De adoratione pretiosae crucis

On the Veneration of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross, in the Middle Week of the Fast. 1. The annual day has come to us, the most venerable and light-bearing middle week of the holy fast, presenting the thrice-blessed and life-giving Cross of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and setting it forth for veneration, sanctifying those who venerate it with sincere heart and pure lips, and showing them more vigorous and more energetic for the subsequent course of the stadium of the holy fast. Today, therefore, is established as the day of veneration of the precious Cross; and come, O friends, let us embrace it with fear and longing. For, radiating the beams of the Resurrection of Christ, it illumines all and sanctifies them with its graces; wherefore let us greet it, rejoicing in soul. Today there is joy in heaven and on earth, because the light-bearing and life-giving Cross of Christ is manifested to the world, through which demons are put to flight, and diseases take flight, and gloomy darkness is driven away, and all the ends of the earth are illuminated. Today the Church of Christ is shown as another paradise, having set forth the all-holy wood of the precious Cross in its midst, making the Cross a prelude to the Passion of Christ and a pre-resurrection of his Resurrection. Today the prophetic saying is fulfilled, which declares, "Behold, we worship at the place where the feet of our God stood.

Rejoice, therefore, and exult, O Church of Christ, and bring forward your children, purified by the abstinence from passions, cleansed by fasting, and radiant with divinely shining virtues, and dance an ineffable dance. For just as long ago in the desert those who were bitten, looking upon the bronze serpent, were delivered from death, so also now those who have traversed the middle course of the fast, by touching this [cross], show the spiritual serpent dead, and themselves are made immortal; and being shown to be partakers of the sufferings of Christ through abstinence, they are also revealed to be partakers of his resurrection. And not only this, but also, running vigorously toward what follows, they offer victory hymns to God. For the Cross of the Lord stands as a trophy-bearing and victorious weapon: an invincible weapon of kings, a horn of the Church, a destroyer of enemies, and the salvation of the faithful. And truly blessed and thrice-blessed are those who are deemed worthy to embrace it with pure lips and clean mouths. For in deed they truly fulfill the saying of the Lord: “If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” And see how he makes the statement without compulsion. For he did not say, “Whether you wish it or not, you must suffer this,” but how? “If anyone wishes to come after me”; I do not compel, I do not force, but I make each one master of his own choice; therefore I say, “If anyone wishes to come after me.” For I call to a good, not to an evil and burdensome thing, not to punishment and retribution, but to a heavenly kingdom and a heavenly life.

For the very nature of things is sufficient to draw one on. If anyone wishes to follow me—whether man or woman, ruler or subject—and desires to be saved, let him come this way. Now there are three things spoken of: to deny oneself, to take up the cross, and to follow. But let us first see what it is to deny oneself. Let us learn what it is to deny another, and then we shall know what it is to deny oneself. What then is it to deny another? He who denies another—for instance, a brother, or a friend, or a neighbor, or anyone at all—if he sees that person being scourged, or bound, or suffering anything whatever, does not stand up for him, does not help, is not moved, feels nothing toward him; for he has once for all become alienated from him. In this way, then, does God wish us to be heedless of our own body, so that if some scourge us for His sake, or punish us, or drive us out, or do anything else, we may not spare ourselves. For this is what it means to deny: that is, let him have nothing to do with himself, but let him give himself over to dangers, to struggles, and let him be disposed as if another were suffering. And He did not say, "Let him deny himself," but "Let him deny himself," with this small addition indicating great intensity. And let him take up his cross. Do you see how the King of the heavens has armed the soldier who follows him? He gave him no shield, no helmet, no bow, no breastplate, no greaves, nor any other such thing, but something stronger than all these: the security that comes from the cross, the symbol of victory over demons.

This is a sword, this is a shield, this is a breastplate, this is a helmet, this is a greave, this is a secure fortress, this is a harbor, this is a refuge, this is a crown, this is a prize, this is a treasure of all good things, both of the present and of those that will ever be. For just as someone, having taken a strong weapon, gives it also to his own soldiers, so also Christ. "Behold," he says, "how many things my cross has accomplished; do you also such things, and accomplish such things as you wish." And indeed elsewhere he promised even greater things than these, saying, "He who believes in me, the works that I do, that one will also do, and will do greater things than these." What then is this saying, "Let him take up his cross and follow me"? Is it that we should each carry the wood? Not at all; for what virtue would that be? But rather that we should be drawn up for dangers, carrying our blood in our souls, ready for slaughter and death daily, doing everything in such a way as to expect that our life will not last until evening, as those who will certainly die. This is what the apostle Paul also said: "I die every day." Has not one death been given you by nature? It is possible, if you wish, to die ten thousand times for your Master. For such is the grace: it leads the poverty among friends into great wealth, because the Master, in his generosity, defines the crowns not only by the outcome of deeds but also by the intention of those who struggle. What then is "Let him take up"? "Let him be so eager," he says, "to be slaughtered and crucified as that one who carries it on his shoulders.

Let each one consider himself to be near death. All are struck with awe at such a person; for we do not fear those who are fortified with countless human weapons and entrenched in such great courage as we do this one in his freedom. For nothing so enables one to escape death as despising death. But so that no one may think this alone suffices—being ready for death (for there are also robbers and sorcerers and murderers of this sort)—for this reason he added: "And let him follow me." "I seek not only the brave man," he says, "nor the one undaunted at the end of life, but the gentle, the temperate, the moderate, and the one filled with every virtue." Do you see the service of the cross, prevailing not only in the case of the Master but also in that of the servants to such an extent? This made Peter the foremost; this made Paul so great. Hence he also said: "What will separate us from the love of Christ? Affliction, or distress, or danger, or the sword?" This also made those who fast brave not only with respect to foods but also with respect to passions. Let us fortify ourselves, beloved, with the power of the cross, and, thus armed for the future, let us approach fasting with greater eagerness, and let us despise all the pleasures of life. For wealth, glory, power, desire, and all such things are pleasant for this reason: because we love our souls and are nailed to the present life. But if this life is despised, none of those things matter to us. For the present life is good,

It is good and pleasant, for it is a gift of God; but when the future life appears, then it is justly despised. Let us not, therefore, be ashamed of the venerable symbols of our salvation, nor let us reject the great capital of goods through which we live and exist, by giving ourselves over to luxury, debauchery, and gluttony; but let us carry the cross of Christ as a crown, that is, the mortification of the passions. For everything concerning us is accomplished through it: if it is necessary to be reborn, the cross is present; if to partake of that mystical food, if to be ordained, if to do anything else whatsoever, everywhere the symbol of the cross stands before us. For this reason we inscribe it with great diligence on houses, on walls, on windows, on foreheads, and on our minds. For it is a sign of our salvation, of our common freedom, and of the clemency of the Master. For this reason it is called a seal, because we seal with it, as with a royal signet and ring, all the deposits of God that we receive, and no evil thing dares to approach. If we entrust the protection of a people to someone, or if we lead someone to the dignity of the priesthood, after countless prayers and after invoking the grace of the Spirit to come, we seal with this, as if locking the given gift in a secure treasury. Thus it is also employed in the sacred rites.

For the cross of Christ is a sword and a tree, in which Christ, slaughtered by the God-slaying Jews, dissolved the works of the devil, and cast down the devil himself, having nailed our sins upon it. For this reason it is taken up in the sacred rites, like a kind of royal sword and scourge, torturing and driving away every demonic incursion and satanic assault. Therefore the divine hieromysts, like some spear-bearers, having set forth the royal scourge, through it drive away every hostile and adversarial phalanx, distributing the divine and royal gifts to the mystagogues, and together with them honoring the King Christ. 3. Whenever, then, you make the sign, consider the whole meaning of the cross, and you will quench anger and all the remaining passions. When you make the sign, fill your forehead with great confidence, your chest, your eyes, and present every member as a sacrifice well-pleasing to God. For this is the rational worship. This sign also opened closed doors for our ancestors, this extinguished poisonous drugs, this dissolved the power of hemlock, this healed the bites of venomous beasts. For if it opened the gates of Hades, and threw open the vaults of the heavens, and renewed the entrance of Paradise, and cut the sinews of the devil, what wonder if it overcomes poisonous drugs? Engrave this, then, upon your mind, and embrace the salvation of our souls. For this cross saved the world, drove away error, brought back truth, made earth heaven, and made men angels.

Because of this, the demons are no longer fearful, but contemptible, nor is death death, but sleep and wakefulness. Because of this, the passions of the flesh that war against those who fast are withered away. If, then, one of the Jews should say to you, "Do you worship the crucified one?" say with a bright and loud voice and a joyful face, "Yes, and I worship, and I will not cease worshipping." And if he laughs, weep because he is mad and does not understand what he is saying, and give thanks to the Lord Christ that he has benefited us with such things as no one can learn without revelation from above. For this reason, he also laughs, because a natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit. But what does the frenzied, senseless, and disobedient Jew say? "If, then, Christ is God, as you say, and Son of God, and came for the salvation of men, why was he crucified by such a shameful death?" To him we will say, selecting a few things from the prophets: "It was necessary for Christ to be crucified, O lawless and senseless Jew, because the law and the prophets proclaimed thus, that humanity would be saved through Christ." For first Moses says, "You will see your life hanging before your eyes, and you will not believe your life." And Isaiah: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb mute before its shearer." And Jeremiah: "Come, let us put wood into his bread." And, "They gave his price into the field of the potter, as the Lord commanded me." And that the crucified Christ is God, listen to Ezra saying:

Blessed is the Lord who stretched out his hands and saved Jerusalem before our eyes. And because serpents were killing the people, Moses, at God's command, hanging a serpent on a piece of wood, said: "Look to this, and you will not die." And again Jeremiah says, as from the mouth of those who crucified him: "Come, let us wipe him out from the land of the living." And again Christ, through the same prophet: "But I, like a harmless lamb led to be sacrificed, did not know." And again David, as from the mouth of Christ: "They dug my hands and my feet, and divided my garments among themselves, and cast lots for my clothing." And again: "I stretched out my hands all day long to a disobedient and gainsaying people, who did not walk the good path, but followed after their sins." That the cross of Christ and its image are venerable and worthy of adoration, the prophets also teach: David, for instance, saying: "You gave a sign to those who fear you, to flee from the face of the bow"; and again: "Make with me a sign for good, and let those who hate me see it and be put to shame." And God, through the prophet Ezekiel, says: "Put the sign on the foreheads of those who groan and are afflicted in all lawlessness; and go through, and strike, and do not spare; wipe out the elder and the youth, and women and nursing infants; but do not approach those who have my sign." And Solomon says: "Bless the wood through which righteousness comes." And Isaiah tells whence and of what kind the wood of the cross was.

In cypress and pine and cedar, together they glorified the holy place. And Moses, casting a piece of wood into Marah, sweetened the bitter waters as a type of the cross of Christ, who sweetened the world from the bitterness of demons. And the rod of Moses, which split the rock, was a type of the cross of Christ, which split the hearts of men and cast the grace of the Holy Spirit into them. 4. And this is truly the way of life, and all who hold to it live; but those who abandon it will have death and endless punishment. For the law and the prophets proclaim the holy Trinity; and truly this is the one proclaimed by the prophets and the law, who comes in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ the Lord, and there is no other except the one born in Bethlehem of Judea from the Virgin and Theotokos Mary in the time of Caesar Augustus. And whoever does not accept him and does not believe in him is an apostate from God, and anathema to him. Therefore also Isaiah cries out concerning you who have gone astray, saying, "My people have become captive because they do not know the Lord." For from the time Christ came, the power of your cross, you Jews, was destroyed, and the priesthood has vanished, and you were scattered by the Romans. For Isaiah says concerning those who crucified Christ, "Because of our sins, God turned his face away from us, and our remnants are in sins.

For if it were not that Christ himself, born of Mary, the chosen one of God and his true Son, proclaimed by the law and the prophets, your nation of the Jews would have been glorified, and exalted, and would have reigned, as having slain the adversary and deceiver. But from the time the cross came, and Christ was crucified upon it by your fathers, from then until today you are in ruin and dishonor, and God has been more wrathful toward you than in the captivity in Babylon. For there, after sixty years, God had mercy and recalled you; here, he has utterly cast you off. And your father, prophet, and patriarch Jacob spoke the truth, and all your laws have fallen, and you have been driven out of your land of Judea, and scattered in all directions, and you are held in contempt and derision throughout the whole world from east to the farthest end of the earth. But our Christian affairs flourish day by day, and increase, and grow strong, and the proclamation of our pious faith has spread throughout the whole world, and Christ reigns among us, and we venerate his precious and life-giving cross, and hold it as a treasure of great price. For indeed the Lord's cross is more radiant and more august than any royal crown—and what am I saying, a royal crown?—brighter than the very rays of the sun. And in former times, the thing was a penalty for an evil life and corrupt deeds; but now it is a symbol of divine gift, a sign of spiritual nobility, an inviolable treasure, an inalienable gift, a foundation of sanctification.

This we bring forth on the bed and on the table, and everywhere we may be. For just as many soldiers neither breakfast nor sleep without their weapons, so now in place of a sword let us hang it on the bed, in place of a bolt let us trace it on the door, in place of a wall let us surround the whole house with it; let us fence in both the interior and the exterior with it. For this has vanquished death, opened the heavens, purified the earth, raised our nature to the royal throne, and destroyed the tyranny of the devil. This sign is twofold: the one from material, either gold or pearls or precious stones, which is often taken away by barbarians or thieves; the other is immaterial, for its substance is not from matter, but its essence is from faith, its material from the disposition of the maker. This protects the sleeping, this secures the waking, this saves those in danger; through this war is ended and peace is established. Therefore I hymn your long-suffering and forbearing mystery of the economy concerning me, O Lord; I venerate your precious and life-giving cross, O Master; I embrace the sufferings, I kiss the nails, and I greet the perforations of the limbs; I exceedingly love the reed and the lance and the sponge; as a royal diadem I place the crown of thorns upon myself, and as with transparent stones I pride myself on the spittings, as with the most brilliant ornament I exalt myself in the slaps.

And I confess you to be true God, the one of the holy Trinity, Christ Jesus, who deigned to undergo the passion for me, who was wrapped in a linen cloth, and was mocked by the lawless Jews, and finally was buried, and rose on the third day, and is coming again to judge the living and the dead. For yours is the glory and the power, together with your Father and your all-holy and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.