Песнь 1. Ирмос:

Moses drew the cross directly with his staff, and cut off the Black Cross for Israel walking: the same back, hitting Pharaoh's chariots together, in spite of writing an invincible weapon. By this we sing to Christ our God, for he is glorified. The Prophet Moses was the creator of the first song (which he wrote in the 15th chapter of the book of Exodus after the Jews crossed the Red Sea 1 and the Egyptians and Pharaohs were drowned in it). Therefore, the singer Cosmas borrows the real Irmos from that song and says that this God-seer (Moses), having drawn 2, i.e., symbolically prefiguring and prefiguring the cross, first of all, with a blow of the rod, drew a straight and even line along the surface of the Red Sea and thus cut it for Israel on foot, i.e. for the Israeli people, who were on foot, in other words, crossed it on foot and bare feet without getting them wet. With the same rod Moses, turning it, struck indirectly (for this is what the word means: back) on the Red Sea, after the Israelites had crossed it, and thus united the two divided parts of it. Why did he do this to the chariots of Pharaoh or against the chariots and carts of King Pharaoh? Because Pharaoh was pursuing the Israelites to capture them. Immediately after the second blow was made on the sea and the sea united, it drowned Pharaoh and all his troops. With this direct and at the same time transverse blow of the rod, Moses sensually inscribed or depicted on the surface of the sea the invincible weapon of Christians, that is, the Cross. For the cross consists of two trees: straight, even and transverse 3. Therefore, he says, we Christians who boast of the Cross will sing a song to Christ our God, just as then Moses with all the men and Miriam with all the wives sang that first song of victory after they crossed the wet Red Sea. For then, it is said, “Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song: Let us sing to the Lord, for we shall be glorified gloriously” (Exodus 14:32; Exodus 15:1). See, reader, the wisdom and intelligence of the divine Cosmas. He also applied this irmos to the first Mosaic song, from which he borrowed it; and at the same time did not deviate from the goal - the glorification of the Cross that was set before him. Having taken from the first hymn, on the one hand, the rod of Moses, and on the other, the Red Sea, by this alone he has already preserved what is appropriate both to the first hymn and to the Feast of the Cross. Just as then Moses cut the Red Sea with his rod, so later the new Moses, Christ the Lord, with his own rod, that is, the honorable Cross, about which David said: “the rod of righteousness, the rod of Thy kingdom” (Psalm 44:7), with this very rod, I say, cut through sin, which appears red and bloody in Scripture; for David calls murderers and sinners men of blood (Psalm 35:24). And the prophet Isaiah testifies to this even more clearly, saying: “If your sins are like scarlet,” (i.e., like the color of sea salt, leaning toward white in appearance), “I will make them white as snow,” that is, I will make them much whiter: “If they are, like scarlet,” i.e., like the color of blood and dark, “I will make them white like wool” (i.e. e. less white) (Isa. 1:18). So, Christ, having cut through the red sin with the rod of His Cross, transported us, the new Israelites who follow Him, into the wilderness of sin, i.e. into dispassion. He drowned Pharaoh, that is, Satan, and his demonic chariots and tristats. Demons are called chariots of Satan not because they have anything decent and decent, for all the works of demons are not decent and decent, but they are called chariots because of their pride and arrogance, from which they fell from heaven. Demons are called tristats because they fight with the three (tria) parts of the human soul, that is, with the desiring, feeling and reasoning, according to the interpretation of Ptochoprodromus 4. Not only did the hymnist apply this very irmos to the Feast of the Cross, but also its final end: by this we sing to Christ our God, for he has been glorified. According to Ptochoprodromus, we sing to Christ our God, as if he was glorified, it is said in the sense that He was crucified. For if the glory of Christ exists and is called the cross, then the expression “to be crucified” can be replaced by the expression “to be glorified.” Therefore, the Lord, going to suffer on the cross, said: “Now is the Son of man glorified” (John 13:31). But the cross is called not only the glory of Christ, but also the authority, as it is written in Isaiah: “His authority was on His shoulder” (Is. 9:6), which, interpreting, Gregory the Theologian says: “for with the cross he is exalted” (the word for the Nativity of Christ), i.e. the cross that the Lord carried on His shoulder became for Him an authority, i.e., power. For “all power has been given to Me,” says the sweetest Jesus after His suffering and resurrection, “all power in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18)” 5. Someone might ask why the Theologian did not say that Christ is exalted on the cross, but “co-exalted”? For so John of Damascus said in the 2nd tone: on the cypress tree, as thou hast pleased, and on the tree and the cedar we are built together in flesh. Solving this question, Zonara in the interpretation of the above troparion says: he did not say: exalted (add and raised), but “exalted” by the flesh (and raised with the cross), for when the flesh of the Word is exalted and suffers on the cross, then the Word itself appears to be exalted and co-exalted with the flesh, assimilating to itself what belongs to the flesh, since after the incarnation the hypostasis of the Word and the flesh becomes one. On the other hand, when His Divinity manifested itself and shone forth with the miraculous signs that occurred during His suffering, the cross of the Word served Him with glory and exaltation, not because It received greater glory, but because His glory increases in us and is exalted by the miracles performed in the cross. On cypress, on pine and cedar he said, that is, in the tree of the cross; for it is said to have been composed of these three trees. And Cyril of Alexandria, interpreting the above-mentioned saying of the prophet Isaiah, says that “apparently the prophetic speech in the word: ramo wants to indicate strength, because all our strength is in the muscles and shoulders. So, Christ rules over all under heaven with His power; for He is the power of God and the Father. What soul-beneficial thought can you, beloved, acquire from this irmos? Listen: the Red Sea is real life. The Egyptians and Pharaohs are evil demons. The winds that disturb this life are the attacks of blasphemous, shameful and evil thoughts with which demons confuse the three-part composition of our soul, namely: mind, will and heart. The waves of this sea are the various temptations, circumstances and sorrows that accompany this life. Therefore, if you, beloved, grab hold of the cross of the Lord as a strong weapon, then you can safely lead this life, drown and destroy the mental Egyptians and Pharaohs - demons, when they pursue you and wage war with you. Hence, if you, brother, are bewitched by some evil person, then do not be afraid. Create the sign of the honest cross, and the demonic sorcery will be destroyed. This is what Athanasius the Great affirms, saying: “with the sign of the cross all sorcery ceases” (Sermon on the Incarnation of the Word of God). And blessed Epiphanius: “where there is the name of Christ and the seal of the cross, there the power of sorcery has no power” (“Against Heresies” I book). If enemies - demons - fight against you with the help of any sin, then do not be afraid, but seal yourself with the sign of the cross, as the divine Chrysostom advises you to do, saying: “if you believe (in God), then seal yourself (with the sign of the cross) and say: I have only this one weapon, this medicine; I don’t know any other” (Conversation 8 on the last epilogue to Colossians). But if your child suffers and is weak, then imprint him with the image of the life-giving cross, and do nothing more to him, according to the advice of the same Eloquent One: “You should not surround the child with anything other than the protection of the cross” (Conversation 12 on the first epilogue to Corinthians). And again the same Eloquent One convinces parents to teach their children to make the sign of the cross from the first age; and before the children can do this themselves, let the parents hold the hands of their children and depict them on their foreheads and on their whole body” (Homily 13 on the first epilogue to Corinthian). Generally speaking, in all circumstances when he (the demon) follows you, do not be afraid, but make the sign of the cross, and you will be delivered. For in the same way, the ancient Christians constantly made the sign of the cross on themselves and, having become so accustomed, no longer needed anyone to remind them of this, as the same Chrysostom testifies: “Many have become established in their habit of imprinting themselves, and no longer need someone to remind them” (Conversation 7 on 2nd Epistle to Timothy). Moses prefigured the ancient image of the most pure passion in himself, standing in the sacred environment: imagining the cross, raising his arms outstretched in victory, having destroyed the power of Amalek the destroyer of all things: by this we sing to Christ our God, for he is glorified. And the hymnist borrowed this troparion from the book of Exodus, as well as the above-mentioned irmos. For, hearing Paul say that the Old Testament law had a shadow and prototype of the sacraments of the New Testament grace: “the shadow of the law of good things to come” (Heb. 10:1), he represents allegorically and in a figurative sense the narratives of the Old Testament in relation to the New Testament of the Gospel. That is why he says that in ancient times the prophet Moses prefigured in himself the image of the most pure suffering of the Lord Christ. How and in what way? The sacred environment stood, that is, as Moses stood among those sacred men, I mean Aaron, his brother and Opa 6: so the Lord Christ suffered on the cross, being among two thieves. On the other hand, having created the image of a cross on himself, he erected a trophy 7 with outstretched arms in a cross shape as a sign of victory. For through this cruciform outstretching of his hands, he abolished the power of that all-destroyer and destroyer of King Amalek, who waged war against the people of Israel and did not allow them to cross and enter the Promised Land, as history itself tells about this in the 17th chapter of the book of Exodus. Therefore, he says, we Christians, looking at the image of the cross, glorious and victorious, even in the shadow of the Old Testament, let us sing a victorious and solemn song to Christ God, who bestowed such great power of gift on the very Old Testament image of the cross, which is why it is glorified. Therefore, the divine Gregory of Thessaloniki, in his word on the worship of the cross, sets out a deep thought, saying: “The cross of Christ was foretold and represented mysteriously from ancient generations, and no one was ever reconciled with God without the power of the cross”... And how, despite the fact that there was no man of sin, the son of lawlessness, that is, the Antichrist, the beloved Theologian of Christ says: “and now” beloved, there is an “antichrist” (I John. 2:18): so the cross was already there in previous times, before the suffering of the cross took place. For the great Apostle Paul, teaching us more clearly that the Antichrist, even though he has not yet come, remains among us, says that his “mystery” is “working” in us (2 Thess. 2:7). So the cross of Christ, not yet existing in reality, was between the forefathers, for its mystery acted between them. Then he gives examples of Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and other forefathers and prophets.” Someone may ask, with what chariots did the Israelites fight Amalek and his armies, when they did not have any chariots upon leaving the land of Egypt? Joseph and Blessed Theodoret answer this question as follows: when the Red Sea threw the Egyptians ashore with their chariots, then the Jews, plundering the spoils, took their chariots for themselves and used them during the war. What idea do you, beloved reader, derive from this troparion? Edifying in truth and soul-helping. Because like Moses then, while he held his hands raised high, in the form of a cross, the people of Israel won the victory over Amalek; when he lowered them down, Amalek prevailed: “And when Moses lifted up his hand, Israel prevailed; and when he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed” (Ex. 17:11): so now, as long as you have your hands raised crosswise for prayer, you overcome the mental Amalek, the devil who fights with you and does not allows you to cross over and enter the heavenly Jerusalem; when, through negligence, you lower your hands and destroy the victorious image of the cross, then, according to the opinion of Basil the Great, our inner Israel, that is, our discerning mind, is defeated: because the word “Israel” means “the mind that sees God.” “That’s why the prophet David first did it, and subsequently the apostle Paul commands us to raise our hands when we pray. For what? – To imprint on ourselves in prayer the victorious image of the cross. It is the first who says: “the lifting up of my hand is the evening sacrifice” (Psalm 140:2). The second exhorts: “I want men to say prayers in every place, lifting up their holy hands” (I Tim. 2:8). This is the reason why the Church of Christ invented seats in the church, obviously so that praying Christians, resting their hands on their sides (for it is impossible to have their hands raised throughout prayer in the church), would form a cross in honest prayer, just as Moses then formed it, while he had his hands stretched upward 8 . And so, by the power of the honorable cross and prayer. By lifting your hands effectively, you too, brother, can defeat the mental Amalek - the devil, about whom it is written: “Amalek is the beginning of the tongues and their seed will perish” (Num. 24:20). What kind of nations are these whose origin turns out to be the devil? These are many demons subordinate to the devil. And what is this seed of Amalek and the demons? This is sin and all the passions that the devil and the demons subordinate to him have produced, such as: selfishness, conceit, arrogance, gluttony, etc. Therefore, the wise Nile said: “The beginning of the pagans is Amalek, and the beginning of the passions is gluttony.” So, Christian, do not be afraid of the mental Amalek and his invisible warfare! No! For by the secret power of the cross Christ fights with him and does not allow him to win, and helps you, who are waging war against him, and makes you his conqueror, as it is written: “With a secret hand the Lord fights against Amalek from generation to generation” (Ex. 17:16). Gregory the Theologian also encourages you with the words: “If you leave Egypt in this way, then Amalek will be conquered by you, not only with weapons, but also with the warlike hands of the righteous, depicting prayer and together the invincible trophy of the cross.” Moses placed on the pillar medicine, corrupting deliverance and poisonous remorse, and on the tree, in the image of the cross, on the ground of the reptile serpent, the tether, the evil one exposing the harm in this; By this we sing to Christ our God, for he is glorified. The hymnist borrowed the history of this troparion from the twenty-first chapter of the book of Numbers, where it is said that God sent snakes to the Jewish people and killed them, because they, faint-heartedly, complained against God. Therefore, Moses, having stuck a straight tree into the ground, placed a copper serpent crosswise on it, upon which, looking, those of the Jews who were bitten did not die. Applying this story to the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, the hymnist says that the Prophet Moses placed it high on a pillar, that is, on a tree driven directly into the ground. What did you set? - medicine, that is, the copper serpent, as a medicinal remedy that destroyed and healed the pernicious and deadly bite of snakes. So, with this tree, placed in the image of the straight tree of the cross, Moses nailed the sensual serpent creeping on the earth as a result of the curse that he initially received from God, who said to him: “You will walk on your belly, and you will carry away the earth all the days of your life” (Gen. 3:14). How did Moses nail the living serpent? - By having triumphed over him, by publicly and in front of everyone showing his destructive effect to the dead and powerless, that is, the harm that he caused to the Jews. By what means did he destroy this harm? By means of a copper serpent, which he hung on that tree, not straight, but across (for this means indirectly), and thus presented the appearance of a perfect cross. Because from two, that is, from a straight tree driven into the ground, and a copper serpent suspended across its top, the perfect image and appearance of the cross was made. That is why it later turned out to be healing for those bitten by snakes, as this Holy Scripture states: “And Moses made a copper serpent, and set it on a banner: and when the serpent bit a man, he looked at the copper serpent, and lived” (Num. 21:9). And you, Christian, benefit from the moral meaning of this troparion. For, just as then sensual snakes bit and destroyed the Jews with poison, so now mental snakes bite you, that is, evil demons who never walk straight, but always creep on the earth and earthly things, like the sensual serpent. And not only do they do this, but they also try, vile ones, to attract us to themselves. What is the poison of these mental snakes? – Sin and passions. How do they bite you? – Through the attack of evil, shameful and blasphemous thoughts and simply through anger and lust. Therefore, brother, when demons bite you with the attack of some sin, immediately resort to the cross of Christ and, looking at the Lord nailed to it, cry out with warm faith for His help; and be sure that He will help you and will not allow you to die with the intention or commission of this sin. For that copper serpent was a prototype of the crucified Christ, according to the explanation of Cyril of Alexandria, Blessed Theodoret, Gregory of Nyssa and Sevirian, or better yet, according to the teaching of the Lord Christ Himself, who said about Himself: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so it is fitting for the Son of man to ascend: so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:14.15). For just as the copper serpent had the image of a snake, but did not have the poison of the snake, so the Lord had a human body, but did not have human sin. That is why the Apostle Paul said: “God sent His Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin, and judged sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3). Isaiah says: “He shall not commit sin” (Is. 53:9). Gregory the Theologian understood the following deep and amazing meaning here. He claims that that copper serpent was not an image of the crucified Christ, but an anti-image, that is, an image contrary to Christ, in other words, he was a prototype of the mental serpent, the devil. And to those who are perplexed about how this serpent saved and healed those who looked at him, if he was the anti-image of Christ and the prototype of the devil, the Theologian answers and says that that serpent healed those who looked at him; but which ones? - those, obviously, who believe that the devil, represented under the image of a serpent, no longer lives, but was killed by the crucified Christ - and has already killed the demons subordinate to him. Here are the true words of the holy father: “The copper serpent was hung against the biting snakes, not as a type of the one who suffered for us, but as an anti-type; and saves those who look at him in the confidence that he no longer lives, but is killed and, perishing, which he was worthy of, kills along with himself the forces under his control” (Word for Easter). That's why ap. Paul writes in agreement: “he brought down” (the Lord) “principalities and powers, and brought them to shame through boldness, defeating” (or rendering powerless) “them” (demons) “on him” (i.e., on the cross) (Col. 2:15) 10. This may also bring you some benefit, brother. Namely, if you undoubtedly believe that the devil was killed and remained soulless, like that copper serpent by the power of the crucified Christ, then with such faith you will not be afraid of the attacks that the damned one makes on you, but you will despise him like an ant, and consider all his insidious plans as nothing. For the whole reason why the devil subjects you to his power is because you do not have a firm belief that Christ killed him with the cross and His death, and because you are afraid of him, as if he had any power. That is why David begged God to deliver him from such fear of the enemy - the devil, saying: “from the fear of the enemy, take away my soul” (Psalm 63:2) Gregory of Nyssa (in the Life of Moses) noticed two things in the history of this troparion that are useful to your soul, beloved reader. Firstly, that you, fixing your gaze on the cross and Christ nailed to it, must consider yourself dead and crucified to the world and earthly objects and motionless to all sin; and secondly, that the temptations of snakes are curable, that is, the evil death of a sinner will not happen to you if you look and trust in the cross and the crucified Lord. Snakes, that is. evil demons, or the lust of the flesh, rising up against the spirit, do not completely disappear, but remain even after the Lord’s crucifixion on the cross and after baptism, for two reasons: firstly, to deepen the feat and test of you as a Christian and as a basis for receiving great rewards, and secondly, so that you, knowing that your enemies are alive and fighting against you, do not sleep and are not carefree, but act and are always attentive, fearing that mental snakes - demons - will not suddenly bite you with attacks of sin and that the innate lust of the flesh will not unexpectedly rebel against your soul and incite you to sin. The Supreme Apostle Peter encourages us to stay awake, saying: “Be sober, be on the alert, the devil is your adversary, like a lion who walks roaring, seeking someone to devour” (I Peter 5:8). Showing the sky the victory of the cross, the holder of piety and the god-wise king, the evil-hearted enemies in him were cast down by ferocity, flattery was transformed, and faith was spread by the earthly end of the divine: by this we sing to Christ our God, for he was glorified. After, in the three troparions above, the Hymnist has told us stories from the Old Testament and very skillfully applied them to the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, now, in this last troparion, he brings one new story, suitable to the mystery of the cross, and puts it as a seal and a golden crown and an adornment of this first hymn. This story is that when Constantine the Great was waging war against the tyrant Maxentius, he saw, together with his soldiers, in the sky, at midday, a column of light in the form of a cross, on which were written the words: en toutf nica (“conquer with it”), i.e. by its strength you will defeat. Therefore, having made a banner or standard like the cross that appeared 11, he fought with Maxentius and not far from Rome on the so-called Volvius or Molvius bridge he defeated him and his troops, who numbered 190 thousand (see Ecclesiastical History of Meletius, volume 1, p. 299). The Divine Cosmas says that heaven showed Constantine the Great, the most pious autocrat and God-thinking king, the victorious trophy and the sign of the cross. By the power of this appearing cross, the onslaught and arrogance of Constantine’s sensual and hostile enemies were defeated; the charm of wickedness and idolatry disappeared from the world, and on the other hand, the divine faith of Christ and piety spread throughout the four parts of the earth, i.e., east, west, north and south. Therefore let us sing to Christ... Pay attention, reader, to the wisdom of the sacred singer. According to Ptochoprodromus, the singer did not limit himself to showing the image of the Cross of the Lord in only one or two elements, but in four at a time. In Irmos, through the miracle of the Red Sea, he showed a prototype of the cross in the element of water; in the first troparion - in the elements of earth and air: for when Moses stood with his arms outstretched in the image of the cross, his feet were on the ground and his hands in the air. In a similar way, he showed the same thing in the second troparion, when the tree constituting the straight tree of the cross was established in the ground, and the copper serpent placed on it was in the air. In the same third troparion he shows a cross in the sky, which is the element of ether, that is, fire and light. So, through these four elements it shows that the image of the cross is in all creation and contains the whole world; for the whole world itself is based on the image of the cross, so the four parts of the world turn out to be cruciformly located: east, west, north and south. Therefore, the first man Adam, who was supposed to populate and fill the world, was named crosswise by the four elements (letters) designating the above-mentioned four parts of the world: the letter A stands for anatolh (east), the letter D for dusiV (west), A for arctoV (north), M for meshmbria (south). This is how one of the prophetesses, Sibyll, interpreted the name of Adam. Pay attention also to the fact that this wise hymnist applied the history of the above-mentioned troparions not only to the image of the cross, but also to the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross; for this forms the basis of the present canon. So in the irmos the exaltation of the cross is indicated: “Moses stretched out his hand over the sea” (Ex. 14:21). Both the first and second troparia indicate the erection of the cross by stretching out the hands of Moses and placing the copper serpent on the height. In a similar way, the third troparion indicates the erection of the cross in the image of the latter in heaven and on the banner of Constantine. And since all the stories in the three troparia and irmos contain victory over enemies, therefore blessed Cosmas adorned all four with the same victorious songs, saying: by this we sing to Christ our God, for he is glorified; or rather, the divine Cosmas has the custom in most of his canons to apply to all the troparia of each song the same ending (which is also called an epod), which characterizes this song. Let us also apply to you, brother, the meaning of this troparion. For just as the image of the cross was given to Tsar Constantine so that he would defeat and overthrow his sensual enemies, so you were given the same image of the cross so that you would defeat and overthrow your three mental enemies: the world, the flesh and the world ruler the devil. Be careful, beloved; and when you wage war with your enemies mentioned above and defeat them, attribute the entire victory to the power of the cross and Christ nailed to the cross; and undoubtedly God will make victory over your enemies stronger than stone, as He promises through Ezekiel: “Stronger than stone you have given your grain” (Ezek. 3:9). But if you are overly proud and attribute victory over your enemies not to the power of the cross, but to your own strength, then woe to you! Know that God will take away your strength from you, and thus it will turn out that victory will leave you and you will pronounce the lamentable saying of Jeremiah: “and rech: my victory is perishing” (Lamentations 3:18). So, two things are necessary for you, my brother, a Christian. Firstly, to constantly wage war and defeat one’s passions and enemies; for if you defeat them, then you will sit together with Jesus Christ on the throne of His glory and kingdom, as He promises in the holy Apocalypse: “To him who overcomes, I will give him to sit with Me on My throne, just as I also conquered and sat with My Father on His throne” (Apoc. 3:21). If you do not wage war and do not conquer your passions, then know that you will not receive a crown from God. For Basil the Great says: “Who erected a trophy while sleeping? or spending time in pleasures and playing the flute, will he be adorned with a crown? Of course no one." Secondly, when you fight with your passions and defeat them, then it is fitting to attribute the whole reason for victory to the cross and the crucified Christ, as we said above, because any victory, especially such a mental and spiritual one, is not acquired by a lot of bodily strength, or with the help of sensual chariots, as the books of the Maccabees testify to this: “overcoming is not by many battles” (I Mac. 3:19), and also: “not by weapons.” victory" (2Mac 15:21). But it is acquired through faith and the power of the cross and Jesus Christ. For it is said: “Who is he who overcomes the world, except he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (I John 5:5); and again: “This is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith” (I John 5:4). Expressing this as a general proposition, let's say this: those Christians who overcome passions and the devil, by the power of the cross and the blood of Christ, overcome them. Therefore, it is said in the Apocalypse that “I will defeat him,” the mental serpent, “by the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 12:11). Therefore, even after victory, such people should speak the following words of David to God: “To you, Lord, is majesty, glory, victory, and strength” (1 Chronicles 29:11). Note that the sea near Egypt received the name Red (Eruqra) either from Erythra, the first inhabitant of that country, or because the bottom of this sea and the shores are red (eruqroV in Greek means “red”, in Slavic “red”), as a result of which, through reflection, the water on the surface of the sea appears red. The verb has a double meaning: carattw “I draw,” according to Ptochoprodromus: or “I sensually draw a line: or “I sensually draw a line, as, for example, we say: “he drew a letter,” or “I prototype,” as, for example, the bush (in the Old Testament) was destined by the Mother of God. Note that the Holy Scriptures do not say that Moses struck the sea crosswise with his rod a second time; but the singer concludes this, perhaps on the basis of legend. According to the divine Cosmas, John of Damascus, who is unanimous with him, says the same thing in Irmos ch. 8 Octoechos: “Immerse the chariot of Pharaoh, sometimes perform miracles with the rod of Moses, striking in the shape of a cross and dividing the sea.” But Cosmas says that Moses drew the cross with a transverse blow, which he made a second time, while Damascus does not talk about the second blow. How does he say that he struck the sea “crosswise”? One blow does not form a cross. Proposing such a question, the wise Zonara, in interpreting the above-mentioned irmos, solves it absolutely correctly, saying that it is not without reason that the divine John of Damascus said about the direct blow of the rod: “cruciformly” struck the sea; because the ancient trees directly driven into the ground (colloquially called stakes) were called crosses (staurouV). So, for example, in the book of Esther it says that they hanged Haman on that straight tree that he had prepared to crucify Mordecai on it, “and the tree stands in the house of Haman, raised up fifty lacots. And the King said: Let (Haman) hang himself on him" (Esther 7:9). So Josephus (Flavius) in Archeology tells this story; and Dion, who wrote the Roman history, telling about the war of the Romans with the Carthaginians, reports that one Roman emperor, called Nero, having attacked the Carthaginians, defeated them, and when their commander fell, Nero crucified him on the cross, that is, he put his head on a tree driven into the ground. Basil the Great takes the Red Sea as a prototype of Baptism. Baptism, in his opinion, is red scarlet, for it means the blood and death of Christ, as the apostle says. Paul: “As we were baptized into Christ, we were baptized into His death” (Rom. 6:3). In baptism, therefore, the Lord, having killed the mental Pharaoh and his evil power and drowned them in the streams of the Jordan, freed true Israel from slavery to him. The Red Sea and Apostle take the prototype of baptism. Paul, saying: “And all of Moses were baptized in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Cor. 10:2). See also the interpretation in our "Vertograd of Grace", recently printed. Hence Hesychius, interpreting the words: “The beginning was with You in the day of Your power” (Psalm 109:3), by beginning he means the cross of Christ, since in it the prince and ruler of the universe was defeated. “The day of power” means the second coming of the Lord and the judgment, when together with Christ the cross will appear there, according to the word of Scripture: “then the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven” (Matthew 24:30). Or, according to Cyril of Alexandria, was an incorruptible judge. According to Joseph (chapter 2, 3 books of Archeology) Or was the husband of Mariama, the sister of Moses, although Gregory of Nyssa, in the Word on Virginity, says that this Mariama remained a virgin; for the Holy Scriptures say nothing whether she was married or not. The trophy (tropoaon), according to the scholiast of Aristophanes, was arranged like this: when someone put to flight and defeated his enemies, he placed a stone or built a wall on which he recorded the victory won over his enemies, so that posterity would see and remember it. Such a wall or stone was called a trophy from the Greek verb trepw - I turn, because the defeated enemies took flight. Zonara in the interpretation of Chapter 3. Octoeche says this: “there was an ancient custom of giving some sign to those who defeated enemies, which, when raised, made the victors known. This sign was called a trophy, as a symbol of the defeat of the enemies, who turned back and gave themselves up to flight in order to find salvation in flight. The trophy of the Lord and the sign of His victory over the devil was also the cross, which He carried on His shoulders while going to suffer; for the Lord who was nailed to him and died conquered death, having risen from hell and death.” And Chrysostom added: “He has stripped away, says the Apostle Paul, principalities and powers, and brought them to shame by his boldness, having conquered by the cross” (Col. 2:15). Many signs of victory, he says, have a trophy: the spoils hang high on a cross. For just as a brave king, having won the most cruel war, places the armor, shield and weapons of the tyrant and the defeated warriors on a height, in the form of a trophy, so Christ, having won the war with the devil, hung all his weapons, death, curse, on the top of the cross, as if on a trophy, so that everyone could see the trophy: the heavenly powers in heaven, the lowly people on earth and the most crafty demons defeated" (Word in name of the Holy Sepulcher and Cross, volume 5). The body of Moses from head to toe, standing upright, depicted the straight tree of the cross. Both of his outstretched arms depicted the transverse tree of the cross. That is why Gregory of Nyssa deeply and elegantly explains allegorically the well-known Gospel saying about the cross: “one jot, or one tittle, shall not pass from the law” (Matthew 5:18). For he says this: “For people who are truly able to contemplate, the mystery of the cross is especially contemplated in the law. Therefore, the Gospel says that not a single jot, not a single line of the law passes by, designating through what has been said a transverse line and a straight line lowered, with the help of which the image of the cross is drawn, then visible in Moses, which instead of the law is thought and becomes for those who see it the cause of trophy and victory” (p. 748 interpretation of the Pentateuch). But not only man has the image of the cross, but also birds, when they fly, retain the image of the cross; also fish when they swim; and the weavers weave their cloth in a cross pattern; and trees and tree leaves in most cases are cruciform (See about this the preface 4 words of Joseph Bryennius on the Crucifixion in the second volume). It should be noted here that when the Holy Scripture directly calls the serpent of brass, it is surprising how Alexander in the Jewish history, page 195, says that that serpent was golden and that the Israelites revered and worshiped him and therefore King Hezekiah overthrew him. This also contradicts Holy Scripture. Theophylact interprets that the word “triumph” (JriamboV) is used when a king, returning from a war against his enemies as a winner, with signs of a trophy, makes a nationwide solemn procession and shows everyone the enemies he has defeated, bound and ashamed. since the Lord also defeated the devil and his servants, the demons, with the cross and erected a trophy over them, therefore, as if before the public spectacle of the Greeks, Romans and Jews, he triumphed over the demons and showed them defeated. The very word QriamboV originates from the word Qrion, which means a fig tree leaf divided into three parts and therefore called trion and Qrion. For the ancients, arranging a solemn procession, hung fig leaves on themselves and so marched. Note that the Divine Scripture does not clearly say that Moses hung a serpent across that straight tree, which he calls a sign, but this is what the hymnist says out of consideration or, perhaps, according to tradition. But all interpreters demand that by this sign (tree) and serpent we understand the image of the cross. And before them, the crucified Lord Himself understood this, saying: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so it is fitting for the Son of Man to be lifted up” (John 3:14). Meletius says that after Constantine the Great saw the cross in the sky, Christ appeared to him in a dream at night and told him to make a banner or standard in the image of the cross that had appeared and put it on his spear, and that by doing so, he would put his enemies to flight. You might be interested in: