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On September 27, Orthodox Christians will celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross 2026translated

September 21, 2026 · 1 min read

The Great Twelfth Feast of the Exaltation of the Honest and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord will be celebrated by the Orthodox Church on September 27.

On this day, believers will remember the events of the 4th century, when the true Cross of the Lord was miraculously found, on which Jesus Christ suffered for humanity, as well as the history of the construction of a temple in Jerusalem in honor of the Resurrection of Christ.

After the end of the Gospel period, many holy places and shrines for Christians were lost for many years. Including, somewhere in Jerusalem the Cross on which the Lord was crucified was lost.

After the holy Emperor Constantine the Great became the ruler of the entire Roman Empire in 323, he set out to find the main shrine of Christians. For this purpose, he sent his mother, Queen Helen, to Jerusalem.

Arriving in Jerusalem, Saint Helena ordered the destruction of pagan temples and statues. However, the main thing was to find the Cross of the Lord, which was not an easy task, since a lot of time had already passed.

Soon after the search began, the Holy Sepulcher was discovered, and not far from it three crosses, a tablet with the inscription “King of the Jews”, made by order of Pontius Pilate, as well as nails with which...

Source: Журнал ФОМА · Read the full story →

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Emma Parker

My mother always told us the story of St. Helen finding those three crosses and using the one that healed the sick man to tell which was the True Cross. The part about the tablet with "King of the Jews" still gives me chills every time. I try to keep a small cross from our garden in the house that day.

Ivana Kostić

Here in Niš, every year on Ascension Day, we carry the cross in liturgy after the liturgy. The story of St. Jelena and those three crosses always reminds me of how my grandmother kept a small wooden cross above the bed and said that it was "the right one". Thanks for reporting the whole event from the 4th century, it's nice to read it all.