of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. On this day,
the feast of the exaltation of the precious and
life -giving cross of the Lord, we commemorate
the elevation and veneration of the true cross
in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
This occurred on September 14, 335, the day after
the Church's dedication. Previously, the cross
had been discovered by St. Helen, the Empress,
equal to the Apostles, and the mother of St.
Constantine the Great. The Lord's cross was found
together with those of the two thieves who were
crucified with him. With the healing of a dying
woman who touched one of the crosses, Patriarch
Macarius of Jerusalem was able to identify the
true cross of Christ. It was with this discovery
that St. Constantine ordered the building of
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Besides celebrating
the finding and elevation of the cross, today's
feast celebrates the Lord's cross itself, which
by his life creating death on it, he transformed
from being an instrument of shame, suffering,
and death, to being one of glory, victory, and
redemption. St. John of Damascus writes of what
the cross means to us as Orthodox Christians,
first making clear that by the cross we are to
understand the death of Christ. He writes, see
how the death of Christ That is, the cross has
clothed us with the wisdom and power of God.
For by nothing else save the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, has death been brought low, the
sin of our first parents destroyed, Hades plundered,
resurrection bestowed, the power given us to
despise the things of this world and even death
itself. The gates of paradise opened, our nature
seated at the right hand of God, and we made
children and heirs of God. By the cross, all
things have been set aright. Note that St. John
says that it is by the death of Christ that resurrection
is bestowed. This is because Christ's death cannot
be separated from his resurrection. They are
of one piece. It was, of course, impossible for
him to resurrect without first having died, and
it was at the same time impossible for him to
die without resurrecting, for he is the author
of life. We might sum up the Orthodox scriptural
and patristic teaching on our redemption through
Christ's death and resurrection as follows. In
the Garden of Eden, God told Adam and Eve that
if they ate of the forbidden fruit, on that day
they would surely die. They ate of the fruit,
but on that day they did not die a physical death,
which is the separation of the soul from the
body. Rather, they died a spiritual death, which
is the separation of the soul from God. And for
this reason, they and all of creation became
subject to physical death. Death, then, is the
consequence of man's sin. When Christ died on
the cross, he took upon himself the ultimate
physical consequence of sin. However, since he
was holy without sin, he was undeserving of death.
And since he was divine, he was unable to be
held in the bonds of death and Hades. Therefore,
the spiritual and physical death that had entered
the world through the fall were abolished through
Christ's death and resurrection. All mankind
was given the possibility of being forgiven of
sin and delivered from death both of soul and
of body. In Christ's incarnation, death, and
resurrection, all the consequences of the fall
are overcome. These consequences, however, are
not overcome all at once, but in a certain order.
Since man failed to rise toward God, thus cutting
off his way to deification by grace and adoption,
the only begotten Son, being God by nature and
sonship, descended to man. He took up our human
nature at his incarnation, deifying it in his
divine human person. By dying on the cross, he
gave man the potential to have his sins remitted,
a purification and redemption of the human soul
that meant deliverance from spiritual death and
an open path to the soul's deification. Finally,
by rising from the dead, Christ opened the way
for humanity to be delivered from physical death,
what St. Paul called the redemption of our body,
and for the body's ultimate deification. Since
that time, those who have been received into
Christ's church have been given the grace of
God within themselves. It is in the church, which
is his body, that Christ bestows on us the saving
fruits of his death and resurrection, redemption
and eternal life in him. It is by God's providence
that on this Feast of the Cross, five new Orthodox
Christians have been received into the Holy Orthodox
Church through baptism. In the Holy Scriptures
and in the writings of the Holy Fathers which
comment on them, we find a clear link between
baptism and the cross. In baptism, we die and
are buried with Christ, thus partaking of the
saving power of his death, which frees us from
sin. As we heard both from the reading from Romans,
During the baptism service and also in Father
Lawrence's sermon, St. Paul writes of the link
between baptism and the cross. He says, as many
as were baptized into Christ were baptized into
his death. Therefore, we are buried with him
through baptism into death. Our old man is crucified
with him that the body of sin might be done away
with. St. John Chrysostom explains, baptism is
the cross. What the cross and burial is to Christ,
baptism has been to us, even if not in the same
respects. For he died himself and was buried
in the flesh, but we have done both to sin. Likewise,
St. Gregory of Palamas writes, Christ has torn
up the handwriting of our transgressions on the
cross. and has made guiltless all those who have
been buried with him through baptism. As mentioned
earlier, however, the death of Christ cannot
be separated from his resurrection. For this
reason, the mystery of baptism not only means
dying with Christ, it also means being resurrected
with him and given a new life. St. Simeon the
New Theologian goes so far as to say that we
are given a new soul. St. Paul writes, buried
with Christ in baptism, you are risen with him
through faith in the working of God, who has
raised him from the dead, and you being dead
in your sins, as he made alive together with
him, having forgiven you all trespasses. having
wiped out the handwriting of requirements that
was against us, which was contrary to us, and
he has taken it out of the way, nailing it to
his cross. This spiritual resurrection in Christ
is the uniting of man's soul once again with
the grace of the Holy Spirit, because man is
cleansed of sin in holy baptism through Christ's
redemptive sacrifice. Grace is no longer foreign
to his nature, and he becomes a fit receptacle
of the Holy Spirit. Thus, in the mystery of baptism,
together with the mystery of chrismation that
follows upon it, man receives the grace of the
Holy Spirit as he had it before the primordial
fall. In the words of St. John Chrysostom, this
is what the apostle means by the Spirit gives
life. In baptism, the sins are buried. The former
things are blotted out and man is made alive.
The entire grace written upon his heart as if
it were a tablet. Consider then how high is the
dignity of the spirit. Saint Simeon the new theologian
explains how baptism together with chrismation
is both a death and a resurrection for man. Granting
man forgiveness of sins. while at the same time
imparting to him the grace of the Holy Spirit
that he had lost at the fall. He writes, benevolently
forgiven for the sake of this great and fearful
work that is for the sake of this sacrifice of
Christ and in order that by its power there might
be performed another new birth and recreation
of man in holy baptism in which we also are cleansed
by water mingled with the Holy Spirit. We know
that the triple immersion of baptism is an image
of the Holy Trinity. But there is another layer
of meaning, as Father Lawrence indicated in his
sermon. Simeon the New Theologian writes, from
that time, people are baptized in water, are
immersed in it, and taken out from it three times.
in the image of the three -day burial of the
Lord, and after they die in it to this whole
evil world, in the third bringing out from it,
they are already alive, as if resurrected from
the dead. That is, their souls are brought to
life and again receive the grace of the Holy
Spirit as Adam had it before the transgression.
Then they are anointed with holy chrism. and
by means of it are anointed with Jesus Christ
and are fragrant in a way above nature. St. Simeon
then writes of how those who are baptized and
chrismated are united to Christ and his sacrifice
through the Holy Eucharist. Having become in
this way worthy of being associates of God, they
taste his flesh and drink his blood. and by means
of the sanctified bread and wine, become of one
body and blood with God, who is incarnate, and
who offered himself as a sacrifice. In a similar
vein, St. Nicholas Cabecillas speaks of how we
partake of Christ's redemptive sacrifice on the
cross when receiving Holy Communion. Since, therefore,
the only begotten Son has left nothing undone,
which pertains to the Father's glory, he alone
has broken down the middle wall of separation
and clears man from his indictment. Christ's
body then is the only medicine against sin and
his blood the only ransom from offenses. This
is the body that was slain upon the cross. In
this witness before Pontius Pilate, it made a
good confession. It paid the penalty of death
for this confession and that upon the cross.
The blood springing out of the wounds darkened
the sun and shook the earth. It hollowed the
air and washed the whole world clean of the filth
of sin. Therefore, concludes St. Nicholas, the
labors and tears of those who repent of sins
after the baptismal washing and plead for grace.
"'stand in need of the blood of the new covenant
"'and of the body which was slain, "'since the
labors and tears are of no avail "'without the
body and blood.'" Elsewhere, St. Nicholas affirms
that in the Holy Eucharist, we also partake of
Christ's resurrection, since we receive the risen
one himself, the very benefactor himself, the
very temple whereon is founded the whole compass
of graces. Through the saving work of Christ,
we are not only given access to what Adam and
Eve lost in the fall, we can also attain to what
they were meant to attain, the deification of
our souls and the general resurrection, the deification
of our bodies as well. Throughout our lives as
Orthodox Christians, we are to grow toward a
more full deification, a more perfect participation
in God's life, through the Holy Mysteries, through
prayer, through following Christ's commandments.
As St. Macarius the Great says, referring to
what has been made possible by Christ, by the
power of the Spirit and the spiritual regeneration,
man not only comes to the measure of the first
Adam, but he also reaches a greater state that
Adam possessed, for man is deified. On today's
feast, let us give thanks to our Savior who out
of infinite love for us has paid the price for
our sins, dying and resurrected, resurrecting
so that we can be raised up together with him
in this life and in his kingdom that has no end.
Amen. with all our soul, and with all our mind,
have mercy. Have mercy. O Lord, almighty, the
God of our fathers, we pray thee, hearken and
have mercy.