First Reading: Nm 21:4b-9; Psalm: 78. R. v. 7b; Second Reading: Phil 2:6-11; Gospel: Jn 3:13-17

THE HISTORY OF THE TRUE CROSS AND THE SPIRITUAL IMPACT IN OUR LIVES

BY FR VALENTINE NNAMDI EGBUONU, MSP

Today is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. So, let’s talk about the cross.

The true cross of Christ perhaps might have gone into extinction but for one woman – St Helena. If you have seen the picture of St Helena, she is often depicted holding a cross. This is because tradition had it that she discovered the true cross of Christ in Jerusalem.

As at the time Christ was crucified, the land of Judea was a province under the leadership of the Emperor of Rome. Caesar Augustus was the emperor of Rome who enthroned Pontius Pilate as the governor of Judea. During and after the reign of Caesar Augustus, Christian persecution was at a minimal level and carried out mainly by local officials until Nero became Emperor in 54 AD. The reign of Nero marked the first imperially supervised persecution. It all started in 64 AD when a Great Fire from nowhere ravaged a large portion of the city of Rome. Nero accused Christians as the cause of the fire since they rejected the pagan Roman gods in favour of their belief in the one God and in his son Jesus Christ. Nero saw the Great Fire as the wrath of the gods for Christian defiance. Consequently, the emperor officially unleashed persecution on all Christians who were executed in different forms: some by crucifixion (Peter and Andrew), some by decapitation (Paul), some were burnt alive and some fed to wild animals. This persecution continued through successive emperors until the reign of Constantine. By this time all twelve apostles of Christ were dead.

But prior to the reign of Constantine, there was an emperor who rewrote the Judean history – Emperor Hadrian. It was emperor Hadrian who abolished the name Judea and renamed the area ‘Syria Palaestina.” He demolished the rest of Jerusalem temple after its collapse in 70AD. And to eradicate the influence of Christianity, he levelled the top of Mount Calvary where Christ was crucified and erected a temple to the pagan goddess Venus. He also levelled the hillside where the tomb of Christ was and built a temple to the pagan god Jupiter Capitolinus. But inadvertently, he was preserving the sacred site.  

When Constantine became emperor, Christians were still facing persecution. During this period of persecution, Christians were cautious as they worshipped secretly. The name “Christ” was abbreviated from the Greek ‘Christos’ to (Chi-rho: XP), the first two Greek letters for Christ. Emperor Constantine would use this symbol to win the Milvian Bridge Battle.

Prior to his battle with Maxentius to decide if he would remain the Emperor of Rome; Constantine was anxious about the battle and saw a vision of ‘a cross of light’ in the heavens with the inscription “In hoc signo vinces” meaning “by this symbol you will conquer.” On the night of the same day, Constantine had a dream where Christ commanded him to make the “chi rho” symbol which is a representation for the cross of Christ. This symbol will serve as an insignia for the battle. Constantine inscribed this symbol on the shield of his soldiers and won the Milvian Bridge Battle thereafter. Upon his victory and return, the following year in 313 AD, Constantine legalised Christianity and ended the persecution of Christians through a proclamation called the “Edict of Milan.”

About the same year, Helena the mother of Constantine converted to Christianity. In 324 AD, with the permission of her son, Helena journeyed to Palestine (formerly Judea) in search of the sacred site where Christ was crucified and buried. The same site emperor Hadrian destroyed to become extinct. But providentially, the erected pagan temples helped to locate the exact position of the sacred site.

In 326AD, the pagan temples Jupiter Capitolinus and Venus were demolished, and excavation began. The Tomb of Christ was rediscovered and a shrine built over the tomb which till this day stands in the Church of Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The site where Christ was crucified was also exposed during the excavation and three crosses were found in the rock-cistern as well as the titulus (INRI) lying separately. The question then arose, “Which of them is the cross of Christ?” To ascertain this, a woman dying from a terminal illness was brought to the location and made to touch the crosses one after the other. On touching the third cross, she was cured, thereby identifying the true cross of Christ. With this discovery, the mission of Helena was accomplished.

This miracle of the true cross re-echoes the power of the cross of Christ to heal our diseases and deliver us from the bondage of sin. The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross reminds us that the cross of Christ ceases to be ordinary wood when Christ died upon it. By the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross, the tree of the cross metamorphoses from that tree in the Garden of Eden where sin and death originate to the tree of Calvary where salvation and life emanate. The fall of the old Adam is cancelled out by the obedience of Christ, the new Adam. As the cross of Christ was raised from the foot of Calvary to the vision of the world; the whole creation was raised from sin to holiness, from condemnation to salvation, from injury to healing, and from death to life.

One striking thing about the feast of today is that in the cross, Christ revealed the strength of his power when he chose to be weak: By choosing death, Christ gave us life, by choosing pain, Christ offered us salvation, by choosing forgiveness, Christ offered us healing, and by His humble obedience, Christ was exalted. From this example, we learn that being a true Christian is actually not weakness but an injection of strength to souls in need of conversion and our exaltation to heaven. The message of the cross of Christ should be at the centre of our Christian spirituality. So that like St Francis of Assisi we can boldly say: “We adore Thee O Christ and we praise Thee, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.”

PRAYER FOR THE DAY

Save us Saviour of the world, for by your cross and resurrection you have set us free. Amen.