The Akathist to the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord is an Orthodox spiritual hymn, which affirms the strength of the spirit of Orthodox people who, despite numerous difficulties, managed to defend and maintain their faith. As an example to follow in this religious text, the feat of two ancient saints, Emperor Constantine and his mother Elena, is given.
These pious Christians, by the power of their faith in the Lord God, were able to give Christians the opportunity to freely practice their religion. And the acquisition of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord, an akathist who is read in all Orthodox churches every year on August 14 and September 27, is one of the greatest miracles in the history of Christianity.
What is akathist?
Before embarking on an akathist's review of the Life-Giving Cross, readers should be reminded of what this type of hymn is. This is usually called the special genre of church hymns, which appeared much later than others like him.
An example is the akathist "Exaltation of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord." Religious Orthodox authors began to pay due attention to such verses only in the second half of the 19th century. Prior to this, the number of written akathists was very small. The heyday of the genre came at the end of the nineteenth - the beginning of the twentieth century AD.
At that time, the Special Committee on Censorship, which was engaged in religious literature, considered a huge number of new akathists. Some of them were accepted, but many written works were rejected.
The genre was reborn after the Great October Revolution. At that time there was terrible persecution of the church and its ministers, part of the religious leaders was destroyed through numerous repressions, which concerned both the clergy themselves, and often their family members. Due to these tragic events for the Orthodox Church, some church services were forced to go underground.
Divine services were often held outside churches: in apartments of parishioners and in houses of priests. Often at such services there were not even certified representatives of the clergy. It was then that the akathist turned out to be in great demand, since reading this type of spiritual hymns does not imply the obligatory participation of priesthood representatives in them and does not even require a deep knowledge of Orthodox canons. That is why after the Great October Revolution, a grandiose number of works of this genre of church literature was created.
This was also facilitated by the fact that the Committee on State Censorship, which dealt with the affairs of spiritual literature, was abolished after the October Revolution. Accordingly, the authors received more freedom in the post-revolutionary years than they had in tsarist times.
The third revival of this genre of church hymns occurred already during the years of perestroika, when the Orthodox Church began to revive in our country and many poets and writers began to turn to the genres of spiritual literature. They were primarily interested in the akathist genre, the writing of which does not necessarily imply knowledge of the Church Slavonic language. These works can also be written in modern Russian, and in other languages of the world.
At the moment, the total number of akathists written in the entire history of the Russian Orthodox Church is about two thousand. There are several information resources that specialize in publishing new masterpieces of this genre. Among them, the site "Akafist.ru" stands out, which periodically publishes new works. Among the most fruitfully working authors of church literature, who most often refer specifically to the genre under consideration, it is worth highlighting Yevgeny Khrapovitsky and Alexander Trofimov.
Early christians
The Akathist to the Holy Cross is undeniably one of the most popular.
This spiritual hymn is dedicated to the Cross, which, being the instrument with which the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was carried out, is at the same time revered by the Orthodox Church as a shrine that has special power, since the crucifixion brought about the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ over the forces of hell.
But this great shrine was inaccessible to the first Christians, since immediately after the removal of Christ, the Cross was disposed of with the crosses on which the robbers who were executed at Calvary at the same time as Lord Jesus were crucified. In those harsh years, the followers of Christ did not have the opportunity to find the Cross, sanctified by the blood of the Savior, because of the terrible persecution of Christians, which continued for several centuries.
This is also reflected in the text of an akathist to the Holy Cross.
Such a terrible period for Christians was shown in many literary works, in particular, in the novel by the Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz “Camo Griadeshi?”, Based on which a feature film was shot in Hollywood in the early fifties of the twentieth century.
Christians were persecuted throughout the Roman Empire. Convinced of infidelity to pagan gods and worship of the new God, Jesus Christ, they were subjected to terrible torture. One of the bloodiest tortures was the persecution of Christians by lions. Thousands of people from Rome gathered to see this wild sight. Many Christians steadfastly endured this suffering in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some of these martyrs were later glorified as saints.
Protesters of Christianity
Only three centuries after the Resurrection of the Savior, the Roman ruler Constantine signed a decree abolishing the persecution of Christians. According to this decree, Christians received the right to freely practice their religion, erect temples and participate in worship. Constantine himself was also a Christian, as well as his mother, Empress Elena.
According to the Akathist, the Life-Giving Cross, the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Empress Helen was unable to reconcile with the fact that the greatest shrine of Christianity was lost and believers were not able to worship the Holy Cross.
Expedition to the Holy Land
Through the mediation of her son Constantine, the Empress in the middle of the fourth century AD made an attempt to find the shrine. For this, a special expedition was equipped in Jerusalem.
According to one version, at that time there was a pagan temple in honor of the goddess Aphrodite at the place where the sacrifice of Christ took place. As a result of excavations, three crosses were discovered. Several nails and a sign that read “Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.” The Empress Helen faced the difficult task of determining which of the three crosses was the life-giving Cross of Jesus Christ. The solution to this problem was prompted by Metropolitan Macarius. He said that the Cross The Lord should have life-giving power. Therefore, it was decided to apply crosses alternately to one seriously ill woman. When one of the crosses was touched by this woman, miraculous healing of the afflicted occurred. Zom not recognize which of the three crosses is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
According to other sources, the deceased was revived from a passing funeral procession. When it was possible to determine the true Cross on which Jesus Christ suffered his sufferings, the patriarch went out onto the streets of Jerusalem and raised a relic above his head.
Many people who believe in Christ have fallen to their knees before the new shrine. This event is described in an akathist to the Exaltation of the Holy and Life-giving Cross of the Lord. Thus, Patriarch Macarius solved the task facing other members of the expedition due to his faith in the Lord. This power of faith is glorified in akathist to the Exaltation of the Honest and Life-Giving Cross.
Throughout the time of excavation, Makarii and Elena were in constant fasting and often offered prayers to the Almighty.
According to one legend, the Cross of the Lord was made of a tree that once grew in a garden of Eden. It is about that tree whose fruit caused the fall of the first people. When the Cross sacrifice of Christ was completed, this sin was atoned for. There is also a legend that the progenitor of all people Adam was buried at Calvary. When Christ received death on the cross, His blood leaked to the remains of Adam.
Temple of the resurrection
At the site of the discovery of the Cross of the Lord, Queen Elena planned to build a large temple complex, the list of objects of which should include sacred Christians of the whole world Golgotha and the Holy Sepulcher, but the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Empress Elena did not live to see the opening of the temple. The completion of construction work was led by her son, Emperor Constantine the Great.
In the temple, a separate chapel is dedicated to the discovery of the Life-giving Cross. It is called the chapel of the finding of the Cross of the Lord. This part of the building is its lowest point. A twenty-two-step staircase connects it with the Armenian church, which is also underground. Thus, we can say that this chapel is located at the level of the second underground floor. The place where the true Cross of the Savior was discovered is indicated by a slab with the Orthodox eight-pointed cross depicted on it. The plate is fenced on three sides by a forged grate.
At the place where the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Helena observed the excavations, there is a window that opens to the altar of the Armenian church.
This story, in addition to Christian authors, has been described by a number of Roman and Arab historians. In honor of the acquisition of the Cross of the Lord, a church holiday was established, which is one of the twelve. On this day, an akathist is read at the festive church services to the Exaltation of the Holy and Life-giving Cross of the Lord.
Spreading parts of the Life-giving Cross around the world
After the discovery of the True Cross of the Lord, Empress Helen ordered to divide the sacred tree into several parts so that Christians of other countries could bow to the instrument of victory over death.
One of its parts remained in the Holy Land, in the temple of the Resurrection of the Lord. The place where the relic was discovered is located in the aisle of the finding of the Cross of the Lord. One of the parts of the life-giving Cross is in Russia. You can worship her in the main temple of the monastery, which is located in a small village in the Yaroslavl region, Godenovo.
Cross in Godenovo
The akathist Godenovsky Life-giving Cross, about how this relic was found, says the following: he miraculously appeared and was found in one of the swamps in a dense forest near the city of Rostov the Great. The sacred tree is decorated in the form of a cross on which the Savior is crucified. The miraculous appearance of the shrine occurred in the twenties of the fifteenth century.
It is believed that the Cross mysteriously came to Russia from Constantinople. This was a kind of omen for the fall of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which happened three decades later. Also, the Cross, which appeared on Russian land, became a harbinger of the imminent strengthening of the Moscow principality and the unification of all other principalities around it into one Russian state. The Akathist to the Holy Cross in Godenovo celebrates the shrine that appeared in Russia on the eve of the independence of the Russian Orthodox Church from the Byzantine patriarch.
Then, after signing the corresponding document, the Moscow bishop began to lead the Russian Church. This contributed to the strengthening of Russian statehood. Around the same time, the Tsargrad icon of the Mother of God replenished the number of Russian shrines . Then one of the elders uttered the famous phrase about the third Rome. The nun of the Pereslavl Nikolsky monastery says that in the Soviet era even representatives of the clergy and monasticism almost completely forgot about the Godenov Cross. In the early nineties, pilgrims told the monks of St. Nicholas Monastery about the Miraculous Cross, which was located in one of the forgotten, dilapidated churches near the monastery. Then the monastery took this church with the part of the Holy Tree stored in it under its care. Now up to ten thousand pilgrims a year come to worship the Cross of the Lord.
Before the shrine, an akathist often speaks to the Life-Giving Cross. In Godenovo, the Cross itself was restored at the beginning of the new millennium. Restoration work was carried out by leading restorers from museums in St. Petersburg. At the request of priests and monks of the monastery, the shrine did not leave the temple during the restoration. All work was carried out in the current temple. Currently, the Godenov Cross is one of the most revered shrines in Russia. In honor of the Sacred Tree located in Godenovo, a new Akathist was written to the Honest and Life-giving Cross, which is read daily during worship.
Replicas of the Godin Cross
Orthodox people love the Godenov Cross so much that priests from other cities of Russia began to ask them to make copies of this artifact for their churches. To date, more than ten copies are known. Before each of them, an akathist is regularly read to the Honest and Life-giving Cross of the Lord. The first of these copies was made for one of the churches of Sevastopol and brought to the city at the end of 2013. At that time, an uprising on the Maidan had already flared up in the capital of Ukraine. After some time, Crimea was returned to Russia. With God's help, this happened without any bloodshed.
Some believers see the coming of the Cross in Sevastopol as an omen of this significant event for Russia. The next copy went to Vologda. The third was made for the Lugansk temple. On it the Savior turned out with a dark face, but a year later the face of Christ miraculously brightened. The church where this copy is stored did not suffer from military operations. The fourth copy was presented as a gift to the Yekaterinburg Patriarch.
Before sending this copy to the Urals, it was surrounded by a procession around the church in Godenovo. They say that during the procession in the sky appeared Orthodox eight-pointed cross, composed of clouds. In 2015-2016, a copy of the Godenov relic flew to the international space station as part of an international crew of astronauts.
When is an akathist read to the Life-Giving Cross?
In the annual cycle of worship, there are two holidays dedicated to the Honest Tree of the Cross. One of them is a twelfth holiday, that is, one of the twelve major holidays of the Orthodox Church. This day is called the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord. It differs from a number of other twelve holy days in that it is not dedicated to any event from the earthly life of Jesus Christ. The raising of the Cross is called the raising of the Cross of the Lord by Metropolitan Macarius so that the people of Jerusalem worship him.
There are lines about this in the Akathist's Life-Giving Cross. After that, the tradition of raising the cross over worshipers spread to many countries. On this day, in all Orthodox churches, the akathist reads to the Exaltation of the Honest and Life-giving Cross of the Lord (the text of one of the options can be seen in the photo above).
This holiday began to be celebrated immediately after the described events occurred. Initially, it preceded a more revered holiday dedicated to the Holy Sepulcher. But time has made corrections in history, and today the day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross takes place among the twelve greatest feasts of the Orthodox Church.
In addition to this holiday, there is one more. This is the Origin of the Honest Trees of the Cross of the Lord. In the name, the word origin is used in the meaning of "procession."
On this day it is really customary to arrange religious processions, in front of which a crucifix is usually carried. This holiday is celebrated on August 14. Although he is not twofold, nevertheless, love for this day has long lived in the Russian people, because it was on this day that the Baptism of Rus took place. This holiday in the Russian tradition is also called the Honey Savior, because in addition to the rite of blessing water before and after the liturgy, the rite of blessing honey is also held.
It is believed that from this date you can eat honey of a new crop. The Akathist to the Cross of the Life-Giving is read at the festive service on this day. Believers remember during the service of the Cross of Christ the Sacrifice of Christ.
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