THE ELEVATION OF THE HOLY CROSS
September 14th
THE SERMON
Standing before Pontius Pilate, Jesus embodies a truth that pierces through the
chaos of that Friday morning—divine authority wrapped in human flesh, sovereignty dis-
played through apparent weakness. Pilate reveals his authority to either free or crucify Je-
sus when Jesus responds with statements that reverse the conventional understanding of
power by saying, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from
above.” The divine plan of God becomes visible as human disobedience meets divine
surrender. Pilate, the Roman governor who held life and death in his hands, finds himself
an instrument in a far greater design. The very powers that seem to oppose God’s will
become how His love reaches its fullest expression.
When the crowd cries, “Crucify him!” they believe they are rejecting an imposter
king. Yet their very rejection becomes the enthronement of the true King. Pilate displays
Jesus with a crown of thorns and purple robe while declaring “Behold the man!” Through
his mocking words, he unintentionally reveals a deeper truth about humanity, which car-
ries the burden of all human pain and our collective failures and our absolute need for
salvation.
At the foot of the Holy Cross, we find a scene of great intimacy amidst a public
execution. Panaghia, the Mother of Jesus, who pondered God’s word in her heart from
the moment of the Annunciation, now watches that same Word made flesh pour out His
life. Saint John, the beloved disciple who leaned against Jesus at the Last Supper, stands
witness to love’s ultimate expression. When Jesus entrusts His Mother to the care of Saint
John, He creates a new family, not bound by blood alone but by the deeper bonds of
sacrificial love.
“I thirst,” Jesus cries. The One who promised living water to the Samaritan woman,
who declared that whoever believes in Him would never thirst again, now experiences the
profound thirst of abandonment and suffering. Yet even in this moment of human need,
His thirst reaches beyond physical pain. He thirsts for souls, for the completion of His Fa-
ther’s will, for the restoration of broken humanity to divine fellowship.
“It is finished,” He declares. Not ended but completed, accomplished, and brought to
perfect fulfillment. The work the Father gave Him to do has reached its conclusion. The
debt of sin has been paid in full. The barrier between God and humanity has been torn
down. Death itself has been conquered by the One who chose to enter its domain.
Throughout the passion of Christ, we see divine sovereignty at work through hu-
man actions, without taking away people’s responsibility for their choices. Pilate makes
his choice, the crowds make theirs, and the soldiers fulfill their duties, yet God’s purposes
advance through each decision. This reveals how God’s love is so great that He can bring
good even from the worst that humanity can do.
For us who stand at a distance of two thousand years, these events speak directly
to our condition. We share the same reality with others who experience the dominance of
earthly powers and the triumph of injustice and the universal presence of suffering. The
Holy Cross demonstrates that God remains faithful to His creation despite all appearanc-
es. Through Christ’s voluntary sacrifice we understand that apparent defeat can become
the perfect victory. The appearance of weakness proves to be the strongest possible
force.
When we face our own moments of testing, when the serpents of despair and
doubt bite at our hearts, we can look upon Christ’s Cross and find healing. Not because
suffering is good in itself, but because God has entered our suffering and transformed it
from within. The King who rules from a cross shows us that love’s power is made perfect
in weakness.
The Theotokos, the woman who brought forth the Savior into the world, now
watches Him give His life for the world’s salvation. Theotokos’ faithfulness from Beth-
lehem to Golgotha demonstrates that God’s greatest works require patient endurance
through seasons we cannot comprehend. Her presence at the Holy Cross becomes a
model for all who would follow Christ through suffering into glory.
We are invited to take our place in this scene. We stand with Saint John, entrust-
ed with caring for those Christ loves. We kneel with Panaghia, offering our hearts to be
pierced by the sword of understanding. We recognize ourselves in the crowd, sometimes
crying for His release, sometimes calling for His crucifixion, and always in need of the
mercy that flows from His wounded side.
The Holy Cross reveals both the depth of human sin and the greater depth of
divine love. It shows us what we are capable of in our worst moments and what God is
capable of in His unconditional love. Here, divine justice and mercy meet, embrace, and
become one in the person of Jesus Christ.
“It is finished.” These words echo through every generation, proclaiming that the
work of redemption is complete, that access to God has been secured, that death has lost
its sting. Yet they also call us to enter into that finished work, to allow Christ’s completed
sacrifice to transform our incomplete lives into offerings of love and service.
The Orthodox Church has always understood that Christ’s passion is not just a
historical event we remember but a living reality we enter through the Holy Sacraments.
In the Divine Liturgy, we don’t simply commemorate the Holy Cross. We participate in it.
When we approach the chalice, we receive the very Body and Blood that was offered and
shed on Golgotha. The Holy Eucharist makes present the eternal sacrifice, allowing us to
stand with the Theotokos and Saint John at the foot of the Holy Cross in every celebra-
tion.
This sacramental reality transforms our understanding of suffering and death. In
Holy Baptism, we die with Christ and rise with Him. In Holy Chrismation, we are sealed
with the Holy Spirit, Who proceeds from the Father and is sent by the Son. In the Eucha-
rist, we become what we receive: the Body of Christ. The cross is not just something that
happened to Jesus, but something that happens in us as we are conformed to His death
and resurrection.
The Church marks the Elevation of the Holy Cross on September 14th to reveal
this essential truth. Saint Helena revealed the authentic Holy Cross in Jerusalem to the
people through her act of elevation. The people were not worshiping a relic from the past
during this event. They declared the triumph which turns every human pain into victory.
The troparion of the feast declares: “O Lord, save Your people and bless Your inheritance,
granting victory to the faithful over their adversaries, and protecting Your commonwealth
by the power of Your Cross.”
The Church elevates the Holy Cross as the instrument of our salvation. During the
feast, as the faithful bow before the elevated Holy Cross and sing, “Before Your Cross we
bow down, O Master,” we participate in the same reality that Mary and John witnessed at
Calvary. The cross that once stood as a symbol of shame and defeat now shines forth as
the tree of life, the bridge between earth and heaven.
Saint John Chrysostom captures this truth: “When you see the Lord sacrificed and
lying there, and the priest standing over the sacrifice and praying, and all the people
reddened by that precious blood, do you think you are still among men and standing on
earth? Are you not at once transported to heaven?”
This mystical participation in Christ’s passion extends to our daily lives. Every act
of self-sacrifice, every moment of choosing love over self-interest, every acceptance of
suffering for the sake of others becomes a sharing in the Holy Cross. The Orthodox under-
standing of theosis (our transformation into the likeness of God) finds its pathway through
the Holy Cross. We become divine by grace because God became man by love, and that
divine-human love was perfected in the willing acceptance of death.
The royal doors of the iconostasis open during the Divine Liturgy to reveal the altar
where this mystery unfolds. Like the torn veil of the temple, these doors symbolize the
access to the Holy of Holies that Christ’s death has won for us. The priest elevates the
Holy Gifts just as Christ was lifted up on the Holy Cross, and in that elevation, heaven and
earth are joined.
Ultimately, we are confronted with the central question of existence: Who is Jesus?
Is He simply a good teacher wrongly condemned? Is He a revolutionary who miscalcu-
lated, a deluded man who claimed too much? Or is He truly what Pilate unwittingly pro-
claimed—the King whose kingdom is not of this world, whose throne is a cross, whose
crown is made of thorns, and whose power is revealed through love unto death?
The answer we give shapes how we understand this story of human salvation, how we live
our present lives, how we approach the Holy Sacraments, and how we prepare for our
eternal destiny and final reunion in the Kingdom of God.
