On September 14th, 2011, the Orthodox Church (together with the Roman Catholic, Anglican and some other Protestant churches) celebrates the Great Feast of the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross. Two events are celebrated in this feast: The original finding of the True Cross by St. Helena, Empress and mother to St. Constantine, as well as the re-capturing of the True Cross back from the Persians several centuries later.
This feast is celebrated with the utmost solemnity. It’s always a strict fast day, and involves many hymns that are sung in the services for the cross, as well as the procession of the cross from the altar of the church into the nave for public veneration.
Orthodox communities blessed with a relic of the True Cross (a very tiny bit of the wood taken from the cross that to this day can be found in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem) will display it during the time of this feast for public veneration.
In modern times, many people question the slivers of wood that Orthodox Christians exalt as the "True Cross" of Jesus Christ. While in this season of the Church, let us take time to analyze for ourselves the history and validity of these relics.
Is It Really the True Cross?
It seems that veneration of the True Cross was universal for the first 1,500 years of Christianity, until the advent of the Protestant Reformation. Protestant doubt about the True Cross actually started quite early in the history of the movement. John Calvin once wrote, “There is no abbey so poor as not to have a specimen. In some places there are large fragments, as at the Holy Chapel in Paris, at Poitiers, and at Rome, where a good-sized crucifix is said to have been made of it. In brief, if all the pieces that could be found were collected together, they would make a big ship-load. Yet the Gospel testifies that a single man was able to carry it.” (Traité Des Reliques).
However, this claim has been strongly challenged by French Architect Charles Rohault de Fleury in his 1870 work, Mémoire sur les instruments de la Passion, in which he mathematically calculates what the size of the cross would likely have been, and then researches each catalogued relic of the True Cross in existence today, finding that only a mere fraction of what the entire cross would have been (.004 out of a total of .178 cubic meters) exist to the present day. Of course, one must also admit that surely there are some fabrications that exist, as we know forgeries by some peddlers and traders of various religious items and relics have come into existence, we simply cannot dismiss out-of-hand the claims that many of these relics are not genuine.
We also know that veneration of the True Cross in Jerusalem began very early. Many accounts from the mid-to-late fourth century account for the veneration of the Cross. One of the most famous is the account of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem by a nun named Etheria from the 380s. She records how the clergy at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre bring forth the True Cross and guard it as faithful Christians and catechumens (those under instruction to become full members of the Church) reverently kiss the wood of the cross (The Pilgrimage of Etheria).
Some may venture to state that the 380s is a long, long time away from the time of Christ, but I would remind those that this is before the universal establishment of the New Testament canon as we have it today, which happened in the next century with the official inclusion of the Apocalypse of St. John the Theologian (i.e., the Book of Revelation). If you believe in the canon of the New Testament as we have it today, keep in mind that the veneration of the True Cross is an older tradition than the Bible you’re holding in your hands!
Does it have to be the True Cross?
In short, the answer is "no." While many Orthodox Christians (as well as many Roman Catholics, Anglicans and others) believe that the pieces of the True Cross are genuine, such a belief is not “necessary” to belong to the Church, and asking what is “necessary” for Orthodoxy isn’t even really the right question, as the faithful take a “What all can I do?” approach to faith instead of a “What do I have to do?” approach. However, it is widely believed by members of the Orthodox Church, as well as others mentioned here, that the Holy Tradition, guided by the Holy Spirit, has given us truly the wood of the True Cross of Jesus Christ. Faithful bow before it, we kiss it, etc. However, as mentioned before, not every Orthodox parish is blessed to have a piece of the True Cross. What if a community doesn’t have a relic? What changes in their liturgical cycle? Nothing, actually. A cross (usually an icon-cross depicting Christ, a hand-blessing cross or some form of crucifix) is still dressed up with a beautiful arrangement of flowers, is solemnly brought from the altar to the nave for veneration. People kiss and bow before it, just as they would the True Cross. Why?
Essentially, the Orthodox are big on iconography. That is, images that represent things. Most obvious are painted pictures of Jesus and the saints, actually called “icons.” However, many things can be icons. The Gospel Book is itself an icon of Christ, containing his teachings. Each person is an icon of God, since we are “make in his image” according to the creation account of Genesis. By venerating, bowing and kissing before these images, these icons, respect and love (and in the case of Christ, worship) are shown for the prototype. The same is true if a parish doesn’t have an actual relic. The same can also be true if the relic isn’t actually real.
What if it's still a fake?
For Orthodox Christians, there is a strong belief in Holy Tradition, but what if something is wrong? What if a relic is false? Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. By venerating the icon of something, the prototype depicted is still venerated. By kissing a piece of wood treated as if it were the True Cross, love and reverence to the True Cross and the sacrifice that Christ made once-and-for-all voluntarily upon it is still respected. Whether it’s truly the Cross, or just a cross-shaped piece of wood, it is still completely suitable for all of the respect and adoration of the real McCoy.
Chris Medlock - Chris is a freelance writer, fiction author and blogger. For Suite101, he enjoys writing on politics, history and religion.
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