Lives of the Saints
1. THE EXALTATION OF THE PRECIOUS AND LIFE-GIVING CROSS
On this day two events related to the Precious Cross of Christ are celebrated: first, the finding of the Precious Cross on Golgotha; and second, the return of the Precious Cross from Persia back to Jerusalem. While touring the Holy Land, the holy Empress Helena resolved to search for the Precious Cross of Christ. A certain elderly Jew named Judas was the only one who knew the place where the Cross was to be found, and being compelled by the empress, he revealed that the Cross was buried beneath the temple of Venus, which Emperor Hadrian had built on Golgotha. The empress ordered that this pagan temple be demolished, and digging deep they found three crosses. While the empress was in perplexity as to how to distinguish the Cross of Christ, a funeral procession happened to pass by that place. Then Patriarch Macarius suggested that they place the crosses one by one upon the dead man. When they placed the first and second crosses upon him, the dead man lay unchanged. But when they laid the third cross upon him, the dead man came to life. By this they recognized that this was the Precious and Life-giving Cross of Christ. They then placed it upon a sick woman, and the woman was healed. Then the patriarch raised the Cross so that all the people could see it, and the people with tears sang: "Lord, have mercy!" Empress Helena made a case of silver and placed the Precious Cross in it. Later, King Chosroes, having conquered Jerusalem, carried off many people into captivity and took the Cross of the Lord to Persia. In Persia the Cross remained for fourteen years. In the year 628, the Greek Emperor Heraclius defeated Chosroes and with glory returned the Cross to Jerusalem. Entering the city, Emperor Heraclius carried the Cross on his back. But suddenly the emperor stopped and could not take a single step further. Patriarch Zacharias saw an angel who prevented the emperor from proceeding under the Cross in magnificent imperial robes along the same path the Lord had trod, barefoot and humiliated. The patriarch made this vision known to the emperor. Then the emperor removed his robes, and in poor clothing and barefoot took up the Cross, carried it to Golgotha, and placed it in the Church of the Resurrection, to the joy and consolation of the entire Christian world.
2. SAINT EMPRESS PLACIDIA
Wife of Emperor Theodosius the Great. She was a true Christian both in mind and in deeds. She especially distinguished herself in helping the poor and the sick. When some told her that this did not befit imperial dignity, she replied: "It befits the imperial office to help with money; but my personal labors, on behalf of the destitute, I offer to Him who was pleased to grant me this office." She reposed peacefully around the year 400.
3. VENERABLE MARTYR MACARIUS OF THESSALONICA
A disciple of Saint Niphon the Patriarch at the time when the latter was occupied with the ascetic life of stillness at Vatopedi. Macarius yearned for martyrdom for the sake of Christ the Lord, and he implored Saint Niphon for his blessing. The clairvoyant patriarch, seeing that this was the will of God, blessed his path to martyrdom. Macarius went to Thessalonica and in a crowd of Turks began to preach Christ as the only true God. The Turks beat him and cast him into prison. When they brought him before the court, Macarius cried out to the Turks: "O if only you would know the truth and be baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!" The Turks cut off his head in the year 1527. At that very moment, Saint Niphon, seeing in spirit from Vatopedi, announced to a monk the martyr's death of Macarius, saying: "Know, child, that your brother Macarius has today ended his life as a martyr, and he ascends to heaven in triumph and rejoicing in the Lord. By his prayers may we also be deemed worthy of blessedness."
4. VENERABLE MARY OF TARSUS
She had lived in utter depravity. Two monks traveling through Tarsus stopped at an inn where Mary was plying her sinful trade. When she approached the monks, they rebuked her and pushed her away as unclean. She at once repented and vowed from that hour never to sin again. The monks took her and brought her to a women's monastery, where Mary practiced asceticism until old age. She was deemed worthy of wonderworking even during her lifetime.
“Patriarch Zacharias saw an angel who prevented the emperor from proceeding under the Cross in magnificent imperial robes along the same path the Lord had trod, barefoot and humiliated.”
Hymn of Praise
Save, O God, Thy people,
Save, O Lord,
With the Precious Cross illumine us,
With the Cross upon the waters!
The Cross is power and a sign,
The Cross is salvation.
Save, O God, the Patriarch
And the assembly of Serbian hierarchs,
Grant them strength to serve
Thy Precious Cross!
The Cross is power and a sign,
The Cross is salvation.
Save, O God, also all those
Who are in authority,
May the Most Holy Cross guard them
From dark destruction!
The Cross is power and a sign,
The Cross is salvation.
Save, O God, all the people
Who pray to Thee.
May they by the Cross swiftly
Overcome every torment!
The Cross is power and a sign,
The Cross is salvation.
“Save, O God, Thy people, Save, O Lord, With the Precious Cross illumine us, With the Cross upon the waters!”
Reflection
Just as a candle is lit from a candle, so also a good deed is kindled from a good deed. A certain patrician wished to donate a golden cross to a church, and so he summoned a young and skilled goldsmith, gave him a great deal of gold by weight, and ordered him to fashion a cross such as he desired. The poor goldsmith, seeing what a sacrifice the patrician was making for the sake of his soul, became aflame in heart toward God and resolved to add ten gold coins of his own to that heap of the patrician's gold. When the cross was finished, the patrician weighed it and found that it was heavier than the amount of gold he had given the young man. And at once he began to scold the young man as a thief, suspecting him of embezzling some of his gold and substituting some other heavy metal in its place. When the young man saw the patrician enraged, he then confessed his deed. "I contributed my gold as well," he said, "like the widow's two mites, so that I might receive a reward from Christ together with you." Hearing this, the patrician was moved in his heart and said to the honorable young man: "From this day I take you as my own son and heir to all my possessions."
“I contributed my gold as well, like the widow's two mites, so that I might receive a reward from Christ together with you.”
Contemplation
Contemplate the transgression of Jeroboam and the punishment of God (I Kings 13), namely:
1. How Jeroboam cast two golden calves and commanded the people to bow down to them as gods;
2. How a prophet declared to Jeroboam the displeasure of God and miraculously toppled the altar before the idols;
3. How Jeroboam stretched out his hand against the prophet, but his hand withered, and only by the prayer of the prophet was it healed.
Homily
on the truthfulness of the testimony of Christ
Light bears true witness when it testifies to the existence of the sun, and does not lie. In the same way the Lord Jesus bears true witness in all that He testifies. He came down among men as a heavenly Witness, to testify to the existence of the Tri-une God, the existence of the world of angels and souls, God's love for men, God's Providence over men, the power of righteousness over unrighteousness, the might of truth over falsehood, the blessed immortality of the righteous and the eternal torment of sinners, the resurrection from the dead, the Judgment of God, and much else besides, which men under the veil of sin had but faintly sensed yet did not know or firmly believe. And above all, to testify that He is the Son of the Living God, equal to His Father in essence, power, and love, and equal to the Holy Spirit of God. For the Witness had first to testify concerning Himself, so that His testimonies concerning other mysteries might be believed. From the standpoint of pure and unchanging truth, every testimony of Christ is true; but from the standpoint of the benighted Jews, it was not true. For God, and the angels of God, and the righteous, and for eternity, and for time, His testimony is true, and therefore He says: *My witness is true. But for the darkened minds of hardened sinners, that testimony is not true, and therefore He earlier said to the Jews: If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true* (5:31). That is: it is not true for you Jews; in reality it is true in and of itself.
O Most Blessed Lord, Jesus, Son of the Living God and our only Savior, deliver us from the weakness of the sinful mind and the malice of the sinful heart. Illumine us with the light of Thy words, eternally true. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen.
“If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true — for I know whence I came and whither I go.”