КРЕСТ

We will wear the cross of Christ as a crown. Everything we need is accomplished through him. Do we need to be born - we are offered a cross; whether we want to be nourished with mysterious food, whether we need to accept ordination or do something else - everywhere we have this sign of victory. That is why we inscribe it with all care on houses, and on walls, and on doors, and on the forehead, and on the heart. The cross is a sign of our salvation, the common freedom and mercy of our Master, who, like a sheep, was led to the slaughter (Isa. 53:7). Therefore, when you sign yourself with a cross, imagine the full meaning of the cross, extinguish anger and all other passions. When you signify yourself with the cross, let living hope be expressed on your forehead, and let your soul become free. Without a doubt, you know what gives us freedom. That is why Paul, inclining us to this - I mean the freedom that is appropriate for us -, mentioning the Cross and the Blood of the Lord, convinces us with these words: “You were bought with a price; Do not become slaves of men" (1 Cor. 7:23). Think, he says, about the high price that was paid for you, and you will not be the slave of a single person; and by dear price he means the cross. It should not just be depicted with a finger, but it should be preceded by a heartfelt disposition and complete faith. If you depict it on your face like this, then not a single unclean spirit will be able to approach you, seeing the sword with which he was wounded, seeing the weapon from which he received a mortal wound. If we look with trepidation at those places where criminals are executed, then imagine how horrified the devil is, seeing the weapon with which Christ destroyed all his strength and cut off the head of the serpent. So, do not be ashamed of such a great good, so that Christ will not be ashamed of you when he comes in His glory and when this sign appears before Him, shining brighter than the very rays of the sun. Then this cross, by its very appearance, will, as it were, say in the justification of the Lord before the whole universe and as a testimony that on His part everything was done that was necessary. This sign, both in former and present times, opened closed doors; it took away the power of harmful substances, invalidated poison; it healed the deadly remorse of animals. If it opened the gates of hell, opened the firmament of heaven, reopened the entrance to heaven and crushed the fortress of the devil, then is it surprising if it defeats the power of poisonous substances, animals and the like? So, imprint the cross in your mind and embrace the saving sign of our souls. This very cross saved and transformed the universe, drove out error, introduced truth, turned the earth into heaven, and made people angels. When we have the cross with us, then demons are no longer scary and dangerous; death is no longer death, but a dream. By the cross, everything hostile to us is overthrown and trampled under foot (7). Oh, divine Cross, indescribable contemplation of Angels, praise of mortals, power of kings! As with a living person, I want to talk with you, the originator of joy and the victorious weapon of our salvation. By you the closed doors of paradise are opened, by you the power of death is crushed, by you hell is deprived of its spoils, by you the dead are honored with life, by you the thief rejoices in paradise, by you the heavenly and earthly are united, by you the knowledge of the truth is given, by you the Baptism of regeneration is granted, by you the remission of sins is granted to people, by you the gift of the Holy Spirit is sealed, marked by you the churches are called houses of God, by you we are made worthy of the Body and Blood of Christ, by you we are worthy to be sons God and heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven, through you our holidays and celebrations are illuminated and brightened. No language could describe all that Christ God has given through you to the human race (9). If it is sad and painful to hear about the Cross of the Lord (as an instrument of suffering), then the same Cross is filled with bright joy for us, since it has become for us the cause not of suffering, but of liberation from suffering. If his name alone serves as a temptation for the Jews, and preaching about him turns out to be insane for the pagans, then for us believers he reminds us of our salvation. And if in the church, when reading about the Cross and remembering the sufferings of the Cross, indignation, combined with regret, is aroused among the people who believe in the Cross, and a murmur arises, then these feelings do not relate to the Cross itself, but to those whom unbelief has made crucifiers. The Cross is the salvation of the Church, the Cross is the praise of those who put their trust in it, the Cross is our deliverance from the evils that have overcome us and the firstfruits of the blessings given to us, the Cross is the reconciliation of his enemies with God and the conversion of sinners to Christ. By the Cross we got rid of enmity and by the Cross we were confirmed in friendship with God; By the Cross we are freed from the violence of the devil and by the Cross we are delivered from death and destruction. That is why the people, at first, hearing about the Cross, murmured, and then, hearing about the resurrection, moved from murmur to joy, loudly proclaiming glory. The Cross united people with the face of Angels, making their nature alien to any corruptible matter and giving them the opportunity to lead an imperishable life. After all, they are no longer called people, but gods after the Cross: “I said: you are gods, and you are all sons of the Most High” (Ps. 81:6), - not slaves, but friends and brothers, they are called: “I will proclaim Your name to my brothers” (Ps. 21:23). Do you see what a difference the Cross has made? But in order to understand the power of the Cross even more clearly, imagine what happened before the Cross and what happened after the Cross - and then you will appreciate its power and effect. Before the Cross, the Son was unknown, but today, when the Cross is preached, the Son is named, and the Father is known through the Son; before the Cross, the devil was worshiped, and now, with the preaching of the Cross, the devil has been deposed and the demons are taking flight; Before the Cross, we were mired in fornication and debauchery, and now, after the preaching of the Cross, we have not only abandoned fornication, but also exalted ourselves over marriage, and we have adopted and observed virginity, which we did not know before. When there was still no sermon about the Cross, the devil gathered the Jews against Christ; Now the Cross is preached - and the apostles bring the same Jews to Christ by faith. Before the preaching of the Cross, death had dominion over us; Now the Cross is preached - and death is despised, as if it did not exist, and we have loved eternal life. Before the Cross we were strangers to paradise, but with the appearance of the Cross the thief was immediately awarded paradise. Oh, the great power of the Cross! What changes she made in the human race! From such darkness the Cross led us to the unstoppable light, from death it called us to eternal life, from corruption it reborn us to incorruption. The eyes of our hearts are no longer covered by the darkness of ignorance, but by the Cross are open to the light of understanding; The ears of the deaf are no longer closed by unbelief, for the deaf have heard the word of the Lord, and the blind have received their sight to see the glory of God. This is what was accomplished by the Cross, this is what was given to us for the sake of the Cross! In fact, what good have we received besides the Cross, what good has been given to us not through the Cross? Through the Cross we learned piety and came to know the power of the divine nature; through the Cross we have understood the truth of God and comprehend the virtue of chastity; through the Cross we came to know each other and, having previously been distant, were united with Christ and partook of the grace of the Holy Spirit; through the Cross we learned the power of love and do not refuse to die for each other; thanks to the Cross, we despised all the blessings of the world and counted them for nothing, expecting future blessings and accepting the invisible as visible. The Cross is preached, and faith in God is confessed, and the truth is spread throughout the universe: the Cross is preached, and the martyrs struggle and confession for Christ is established; The Cross is preached, and the resurrection is given, and life appears, and the Kingdom of Heaven is confirmed, and the infidels believe in the Cross—even those to whom the Cross seemed irreconcilable with life achieve salvation. The culprit of all this for us is the Cross, and thanks to it we have learned to glorify God. So what is higher than the Cross? What is more beneficial than it for our souls? Let us not be ashamed of the name of the Cross, but let us confess it with all boldness, since through it we are called to salvation and are brought to eternal life. Do you see what changes this Cross has made in the world for its salvation? He put an end to his lawless deeds, stopped his godless teachings - and the world no longer pleases the devil's laws and is not bound by the bonds of death. God came to earth and cut down the fury of passions; established His laws and taught us what is useful and necessary; established the commandment of chastity and eradicated voluptuousness; he drew the boundaries of holiness, protected innocence with law and condemned lawless fornication to be trampled upon; sanctified the rules of abstinence and overthrew the rule of lust; by divine teaching he subverted the power of passions and diminished every sin generated by lust. Since fornication is the invention of idols, and their deceit gives rise to all corruption, He cuts off the very root of iniquity in order to put an end to the stream of wickedness. He abolished the vile service of idols, destroyed lawless customs, dispelled all the tricks, baits and embellishments of wickedness; He exposed deception and untruth and stopped the streams of destruction; He cleansed souls from the thorns of wickedness that had taken root in them and, like grains of wheat, brought seeds of godliness to make our souls bear fruit of righteousness; He has given us an abundance of spiritual food and filled our spiritual granaries with the divine fruits of heavenly wisdom; He introduced the faithful to the shrine of the Spirit, and thanks to him, each of us became a vessel of divine sanctification and a source of divine beauty. We acquired all this thanks to the Cross, we were awarded all these blessings for the sake of the Cross. We learned all this through the Cross and learned all this thanks to it. But in order to fully appreciate the power of the Cross and the consequences of which it was the cause, pay attention to what happened at its foot, and you will be convinced that these were indeed deeds accomplished by divine power. The Cross is erected against Life, but through the Cross life is given to the world and death is put to death by it; The Cross is erected against the Truth, but thanks to the Cross the whole world is filled with truth; The cross is being prepared for the humiliation of the Lord, but the Lord spread His hands on it and drew everyone to Himself. Christ hangs on the Cross - and the devil is killed; Christ is stretched out on the Cross - and the sign of salvation is given to the whole world; Christ is nailed to the Cross - and every soul is released from its bonds; Christ languishes on the Cross - and all creation is freed from the work of decay; Christ gave up his ghost on the Cross - and a new miracle was revealed to the world: the light of the sun was darkened. For the unbelievers, this is a sign that darkness is prepared for them on the Day of Judgment, and for the faithful, this is a sign that for them darkness is being replaced by daylight. This thought is expressed in one prophetic saying, which reads: and it will happen on that day, says the Lord God: “I will cause the sun to go down at noon and darken the earth in the midst of the bright day. And I will turn your festivals into mourning and all your songs into lamentation” ( Amos 8:9, 10 ). Do you see, beloved, what deepest mysterious meaning this prophetic word contains? It is equally applicable to both, that is, both to Jews under the law and to pagans who committed their iniquities outside the law. The first, celebrating according to the law, will spend their holidays in lamentation, and the place of all songs will be replaced by a cry about Jerusalem. The service of God in Jerusalem will be abolished and the celebration of holidays in it will cease when the end of everything comes, after the Coming of Christ and His redemptive suffering. That is why God says through the prophet: “I will turn your holidays into mourning and all your songs into lamentation.” The Jews will be deprived of their rightful property and given into slavery to every nation because they did not believe the divine and extraordinary preaching of the Cross. The pagans will also cry, confessing their sins, but they will cry with a cry worthy of gratification. It is said: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). And so they will mourn those vain holidays and unholy songs in which their service to unclean demons was expressed... So, we too, with kind tears and regret for our vices depicted above, let us fall to the Cross, placing our hopes on it, so that with the guidance of the Cross and with our thoughts directed toward heaven, approaching Christ our Savior, we will be honored to stay close to God, in the Kingdom of Heaven (9). What didn't the Cross do? He introduced the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of bodies, the contempt of present goods and the desire for future goods; he made people Angels; through them everyone and everywhere became wise and capable of every virtue (12). You might be interested in: