The Feast of the Lifting Up of the Holy Cross at the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity in Viennatranslated

On Monday, September 14, 2026, His Grace Archbishop of Austria, Arsenios, presided over the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy of the Lifting Up of the Holy Cross at the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity in Vienna. With him assisting was Bishop Theophilates Aristides, the Most Reverend, as well as Archpriest Protodeacon Ioannis Nikolitsis and Stavrophoros Chancellor Aristeidis Ganosis.

In his sermon, His Grace referred to the triumphant message of the Holy Cross as a point of glory and proof of the philanthropy of the Triune God, who resists human understanding of suffering, defeat, and death. He explained that where the world sees an end, God calls us to a beginning, and in essence, what dies there is not Christ but sin.

While the world sees the Sustainer dying, in reality, it is death that suffers and ceases to exist. He called upon the faithful to follow the words of the Apostle to the Gentiles Paul, who encourages us to boast more about the Cross as the highest revelation of God’s love for man. He said: "The Son and Word of God humbled Himself, taking on the form of a slave, accepting...