John 19:6-11, 13-20, 25-28, 30
At that time, when the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no crime in him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he has made himself the Son of God.” When Pilate heard these words, he was the more afraid; he entered the praetorium again and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave no answer. Pilate therefore said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?” Jesus answered him, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore, he who delivered me to you has the greater sin.” When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called the Pavement, and in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote a title and put it on the cross; it read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. Then when Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished”; and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Our Gospel reading today gives us part of the account of our Lord’s suffering and death on the Cross which is recorded for us in the Gospel of Saint John. It is an entirely appropriate reading for this day, the Sunday when we mark the Elevation of the Venerable and Life-Giving Cross upon which Jesus died for us, the day when we recall the finding of our Lord’s Cross by Saint Helena, the mother of Saint Constantine, the first Christian emperor of the Roman Empire.
The story of her great discovery is doubtless familiar to you. Therefore, I will only recount the details very briefly. St Helena, a woman of great piety, was moved to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The site of our Lord’s sepulchre was well known. Pagans had decided to desecrate this sacred place by raising up a temple to Venus, the Roman goddess of sexual love. There she was worshiped by way of degenerate acts of lewd depravity, acts which would have made the residents of an ordinary brothel blush.
Thankfully, with the recognition of Christianity as the religion of the Empire, the hateful practices were ended. St Helena was inspired to have the temple destroyed and the ground beneath excavated. Three crosses were uncovered near the tomb of our Lord. There was, of course, great excitement; might one be the Cross of Christ? But if so, how to tell?
There followed further inspiration. A test by which the truth could be known occurred to St Makarios, archbishop of the Holy City. He had a gravely ill woman brought to where the three crosses lay. To the amazement of all present, as soon as she was carried close to one, she was cured, instantly and completely. And by this all knew at once that this was the Cross on which our Saviour died.
Let us return to the destruction of the temple of Venus. To the modern, secular ear, this seems wrong. But this is because to them all religions are equal. This is an easy attitude to adopt if you believe in nothing and think all religions are equally false.
There are, of course, some who call themselves Christians who espouse this view. Concerning whom one must conclude that they do not have a great deal of faith in their own Faith. For we read in sacred scripture that these idols that others worship as gods are in fact demons. The manner in which Venus was worshiped in Jerusalem speaks to that. Only a demon would require men and women to degrade themselves in such a way.
This is not to suggest that Christians should not be tolerant of those who do not know Christ. God created us all in His image and gave each of us free will. How others use that free will is no concern of ours, provided that their exercise of free will does not impact on ours. We must tolerate their choices, even as we expect them to tolerate ours.
However, it is to be remembered that tolerance is not the same thing as approval. After all, there is no need to tolerate what we approve of. Approval means we think something is good. Tolerance, on the other hand, is reserved for those things we think are less than good; but as long as they do not cause harm to others or harm those who engage in them unduly, we are willing to tolerate them.
But we must never allow tolerance to blind us to truth. And we know as Christians that Truth is a Person, and that Person is Christ, the One Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He is the One Who came into the world that all might be saved. He is the One Who saves us by His Cross. Therefore, today we glorify His Cross, grateful for its power to save, grateful that our Lord died upon it that we might be saved. Amen.
The Holy Orthodox Order of St George the Great Martyr works tirelessly to help those in need. We focus particularly on our brothers and sisters in Christ who live in the Holy Land and those who suffer because of their Christian faith. However, we strive to help all in need. Funds are desperately needed at this time to help those facing the horrors of war in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria. Please help if you can by making a donation to the Order. And please keep all those who suffer in your prayers. Thank you and may God bless you.
