fifty-six and a half years, died, handing over the kingdom to his son Tiberius. The Lord was then fifteen years old. Tiberius Caesar, having Pilate as a genuine friend, sent him as governor of Judea, and he was there until the death of the Caesar. In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, according to the voice of the Gospel, John came by revelation of God, preaching a baptism of repentance throughout all Judea, and the Lord was baptized by him, being thirty years old, and began his Gospel ministry. At that time, Herod had cast out his own wife, who was the daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia, about whom Paul made mention in his epistle to the Corinthians, and had taken Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, while he was still alive. John the Baptist, the herald of truth, unable to bear the outrage, vehemently attacked Herod with reproaches. Herod, seized with uncontrollable anger, gratifying the adulteress with his boldness, beheaded the prophet, but not long afterward he exacted the penalty for his audacity. For his wife, having been dishonorably driven out, went to her father Aretas and lamented the violence. Aretas, as if his daughter had been insulted, gathered all his people and attacked him in war, cut down all his armies, and, having given his land to fire, took him captive.

In the eighteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, and the twentieth of Herod, when Pontius Pilate was governing Judaea, the saving passion occurred on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of April. Our Lord Jesus Christ suffered willingly for us, being true God and man, the two natures in him nowhere admitting of division or separation. For on the cross and in the tomb the economy of the two natures remained undivided, in which the one and only Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son and Word of the living God, is known. And since in the universe the cross is glorious and the whole subsists in the form of a cross, as the preceding argument has shown, fittingly the Lord endured death by the cross, so that through his own blood he might sanctify the universe, redeem us from the curse of the law, free us from the oppression of the devil, and deliver us from tyranny and corruption. Therefore the Lord truly died for us, and not in appearance, crucified under Pontius Pilate the governor, and was buried, and rose on the third day according to the Scriptures, truly, on the eleventh day before the Kalends of April at the spring equinox, his divinity not having fallen into suffering and death (far from it).

For let such a thought depart and be far from every Christian (for the divine is impassible and immortal), but rather with the co-presence of the flesh united to it hypostatically, consubstantial with us and subject to the same passions, and appropriating the sufferings of the flesh economically, and granting to us, through the mystical eating of the true body and blood of the rational Lamb, Christ our God, remission of sins and eternal life. The Jews, the Lord-killers, having accomplished the mystery concerning the cross and the resurrection, contrived among themselves how to conceal the miracle. And first they persuade Pilate with sufficient money to have the tomb sealed and guarded by a watch of soldiers. But God permitted them to do everything, so that through their own evil deeds they might rather establish the truth. For if they had not guarded it, they might have said, even if falsely, that it was stolen by his disciples. But now, having surrounded the tomb with such security, the resurrection has become indisputable, with the soldiers everywhere proclaiming the miracle, even though they had received no small amount of money from the high priests. And when the Lord had been taken up and very great miracles were being performed in his name through the holy apostles, again

The high priests were in a great quandary among themselves, saying: "What shall we do? For that great signs and wonders are being accomplished through the name of Jesus by his disciples is evident to all, and we cannot deny it, but so that it may not be spread further to subsequent generations, come, let us hide the place of his burial. For if the people see the tomb empty, they will all believe in him." Then they ordered the tomb and the place of the Skull, where the most holy cross lay, to be filled in, striving to consign the signs of salvation to oblivion. And this is the most wicked counsel of the lawless Jews. But God permitted them to do all this, clearly arranging for the future. For since the city was to be laid waste and given over to fire, God allowed the life-giving wood and the glorious resurrection to be hidden for a short time, so that in the resurrection the places might not be given over to fire by Jews and Gentiles; for he knew that at the proper time they would be revealed with great glory. Pilate reported all that had been done at the cross to Caesar, and that the crucified Jesus, called Christ, had risen on the third day, and that great marvels were being accomplished by his disciples in his name. Tiberius, hearing this and marveling, believed in the Lord and wished immediately to proclaim him God by imperial decree. But he was opposed by his own senate, which considered the story of the cross foolishness. The Caesar, however, kept his word in his heart, and threatened destruction to those who slandered Christians.

When he learned that Herod had consented to the death of Christ, and that through his unlawful adultery with Herodias many evils had come upon that land, and that he had killed John the Baptist, a righteous man, for rebuking his lawlessness, he was greatly indignant. He ordered that Herod be taken bound to Rome with the adulteress, and having stripped him of his office and confiscated his property, he sent him into exile with Herodias to Spain, and there he ended his life in misery. The girl who had danced so wickedly was swallowed up by the earth, while the viper that bore her still lived. Tiberius also died, having reigned twenty-two years, and Gaius reigned in his place for four years. This man was savage and exceedingly arrogant. Pilate, being accused before him, was brought to Rome as a defendant and fell into such dire straits and circumstances that he became his own murderer. The Jews turned to even greater disorders, so that many of them were destroyed by the Romans. Caesar appointed another Herod, son of Aristobulus, called Agrippa, king of Judea, entrusting to him all the tetrarchies. This man, being cruel, maltreated the disciples of Christ. He killed James, the brother of the Lord, with a sword, according to the sacred voice of the Acts, and attempted to put Peter to death as well, had he not been miraculously rescued from his hands by a holy angel. Nor did the aforementioned Herod cease his arrogance until he experienced divine justice and, becoming worm-eaten, expired.

At that time James the Righteous, also called the brother of the Lord, was first appointed bishop of the holy Church of Jerusalem by the command of God. The Jews, behaving lawlessly against the disciples of the Lord, experienced many evils. Indeed, a great multitude was slaughtered by the Romans. There was another Agrippa who had taken over the kingdom of Judea, the one from the time of the holy Paul. Gaius died, and Claudius reigned in his place for fourteen years. During this time a great famine occurred throughout the whole world, according to the prophecy of Agabus. Then the Jews, driven to madness, treacherously slaughtered one another in the marketplace, at which the Caesar, moved, sent orders to the rulers of the nations to deal unsparingly with the Jews, and a considerable number of them were killed, and their houses and children were plundered, and they were expelled from Italy and Rome with many afflictions and losses. These things happened to them because of their audacity against Christ. Claudius died, and Nero reigned in his place for fourteen years. This man was wicked and lascivious, if ever anyone was. He was the first to raise a persecution against the Christians. He killed Peter and Paul, the foremost of the apostles of Christ, and also destroyed many of the ancestors and many others of the first of the senate. At that time Festus the governor, who still held the rule of Judea, died. The Jews, seizing the opportunity of the anarchy, increased their disorder even more.

They killed James the brother of the Lord, and scourging the remaining disciples they drove them from the city, and they, by revelation of God, withdrew into the region of the Jordan, and there they tarried, because of the evils that were about to befall the city, according to the prophecy of the Lord. At that time the whole nation undertook the revolt against the Romans. Agrippa fled to Rome. Then Nero in anger and wrath wrote to the general of the East (Vespasian was at that time) commanding him to muster all the army under him, to take possession of the land of Judea, and to destroy it utterly. The powerful among the Jews, hearing this, occupied Jerusalem, which was very strongly fortified with walls and secured with very great towers. The general, having taken the country beforehand, having destroyed all the cities of Judea, annihilated them with fire. And having reached Jerusalem and besieged it for one year, and having constructed many engines, he was able to do nothing because of the strength of the city; but those from the city, sallying forth suddenly, struck down many of the Romans. Vespasian went down to Caesarea to allow the army to recover. In the meantime Nero was killed in Rome, and Galba held power for seven months. He also was killed, and Otho held power for three, and after him Vitellius held power for three months. With affairs being in great danger and disorder, and with some barbarians pressing upon Romania, the army in the East crowned Vespasian emperor on the spot, with the consent of all the rulers in the East.

Departing for Rome in the winter season, he proclaimed his sons Titus and Domitian Caesars, leaving Titus to besiege Jerusalem, and sending Domitian on an expedition against the barbarians. As he was already approaching Rome, the army there, together with the senate, having killed the rebel, met him with great festivity and applause. Seated upon the throne, he slaughtered all the disorderly, and suddenly the affairs of the Romans were again set right, Domitian having exterminated the insurgent barbarians. While Jerusalem was besieged for two years, all within it wasted away from famine, eating their own children during the siege. When the Caesar took it, having cut down the people in it and plundered everything, he consigned it together with the people to fire. Then the word of the Lord was fulfilled, that not a stone would be left upon another in it. Some record the number of those slain as three million. After the capture of the city, the faithful returned again to holy Zion, and they appointed a second bishop of Jerusalem, Simeon, son of Cleopas, who appears in the Gospels, an eyewitness and hearer, and a cousin of the Lord. Cleopas was the brother of the Lord’s father by grace. Forty years elapsed from the saving Passion to the capture of Jerusalem. Vespasian reigned mightily for ten years and died, and his son Titus reigned in his place for three years and died, and his brother Domitian reigned in his place, and again

he raised a great persecution against the Jews, seeking out those of royal lineage. Information was brought to him concerning Christ, that he was of David's line and had a great family, who were Christians and proclaimed Jesus Christ as eternal king, destined to overthrow all the powers under heaven and to reign alone. Enraged at this, the emperor ordered that Christians should not be allowed to live. Sending to Jerusalem, he brought to Rome the grandsons of Judas, the Lord's brother, and questioned them about Christ and his kingdom. They answered that his kingdom was not earthly but heavenly, and that at the end of the ages he would come with glory to judge the living and the dead, and to give to each according to his deeds. Hearing this, the Caesar became afraid, released them, and stopped the persecution against the Christians. Domitian died after reigning fifteen years, and Nerva reigned in his place for one year. Nerva died, and Trajan reigned in his place for twenty years. He stirred up a great persecution against the Christians for a long time, killing very many martyrs, so that the rulers of the nations, becoming weary of the multitude of martyrs, reported to the emperor, bearing witness to the freedom of the Christians, that they did everything according to the proper laws and confessed only Christ as God. Hearing this, the emperor stopped the persecution.

During his reign Ignatius the bishop of Antioch and Simeon the son of Cleopas, the bishop in Jerusalem, were martyred in Rome, the latter crucified at the age of one hundred and twenty, under a certain Atticus the proconsul. At that time the Jews, employing their own madness, dared to set up a king for themselves, at which the emperor was moved and sent strong commanders against them, who, having subdued the appointed tyrant, thereafter persecuted them throughout the whole world, slaughtering countless multitudes of Jews. Trajan died, and Aelius Hadrian reigned in his place for twenty-one years. He traveled through the provinces, his body afflicted, and sought some remedy for his suffering. Coming to the holy city and seeing it razed to the ground, with only the church of the Christians standing, he ordered the entire city to be rebuilt, except for the temple. When the Jews heard this, they flocked together from every nation, and in a very short time the city was quickly rebuilt. But again the evil demon that drove them to frenzy did not allow them to rest, and they revolted from Roman submission, setting up for themselves a certain rebel called Bar Kochba. When the Caesar heard this, he sent very many armies against them, and they besieged the city for a long time, until the entire people within it perished from hunger and thirst. This was the final desolation of Judaea. For after destroying all the Jews and reducing the city to complete desolation, he ordered the Greeks to inhabit it, writing a law decreeing that the Jews should no longer see with their eyes the soil of their ancestral land.

The inhabitants of Jerusalem, being of foreign extraction, erected a stele to the emperor in the temple itself by the Beautiful Gate, and changing the name of the city, they called it Aelia after the name of the ruler. The holy Church in Jerusalem before these times, having been constituted of Hebrews, did not accept an uncircumcised bishop. Your holiness will permit me, being at a loss, not to indicate their dates, for one could not easily find them at any time. Their names are these: first James the brother of the Lord, Simeon the son of Cleopas, Justus, Zachaeus, Tobias, Benjamin, John, Matthias, Philip, Seneca, Justus, Lebes, Ephres, Joseph, Judas. All these were of the circumcision, fifteen in number. And from the capture of Jerusalem until the later siege and the complete expulsion of the Jews, there are fifty-eight years. The holy Church constituted in Aelia, being of Gentiles, first appoints a bishop from the Gentiles, Mark, a man most holy in every respect. The faithful, learning from tradition the place of holy Golgotha, still buried and hidden, came daily and reverently worshipped. Seeing this, the idolaters, at the instigation of the devil, built there a temple to the statue of the impure demon Aphrodite. The multitude of Christians being prevented from approaching the place, the holy sites thereafter became unknown to the many. Hadrian died, and Antoninus Pius reigned in his place for twenty-two years.

After him, Marcus Aurelius Verus, whom his son Antoninus together with his brother Lucius succeeded for fourteen years. A persecution having been stirred up, many became martyrs, dying eagerly for Christ. Great signs occurred, so that Caesar Marcus himself, together with his entire army, when about to perish from lack of water, was saved by the prayer of the Christians, God having sent them rain in waterless places. When Verus died, Commodus succeeded to the rule for twelve years. After him, Pertinax reigned for six months. After him, Severus reigned for eighteen years; during his reign, a great persecution having been stirred up, many in every place bore witness. When he died, Antoninus Caracalla for seven years, Macrinus succeeding him reigned for one year. And after him, another Antoninus for fourteen years. After him, Alexander reigned for thirteen years. The bishops who were in Aelia from the reign of Hadrian are these: Marcus, Cassianus, Publius, Maximus, Julian, Gaius, another Julian, Capito, Valens, Dolichianus, Narcissus. This Narcissus, being distinguished by apostolic gifts and loving quiet, abandoned the bishopric and fled to unknown places. After he had been sought much by the people and the bishops of the province, and not found, Dios was put forward as bishop in his place, after him Germanion. Gordias succeeded him. During his time, as if from the innermost sanctuary, Narcissus again appeared.

And there was with the bishop who had been ordained a very old man, so that he was the thirtieth from the saving Passion. When the bishop with him had died and Narcissus had become exceedingly aged—for he was one hundred sixteen years old—they appointed a certain Alexander, a bishop who had come from another country to venerate the holy places, in his place as bishop of Jerusalem by a revelation of God, after much entreaty of him; he later was perfected by martyrdom. In those times there was great peace in the Churches of God. For the mother of the emperor, Mamaea, was very God-fearing. When Alexander ended his rule, Maximinus succeeded to the imperial office for three years. He, having treated the household of Alexander badly, stirred up a persecution against the Christians, and ordered the leaders of the Churches to be put to death, as being responsible for the blasphemies against the gods. When he died, Pupienus and Balbinus took over the rule of the Romans for three months. Gordian succeeded them for six years. After him, Philip reigned as emperor for seven years; he genuinely believed in Christ. But the servant of Satan, Decius, killed him and held the kingdom for two years. Under him, a harsh persecution having been stirred up, countless people in various places became martyrs. When he was slaughtered together with his children, Gallus and Volusianus succeeded to the kingdom for three years, and Valerian and Gallienus succeeded them for fifteen years. The latter stirred up a great persecution against the Christians. When he was taken captive by barbarians, his son ended the persecution. In Aelia

Alexander, having borne witness, left Marzabanes as successor of the liturgy, and Hymenaeus succeeds him. After Galenus, Claudius reigned for two years. And Aurelianus became his successor for six years. After him, Tacitus and Florianus held power for nine months. Probus became successor to him for six years. And when he died, Carus received the rule together with his sons Carinus and Numerianus for two years. After them, the rule passes to Diocletian and Maximian for twenty-one years. Under these, the most severe and longest persecution of Christians occurred, in which countless myriads, known only to the Lord, bore witness. In Aelia, Hymenaeus, having ended the liturgy, left Zaidas as his successor, and when he died, Hermon held the throne of Jerusalem. Those around Diocletian and Maximian, surnamed Herculius, after they had killed many myriads of the saints, as if taking their fill of evils, lifted up by the excess of their madness, becoming leaders of impiety under the pretext of piety, by agreement laid down the rule and were reduced to a private life. Maximian, called Galerius, and Maxentius, the son of Herculius, held the Roman rule for nine years. Now Maximian dwelt in the regions of the East, while Maxentius made his palace in great Rome itself, these being wild beasts and pursuing every form of wickedness, and raging fiercely against the Christians.

Costas the Great, the father of the great Constantine, was co-emperor with them in Britain, a man most gentle and mild in all things, embracing piety, abhorring idols, and greatly accepting of Christians. Constantine, while still a boy, was being raised at the court of the tyrant of the East, educated in Greek learning, whence, while he was in Palestine and saw what the servants of Christ suffered, his soul was stung. For he was a hater of evil from childhood. Diocletian, while residing in Dalmatia, was overtaken by a god-sent wrath, and his body swelled and burst into many parts, his blasphemous tongue rotting in his throat and spewing forth a multitude of worms. Thus he expired. Herculius ended his life in Tarsus of Cilicia. Galerius Maximianus, as if given license, used his tyranny impiously and inhumanely. For he became a woman-madman, so that those under him had contests to hide their own wives and daughters from the face of the tyrant. And he was so deeply fixed in the deception of the demons that led him astray that he would not taste anything without divination. He ordered the utter destruction of the Christians, not only because of his impiety but also to seize their possessions. Seeing Constantine advancing in stature of age and adorned with wisdom, and suspecting, or rather divining, that he would be the destroyer of his tyranny, he plotted to kill him by treachery.

But by divine providence, the young man devised a stratagem, like David, and procured his safety through flight. When the tyrant had gone to an extreme of depravity and was vehemently pressing the Christians, divine justice restrained him, letting loose a scourge against him. For a grievous ulcer broke out on the hidden part of his licentiousness, which proved beyond all human skill. As gangrene, putrefaction, and a most terrible stench overtook the areas, and a multitude of worms emerged—for the wretch was also very fleshy—he, having come to despair, lay as a pitiful spectacle to all around him. Then a thought entered him, that this had happened to him because of the unjust slaughter of the Christians by divine justice. Immediately, therefore, he sent out orders to every city that the Christians should be released, that they should do as they pleased according to their custom, be honored by all, and that they should entreat and pray for him, the emperor. These things were done, and immediately divine benevolence was shown. And he who had been at his last breath again became healthy and strong, that most grievous ulcer having been miraculously healed by the prayer of the Christians. But before the wound had properly healed, the tyrant, moved by the devil working within him to even greater madness, wrote godless decrees and laws filled with cruelty, in which he ordered that Christians should neither live nor have civil rights, nor dwell in the whole inhabited world, nor even in the deserts; for otherwise, he said, we cannot live and prosper unless the race of Christians is wiped out.

And so the affairs of the Christians were despaired of among men. But God did not forget his own creation; for one could see the Christians being dragged in droves, the whole populace together with women and children, to their death. But divine justice scattered the plans of the lawless; for everywhere wars and barbarian uprisings immediately, severe famines and droughts and plagues, untimely deaths suddenly descended, so that the living were insufficient to bury the dead, and thunderbolts and terrors were sent, so that each man cared only for himself, and thus the tyrant's decrees remained unfulfilled. But Constantine, most gracious in all things, was saved and went to his own father. His father received him in good health, and having given many thanks to God, not long after he handed over the kingdom to him and departed this life. And the great Constantine was proclaimed emperor in the first year of the two hundred seventy-first Olympiad, in the month of July, on the twenty-fifth day. But Maxentius, the most wicked of all who had preceded him, was destroying the inhabitants of Rome, and especially the Christians. So he killed many of the leading men, and exiled many, and plundered their property. And using the same licentiousness as Galerius, he defiled many free women, and practicing countless other impious deeds and unspeakable acts, he was unbearable to all, employing magical sorceries. And when the great Constantine had subdued the northern and western regions as far as the Ocean itself, there was great peace, joy, and stability throughout his entire dominion.

The inhabitants of Rome sent a petition to him, entreating him not to overlook the mother of the emperors perishing at the hands of a harsh tyrant, or rather a flesh-devouring beast. Hearing this, the great Constantine, sympathizing with them, took thought to free them from slavery, but he feared to do so because of the sorceries and evil machinations of that man. For already he had cut up many children on the pretext of his lawless divination. While he was in great concern and deliberation, there appeared to him, as he was spending time in a plain with his soldiers around midday, a pillar-shaped cross made of light, on which was inscribed, "In this, conquer." Becoming terrified, the king asked those with him if they too had seen anything. When they confessed that they had seen the same vision, then the king, strengthened in spirit, was full of courage and eagerness. On the following night, the Lord appeared and said to him: "Use the sign that has appeared, and you will conquer all your enemies." When day came, he fashioned a cross without difficulty, which is preserved in the palace to this day, and ordered it to be carried before him into battle. The impious tyrant, trusting in his demons and having bridged the flowing river with many ships, went out to war. When the engagement took place, the enemies were crushed by the power of the cross, and most of them were cut down; the rest, together with the tyrant, fled toward the city, but the bridge, broken by a stronger force, caused them to be drowned in the river with their whole army, like Pharaoh. And one could see the entire

a river filled with horses and their riders. The citizens of Rome, having crowned him, received him with great joy and acclamations, calling the victory-making cross and the victorious emperor savior. Then the emperor ordered the relics of the holy martyrs to be gathered and given over to sacred burial, and the properties of those who had been wronged to be restored to them; and they celebrated a victory festival for seven days, honoring the cross of Christ. This was the seventh year of the reign of Constantine. Hearing this, Galerius Maximian had set out. For he himself awaited the same fate, and he desisted a little from his threat against the Christians. But the great Constantine, trusting in the invincible weapon of the cross, set out against him. He also had Licinius fighting alongside him against the tyrants, pretending to rejoice in Christian doctrines. But the tyrant, relying on magical deceptions, had set out to array himself against the pious emperor, making a show with an innumerable multitude of armies. When the engagement took place and the precious cross appeared, the tyrant's shield-bearers, not enduring the assault, turned to flight, and some fled at full speed, while others pursued with might, many thousands of the enemy falling. The rest, abandoning the tyrant, went over to the emperor. The impious one, casting aside the imperial office, of which he was unworthy, fled so as not to be recognized, and wandering from village to village and hiding, he barely escaped naked with a few of his most loyal followers.

Having gathered together the priests of the so-called gods, and the prophets, and the seers, and those renowned for divination, whom formerly he loved and honored, he slaughtered them as deceivers and impostors and plotters against his own safety. But as he was about to fall alive into the hands of the emperor (for the war still pressed upon him), a god-sent wrath anticipated him and so affected him that he lay prostrate on the ground, begging for help and receiving none. A flame kindled from the depth of his entrails and marrow caused him unbearable pains, as he gasped and turned this way and that, so that both his eyes leaped out onto the ground and left him blind. And as the inner fire blazed without limit, his flesh rotted away and separated from his bones, so that he called upon death for himself. And having thus completely putrefied, he breathed his last. With the tyrants removed from the scene and the great Constantine having become sole ruler, the inhabited world was in deep peace, and the affairs of Christians daily rose to greater heights, and among all nations the cross of Christ was glorified. To Licinius, as having fought alongside him in the overthrow of the tyrants, Constantine gave his sister in marriage. And having assigned to him a sufficient portion of the Roman land, he appointed him emperor, requiring from him covenants to do nothing against the doctrine of the Christians. But Licinius, having taken hold of power, could not bear his good fortune, but as if having forgotten what had happened to the tyrants before him, he veered off into idolatry.

And he who had been a spectator of their bitter downfall emulated their life, becoming mad for women, committing injustices, and murdering Christians. Learning of these things, the servant of God, Constantine Augustus, was seized with grief and wrote to him, urging him to desist from his madness against the Churches of Christ. But he, despising this, pursued the persecution more madly, and thereafter secretly devised plots against his benefactor, and later even waged open war against him, while the emperor was guarded by divine power. And when battle was joined in the regions of Bithynia, with the glorious cross leading the way, the wretch was taken alive and fell into the hands of the emperor. The emperor, who was in all things most gentle, treated his enemy humanely and ordered him to live quietly in Thessalonica. But after resting only a short time, he was discovered to have hired some barbarians in order to renew the fight; learning of this, Constantine ordered him to suffer capital punishment. Then at last the affairs enjoyed complete peace and tranquility through the invincible power of the cross, the wickedness of the tyrants having been removed. At that time, the bishop of Aelia was Macarius, the bearer of that name, who had succeeded Hermonas.

The great Constantine, having become sole ruler, transferred all his concern to divine matters, building up churches and enriching them munificently from the public treasury in both money and expenditures, and with all kinds of precious offerings. And he enacted a first law, that the properties dedicated to idols be given over to the Church of the Christians, and that those still practicing idolatry be subject to capital punishments. He enacted a second law, that only Christians serve in the military, and that they command both the nations and the armies. He enacted a third law, that the week of the saving Passion and the week of Renewal be days of rest. And thereafter there was deep peace and joy throughout the whole world, with all the nations daily running to divine baptism and with their own hands shattering their ancestral gods. But these things were not bearable to the avenging demon, but again he was devising in himself how he might cut off such great joy of the Christians, and make men deify creation, which was no longer possible, for his deception had been detected. Yet he attempted to persuade the unsteady to rank the Creator with the creatures. And there was no small disturbance in the Churches of God, a certain Arius of Alexandria stirring things up and troubling the world. Some few bishops in number were carried away with him, of whom the first were Eusebius of Nicomedia and Eusebius of Pamphilus, and others with them.

Seeing the great contentiousness, the greatest Constantine was distressed in his soul, and first he attempted through hortatory words and letters to dissolve the strife from both sides. But when he saw the evil had become incurable, he ordered an ecumenical council to be held in the city of Nicaea. And bishops gathered, three hundred and eighteen in number, most of whom were confessors, bearing the stigmata of Jesus on their bodies. With them was the most renowned and great Constantine, and when the matter was set in motion, they produced a written exposition of faith, the one now proclaimed orthodoxly throughout every Church. Those around Arius who persisted in their evil doctrine they condemned, and exiled, and others were ordained in their place. The emperor, having honored the bishops and embraced them, dismissed them in peace to their own parishes, rejoicing at the harmony of the Churches. He commanded Macarius, the bishop of Aelia, who was present at the council and championed the apostolic doctrines, to seek out the life-giving cross, and the God-received tomb, and all the holy places, and he likewise urged the other bishops to ask for whatever each saw as conducive to the completion of his own Church. It was the nineteenth year of his reign when the council at Nicaea took place.

After this, the emperor sent his mother Helen, the praiseworthy and God-beloved, to Jerusalem with letters and an abundance of money to Makarios of Jerusalem, for the search of the life-giving wood and the building of the holy places, the empress herself having requested this, claiming to have seen a divine vision commanding her to go to Jerusalem and to bring to light the holy places, which had been buried by the lawless and had become invisible for so many years. When the bishop learned that the empress had arrived, he, together with the bishops of the province, went to meet the empress. Immediately she commanded the bishops to undertake the search for the longed-for wood. As all were at a loss concerning the place, and others were giving different accounts based on suspicion, the bishop of the city urged all to keep quiet and to offer more earnest prayer to God for this matter. When this was done, the place was immediately shown from God to the bishop, where the temple and the statue of the unclean demon had been set up. Then the empress, using her royal authority, gathered a multitude of many craftsmen and workers and commanded that the temple of the demon be overturned from its foundations, and when this was done, the divine tomb and the place of the Skull were revealed, and not far off three crosses buried; and having searched carefully, they also found the nails. Thenceforth perplexity and distress seized the empress, as she sought to determine which was the Lord's cross. But the bishop resolved the doubt through faith.

For a woman of noble birth who was ill and given up by all, and was breathing her last, when he brought each of the crosses to her, he found the one he sought alone; for as the shadow of the saving cross approached the dying woman, she, who was breathless and motionless, immediately sprang up by divine power, glorifying God with a loud voice. The empress, with great joy and fear, taking up the life-giving cross, brought a portion together with the nails to her son, but the remainder, having made a silver reliquary, she delivered to the bishop of the city for a memorial for all generations. And having decreed that a church be built at the life-giving tomb and at holy Golgotha, and at Bethlehem where the Lord was born in the flesh, and on the Mount of Olives where the Lord blessed the disciples and was taken up, and having done many other good works, she returned to her son. He, receiving her with joy, placed the portion of the precious cross in a golden casket and delivered it to the bishop for safekeeping, ordering that the discovery of the cross be celebrated with annual commemorations. Of the nails, he forged some into his own helmet, and mixed others with the bridle of his horse, so that the saying spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled: "On that day the bit of the horse shall be holy to the Lord Almighty." And the emperor wrote to Bishop Makarios to hasten the building, and sent a superintendent of the work with an abundance of money, instructing him that the holy places be built magnificently, so that there might be no such beauty in all the earth.

He also wrote to the governors of the province, urging them to assist in every way with the work from public resources, in both funds and expenses and materials. At that time the emperor was joyfully celebrating the festival of his twentieth anniversary, giving thanks to God for all the good things that had been done in the years of his reign. The years from the coming of Christ to the discovery of the cross amount to three hundred fifty-two, and from Adam to the coming of Christ, five thousand four hundred seventy-five. In Aelia, Macarius the bishop was succeeded by Maximōnas; this man was gentle and distinguished; for in the persecution he endured many tortures, and was released after his right eye was cut out. And in these events the blessed Helena dies, being eighty years old, having given many instructions to her son concerning piety toward Christ. When the emperor learned that the construction of the New Jerusalem was completed, he ordered the bishop to go there and convene a synod of more bishops and to consecrate the holy places. This bishop was Eusebius of Nicomedia, who adhered to the Arian doctrines. He, having been anathematized at the Council of Nicaea together with his fellow bishops and exiled, but after a time having received the emperor’s clemency as a provision, they presented a royal document to the emperor, swearing that

they subscribe to the exposition of the faith, and in all things follow the holy Fathers. Convinced by these, the emperor recalled them from exile and deemed them worthy of the greatest honor. While the throne of the city of Constantine was vacant, Eusebius, using his own machinations tyrannically, seized the throne of the imperial city. Having taken hold of greater authority, he restored his like-minded men to the services of the Church, thrusting out those who were worthily performing them. After this happened, the sees of Alexandria were vacant in opposition to Athanasius, and they devised many plots against him. The emperor considered it just to summon Athanasius also to the consecration of the holy places. He therefore ordered the council to assemble first in Tyre, to examine the matters concerning Athanasius, and thus, without any division, for all to proceed to the feast. He also sent his own cousin Dalmatius to be an overseer of the council. When the bishops assembled in Tyre, the bishop of Aelia, Maximonas, was present with them, entirely ignorant of the charges being heaped up against Athanasius. When Athanasius entered the council, the accusers surrounded him, bringing great and grave accusations against him, which the judges present, Eusebius of Nicomedia and those around him, had suggested to them. But they were unable to prove them, as Athanasius defended himself and, like a spider, tore apart what they put forward. Driven to madness, the accusers, having been caught lying, threw the entire council into confusion, shouting.

Seize the sorcerer, for by some sorcery he has silenced everyone." And Athanasius would have been killed, had not the emperor's cousin led him out by soldiers from their hands. A story prevails that Athanasius, fleeing from there, went up to the holy city, and after making a prayer, and anointing and sanctifying the prayer houses with the holy myrrh before the arrival of the other bishops, he overtook the emperor, telling him everything that had been done against him. The emperor, upon hearing and marveling at the wickedness of his opponents, deemed him worthy of the greatest honor, and sent him to Alexandria with imperial letters. When the bishops arrived in Jerusalem, they celebrated the feast of the Encenia with great joy, the emperor having sent relics and all kinds of gold and silver objects adorned with precious stones, and embroidered and costly hangings, and sufficient funds for distribution to the poor and for the generosity of all who came to the feast. When the Christ-loving emperor heard about the Encenia of the holy places, he gave great thanks to God, and was even more attached to Christianity. This was the thirtieth year of his reign. He immediately wrote a law with the imperial seal, that Jews could not appear in Jerusalem within a radius of six stades. He rejoiced in the grace of God, seeing also the barbarian nations running to the word of truth, and willingly submitting to the emperor. Having lived one more year and a few months, he fell into some illness, in which he was baptized in Nicomedia and died.

He deferred this until the present time, desiring to be deemed worthy of it in the river Jordan. Having become Euthymus, he made pious arrangements, leaving his three sons as heirs of his kingdom and piety, appointing the eldest, his namesake Constantine, as ruler of the western regions. The second, his grandfather's namesake Constantius, he ordained emperor of the East, and the youngest of Europe. None of them were present at his death. The most renowned Emperor Constantine died at the age of sixty-five, having reigned piously and in a godly manner for thirty-two years, and having left the earthly kingdom, he received the heavenly one. His precious remains, placed by soldiers in a golden sarcophagus, they made great lamentation, mourning him as a loving father, not as an authoritarian emperor of whom they were deprived. Constantius, the emperor of the East, arriving and burying his father in a royal manner, deposited him on a high place in the Church of the Apostles in the city of Constantine, where his mother Helen had been laid. For this purpose the blessed Constantine had built that church, so that kings and priests might be buried there, not far from the apostolic relics. The day of his falling asleep was the twenty-first of the month of May, the eleventh before the Kalends of June, in the consulship of Felicianus and Tatianus. When Constantius had just taken hold of the empire, the advocates of the Arian disease approached him, urging him to remove the term "homoousios" from the creed of faith.

For they said that this was the cause of the division of the Churches. When this is removed, there will no longer be any dispute concerning doctrines. But he, with levity of judgment, accepted their words without examination, and agreed to do this, and again there was no small disturbance throughout the whole world. At that time a miracle occurred in Jerusalem surpassing all description. For since in the contentiousness over doctrines there had been a falling away of those approaching the faith, scandalized by the discord among the clergy, God of wonders showed from heaven that it was not the word of faith in him that was the cause of the scandals, but the perversity of the unworthy priests and the intemperance of their most evil judgment. Therefore suddenly there appeared above holy Golgotha at midday an immense cross composed of light, overshadowing the brightness of our sun by the excess of its light, before all the inhabitants of the city, small and great, believers and unbelievers. Cyril was then the bishop of Jerusalem, having succeeded the confessor Maximanus. Eighteen catecheses of his are preserved, written with approval, in which, interpreting the holy Symbol, he made no mention of the term homoousios, being wary of the machinations of those then in power. Yet he remained with the holy Fathers, advocating for the Church without writing. He wrote to the emperor Constantius concerning the sign that had occurred. But it is better that the bishop's own letter, which runs as follows, should teach the matters concerning this.

During the time of your blessed and ever-memorable father, the life-giving wood of the saving cross was found; but during your reign, most pious emperor, as you restore ancestral piety, it is fitting that the miracles come not from the earth, but from heaven. For in these holy days of Pentecost, on the Nones of May, around the third hour, an immense cross composed of light appeared in the sky above holy Golgotha and extending as far as the holy Mount of Olives, visible not to one or two alone, but shown most clearly to the entire multitude of the city, nor, as one might suppose, did it pass quickly or as a vision, but for several hours it was visibly observed above the earth, and with its flashing gleams it overcame the rays of the sun. For it would have been hidden, overcome by them, if it did not provide to the beholders radiances more powerful than the sun, so that the entire multitude from the holy Church itself ran together, seized by fear of the divine vision that had occurred from heaven by God’s will. And these things the bishop said.

From this miracle many thousands were added to the faith. Let the history of the discovery of the life-giving cross be thus far, and let no one deceive himself by speaking vainly of unsuitable things and introducing mythologies with strange names into the account. For there has never been any other bishop besides those previously recorded, nor any other Roman emperor, nor was the precious cross proclaimed in any other way. For from the emperor Augustus, under whom Christ was born in the flesh, to the great Constantine, there were thirty-five emperors; likewise, from James the Brother of the Lord to the same reign, there were thirty-five bishops of Jerusalem. The Fathers, with an imperial decree, ordained that the venerable day of the Exaltation of the Precious Cross and of the Encænia be celebrated each year on the fourteenth of the month of September, which is the eighteenth day before the Kalends of October, to the glory of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Since by the grace of God we have arrived in our discourse at the auspicious day of our feast, which is the manifestation of the life-giving cross, come, as far as is possible, let us greet the cross a little and then conclude our discourse. Hail, then, precious cross. Hail, because in you the Lord Jesus Christ was exalted, in whom are all the treasures of joy and grace. Precious cross, for through you the everlasting joy in heaven and on earth is awarded. Hail, precious cross, because from above and from the beginning the Creator depicted your image in all creation.

Hail, glorious cross, because all the powers of the heavens send forth extraordinary hymns to God at your elevation. Hail, cross; for through you, in cities, and on islands, and among every nation, the churches of the orthodox have been founded. Hail, cross; for through you every mouth of the faithful has been opened for theology. Hail, blessed cross; for through you angels, dancing with men on earth, sing hymns to Christ. Hail, cross; for through you men in heaven likewise stand with angels before God, glorifying the Creator with ineffable joy. Hail, cross; for through you Adam was freed from the curse, leaping and rejoicing in paradise, as he has come, having recovered his own dignity. Hail, cross; for through you every diabolical power has been cast down, and every demonic energy has been trampled underfoot. Hail, holy cross; for through you the holy and consubstantial Trinity is believed in, and sung, hymned, glorified, and known in every place. Hail, cross; for through you every soul believing in Christ is saved. Hail, cross; for through you the inalienable goods have been bestowed upon men. And what shall we say, or what shall we omit? How shall we hymn the power of the Lord’s cross? O name of the cross, in which the greatness of the mysteries of Christ is hidden, venerable to angels, and worshipful to men! For what is more lovely than the name of the cross, sweeter to Christians? And what is more effective than this for wonder-working? The cross is the foundation of the Church. The cross is the sign of divine power. The cross is the joy of angels and the grief of demons. The cross is the destroyer of demons.

Cross, ever-shining and all-illuminating light of the whole world. Cross, unshakable, unbreakable, and invincible wall of the entire inhabited world. Cross, glory and power of priests. Cross, full armor of armies. Cross, guardian of the city. Cross, utter destruction of the devil. Cross, joy of peoples. Cross, hope of Christians. Cross, physician of the sick. Cross, unfailing health of the healthy. Cross, harbor of the storm-tossed. Cross, peace of the warring. Cross, boast of boasts of the orthodox. Cross, dissolution of idolatry and restoration of piety. Cross, teacher of virginity and guardian of temperance. Cross, security of the just and repentance of sinners. Cross, adornment of monks and glory of those living reverently. Cross, guardian of infants, temperance of the young, and staff of the elderly. Cross, inexhaustible wealth of the poor, unerring guide of the erring. Cross, rest in daily labors. Cross, good order of nations and tranquility of the whole world. And what shall I say, or what shall I omit? Or how shall we hymn you, most holy cross? Because you alone from all creation the King chose and appointed as an invincible weapon against the devil and death. Therefore blessed are all who

having been deemed worthy to see your revelation. You are the proclamation of the prophets. For concerning you they rejoice daily, chanting to God, "You gave to those who fear you a sign to flee from the face of the bow." You are the boast of the apostles; for they cry out incessantly through one of their sacred heralds, "But may it not be for me to boast, except in the cross of the Lord." You are the crown of the martyrs. You are the boast of those who in mountains and caves and the hollows of the earth have crucified their flesh together with their passions and desires. O the ineffable joy of the Lord's cross! O the incomprehensible mysteries in it, and to speak the words of the Apostle, "O the depth of wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments!" For having been put to death by the wood, we were brought to life by the wood of condemnation. O the immeasurable grace of the giver! Therefore it is fitting for us to establish this all-festive feast "in the coverings, up to the horns of the altar." And the coverings are, as those skilled in these matters say, things that have become soiled from neglect or age, or things that are again transformed from care into something more precious for the delight of those feasting in rejoicings.

Let us therefore be disposed, as we have been commanded, and having cast off the distaste that has befallen us from negligence, let us celebrate this bright and most venerable day of the memory of the life-giving cross, cleansing sins by almsgiving and faith, as Scripture says, and with fear and joy let us cry out thus: “Holy God, holy strong one, holy immortal one, have mercy on us; holy Trinity, consubstantial and co-throned, have mercy on us.” To whom glory, might, majesty, and magnificence are fitting for the unending ages of ages. Amen.