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!

ON MAY 7th OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH COMMEMORATES THE APPEARANCE OF THE SIGN OF THE PRECIOUS CROSS OVER JERUSALEM.

The sign of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross appeared in the sky over Jerusalem during the day of Emperor Constantius (337-361 A.D.), the son of Saint Constantine the Great. The apparition took place during the episcopacy of the holy Patriarch Kyril of Jerusalem. Throughout the days of the Pentecost, the Honorable sign of the Cross, filled with Divine Light, was made manifest over Jerusalem.

Saint Kyril, in his epistle to Emperor Constantius, speaks of the miraculous appearance of a luminous cross in the sky over the city of Jerusalem. The epistle (letter) is dated the 7th day of May, in the year 351. "In these holy days of the Paschal season, on the 7th of May at about the third hour, a huge cross made of light appeared in the sky above holy Golgotha (Calvary) extending as far as the holy Mount of Olives. It was not revealed to one or two people alone, but it appeared unmistakably to everyone in the city. It was not as if one might conclude that one had suffered momentary optical illusion; it was visible to the human eye above the earth for several hours. The flashes it emitted outshone the rays of the sun...It prompted the whole populace at once to run together into the holy church, overcome both with fear and joy at the Divine vision. Young and old, men and women of every age, even young girls confined to their chambers at home, natives and foreigners, Christians and pagans visiting from abroad, all together as if with a single voice raised a hymn of praise to God's Only-Begotten and Wonderworking Son. They had the evidence of their own senses that the holy Faith of Christians is not base on the persuasive arguments of philosophy but on the revelation of the Spirit and power; it is not proclaimed by mere human beings but testified from heaven by God Himself. Accordingly, we citizens of Jerusalem, who saw this extraordinary wonder with our own eyes, have paid due worship and thanksgiving to God the Universal King and to God's Only-Begotten Son--and shall continue to do so."

The sign of the Cross, shining more brilliantly than the sun and stretching a distance of about five and one-half miles, lasted for an entire week over the Holy City. This appearance, together with confirming the articles at Nicaea, also led many pagans and Jews to Christianity. "With the Light that shone in the form of Thy Cross, O compassionate Savior, Thou didst triumph over the lawless daring of the God-slayers."

The apparition of the Cross should also bring to our minds that final one, at the Second Coming of Christ. "And then shall the sign of the Son of Man appear in the heaven, and then the tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the heaven with power and great glory. Saint John Chrysostom comments: "And then shall the Sign of the Son of Man appear in the heaven (εν τω ουρανώ); that is, the Cross, being brighter than the sun--since the latter shall be darkened and hide itself--will appear...far brighter than the rays of the sun" (Homily 76," Matthew, P.G. 58:736 (col. 698). Blessed Theophylact: "What need is there for such a sensory light, since there is no night and the Sun of Righteousness has appeared? But even the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, that is, they shall be astounded and shudder seeing creation.] And He shall send forth His Angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost parts of the heavens unto their extremities (Matthew 24:30-31). (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