Embracing the Power of Sacrifice: The Timeless Significance of the Feast of the Cross

This morning, Copts took to social media to congratulate the occasion…Feast of the Cross“, which is celebrated by the Coptic Orthodox Church, tomorrow, Friday, the seventeenth of the Coptic month, and its celebration will last for 3 days.

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Feast of the Cross

and celebration the church Twice on the Feast of the Cross, followed by Nowruz on the 17th, which represents the Coptic New Year, by Queen Saint Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine, and the other on the 10th each year at Baramhat.

The cross is considered a central symbol in Christianity, representing redemption and sacrifice, and the cross is considered a sign of God’s love for humanity, and Jesus Christ was crucified as part of the plan of salvation.

It is also considered a symbol of victory and pride, after Jesus Christ defeated death on the cross to save humanity Emperor Constantine the Great adopted it as a symbol of victory in all his wars and he built many churches and abolished idolatry. .

Coptic Cross Day is commemorated by:

• Redemption: Refers to Christ’s sacrifice for the salvation of humanity.
• Presence of Hope: Represents hope in eternal life and resurrection.
• Declaration of Repentance: Confession of sin and encouragement to turn to God.

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The story of the discovery of the cross

The story of the discovery of the cross by Queen Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine the Great, goes back to the moment when she was preparing for war.

After his victory in the battle, his mother Helena asked him to prepare an army to begin the search for the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified.

In fact, Helena went to Jerusalem with her army and asked the Jews about the location of the cross, but they did not help her, one of them directed her to an old Jewish man named Judas, so she sent for him, but he denied it at first. When he urged him, he informed him of his location, which was under the Mound of Golgotha, which he ordered to be removed.

As for the reason for the existence of this mound, when the Jewish leaders saw many miracles from the tomb of the Savior, such as raising the dead and healing the crippled, they cried out in anger throughout Judea. And Jerusalem, “Whoever sweeps his house or puts dirt, just throws it into the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth,” and so on for more than two hundred years, until it becomes a great heap.

When he removed the mound, he found three crosses, and he did not know which of them was the cross of Jesus Christ, until he saw a funeral pyre beside it, and placed a cross on the dead man until he rose again, and here He was convinced and recognized the cross of Jesus Christ.

Queen Helena brought out the Holy Cross, built a church, and dedicated it on the seventeenth of the month of Tut.

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A symbol of freedom and pride

On this occasion, His Excellency Dr Pope Tawadros Second, we celebrate the cross three times a year, in the month of Baramhat, in the month of Tut, and tomorrow we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Cross, which we celebrate for three days, an established holiday of the cross in the history of the church.

Continuity of Holiness: Christianity adopts the cross as its symbol and the sign of the cross, although in the past it was a sign that indicated shame, a sign that indicated execution and murder, but Jesus Christ transformed until the cross became a symbol. Salvation and Pride Thus God loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten Son so that it would not perish but exist, and from the point of view of Christianity, this is summed up in the cross. or something of the nature.

He gave us three powerful meanings for human life. Become a means of reconciliation.

The first is between God and man, and the wood of the cross came to remove enmity, was given to all mankind as a sign of reconciliation between God and man, but there was enmity between man and man, and enmity arose between man and man, and he gave us the power to approach God. provided Enables man to approach God and causes enmity between God and man.

The second is from the restrictions of sin, there are diseases of the body, and there are spiritual diseases that affect the human soul, the possibility of being freed from sin.

Third, the cross became a gain for man until he put his only Son on the cross so that everyone believes that what the cross gave us is the joy of salvation and innocence, but the Lord Christ, with his blood on the wood of the cross, redeemed us.

Like the eagle, his life is renewed through the holy mystery of the cross, but we remember every soul lost to sin. It is in the feast of the cross, the cross is the saving life of the pardoner and the healer who fills your life with goodness.

At the end of the homily, the Pope congratulated the people of the church on the Feast of the Cross and he also congratulated all Egyptians on the beginning of the new academic year.

Pope Tawadros