On September 14 in the Holy Orthodox Church, we commemorate the Universal Elevation (Exaltation) of the Honored and Life-giving Cross. Two events are commemorated this day: first, the finding of the Cross by the Empress Helena in the Holy Land in the fourth century; and second, the return of the Cross from Persia to Jerusalem in 630.
More importantly, the feast celebrates the Holy Cross as the instrument of our salvation. Our Lord Jesus Christ died on it to defeat sin and death. This instrument of torture, designed to degrade the worst of criminals, became the life-giving tree that reversed Adam’s original sin when he ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2-3). The hymnography of this feast is most devoted to this theme.
From the September 2026 issue of The Archangel.
