Exaltation of the Holy Cross: 5 amazing facts about the holidaytranslated

With the blessing of Metropolitan John of Belgorod and Stary Oskol, on September 27, Orthodox Christians celebrate the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord. This is one of the twelve main holidays of the church year - and at the same time a day of strict fasting. We tell you what is behind this date. The story of the discovery of the main Christian shrine is connected with a woman whose fate itself resembles a miracle. Helen, the mother of Emperor Constantine the Great, worked as an innkeeper in her youth - and only then became Augusta, whom the Church will call Equal-to-the-Apostles. In 326, Constantine, who had already believed in Christ, sent his mother to Jerusalem. Elena's task was to find the place of crucifixion and burial of the Savior. By that time, Golgotha ​​had been desecrated: the pagans filled the cave with garbage and built a temple to the goddess Aphrodite on this site. The excavations were a success. Under the foundation of the pagan temple they found three crosses, nails and a tablet with an inscription in three languages, which was nailed above the head of Christ. How to understand which of the three crosses is the one?

Two thieves were crucified next to Christ, and the instruments of execution looked identical. Tradition says that the Bishop of Jerusalem Macarius suggested applying the crosses one by one to...