Слово на день Воздвижения честного и животворящего Креста. Св. Андрея, архиепископа Критского

Beloved! Let our words and songs now sound like an organ of joy. Let us take the psalter with the harp (Psalm 80:3), let us sing to our God, let us sing wisely (Psalm 47:8), and let us sing the glory of the Exaltation. Let us show where in Scripture the image of the Exaltation is revealed: perhaps we will learn from here how great and peaceful the Exaltation of the Cross is, and that it is not in vain that its discovery is celebrated throughout the entire earth in all of God’s churches. So, a cross is erected, emerging from the ground, recently hidden by envy. The cross is erected (not for glorification: for what greater glory can it acquire when Christ was nailed to it?), so that God, worshiped and preached in it, may be glorified. A cross is erected so that our horn may be lifted up with it. A cross is erected to humble the proud; a cross is erected to bind the mighty and through us to plunder his vessels. The cross is erected so that the envy of the Jews will be in vain, so that the treasure of life buried in the earth will not be hidden, so that we will accept the beads that the crucifiers showed us against their will. The treasure of life could not remain unknown until the end, and the unfortunate, interrogated in various ways and exposed by their malice, could not hide from the watchful eye. What, therefore, is God doing, who brought salvation to the middle of the earth on the cross and through the cross (Psalm 73:12)? - He gives the queen a burning desire, and sends fear to them, which has confused their whole life. When they saw that they could not prevent the search, then, showing consent instead of reluctance, they revealed the valuable sign of the Lord. And it emerges from the depths of the earth, as if from some other sky, like the sun, shining with the rays of the Lord. A sign of the Lord came out of the treasuries of the earth - a sign, shocked by which the hellish caves freed the souls contained in them. Like a bridegroom from a palace, the cross of the Lord emerged from the earthly bedchamber, because of which the pagan church betrothed to Christ rejected the manifold Hellenic wickedness. The spiritual pearl of the faithful came out, established on the crown of Christ, in order to illuminate the entire universe. The decoration of the Church came out - the cross of Christ, in order to decorate every earthly creature. The cross came out like an innocent from prison, in order to call the guilty, - uncontained by chains, in order to free the bound, - from dark places, a lamp of light, in order (dispersing the darkness of ignorance) to spread the light of knowledge. So, in justice, the Church, rejoicing in the cross of Christ, puts on her tunic and, appearing like a bride, celebrates the coming of the present day. In justice, this multitude of people has now gathered to see the cross now revealed and to worship Christ, whom he sees lifted up with him (the cross): for he appeared to be raised up, and is raised up to be seen. What kind of cross is this? – Recently hidden on Calvary, now revered everywhere. We celebrate him today, we gather for him. He is the reason for the real celebration. This is the explanation of the sacrament. However, it is time to make the erection of the Cross itself reliable through the testimony of Scripture, as we promised a little earlier. That hidden and life-giving tree had to be set up (like a city on top of a mountain, or like a lamp on a candlestick), so that it could be seen by the whole world. That is why, of course, the first of the Christians, with the general triumph of the entire Church, ordered it to be raised to a height and, as if from a high tower, to be shown to the whole assembly. The same is done now by those who have received the dignity of the high priest. Ascending to the elevated place of the church and raising this most honorable and glorious Cross to the heights, they repeatedly raise it and show it to the people, not just exclaiming: “Behold, the hidden treasure of salvation has been found! Behold, the seal with which we were marked! Here is the Cross, through which we are known by the Crucified One! Here is the horn with which we will gore our enemies (Psalm 43:6), in which we will safely escape the snares enemy, - trusting in which, we will consider the wounds of demons as the arrows of babies (Psalm 54:22) Now we see the belly hanging before our eyes” (Deut. 28:66)! So, let us listen to the Prophet, who says: exalt the Lord our God, and worship His footstool, for He is holy (Psalm 98:5). Let us sing with David the song of David: exalt into heaven, O God, and Thy glory throughout all the earth (Psalm 107:6), exalt the judge of the earth (Psalm 93:2), may Thy hand be strengthened, and Thy right hand be exalted (Psalm 89:14), do not forget Thy needy to the end (Psalm 73:19), in In Your favor our horn will be exalted (Psalm 89:18). Let us enter into the very paradise of Scripture and gather, like flowers, befitting of this time (sayings). Let us take as our leaders the prophets who foretell the erection of the Cross. And let Moses, the servant of God and legislator, lead us first, who lifted up the copper serpent, not so that it would be glorified, but so that it would serve as a sign (and, with the poison of copper, depicting the poison of malice, as in judgment, showing the similarity of copper with evil). And Moses himself once raised his hands (Ex. 17:11), prefiguring the crucified Christ and the Cross that is now being erected. Once catching Amalek, Jesus prayed: let the sun become straight to Gibeon, and the moon straight to the wilds of Elon (Joshua 10:12), not only in order to herald the day of the cross, on which darkness will spread over the whole earth (Matthew 27:45), and not only in order to make certain on this day the height of the power of God and His arm, exalted above the enemies, - but to show and the erection of the Cross, and to prefigure the ascent of the Sun of Glory upon it. And Abraham offered a sacrifice (Gen. 22:13), in the form of a mysterious sacrifice, but, obeying a sudden voice from on high, he slain a lamb on the top of the mountain, transforming the ascension of the cross to the heights. Those who were with Azariah in the fire of the Babylonian cave, praying, once raised their hands on high and extinguished the fiery flame that had risen in it (Dan. 3:24), by raising his hands to depict the cross being lifted up. Jonah once raised his voice (Jonah 2:2), raising his arms in the shape of a cross, and immediately attracted supernatural power, being cast out unharmed by the beast. The glorious Judith once erected a sword over the head of the sleeping Holofernes (Judith. 13:9), prefiguring the erection of the Cross, and brought salvation to Israel. Daniel once in the lion's den raised his voice to the Most High, transforming the raising of the Cross, when the prophet Habakkuk, raptured in the twinkling of an eye, brought him food (Dan. 14:37–38). And what does Jeremiah mean when he says on behalf of the deicides: come and let us put wood into his bread, and destroy the living from the land (Jer. 11:19)? And what do these words of Isaiah mean, who says nowhere: like a sheep that is led to the slaughter, and like a lamb before its shearers, it is silent. In His humility His judgment will be taken. As if His belly would rise from the ground. And did You take away the sins of many (Isa. 53:7, 8, 12)? Where (ascended), if not on the tree of the cross, to which they nailed this bread, they did not leave Him before they lifted Him up on high, as a testimony to those who see and as an image of the real Exaltation? How, in fact, can we call this, if not the erection and appearance of the cross, as well as the slaughter of the Lamb, lifted up on the cross and nailing the sins of the world (which clearly indicates the Exaltation of the Cross)?!... But it is enough to cite evidence from Scripture that foreshadowed the Exaltation of the Cross, so that many do not become fed up with the word. We, worshiping Christ in it (the cross), will think about the greatness of His power and about His wonderful economy for us through the cross, as the Divine David says: God is our king from before the age: He wrought salvation in the midst of the earth (Psalm 73:12). This cross is also a visible tree and is often called a “sign” in Scripture. And truly, what do David’s words mean: do a sign for good with me (Psalm 85:17); The light of Your countenance has been revealed upon us, O Lord (Psalm 4:7), have You given a sign to those who fear You, so that they may flee from the face of the bow (Psalm 59:6)?! Or what does the Lord Himself say in the Gospel: and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear (Matthew 24:30), and before this: this generation seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah (Matthew 12:39; Luke 11:29), which itself is explained by the cross? And what did Simeon the God-Receiver want to say when he blessed the Virgin, when he accepted the Lord in the form of the baby and said: “This is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, and can be reproached as a sign (Luke 2:34)? Didn't he clearly point to the cross with the word "sign"? The cross is also called “strength,” as David points out: Thou hast said Thy strength among men (Psalm 77:15), and “arm”: Thou hast delivered Thy people with Thy arm (Psalm 77:16). That the cross is the power of Christ, about this listen to Paul, who says: the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18, 24). Listen to the Lord Himself, Who says to Moses: “Hardening I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that I may show all My power in him” (Ex. 4:21; 7:3; 9:12), pointing here to the power manifested through the rod of Moses as a prototype of the cross, to the almighty power - the performer of His glorious miracles. This is how we learned to think and philosophize about the cross: this is how we always exhort the faithful people of God to honor and magnify the cross: for by it tongues were caught, faith was spread everywhere. Having cultivated the barren human nature with it, like a crop, the disciples of Christ prepared for the Church a bountiful harvest of those who believed in Christ. Strengthened by it (the cross), the martyrs fell and struck their tormentors. Through him Christ is known, and the Church of the faithful, constantly opening the Scriptures, introduces the Son of God, God the Lord Himself, loudly proclaiming: if anyone wants to walk after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me (Luke 9:23). Through him Christianity flourishes and is preached everywhere; it strengthens the royal power, establishes the state, exhausts enemies, like thunder strikes demons. We believe that by him and in him they are saved, that he is the sign of the Son of Man, that in him, according to what is written, all flesh will see the salvation of our God (Luke 3:6), and that the Jews will see his blood (Zechariah 12:10). We, who walk in His light, will be glorified with Him and reign together with God, forming one face with the angels around the Holy Trinity, worshiped in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen 14. See Curs. Compl. Patrolog. Migne, series graeca. tom. XCVII. col. 1036–1046; cp. Church Led. 1899, no. 37, pp. 1473–1477. You might be interested in: