Let them push you…
Let them push you, but do not push; Let them crucify you, but do not crucify. Let them insult, but do not insult. Let them slander, but do not slander. Be meek, and do not be zealous in evil.
- St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily, 89
The sign of the cross
Do not do anything without signing yourself with the sign of the Cross! When you depart on a journey, when you begin your work, when you go to study, when you are alone, and when you are with other people, seal yourself with the Holy Cross on your forehead, your body, your chest, your heart, your lips, your eyes, your ears. All of you should be sealed with the sign of Christ’s victory over hell. Then you will no longer be afraid of charms, evil spirits, or sorcery, because these are dissolved by the power of the Cross like wax before fire and like dust before the wind”
- Elder Cleopa (+1998)
On forgetting the idea of the Cross
To the degree that people forget the idea of the Cross, so evil grows and spreads, with the different pressures which occur both naturally and artificially.
Blessed is the man who is wide awake and praying.
- Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi
The ascent from the cross to Heaven
Good God provides each person with a cross relevant to their strength; the idea is not suffering but the ascent from the cross to Heaven because in reality the cross is a stairway to Heaven. If we realise what treasure we are saving from the pain of ordeals, we will not groan, but praise God bearing the small cross he gave us as a gift. Thus, we will enjoy this life and we will receive pension and “gratuity” in the other one. God has secured our reward in Heaven. If we ask to be relieved from an ordeal, then He gives the reward to someone else and we lose it. Whereas, if we are patient, He will gives us interest as well.
- Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos
A Christian’s duty
A Christian’s duty is to “take up his cross.” The word “cross” means suffering, sorrow, and adversities. To take up one’s cross means to bear - without grumbling - everything unpleasant, painful, sad, difficult and oppressive that may happen to us in life, without expecting any earthly reward in return, but bear it all with love, with joy and with courageous strength.
- Saint Innocent of Alaska
Forefeast of the Elevation of the Cross
Today, is the forefast of the Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross. The Feast of the Elevation of the Cross that we will commemorate tomorrow is one of the two feast days which is held as a strict fast.
The Feast is a holy day of fasting and repentance. On this day the faithful make dedication to the crucified Lord and pledge their faithfulness to him by making prostrations at the Lords feet on the life creating Cross. For the feast, the Cross is placed on a tray surrounded by flowers or branches of basil, and placed in the center of the Church for veneration.
On the eve of the feast (today), Vespers is served and contains three Old Testament readings. The first, from Exodus 15:22-16:1, tells of the “tree” which made the bitter waters sweet, the symbol of the Tree of the Cross. The second reading is from Proverbs 3:11-18, which reminds us that the Lord chastens and corrects those whom he loves and that Divine Wisdom is “a Tree of life to those who lay hold upon her and trust in her, as in the Lord.” The third reading is from the Prophecy of Isaiah 60:11-16; it tells of the “city of the Lord” where both Jews and Gentiles will live together and shall prostrate themselves at the place of God’s feet and “shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.”
Blessed is the man…
To the degree that people forget the idea of the Cross, so evil grows and spreads, with the different pressures which occur both naturally and artificially.
Blessed is the man who is wide awake and praying.
- Elder Joseph of Vatopaidi
Carrying your cross
Everyone has a cross to carry. Why? Since the leader of our faith endured the cross, we will also endure it. On one hand, the cross is sweet and light, but, on the other, it can also be bitter and heavy. It depends on our will. If you bear Christ’s cross with love then it will be very light; like a sponge or a cork. But if you have a negative attitude, it becomes heavy; too heavy to lift.
- Taken from the book: Elder Ephraim of Katounakia
Suffering and the Cross
God does not only not punish by suffering, He even ameliorates the power of suffering by His mercy. And the utmost manifestation of Divine mercy — is the voluntary sacrifice of Christ for the sins of the world. It was in the redemption from them, in the warding off of inevitable and eternal suffering. The death on the Cross of Christ, the Only Sinless One, is a judgement of Christ from the inexorable logic of the world-edifice. He alone was forsaken by the mercy of God, namely so that no one besides Himself should be forsaken amidst murmuring. Subjected to suffering and death, He was a judgement of condemnation of this logic, rendering it unjust in regard to man in general. Suchlike was the history of the victory of Christ over suffering and death.
-Saint Maria of Paris
A cross relevant to our strength
Good God provides each person with a cross relevant to their strength; the idea is not suffering but the ascent from the cross to Heaven because in reality the cross is a stairway to Heaven. If we realise what treasure we are saving from the pain of ordeals, we will not groan, but praise God bearing the small cross he gave us as a gift. Thus, we will enjoy this life and we will receive pension and “gratuity” in the other one. God has secured our reward in Heaven. If we ask to be relieved from an ordeal, then He gives the reward to someone else and we lose it. Whereas, if we are patient, He will gives us interest as well.
- Elder Paisios
Today the Orthodox Church commemorates the Procession of the Honorable Wood of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord (First of the three “Feasts of the Savior” in August)
The Procession of the Venerable Wood of the Life-Creating Cross of the Lord: In the Greek Horologion of 1897 the derivation of this Feast is explained: “Because of the illnesses that occur in August, it was customary, in former times, to carry the Venerable Wood of the Cross through the streets and squares of Constantinople for the sanctification of the city, and for relief from sickness. On the eve (July 31), it was taken out of the imperial treasury, and laid upon the altar of the Great Church of Hagia Sophia (the Wisdom of God). From this Feast until the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, they carried the Cross throughout the city in procession, offering it to the people to venerate. This also is the Procession of the Venerable Cross.”
In the Russian Church this Feast is combined also with the remembrance of the Baptism of Rus, on August 1, 988. In the “Account of the Order of Services in the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Great Church of the Dormition,” compiled in 1627 by order of Patriarch Philaret of Moscow and All Rus, there is the following explanation of the Feast: “On the day of the Procession of the Venerable Cross there is a church procession for the sanctification of water and for the enlightenment of the people, throughout all the towns and places.”
Knowledge of the day of the actual Baptism of Rus was preserved in the Chronicles of the sixteenth century: “The Baptism of the Great Prince Vladimir of Kiev and all Rus was on August 1.”
We hold to the cross as our sail
Those who put out to sea at first sailed with a favourable wind; then the sails spread, but later the wind becomes adverse. Then the ship is tossed by the waves and is no longer controlled by the rudder. But when in a little while there is calm, and the tempest dies down, then the ship sails on again. So it is with us, when we are driven by the spirits who are against us; we hold to the cross as our sail and so we can set a safe course.
- Amma Syncletica
The sign of the Cross
Do not do anything without signing yourself with the sign of the Cross! When you depart on a journey, when you begin your work, when you go to study, when you are alone, and when you are with other people, seal yourself with the Holy Cross on your forehead, your body, your chest, your heart, your lips, your eyes, your ears. All of you should be sealed with the sign of Christ’s victory over hell. Then you will no longer be afraid of charms, evil spirits, or sorcery, because these are dissolved by the power of the Cross like wax before fire and like dust before the wind.
- Elder Cleopa Ilie
A Christian’s duty
A Christian’s duty is to “take up his cross.” The word “cross” means suffering, sorrow, and adversities. To take up one’s cross means to bear - without grumbling - everything unpleasant, painful, sad, difficult and oppressive that may happen to us in life, without expecting any earthly reward in return, but bear it all with love, with joy and with courageous strength.
- St. Innocent of Alaska
Carry your cross
Of course, it would be easier to get to paradise with a full stomach, all snuggled up in a soft feather-bed, but what is required is to carry one’s cross along the way, for the kingdom of God is not attained by enduring one or two troubles, but many!
– Elder Anthony of Optina
