By the power of the Life-Giving Cross

From the works of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco and Archpriest Valentin Amfitheatrov Saint John of Shanghai The cross, which before Christ was an instrument of shameful execution of criminals and therefore aroused fear and disgust, after the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus on it, became a symbol and banner of our salvation. With it the Lord crushed the devil, from him He descended into hell, freed the righteous who languished there and brought them into the Kingdom of Heaven. The image of the Cross is terrible for demons, for in it is the power of the Lord Himself. Thus, with the sign of the Cross, Emperor Constantine the Great crushed Maxentius 1. Seeing the mercy of God on himself, Constantine asked his mother, Queen Helena, to go to Jerusalem and find the Life-Giving Cross, which was found in 326 2 Many healings and other miracles have happened and are happening both from the Cross of Christ Himself and from its image. With this the Lord protects His people from all enemies, visible and invisible. On holidays and days dedicated to the Holy Cross, we pray to God that God would grant His mercies not only to individual people, but to all Christians and the entire Church. This is stated very expressively in the troparion to the Cross of the Lord, compiled in the 8th century by a friend of St. John of Damascus, Saint Cosmas, Bishop of Maium: “Lord, save Thy people and bless Thy inheritance, granting victories to the king (the faithful) against the resistance and preserving Thy residence through Thy Cross.” The beginning of this prayer is taken from Psalm 27. In the Old Testament, the word “people” meant only those who professed the true faith. “Property” or “inheritance” was everything that belonged to God, His property, which in the New Testament is the Church of Christ. The image of the Cross is scary for demons, for in it is the power of the Lord Himself Praying for the salvation of the people of God, Christians, both from eternal torment and earthly disasters, we ask the Lord to bless us and send grace and mercy to the entire Church and strengthen it internally. The prayer for the granting of “victory to the king,” the bearers of supreme power, is based on the 10th verse of the 143rd psalm and recalls the victories of the Old Testament king David, won by the power of God. It was the appearance of the Cross to Saint Constantine the Great that subsequently made the Roman monarchs, who had until then been persecutors of Christians, defenders of Orthodoxy from external enemies. The Church, strong by the grace of God, is for the Orthodox the “city of God”, from which the path leads to Heavenly Jerusalem. Various disasters shook the world, nations disappeared, cities and states perished, but the persecuted and even internally torn Church stands unshakable; for the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). Now, when the efforts of the world rulers to establish order on earth are fruitless, the only true weapon of the world remains the One about whom the Church sings: “The Cross is the Guardian of the entire universe, the Cross is the beauty of the Church, the Cross is the power of Kings, the Cross is the affirmation of the faithful, the Cross is the glory of Angels and the plague of demons” 3. Archpriest Valentin Amfitheatrov The only consolation in sorrow Nothing could be more appropriate than talking about the Cross. We are all more or less exposed to disasters in this life and have a need for consolation. Human consolation is always unreliable. For our comforters are people just like ourselves, who need the help of others. The Cross of the Lord alone can always give everyone true consolation and true consolation in sorrows. But where do our sorrows come from? 1. Most often, human suffering is caused by bodily ailments. But let the sick person turn his gaze to the Cross. On it is our Lord covered with wounds, having endured all sorts of torments in order to return not only health to our suffering body, but also to grant it immortality. 2. A person’s grief over the shortcomings in this life is strong. The mother cries when she sees her children poorly dressed, the father grieves, not being able to save the family from material deprivation. But the most depressing thing is that in our vulgarized so-called “world” the grief of others is unrequited and people who are ready to come to the aid of poverty are rare. But all those in need are not denied access to the foot of the Cross, next to which a person finds true consolation. 3. For many, grief lies in their touchiness 4 . People in vanity chase after glory, without embarrassment they climb up and from there they look down with contempt. 4. The undoubted sorrow in this world is the fickleness of friends. When we are rich, famous, we have no shortage of friends ready to share our happiness. But then a disaster came to us - and our friends became thinner every day 5 . This changeability is a difficult grief. However, those forgotten by all, all orphans and widows, all helpless and lonely have an unchanging friend - our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at His Cross: you will see the Savior, who laid down His life for His friends (John 15:13). 5. Another and strong grief is heard in our world. A woman’s dear husband died, and her children’s father died. Complaint about death - from all sides. But all who have experienced irreplaceable losses, come closer to the Cross. On this tree, Christ suffered in order to resurrect people and unite them forever with those whom death separated from us for a short time. The Cross of the Lord alone can always give everyone true consolation and true consolation in sorrows. We have already found five examples of human grief, but there are not five, but millions. I'll stop at one more. This is the suffering of the soul when remembering its obvious and secret sins. Calm down, repentant sinner, at the foot of the Life-giving Cross. It depicts the granting of justification to all Christians who trust in the Lord. Let us approach, brothers, the Life-Giving Cross with faith and love! It is our joy. Look at the Cross of the Savior Our Lord, crucified with outstretched arms, cries out: If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me (Matthew 16:24). This is a call to follow your Lord. Take a look at the very position on the Cross of the Savior. It's calm. During His crucifixion, everything was in terrible alarm: the earth shook, the sky darkened, the mountains gave way. From the Cross, like a King from the throne, He made orders in heaven, on earth, and in hell itself: he promised heaven to the repentant thief, on earth he arranged the fate of His weeping Mother, in hell he preached repentance to sinners who had not had time to reform. Why is there such wonderful calm in the Savior amid severe suffering? From His complete devotion to the will of God the Father: not My will, but Thine be done (Luke 22:42). Father! The hour has come, glorify Your Son, that Your Son also will glorify You, since You have given Him power over all flesh, that He may give eternal life to all that You have given Him (John 17:1,2). The Lord showed this example so that we too would seek peace in complete devotion to His will. And therefore he demands self-denial from us, saying: if anyone wants to follow Me, he must deny himself (Matthew 16:24). Why is there such wonderful calmness in the Savior amid severe suffering? From His complete devotion to the will of God the Father. He seems to be addressing us: “Whoever wants to achieve the perfection prescribed in the Gospel must renounce his own will and live as God commands, because without His will a hair from your head will not disappear (Luke 21:18). Do not rely on strong patrons and do not be angry with your visible enemies. Pleasant things are given to you so that you do not lose heart, and unpleasant things are given to you so that you do not forget. The powerful of the world are able to support you if God allows, and the oppressors can strangle you, disgrace you, harm you, as long as He allows them. Raise your mind and heart to the Creator - you yourself will believe that He decisively controls everything. Without His will you can do evil, but evil itself leads to good becoming clearer and sweeter. That is why the Savior demands from His followers selflessness and devotion to the will of God, and the destroyer of the world - the devil - inspires self-will. He tries to lower in our eyes the price of selflessness and devotion to the will of God. Let's take the important hours in the life of each of us, when we made vows: to goodness, to self-sacrifice, to obedience to the will of God. I dare to take myself as an example. I remember when I was offered the degree of priesthood, I fervently pronounced the vows associated with this degree, wanting to be what a real priest should be. They even offered me more than what the formal law required of me: I learned the priestly charter from memory, word by word, on the advice of the bishop who ordained me, but I supplemented and amplified it. I wanted to be, as the prophet says, the eyes of the blind and the feet of the lame (Job 29:15). When I thought about what kind of priest I should be, the devil was silent and only became angry, waiting for an opportune moment. Then little by little he began to whisper into his thoughts worldly concerns, from which the vows of self-sacrifice became narrower and narrower. Other thoughts began to come to my mind, and they told me that I need to take example from living persons, glorious in our world, and not from those whose life, thoughts and deeds are based on the commandments of Jesus Christ. Live like others, follow the crowd, you will be full and cheerful, etc. Thus, the devil took away from the heart not only the desires for good, but also the vows given. Here is another example: I see a man who is ready to lay down his life for the enlightenment of others, and even die in the burning of thought and spirit. And then, when a vow is made, the devil is silent, but chooses a moment and, mockingly looking at your work, shows you a mountain that you allegedly want to move with one hand. And, alas, this slanderer and envier takes away the desire for wonderful work from the heart, the person gradually becomes not a Christian of vows, but a vain huckster, who with his inner strength knows how not to enlighten, but to enslave his neighbors. And another example: the bride and groom get together. They are clear and innocent, loving and loved; truly in the image of Christ and the Church there are two beings. Oh, how beautifully they outlined their future life together: they would be an example of religion, morality, virtue, eternal love and loyalty to each other; their home is the warm sun with spring rays, their home is an earthly paradise; they are already members of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Here they were combined - the devil did not interfere with them; he breathes malice and bides his time. Months and rarely years pass. And the devil breaks into their thoughts: “Why do we live like this? Our neighbors live differently, the whole world lives differently: they quarrel, and get together, and cheat on each other, and do everything in order, as they say, not to embarrass themselves.” The family is no longer paradise, and the bonds are no easier than prison, and they themselves - oh, how they have changed! Ordinary people who want happiness, but there is no happiness for themselves or others. Now they run in life, driven by fear, although no one is chasing them. Having trampled the union of one friendship, they seek happiness with others - and will never find it anywhere. The crucified Christ stretches out His most pure hands to us. He is ready to receive us, just as a father received the prodigal son who returned to him from a distant country. Let us return, brothers and sisters, our best desires to walk with Christ, to be Christ’s, and henceforth not to move away from Him in the path of our own will or harmful imitation of the so-called “practical rules” of people who have only earthly desires. “And on the sixth day and hour, on the Cross, the daring sin of Adam was nailed into paradise, and the handwriting of our sins was torn apart, O Christ God, and save us!” 6 1. Words like those of our Father John, Archbishop. Shanghai: Collection of sermons, teachings, messages, instructions and decrees. San Francisco. 1994. 2. Archpriest Valentin Amfitheatrov. Rejoicing in Your Cross. Lenten Sermons. Arrival of the Temple of the Holy Spirit of the Descent. M. 2006. When the Son of God appeared on earth and when the corrupt world could not bear His sinlessness, unparalleled virtue and accusatory freedom and, having condemned this most holy Person to a shameful death, nailed him to the Cross, then the Cross became a new sign. This Cross was not so much painful for Him as it was relieving and saving for us. His burden is our comfort; His exploits are our reward; His sweat is our relief; His tears are our cleansing; His wounds are our healing; His suffering is our consolation; His Blood is our redemption; His Cross is our entrance to Paradise; Metropolitan of Moscow Platon (Levshin) Maxentius, who ruled Rome, went down in history as a tyrant and persecutor of not only Christians, but also pagans, and also as a vicious and idle man. This is the most reliable date for the acquisition of the Cross. The luminary of Wednesday and Friday, days dedicated to the remembrance of the Cross of Christ. Of course, this grief is not caused by external circumstances, but by the internal state of our soul, susceptible to the disease of resentment, which is based on both pride and unwillingness to forgive. Strictly speaking, in this case we are talking specifically about friends, because real friends never leave in trouble. Troparion of the sixth hour, which can be heard in the church on weekdays during Lent. In Russian: “On the sixth day and hour, Who nailed Adam’s daring sin on the Cross, committed in Paradise, tear up the scroll with our sins, O Christ God, and save us!” You might be interested in: