Elevation of the Cross Fr Damascene of Platina

of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. On this day,

the feast of the exaltation of the precious and

life -giving cross of the Lord, we commemorate

the elevation and veneration of the true cross

in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

This occurred on September 14, 335, the day after

the Church's dedication. Previously, the cross

had been discovered by St. Helen, the Empress,

equal to the Apostles, and the mother of St.

Constantine the Great. The Lord's cross was found

together with those of the two thieves who were

crucified with him. With the healing of a dying

woman who touched one of the crosses, Patriarch

Macarius of Jerusalem was able to identify the

true cross of Christ. It was with this discovery

that St. Constantine ordered the building of

the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Besides celebrating

the finding and elevation of the cross, today's

feast celebrates the Lord's cross itself, which

by his life creating death on it, he transformed

from being an instrument of shame, suffering,

and death, to being one of glory, victory, and

redemption. St. John of Damascus writes of what

the cross means to us as Orthodox Christians,

first making clear that by the cross we are to

understand the death of Christ. He writes, see

how the death of Christ That is, the cross has

clothed us with the wisdom and power of God.

For by nothing else save the cross of our Lord

Jesus Christ, has death been brought low, the

sin of our first parents destroyed, Hades plundered,

resurrection bestowed, the power given us to

despise the things of this world and even death

itself. The gates of paradise opened, our nature

seated at the right hand of God, and we made

children and heirs of God. By the cross, all

things have been set aright. Note that St. John

says that it is by the death of Christ that resurrection

is bestowed. This is because Christ's death cannot

be separated from his resurrection. They are

of one piece. It was, of course, impossible for

him to resurrect without first having died, and

it was at the same time impossible for him to

die without resurrecting, for he is the author

of life. We might sum up the Orthodox scriptural

and patristic teaching on our redemption through

Christ's death and resurrection as follows. In

the Garden of Eden, God told Adam and Eve that

if they ate of the forbidden fruit, on that day

they would surely die. They ate of the fruit,

but on that day they did not die a physical death,

which is the separation of the soul from the

body. Rather, they died a spiritual death, which

is the separation of the soul from God. And for

this reason, they and all of creation became

subject to physical death. Death, then, is the

consequence of man's sin. When Christ died on

the cross, he took upon himself the ultimate

physical consequence of sin. However, since he

was holy without sin, he was undeserving of death.

And since he was divine, he was unable to be

held in the bonds of death and Hades. Therefore,

the spiritual and physical death that had entered

the world through the fall were abolished through

Christ's death and resurrection. All mankind

was given the possibility of being forgiven of

sin and delivered from death both of soul and

of body. In Christ's incarnation, death, and

resurrection, all the consequences of the fall

are overcome. These consequences, however, are

not overcome all at once, but in a certain order.

Since man failed to rise toward God, thus cutting

off his way to deification by grace and adoption,

the only begotten Son, being God by nature and

sonship, descended to man. He took up our human

nature at his incarnation, deifying it in his

divine human person. By dying on the cross, he

gave man the potential to have his sins remitted,

a purification and redemption of the human soul

that meant deliverance from spiritual death and

an open path to the soul's deification. Finally,

by rising from the dead, Christ opened the way

for humanity to be delivered from physical death,

what St. Paul called the redemption of our body,

and for the body's ultimate deification. Since

that time, those who have been received into

Christ's church have been given the grace of

God within themselves. It is in the church, which

is his body, that Christ bestows on us the saving

fruits of his death and resurrection, redemption

and eternal life in him. It is by God's providence

that on this Feast of the Cross, five new Orthodox

Christians have been received into the Holy Orthodox

Church through baptism. In the Holy Scriptures

and in the writings of the Holy Fathers which

comment on them, we find a clear link between

baptism and the cross. In baptism, we die and

are buried with Christ, thus partaking of the

saving power of his death, which frees us from

sin. As we heard both from the reading from Romans,

During the baptism service and also in Father

Lawrence's sermon, St. Paul writes of the link

between baptism and the cross. He says, as many

as were baptized into Christ were baptized into

his death. Therefore, we are buried with him

through baptism into death. Our old man is crucified

with him that the body of sin might be done away

with. St. John Chrysostom explains, baptism is

the cross. What the cross and burial is to Christ,

baptism has been to us, even if not in the same

respects. For he died himself and was buried

in the flesh, but we have done both to sin. Likewise,

St. Gregory of Palamas writes, Christ has torn

up the handwriting of our transgressions on the

cross. and has made guiltless all those who have

been buried with him through baptism. As mentioned

earlier, however, the death of Christ cannot

be separated from his resurrection. For this

reason, the mystery of baptism not only means

dying with Christ, it also means being resurrected

with him and given a new life. St. Simeon the

New Theologian goes so far as to say that we

are given a new soul. St. Paul writes, buried

with Christ in baptism, you are risen with him

through faith in the working of God, who has

raised him from the dead, and you being dead

in your sins, as he made alive together with

him, having forgiven you all trespasses. having

wiped out the handwriting of requirements that

was against us, which was contrary to us, and

he has taken it out of the way, nailing it to

his cross. This spiritual resurrection in Christ

is the uniting of man's soul once again with

the grace of the Holy Spirit, because man is

cleansed of sin in holy baptism through Christ's

redemptive sacrifice. Grace is no longer foreign

to his nature, and he becomes a fit receptacle

of the Holy Spirit. Thus, in the mystery of baptism,

together with the mystery of chrismation that

follows upon it, man receives the grace of the

Holy Spirit as he had it before the primordial

fall. In the words of St. John Chrysostom, this

is what the apostle means by the Spirit gives

life. In baptism, the sins are buried. The former

things are blotted out and man is made alive.

The entire grace written upon his heart as if

it were a tablet. Consider then how high is the

dignity of the spirit. Saint Simeon the new theologian

explains how baptism together with chrismation

is both a death and a resurrection for man. Granting

man forgiveness of sins. while at the same time

imparting to him the grace of the Holy Spirit

that he had lost at the fall. He writes, benevolently

forgiven for the sake of this great and fearful

work that is for the sake of this sacrifice of

Christ and in order that by its power there might

be performed another new birth and recreation

of man in holy baptism in which we also are cleansed

by water mingled with the Holy Spirit. We know

that the triple immersion of baptism is an image

of the Holy Trinity. But there is another layer

of meaning, as Father Lawrence indicated in his

sermon. Simeon the New Theologian writes, from

that time, people are baptized in water, are

immersed in it, and taken out from it three times.

in the image of the three -day burial of the

Lord, and after they die in it to this whole

evil world, in the third bringing out from it,

they are already alive, as if resurrected from

the dead. That is, their souls are brought to

life and again receive the grace of the Holy

Spirit as Adam had it before the transgression.

Then they are anointed with holy chrism. and

by means of it are anointed with Jesus Christ

and are fragrant in a way above nature. St. Simeon

then writes of how those who are baptized and

chrismated are united to Christ and his sacrifice

through the Holy Eucharist. Having become in

this way worthy of being associates of God, they

taste his flesh and drink his blood. and by means

of the sanctified bread and wine, become of one

body and blood with God, who is incarnate, and

who offered himself as a sacrifice. In a similar

vein, St. Nicholas Cabecillas speaks of how we

partake of Christ's redemptive sacrifice on the

cross when receiving Holy Communion. Since, therefore,

the only begotten Son has left nothing undone,

which pertains to the Father's glory, he alone

has broken down the middle wall of separation

and clears man from his indictment. Christ's

body then is the only medicine against sin and

his blood the only ransom from offenses. This

is the body that was slain upon the cross. In

this witness before Pontius Pilate, it made a

good confession. It paid the penalty of death

for this confession and that upon the cross.

The blood springing out of the wounds darkened

the sun and shook the earth. It hollowed the

air and washed the whole world clean of the filth

of sin. Therefore, concludes St. Nicholas, the

labors and tears of those who repent of sins

after the baptismal washing and plead for grace.

"'stand in need of the blood of the new covenant

"'and of the body which was slain, "'since the

labors and tears are of no avail "'without the

body and blood.'" Elsewhere, St. Nicholas affirms

that in the Holy Eucharist, we also partake of

Christ's resurrection, since we receive the risen

one himself, the very benefactor himself, the

very temple whereon is founded the whole compass

of graces. Through the saving work of Christ,

we are not only given access to what Adam and

Eve lost in the fall, we can also attain to what

they were meant to attain, the deification of

our souls and the general resurrection, the deification

of our bodies as well. Throughout our lives as

Orthodox Christians, we are to grow toward a

more full deification, a more perfect participation

in God's life, through the Holy Mysteries, through

prayer, through following Christ's commandments.

As St. Macarius the Great says, referring to

what has been made possible by Christ, by the

power of the Spirit and the spiritual regeneration,

man not only comes to the measure of the first

Adam, but he also reaches a greater state that

Adam possessed, for man is deified. On today's

feast, let us give thanks to our Savior who out

of infinite love for us has paid the price for

our sins, dying and resurrected, resurrecting

so that we can be raised up together with him

in this life and in his kingdom that has no end.

Amen. with all our soul, and with all our mind,

have mercy. Have mercy. O Lord, almighty, the

God of our fathers, we pray thee, hearken and

have mercy.