The Precious Cross of Christ (Source: www.eikonografos.com)
"On the veneration of the Precious and
Life-giving Cross, at the middle week of the Fast", by St. John Chrysostom (amateur translation)
The auspicious and all-honored and
light-bearing day has come to us, at the middle week of the Fast, as
the thrice-joyous and life-giving Cross of our Savior Jesus Christ is
taken up, and placed for veneration, and those who venerate it with
earnestness of heart and pure lips are sanctified, and therefore
proceed on the road with greater care and more vigorously through the
stadium of the Holy Fast. Today has been placed the day of the
veneration of the Precious Cross, and come, O friends, let us kiss it
with fear and fervor. For it reflects the rays of Christ's arising,
enlightening all, and sanctifying through His grace. Therefore, let
us embrace it and rejoice spiritually. Today there is joy in heaven
and on earth, for the radiant and life-bearing Cross of Christ
appears to the world, through which the demons flee, and
illnesses are cast out, and the clouds of darkness are dissolved, and
all the ends of the earth are enlightened. Today the Church of Christ
is shown to be another Paradise, as the All-holy tree of the Precious
Cross is placed within the center, and it celebrates the preceding
pomp of the passion of Christ through the Cross, and the forefeast of
His Resurrection. Today, the prophetic word is fulfilled, which says:
“For behold, let us worship at the place where were the feet of our
God.” Rejoice, therefore and exalt, O Church of Christ, and offer
your children, controlling the passions and purified by fasting, and
shining with divinely-shining virtues, and dance the inexpressible
dance. For as those who formerly in the desert, who were bitten by
serpents, were healed by gazing upon the bronze serpent, now, those
who have passed halfway through the stadium of the Fast, who had been shown dead from the noetic serpent, have themselves been made
immortal, and sharers of the passions of Christ through self-control,
and sharers of His Resurrection. And not just this, but they go forth
renewed, ascribing to God the victory. For the trophy-bearing and
victorious weapon of the Cross of the Lord has been placed, an
inconquerable weapon of Kings, and the boast of the Church, and the
deposer of enemies, and the salvation of the faithful. And truly
blessed are those and thrice-blessed are those who are made worthy to
kiss it with pure lips and clean mouths. For it is truly a work to
fulfill the word of the Lord: “Whoever would come after me, let him
deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” And see how He unnecessarily says this,
for He did not say: “Whether or not you wish, you will suffer,”
but how? “If you wish to follow me...I do not force, I do not
compel, but I make each person the lord over his conscience. For I
say: if you wish to follow me. For therefore I call well, not towards
evil, nor towards temptation or torture, but towards the heavenly
kingdom and the heavenly life. And therefore these things are
sufficient to compel creation. If you would follow me, whether you be
a man, a woman, a prince, a ruler, and wish to be saved, then follow
the path. Three things are said: to deny yourself, to take up the
cross, and to follow.” But as we saw before, what is it to deny
one's self? Let us learn what it is do deny someone else, and then we
shall know what it is to deny one's self. What is it to deny someone
else? He who denies someone else, be it a brother, a friend, a
neighbor, a passerby, would not be scourged for him, nor be
imprisoned for him, nor suffer anything for him. He would not bestow
his possessions on him, nor help him, nor be broken for him, nor
suffer for him. He is in all things a stranger to him. In the same
way God desires the body to be treated by us, that we be not scourged
on behalf of it, nor be tempted, nor be driven by it, nor do anything
else; let us not spare it. This is to deny one's self: to not permit
it, but to give it up towards danger, and struggles, as if another
were suffering, nor to serve it...
Therefore I hymn Your forbearance and
the incomparable economy of Your mystery, O Lord. I venerate Your
precious and life-giving Cross, O Master. I embrace Your passion, I
kiss the nails, and I embrace the piercings of Your members. With the
Reed, the Spear, and the Sponge I am filled with thanksgiving. As a
royal diadem, the Crown of Thorns is put forth, and as if adorned
with shining gems, it shines throughout the world from the beatings
You endured. And I confess You the true God, one of the Holy
Trinity, Christ Jesus, Who suffered the passion for me, and was
wrapped in a shroud, and became a reproach to the lawless Judeans,
and in the end was buried, and arose on the third day, and will come
again to judge the living and the dead. To You belongs the glory and
the kingdom, together with the Father and the Your All-holy and
life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
(source)
Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!
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