Great Feast of the Lord
Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross
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The Church raises the Cross of Christ in triumph, remembering its discovery in Jerusalem and proclaiming the victory of the Crucified Lord.
Core account checked against Orthodox Church in America — Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross, The Prologue from Ohrid — September 14, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America — The Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross. Additional ecclesiastical references appear below.
Life and Witness
The Cross at the Heart of the Christian Faith
The Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross is one of the Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church. It celebrates not an instrument of cruelty in isolation, but the voluntary Passion and victory of Jesus Christ, through which death was conquered and the world was reconciled to God.
The feast joins historical remembrance with liturgical proclamation. The faithful venerate the Cross because honor offered to it passes to Christ, who stretched out His hands upon it for the salvation of the world.
Saint Helen’s Search in Jerusalem
After the Roman Emperor Hadrian had covered Golgotha and the Lord’s Tomb with earth and pagan structures, the holy places remained concealed for generations. Following the triumph of Saint Constantine and the legalization of Christianity, his mother, Saint Helen, journeyed to Jerusalem to seek the Cross of the Lord and to honor the places of His Passion and Resurrection.
With the help of Saint Makarios, Patriarch of Jerusalem, the site was excavated. The Lord’s Tomb, three crosses, the inscription ordered by Pilate and the nails were found according to the Church’s received account.
The Life-Giving Cross Revealed
To identify the Savior’s Cross among the three, Patriarch Makarios touched them in turn to a dead person. When the Cross of Christ was brought near, the dead person returned to life. Another account remembers the healing of a gravely ill woman. These signs disclosed the Cross that had borne the Body of the Lord.
So many Christians gathered that most could not approach. The Patriarch raised the Cross on high for all to see, and the people bowed, repeatedly crying, ‘Lord, have mercy.’ This exaltation in Jerusalem, traditionally dated to 326, gave the feast its name.
The Holy Sepulchre and the Return from Persia
Saint Constantine built the great Church of the Resurrection over Golgotha and the Lord’s Tomb. It was dedicated on September 13, 335, and the solemn commemoration of the Cross followed on September 14.
The feast also remembers the Cross’s return after the Persian capture of Jerusalem. Emperor Herakleios recovered it in the seventh century. At the ascent to Golgotha he was unable to proceed until, following Patriarch Zachariah’s counsel, he removed his imperial splendor and carried the Cross in humility, following the Lord who had walked that path without earthly glory.
Fasting, Worship and Feast Day
September 14 is observed as a strict fast even when it falls on Saturday or Sunday. In churches the Cross is placed for solemn veneration, surrounded by flowers or basil, while the hymn ‘Before Thy Cross we bow down in worship, O Master, and Thy holy Resurrection we glorify’ expresses the inseparable union of Crucifixion and Resurrection.
September 14 — The Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross. The feast has a forefeast on September 13 and an afterfeast concluding on September 21.
Historical Record and Ecclesiastical Tradition
The existence of Constantine's Jerusalem basilica, its dedication and the later Persian removal and Byzantine recovery of the Cross belong to historical ecclesiastical memory. The tests used to identify the Cross and the details of Saint Helen's discovery are presented as received Church tradition, not as quotations from a contemporary excavation report.
Biographical information on this page is based exclusively on the Orthodox ecclesiastical sources listed below.
Orthodox Church in America — Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving CrossThe Prologue from Ohrid — September 14Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America — The Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross