My beloved spiritual children in Our Risen Lord and Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN!
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SAINT HELEN'S EXPLOITS IN THE FINDING OF THE PRECIOUS CROSS OF CHRIST (Part IV)
It was also at that time that Saint Constantine the Great was vouchsafed a vision. For this reason, he sent his blessed mother Helen to Jerusalem that she might search for the Precious Wood of the Holy Cross. It was still buried or rather hidden away out of malice (hatred) in the Holy Land where our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified and buried, by the ungrateful people of the Jews. Socrates and Sozomen mention that the haters of Christ had covered the spot of the crucifixion. By design, they were instrumental in the construction of a temple to Aphrodite (Venus) that they might blot out the memory of Jesus. When the location came to be known to the St. Helen, she ordered the temple cast down and the earth removed.
Saint Theophanes tells us that "the emperor ordered Makarios I, Bishop of Jerusalem (314-333 A.D.), who was present at the First Ecumenical Synod at Nicaea, to search out, on his return, the site of the Holy Resurrection and that of Golgotha (Place of the Skull) and the Life-Giving Wood. In this year he crowned Helen, his God-minded mother, and assigned her as Empress the privilege of coinage. She had a vision commissioning her to go to Jerusalem and to bring to light the sacred sites buried by the impious. She begged her son Constantine to fulfill these commands sent to her by God. And he acted in obedience to her will."
Thus, this episode of the great moment began as follows: Saint Helen, of a pious mind, took along with her an army and multitude of generals and dignitaries. During her pilgrimage, she distributed much in the way of alms and imperial support of the Church and clergy. "Constantine," adds Theophanes, "sent his mother with money and soldiers, Makarios, Patriarch of Jerusalem, having met the Empress with due honor, made the search for the longed-for Life-Giving Wood along with her, in tranquility, with earnest prayers and fasting. When these things had been done, the site was quickly revealed to Makarios by God in the place where the pagan temple and statue of the impure demon Aphrodite stood. The divinely crowned Helen, using her imperial authority, immediately arranged for a large number of workmen to destroy the temple, which had been lavishly built by Emperor Aelius Hadrian (117-138). She razed it to its foundation and removed the excavated soil.
Empress Helen came to the site of the Lord's Passion. So she sought out those full of learning, not only Christians but also Jews in order to inform her of the Precious Holy relics whereabouts. The Augusta secured the help of a certain Jew named Juda, who was most familiar with the Holy Land. He, initially, was not cooperative. He was, consequently, cast into a dry well. He was not given any bread or water. Finally, after seven days, Juda could no longer bear the hunger and thirst. He cried out in a great voice, "Release me and I will reveal where the Christ was crucified!" Straightway, he was drawn out of the well. He made manifest the site, but he did not know exactly where the Cross was to be found. The Holy Helen offered up prayer to the Lord. Forthwith, there occurred a great earthquake that shook the depths of that place. An ineffable fragrance wafted forth, even as the scent of incense. The Empress charged the workers to dig. As the diggers went deeper into the earth, they began to detect a fragrant scent emanating from underground. The August gave orders for the digging to continue.
The general astonishment, but precisely as the Empress alone had believed, deep digging opened up cavities in the earth and revealed the secret of the hidden Cross of Christ. Helen and all marveled, as well as Juda. That Jew came to believe in Christ and gave thanks to Him. The earth yielded up three crosses, the placard, and the nails. The custom at that time was to bury the implements of torture close to the site of suffering. The inscription, however, had been wrenched from the True Cross and tossed aside. The Cross of Jesus had been cast aside with the others, without any distinction. Rufinus of Aquileia notes: "The three crosses were jumbled together. But Helen's joy at the discovery was darkened by the fact that the crosses were indistinguishable from each other. There was also found the inscription which Pilate had made with Greek, Latin, and Hebrew letters, but not even it showed clearly enough which was the Lord's gibbet." Saint Theophanes reports that "straightway the Holy Sepulchre and the Place of a Skull were revealed; and close by, to the East, there were buried three crosses. After searching, they even found the nails. But they were all at a loss to know which cross was the Lord's.
Empress Helen was filled with profound gladness upon the discovery. When Juda was asked, he knew not how to identify which one of the three crosses was the one upon which the Lord was crucified. It so happened, as if by the appointment of God, that a funeral procession was in progress. Juda, moved by a sanguine faith, summoned the mourners to bring the deceased before the Empress. The bier of the corpse was carried in and set down. As the body lay there, the first cross was placed on the dead person, but there was no response from the deceased. This took place again with the second cross and, once more, there was no sign. Nothing occurred because these were the crosses of the two thieves. Finally the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ was placed on the corpse. O Thy wonder, Christ King! The dead man arose. By this great miracle was there revealed the power of the Honorable and Precious Cross of Christ. This miracle-working was witnessed by many Jews, who came to believe in Christ. Following this momentous event, the Empress summoned Juda who, in the interim, received Holy Baptism and was named Kyriakos. As Kyriakos and others were offering veneration to the Cross, the place was radiant. They dug a little further and discovered the nails.
Saint Theophanes adds another account that further testified to the True Cross. In their attempt to discover the Holy Cross of the Lord, while "Helen was particularly grieved, the well-named Makarios solved the problem by his faith. For by bringing each of the crosses to a distinguished lady who was in despair and near death, he discovered which of them was the Lord's. For barely had its shadow come close to the sick woman when she, though hardly able to breathe or move, suddenly and immediately through God's power leaped up and began glorifying God in a loud voice."
Greek Church historian Socrates, a lawyer, and native of Constantinople says that the "emperor's mother erected over the place of the Sepulchre a magnificent church, and named it New Jerusalem, having built it facing that old and deserted city. There she left a portion of the Cross, enclosed in a silver case, as a memorial to those who might wish to see it. The other part she sent to Emperor Constantine. He believed that the city would be perfectly secure where that holy relic should be preserved. He privately enclosed it in his own statue, which stands on a large column of porphyry in the Forum called Constantine's at Constantinople...The Emperor supplied all materials for the construction of the churches and wrote to Bishop Makarios to expedite these edifices. When the Emperor's mother had completed the New Jerusalem, she reared another church that was not at all inferior. It was over the cave at Bethlehem, where Christ as born according to the flesh. Nor did Helen stop here, but ordered churches be built at the Holy Sepulchre and at Calvary in the name of her son, where the Life-Giving Wood was discovered, and also at Bethlehem and on the Mount of Olives.
At Golgotha, Saint Helen was the first to venerate the holy Cross and kiss it. She fully intended to bring the Holy Relic of the Cross to the new city, as a gift for her son. Thus she had it sawn vertically, parallel to the front face, thereby retaining the form of the entire front and rear of the Cross. Hence, she had two Crosses, one of which was left in Jerusalem and the other which was taken, rejoicing, along with her, together with the Precious Nails, to her son the Emperor.
When Constantine learned that his mother was approaching the new city, he went out to meet her. With profound gladness, he venerated the Honorable Cross. He handed over to the bishop of the church both the Sacred Cross and the chest with the Precious nails. (Source: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church)
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" - Saint John Chrysostom
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With sincere agape in His Holy Resurrection,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George