Cross veneration week of Lent. Cross-Worshipping Week of Lent with Children

The Life-Giving Cross of the Lord is solemnly brought into the center of the temple - a reminder of the approaching Holy Week and Easter of Christ. After this, the priests and parishioners of the temple make three bows in front of the cross. When venerating the Cross, the Church sings: “We worship Your Cross, O Master, and we glorify Your holy resurrection.” This chant is also sung at the Liturgy instead of the Trisagion.

The cross is brought out to believers in order to, with a reminder of the suffering and death of the Lord, inspire and strengthen those who fast to continue the feat of fasting.

The Holy Cross remains for veneration during the week until Friday, when it is brought back to the altar. Therefore, the third Sunday and the fourth week of Great Lent are called “Worship of the Cross.” The tradition of worshiping the Cross of the Lord began in the times of the first Christians.

Hymns: Choir of the Orthodox Brotherhood in the name of the Archangel Michael.
Troparion to the Cross [ ]

Choir of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra and MDA: Rejoice, Life-Giving Cross [ ].

Sermon on the Week of the Worship of the Cross.
Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

Source: Library “Metropolitan of Sourozh
Anthony"

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

We celebrate four times a year, we worship the life-giving and terrible
Cross of the Lord. Once - during Holy Week, when, reading the Gospels
Passion, we see how the holy Crucifixion, the Cross, rises before us, on
which the Lord died so that we might receive new life. We're celebrating for the second time
we are the day of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord, when we remember how the Cross was
found and how people, for the first time after over three centuries, could see that Cross on
which the Lord died, touch it as if it were a shrine, kiss it with awe and
love. We also celebrate the origin of the Honest Trees, when the same Cross,
or rather, a small particle of it, carried around in infected with mortal infection
Constantinople, returned the city to health, to life, to hope, and renewed faith in
Cross, into the mercy and love of the Lord. And today, in the middle of Lent, we worship
the life-giving Cross of the Lord.

Each of these holidays bears the stamp of that time or that meaning.
with whom it is performed. We stand with horror before the Crucifixion on the Great
Thursday, we celebrate the Exaltation with amazement and gratitude, jubilantly and
Origin of the Honest Trees. With what feeling do we begin today?
worship of the Cross of the Lord?

This worship is performed halfway between the beginning of Lent and Passion.
week. What does this Cross tell us? This entire period of time tells us about
how Divine grace Divine love, Divine power Maybe
transform each of us, sanctify each of us, give each of us new life,
eternal life, as happened to thousands and thousands, millions of people before us,
glorified saints and saints unknown to us. The cross now tells us about
immeasurable, about the amazing love of God. After all, God became a man and took on
Himself dying out of love for us, so that by His death we would be saved from the despair of sin
and from the despair of death. He took upon Himself everything human, except sin, and He bore everything
on His fragile and mighty human shoulders. The cross tells us that we
We are so loved by God that the Lord is ready to die, if only we would live, if only we
made alive from the death of sin. Being so loved, can't we these days
Lent, spiritual spring, really rejoice and rejoice? We can and that's why
Yesterday it was sung at the canon - not with such glory as it will be sung on Easter night,
but with quiet, jubilant hope - the Easter canon about the Resurrection of the Lord. This
life is not death. The cross is revealed to us now as hope, as confidence in
God's love and in His victory, as the confidence that we are so loved that everything
it is possible that we can hope for anything. How wonderful it is: to know that we are like this to God
roads!

But the Cross tells us through itself and through the Gospel reading about something else. He says that
in order to live this life, this new life, this eternal life, God's
in your own life, you need to reconsider everything. In the Gospel there are words addressed
Christ to us: “If anyone wants to follow Me, let him deny himself and take up the cross
his own, and let him come after Me.” If anyone wants to follow Me into eternity, into triumph
life, into the kingdom of love, he must follow Me now, on earth. A
to follow Christ means to enter into a new life, into a life where God and
my neighbor is dearer to me own life, more valuable than yourself. It starts with
that, having understood the preciousness of God and the preciousness of my neighbor, I
I can really turn away from myself, reject myself, throw myself away, saying to myself:
get out of my way, my concern is not about you, there are things more holy, more
more beautiful than myself.

And having said this, we take upon ourselves a gradual dying, a gradual rejection
myself. Denial of oneself means, ultimately, learning to love, and to love,
it means forgetting yourself completely, not existing for yourself. This is what it means to die
in order to live a different life, which has no boundaries, the depth of which
bottomless. And the cross that we must bear is love, caring for our neighbor,
anxiety about him, concern that God’s will be accomplished in his life,
those. to come to him too immortal life, eternal joy, rejoicing and
celebration.

And the Cross tells us one more thing: that all earthly, ordinary
conventional assessments are false. In yesterday's service there was a passage read, a prayer, where
It says that Christ was crucified between two thieves. Do you remember,
how one of the thieves reviled Him, and the other, looking at Him dying, knowing who
dies, i.e. an innocent man, as he saw Him then, turned to Him with
a prayer for salvation. The first, seeing how human untruth condemned him to death
innocent, rejected every human judgment, every false human
justice, and was indignant in spirit, rebelled to the end, and began to blaspheme and
God Himself, Who can allow such untruth. And the other, seeing that
The innocent is dying, I realized that he was condemned fairly, that even if the innocent could
die, then of course the guilty person deserves punishment and death. And he turned to
to this Innocent One, and prayed to him for mercy and salvation; and this salvation, this mercy
God promised him - and granted it. Indeed, truly, the repentant thief at the same
day he ended up with his Savior in paradise.

This is what the Cross tells us, this is why we can worship it today
Cross halfway to Easter, not with a wounded soul, not with horror, but with such a bright
hope. But, at the same time, why should we spend the last weeks of Lent
thoughtfully, reconsider life again, pronounce a new judgment on all values
ours, above all our assessments, and enter the gospel path. So that when we
let us stand on Holy Days before the horror of the Passion of the Cross, we could, together with
Walk this path with Christ, and not just be spectators, gripped by horror, and
could be with Him in the exultation of victory and in the horror of worship of such an incomprehensible
Divine love. Amen!

Week of the Cross Lent 2019 falls in the middle of Lent. Each week of Lent has a special name, reminiscent of one or another event associated with the holy great martyrs, metropolitans, miracle workers, Jesus Christ himself, the Mother of God and the Holy Trinity.

The names convey special differences in church services, in who should offer prayer and worship. This is also connected with special spiritual instructions, perceiving which Christians must unite in a single impulse, supporting each other in deed and word, let it be reflected only in prayer.

The Third Week of Great Lent is dedicated to the veneration of the Honest and Life-Giving Cross. The editors of the site found out when there will be a week of veneration of the cross, in which week of Lent in 2019. What traditions exist, traditions and rituals, as well as the history of this wonderful holiday. And let's share the most the best recipes Lenten Cross cookies, which are traditionally baked at home during the week of the Cross.

What is the Week of the Cross and when does it occur?

The name “cross veneration” comes from the fact that in the named week, services in the church are accompanied by bows to the sacred cross on which the Son of God was allegedly crucified (“allegedly” means that Jesus was not crucified on each of the crosses in all churches).

This action- bowing after reading a prayer occurs four times, starting on Sunday, which is called the Worship of the Cross, and then on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Bowing means tribute to the feat of Christ, the desire to follow him, as well as the acceptance of one’s own burden, one’s destiny, which manifests itself every day in everyday life, such seemingly small deprivations in the form of a reduced portion of food and a complete rejection of worldly entertainment.

The meaning of the Week of the Cross lies on the surface. The people have an expression “carry your cross”; it is directly related to the explanation. During Lent, every Christian tries to bear the burden that lay on the shoulders of Jesus during the days of forty days of abstinence. Everyone experiences their own temptation based on their “weak” point.

This means that in the middle of Lent, the Christian already knew “his cross” and fully felt all the temptations that accompany abstinence, against which he raised his spirit. This is a kind of act of recognizing one’s burden as voluntary, desired.

Also, the cross is a symbol of a reminder of the death of Christ and the result of the entire fast, after which comes the sacred resurrection. Thus, on the Week of the Cross, everyone can feel inspired to continue their fast, realizing for what purpose and what result they are holding their will in their fist.

Story

During the Iranian-Byzantine War in 614, the Persian king Khosroes II besieged and captured Jerusalem, capturing the Jerusalem patriarch Zechariah and capturing the Tree Life-giving Cross, once found by Equal-to-the-Apostles Helen.

In 626, Khosroes, in alliance with the Avars and Slavs (yes, Slavs!) almost captured Constantinople. Through the miraculous intercession of the Mother of God, the capital city was delivered from the invasion, and then the course of the war changed, and in the end the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius I celebrated the victorious end of the 26-year war.

Presumably on March 6, 631, the Life-Giving Cross returned to Jerusalem. The emperor personally carried him into the city, and Patriarch Zacharias, rescued from captivity, walked joyfully next to him. Since then, Jerusalem began to celebrate the anniversary of the return of the Life-Giving Cross.

It must be said that at that time the duration and severity of Lent were still being discussed, and the order of Lenten services was just being formed. When the custom arose of moving the holidays that occur during Lent from weekdays to Saturdays and Sundays (so as not to violate the strict mood of weekdays), then the holiday in honor of the Cross also shifted and gradually became assigned to the third Sunday of Lent.

It started right in the middle of the post intensive training those catechumens who were going to be baptized at Easter this year. And it turned out to be very appropriate to begin such preparation with the veneration of the Cross.

Starting next Wednesday, at each Presanctified Liturgy, after the litany about the catechumens, there will be another litany - about “those preparing for enlightenment” - precisely in memory of those who diligently prepared and were planning to be baptized soon.

Over time, the purely Jerusalem holiday of the return of the Cross became not so relevant for the entire Christian world, and the holiday in honor of the Cross acquired a more global meaning and a more applied meaning: as a remembrance and help in the middle of the strictest and most difficult of fasts.

When and how does the Orthodox week of veneration of the cross take place?

Many of these sources call the 4th week of Lent the Worship of the Cross, which seems quite logical and memorable, given the clue that it falls exactly in the middle of Lent. However, in fact the name

The veneration of the cross begins the week with the Sunday of the same name, which ends the 3rd week of Lent. Consequently, the week of the Worship of the Cross is the third, despite the fact that larger number Services with veneration of the cross take place in the 4th week.

On the mentioned Sunday, the first service with bows to the cross takes place. The next one takes place on Monday, exactly one day later. Also on Wednesday and Friday evening of the 4th week, the last service of the Cross takes place, after which the cross takes its place in the altar.

The veneration week of Lent in 2019 falls on March 5th. On this day, the traditional removal of the cross to the middle of the temple hall will take place, so that every worshiper can bow to the ground before it and be inspired by the feat done by Jesus to continue the fast.

During the liturgy these days, prayer Holy Trinity, which traditionally accompanies the service every day, is replaced by the prayer song “We worship Thy Cross, O Lord, and holy we glorify Thy Resurrection,” after which bows should be made.

If possible, you should visit all 4 services. The single voice of dozens, turned into prayer, can create a miracle, especially if our will has weakened under the pressure of routine.

Church service

On Saturday evening, at the all-night vigil, the Life-giving Cross of the Lord is solemnly brought into the center of the church - a reminder of the approaching Holy Week and Easter of Christ. After this, the priests and parishioners of the temple make three bows in front of the cross. When venerating the Cross, the Church sings: “We worship Your Cross, O Master, and we glorify Your holy resurrection.” This chant is also sung at the Liturgy instead of the Trisagion.

The Holy Cross remains for veneration during the week until Friday, when it is brought back to the altar before the Liturgy. Therefore, the third Sunday and fourth week of Great Lent are called “Worship of the Cross.”
According to the Charter, there are four venerations during the Week of the Cross: Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On Sunday, the veneration of the Cross occurs only at Matins (after the removal of the Cross), on Monday and Wednesday it is performed at the first hour, and on Friday “after the dismissal of the hours.”

Liturgical texts in honor of the Cross are very sublime and beautiful; they are replete with contrasts, allegories, and artistic personification.

Lent 2019: meals in the third week (March 31 – April 6)

• March 31 – Sunday

Second week of Lent (second Sunday of fasting). Memorial Day of St. Gregory Palamas.
St. Gregory Palamas lived in the 14th century. In accordance with the Orthodox faith, he taught that for the feat of fasting and prayer, the Lord illuminates believers with His gracious light, as the Lord shone on Tabor. For the reason that St. Gregory revealed the teaching about the power of fasting and prayer and it was established to commemorate him on the second Sunday of Great Lent.

• April 1 – Monday

• April 2 – Tuesday

• April 3 – Wednesday

Dry eating: bread, water, greens, raw, dried or soaked vegetables and fruits (for example: raisins, olives, nuts, figs - one of these every time). Once a day, around 15.00.

• April 4 – Thursday

Hot food that has been cooked, i.e. boiled, baked, etc. No oil. Once a day, around 15.00.

• April 5 – Friday

Dry eating: bread, water, greens, raw, dried or soaked vegetables and fruits (for example: raisins, olives, nuts, figs - one of these every time). Once a day, around 15.00.

• April 6 – Saturday

Hot food that has been cooked, i.e. boiled, baked, etc. With vegetable oil and wine (one bowl 200g) twice a day. Pure grape wine without alcohol and sugar, mostly diluted hot water. At the same time, abstaining from wine is highly commendable.

On Saturday of the third week, during Matins, the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord is brought into the middle of the church for the worshipers to worship, therefore the third week and the next, fourth, week are called the Worship of the Cross.

Cookies in the shape of crosses for the week of the cross

There was such an interesting Russian folk tradition– bake cookies in the shape of crosses on the Krestoklonnaya Square. Crosses may differ in size, but they are always of a similar shape; most often they are made symmetrical, equilateral, with four rays.

To do this, two equal strips of dough are placed on top of one another in a cross shape (these are “simple” crosses). or the rolled out dough is cut into “crosses” with a mold or knife (these are “cut-out” crosses).

Sometimes they are made even simpler - in the form of round cakes, on which the image of a cross is applied. According to legend, such Crosses “drived away” everything bad from the house and household members.

Ivan Shmelev in his book “The Summer of the Lord” described this custom well. I will give an extensive quote here - Shmelev very vividly showed how such a tradition is inscribed in the order of life and thinking of an Orthodox, church child. Shown the “presentation angle” of this custom:

“On Saturday of the third week of Lent we bake “crosses”: “Cross Worship” is suitable.
“Crosses” – special cookies, with almond flavor, crumbly and sweet; where the crossbars of the “cross” lie – raspberries from jam are pressed in, as if nailed down with nails. They have been baking this way since time immemorial, even before great-grandmother Ustinya - as a consolation for Lent. Gorkin instructed me this way:
– Our Orthodox faith, Russian... it is, my dear, the best, the most cheerful! It eases the weak, enlightens despondency, and brings joy to the little ones.

And this is the absolute truth. Even though you Lent, but still a relief for the soul, “crosses”. Only under great-grandmother Ustinya there are raisins in sadness, and now there are cheerful raspberries.

“Worship of the Cross” is a holy week, strict fast, some kind of special, - “su-lipped,” - Gorkin says so, in the church way. If we kept it strictly in the church way, we would have to remain in dry eating, but due to weakness, relief is given: on Wednesday-Friday we will eat without butter - pea soup and vinaigrette, and on other days, which are “variegated”, - indulgence... but on The snack is always “crosses”: remember the “Worship of the Cross”.
Maryushka makes “crosses” with prayer...

And Gorkin also instructed:
– Taste the cross and think to yourself: “The venerable cross” has arrived. And these are not for pleasure, but everyone, they say, is given a cross in order to live an exemplary life... and to bear it obediently, as the Lord sends a test. Our faith is good, it does not teach evil, but brings understanding.”

Recipe for almond cookies "Cross"

Products:

• 150 g peeled almonds,
• 1⁄2 cup boiling water,
• 100 g honey,
• 1 lemon slice with skin about 1 cm thick,
• 1⁄2 tsp each cinnamon and nutmeg,
• 1⁄4 cup olive oil,
• 250 g wheat flour,
• 50 g rye flour,
• 2/3 sachet of baking powder.

How to cook:

Wash the almonds and pour boiling water for 10 minutes. Add honey, butter, a slice of lemon and grind with a blender. Mix flour, baking powder and spices. Pour the nut-honey syrup into the flour and knead the dough, which should eventually be rolled into a ball.
Leave the dough in the refrigerator for half an hour, then roll it out into a thin layer (about 5 mm) and cut out crosses. Bake at 190 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Honey cross cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of flour,
• 300 g honey,
• 2-3 tbsp. spoon vegetable oil,
• 100 g peeled nuts,
• 1 teaspoon of spices,
• 1 lemon,
• 1 teaspoon soda, raisins.

Preparation

Grind the kernels of nuts (walnuts, almonds or hazel) thoroughly or mince them, combine with honey, add vegetable oil, spices and finely grated lemon with zest.

Mix the mixture, add flour mixed with soda and knead the dough.

Roll it out, cut crosses with a notch or a knife, put the raisins on top and bake in the oven.
To flavor cookies, you can use various spices: cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, etc., as well as their mixtures.

Lemon crosses

Required:

• 250 g lean margarine,
• 3 cups flour,
• 1 cup potato starch,
• 1 tbsp. l. baking powder,
• 2 packets of vanilla sugar,
• zest of 1 lemon,
• 1 glass of water.

We bake Lenten lemon cross cookies:

Chop margarine with flour and starch. Add sugar, baking powder, finely grated zest and replace the dough with very cold water(from the refrigerator). Make crosses by pressing raisins into the crossbars and bake.

Cookies Crosses with cucumber pickle

Products:

• 1 glass cucumber pickle,
• 1 glass refined sunflower oil,
• 1 cup of sugar,
• 100 g coconut flakes,
• 2-3 cups of flour.

A simple recipe for Lenten crosses in brine cookies:

Mix butter, sugar, brine, half the chips and flour. Knead the dough as thick as shortbread. Roll out, sprinkle with remaining coconut shavings. Cut out the crosses, place on a baking sheet lightly sprinkled with flour and bake at 180 degrees for 5-8 minutes. Instead of coconut flakes, you can use poppy seeds, lemon zest, candied fruits, chopped dried apricots small pieces or dried, crushed in a coffee grinder orange peels.

Lenten cookie dough Crosses with poppy seeds

Cookies ingredients:

• 25 g poppy seeds,
• 1 cup flour,
• 4 tbsp. spoons of sugar,
• 5 tbsp. spoons of vegetable oil,
• 0.5 teaspoon of soda,
• 3 tbsp. spoons of water with lemon juice

Lenten cookies with poppy seeds Crosses during the week of the Cross - step by step recipe with photo:

1. Mix poppy seeds with 1 tbsp. spoon of sugar, add 100 g of water, heat for 10 minutes until the water boils. To cover with a lid. Rub the poppy seeds in a mortar until milk of the poppy appears and the characteristic poppy smell appears.
2. Pour flour, poppy seeds, 3 tbsp into a bowl. spoons of sugar and rub with your hands.
3. Add oil.
4. Add soda with lemon juice, add 2 tbsp. spoons of water and knead the dough. Wrap in film and place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
5. Roll out the dough 0.5 cm thick, cut out crosses. Press a raisin into the middle of each cross. Bake at 180 C for 15 minutes.

In the old days, on Wednesday during the week of the Cross, people congratulated people on the end of the first half of Lent. It was customary to bake cross-shaped cookies from unleavened dough. Cookies were baked with prayer. In these crosses they baked either rye grain to make bread, or a chicken feather to raise chickens, or human hair to make the head easier.

A person was considered happy if he came across one of these objects. The cookies were a reminder of the suffering of Christ and that every person has his own cross in life.

There was a custom on the third Sunday of Lent to fumigate the house with vapors of vinegar and mint in order to cleanse the home and drive out the spirit of any disease.

The Third Week* of Great Lent is called the Worship of the Cross: in the service of this Week the Church glorifies the Holy Cross and the fruits of the Savior’s death on the cross.

A special feature of this Week's service is the carrying of the Cross into the middle of the church for veneration. The removal of the Cross takes place at Matins, at the end of the Great Doxology. At the liturgy, instead of “Holy God,” we sing “We bow to Thy Cross.” Master, we glorify Your holy Resurrection».

The cross remains in the middle of the temple until Friday of the 4th week of Lent.

The removal and veneration of the Cross on the Sunday of the Cross is performed with the purpose that the sight of the Cross and the reminder of the suffering of the Savior strengthen believers in passing through the difficult field of fasting.

*Week is the Old Russian name for resurrection.

Hymns of the Week of the Worship of the Cross

Troparion of the Cross, tone 1: Lord, save Your people, and bless Your inheritance, granting victories against resistance, and preserving Your life through Your Cross.

Translation: Save, O Lord, Your people and bless Your inheritance, granting victories over your enemies and preserving Your people by Your Cross.*

Kontakion, tone 7: No one guards the gates of Eden with a flaming weapon; You will find the glorious tree of the cross, the sting of death, and the victory of hell will be driven away. You appeared, my Savior, crying out to those in hell: come again into heaven.

Translation: The flaming sword no longer guards the gates of Eden: it is miraculously extinguished by the Tree of the Cross; the sting of death and hellish victory are no more; for You, my Savior, appeared with a cry to those in hell: “Go again to heaven!” *

I cried out the verses to the Lord, voice 5: Shine upon the Lord's Cross, the radiant lightning of your grace, into the hearts of those who honor you, and who receive thee with God-pleasing love, longing for the world, for whom tearful lament is needed, and we are delivered from the snares of death, and come to everlasting joy. Show your beauty your splendor, reward your servant with abstinence, who faithfully ask for your rich intercession, and great mercy.

Rejoice, life-giving Cross, red Church of Paradise, tree of incorruption, the pleasure of eternal glory that vegetates for us: the troops who drive away demons are driven away, and the ranks of angels rejoice, and the copulations of the faithful are celebrated. An invincible weapon, an indestructible affirmation, victory for the faithful, praise to the priests, grant us now the passion of Christ to achieve, and great mercy.

Rejoice, life-giving Cross, invincible victory of piety, the door of heaven, the affirmation of the faithful, the fence of the Church: by which aphid was ruined and abolished, and the mortal power was trampled upon, and we ascended from the earth to the heavenly: an invincible weapon, resisting demons, the glory of the martyrs, the saints, as truly fertilizer, refuge salvation, grant the world great mercy.

Stichera for the veneration of the Cross, tone 2: Come, faithfully, let us bow down to the life-giving Tree, on which Christ the King of Glory willingly stretched out his hand, lifting us up to the first bliss, which the enemy had previously stolen with sweetness, created expelled from God. Come faithfully, let us bow to the Tree, to which we have been vouchsafed by invisible enemies to crush their heads. Come, all the tongues of the fatherland, let us honor the Cross of the Lord with hymns: Rejoice in the Cross, perfect deliverance for fallen Adam! They boast about you faithfully, as through your power the Ismailite people are sovereignly punishing. Christians now kiss you with fear: we glorify God who is nailed to you, saying: Lord, who was nailed to us, have mercy on us, for He is Good and Lover of Mankind.

Voice 8: Today the Lord of creation, and the Lord of glory, is nailed to the Cross and pierced in the ribs, tastes gall and sweetness, the sweetness of the church: he is crowned with thorns: he covers the sky with clouds, he is clothed with a robe of reproach: and he is strangled with the mortal hand, with the hand that created man. When splashing happens, clothes the sky with clouds. He accepts spitting and wounds, reproaches and strangulations: and he endures everything for the sake of the condemned, my Savior and God, may he save the world from delusion, for he is compassionate.

Glory, voice 8: Today, an inviolable being, touches me, and suffers passions, free me from passions. Give light to the blind, from lawless lips they spit on you, and give lashes to the wounds of those who are captured. Seeing this Pure Virgin and Mother on the Cross is painfully prophetic: alas for me, My Child, why have you done this? A man red with kindness above all others, lifeless, sightless, appearing without appearance, below kindness. Alas for Me, My Light! I cannot see You while you sleep, I am wounded in the womb, and My heart is pierced by a fierce weapon. I sing of Your passion, I bow to Your compassion, long-suffering glory to You.

And now, the same voice: Today the prophetic word has been fulfilled: behold, we worship in the place where Thy feet stand, Lord: and having tasted the Tree of Salvation, we have gained freedom from sinful passions, through the prayers of the Mother of God, who alone loves mankind.

* Prayers with translation into Russian, explanations and notes by N. Nakhimov, 1912.

Gospel at Liturgy

And calling the people with His disciples, He said to them: If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for the sake of Me and the Gospel will save it. Because what benefit to man what if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul? Or what ransom will a man give for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy Angels. And he said to them, “Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God come with power.”

Saint Theophan the Recluse

“If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me” (Mark 8:34). You cannot follow the Lord the Crusader without a cross; and all those who follow Him will certainly come with a cross. What is this cross? All sorts of inconveniences, hardships and sorrows, coming both from outside and from within, on the path of conscientious fulfillment of the Lord’s commandments in life in accordance with the spirit of His instructions and requirements. Such a cross is so intertwined with a Christian that where there is a Christian, there is this cross, and where this cross is not, there is no Christian. All-round benefits and a life of pleasure do not suit a true Christian. His task is to cleanse and correct himself. He is like a patient who needs to do cauterizations and cuttings, but how can this be done without pain? He wants to escape from the captivity of a strong enemy - but how can this happen without struggle and wounds? He must go against all the orders around him, and this is how to endure without inconvenience and embarrassment. Rejoice, feeling the cross on yourself, for this is a sign that you are following the Lord, the path of salvation, to paradise. A little patience. This is the end and crowns!

Dictionary

The services of Great Lent, as well as the preparatory weeks for it (starting with the Week of the Publican and the Pharisee and ending with Great Saturday), i.e. period, amounting to a total of 70 days, are placed in the liturgical book called Triodius Lenten.

“Triod” (in Greek - “Triodion”, i.e. three-song - from the words “trio” - three and “odi” - song) received its name from the fact that it contains the most tripongs (canons) , consisting of only three songs).

The Triodion owes its spread and use to St. Cosmas of Maium (8th century), a contemporary of St. John of Damascus. Many three songs belong to earlier songwriters, for example, St. Andrew of Crete, who owns the three songs at Compline for the week of Vai, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday of Holy Week, as well as the great canon read on the first and fifth weeks of Great Lent.

In the 9th century, the Monks Josiah and Theodore the Studites collected everything that had been written before them, put it in proper order, added many of their stichera and canons, and thus the Triodion was formed, containing about 160 services - large and small.

In the 14th century, the Lenten Triodion was supplemented by synaxarions compiled by Nicephorus Callistus.

Calendar for the next week:

Thursday, March 22 - Polyeleos Feast - 40 martyrs who suffered in Lake Sebaste.
Saturday, March 24 - commemoration of the departed.
Sunday, March 25 - St. John Climacus.

The Week of the Cross is the third Sunday of Lent, followed by the Week of the Cross. To avoid confusion, we must take into account that in those days Sundays were called a week, and what is called a week now was called a week. So, speaking modern language The Week of the Cross is the 3rd week of Lenten, its middle, when fasting becomes most strict. It turns out that it begins not on Monday, but on Sunday, and the name is given not to the week ahead, but to the week ago.

This celebration in honor of the Life-giving Cross, on which Jesus was crucified, appeared fourteen centuries ago, during the time of the Crusaders. The cross was discovered in 326 by the holy Queen Helena during her pilgrimage to Jerusalem. This pilgrimage was also undertaken for the purpose of conducting excavations to find Christian relics. During the Iranian-Byzantine War, the Patriarch of Jerusalem Zacharias was captured, and the Life-Giving Cross, one of the main Christian relics, disappeared.

According to existing legends, in the spring of 631, after the victorious end of the war, the missing Cross was brought into the city by the emperor himself, and with him walked the jubilant Patriarch of Jerusalem, released from captivity. It was from that time, first only in Jerusalem, that they began to celebrate great holiday Week of the Cross - the return of the Lord's Cross to Jerusalem. Over time, this celebration ceased to be only Jerusalem. The Week of the Cross has become very significant for all Christians, serving as a reminder of the sacrifice of Jesus and support in the middle of Lent - the strictest of all Christian fasts.

At that time, the duration and strict rules of Great Lent, as well as the rules of Lenten church services, had not yet been finally determined. It was then that the tradition of moving holidays during Lent from weekdays to Saturdays or Sundays arose. The celebration dedicated to the return of the Cross was established as a holiday on the third Sunday of Lent.

According to the tradition that already existed then, in the middle of Lent they began to actively prepare for baptism everyone who wanted to be baptized on Easter. This preparation began precisely with the veneration of the Cross. Since Wednesday of the Week of the Cross, an additional liturgy has appeared at each liturgy, that is, a prayer request for those preparing for baptism.

The sacred meaning of the Week of the Cross

On Saturday, before the third Lenten Sunday, the Cross, decorated with flowers, is taken from the altar to the middle of the church. This solemn action reminds not only of the suffering of Jesus, but also of the approaching holiday of the Bright Resurrection of Christ and serves to inspire and strengthen those who fast during a difficult fast.

Christians compare the Cross with the tree of life from Paradise, or with a tree in the shade of which tired wanderers can rest. According to the church interpretation, the Cross is like a tree that Moses put in the bitter waters of the Marah River so that they would become sweet for the Jewish people who wandered for 40 years in the desert.

The Church also equates the carried Cross to an army banner, which is carried onto the battlefield to give soldiers courage in an effort to defeat the enemy. It is believed that by looking at the Life-Giving Cross the way soldiers look at their banner in battle, believers feel a surge of strength to continue observing all the requirements of Lent, since nothing can spiritually support a Christian except looking at the Cross on which the Lord himself suffered.

It is obvious that the tradition of carrying the Cross arose among the earliest Christians. It is described back in the 4th century by John Chrysostom. On the Week of the Cross, prayers are said calling on believers to overcome their passions, remembering biblical heroes who overcome any obstacles with the power of faith. The Church prays for the granting of patience and firmness to people in order not to deviate from the path of repentance, which leads to the forgiveness of sins. But the Church calls to always remember that the Savior makes it easier to accomplish the feat of fasting, through prayers and love for people. Therefore, people must firmly know that only through their good deeds and prayers can they earn God’s mercy.

This week, all believers should venerate the cross and pray to the Savior to give them strength to observe another long period of Lent. The exposed Cross of the Lord should remind believers that Jesus endured great suffering for the sake of people, and help them understand that their suffering is insignificant compared to what the Savior endured for the sake of people. In gratitude to Him, it is necessary to observe to the end all the requirements of Great Lent, and, most importantly, spiritual fasting is more important than a temporary dietary restriction.

Services on the Week of the Cross

During the Week of the Cross, special services are also held: passions, that is, “suffering.” At passions, the Gospel is read about the suffering of Christ, about the history that took place in the Garden of Gethsemane and on Calvary, and an instructive sermon about the atonement of sins is always read.

In addition, akathists are also read - large prayers to the Cross of Christ or the Passion of the Lord. The texts of these prayers have not changed for several centuries. By listening to akathists, believers have the opportunity to feel the experiences of their ancestors and, in addition, hear the beauty and purity Slavic language. Listening to passions in the temple has big influence on believers, gives them comfort and edification. Nothing can more spiritually support a person who has undertaken a “long journey” - Great Lent - except a glance directed at the cross on which the Lord suffered.

Lent is a difficult period for all Christian believers. This is the time to destroy the “former” person within yourself, the time to expel bad habits and passionate desires. Therefore, it is very important to remember the torment on the cross of Jesus, which he endured for the salvation of people. The cross leads people to repentance of their sins and, at the same time, gives hope for resurrection after cleansing from sins. Every person has his own difficulties, illnesses, sorrows and sins, that is, his own Cross. The week of the veneration of the cross reminds us that we must bear this cross without grumbling, thanking the Lord and remembering the immeasurable torment and subsequent resurrection of Christ.

It becomes clear that Christianity is a very tough religion. Suffering on the Cross is the main act of Jesus in which Christians believe. This is both huge help people, and an unusually harsh diagnosis for them. And when help comes in such an unlimited volume, it is no longer just help, but salvation. Salvation is necessary if the threat is increased by powerlessness in the face of it.

When the Cross is brought to the middle of the temple, the clergy, together with the parishioners, make three bows in front of it, accompanying them with the chant: “We worship Your Cross, Master, and we glorify Your Holy Resurrection.” That's why this week is called the Worship of the Cross.

There are four such worships during the week: Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The solemn texts of the prayers offered during veneration at the cross are extremely beautiful and poetic, with many allegories and artistic personifications of biblical characters. All the hymns talk about the Life-Giving Cross, but not at all about the great suffering of Jesus during the crucifixion, but, on the contrary, about his victory over death. These chants anticipate the imminent onset of the Light Christ's Resurrection. The cross is glorified as the bearer of life, the victorious dark force of death. It is noteworthy that during this service there is no usual Saturday reading of the Gospel about the miraculous resurrection of Christ. Instead, a poetic prayer is said to the glory of the Mother of God.

The Holy Cross is in the middle of the temple until the end of the week. On Friday, before Divine Liturgy, the clergy return him to the altar. On Saturday the service takes place as usual, and from Monday - in the order of fasting.

The word about the cross...for us who are being saved is the power of God.
1 Cor. 1, 18

On Sunday of the third week of Great Lent, at the all-night vigil, the Life-Giving Cross is brought into the center of the church, which the believers worship throughout the week.

Just as a traveler, tired from a long journey, rests under a spreading tree, so Orthodox Christians, performing spiritual journey to Heavenly Jerusalem - for the Passover of the Lord, they find the “Tree of the Cross” in the middle of the journey, so that under its shade they can gain strength for the further journey. Or just as before the arrival of a king returning with victory, his banners and scepters march first, so the Cross of the Lord precedes Christ’s victory over death - the Bright Resurrection.

During this worship the song is sung:

We bow to Your Cross, Master, and we glorify Your Holy Resurrection.

In the middle of Lent, the Church exposes the Cross to believers in order to, by reminding them of the suffering of the Lord’s death, inspire and strengthen those who fast to continue the feat of fasting. The veneration of the Cross continues in the fourth week of Lent - until Friday, and therefore the entire fourth week is called the veneration of the Cross.

“The cross is the guardian of the entire universe, the cross is the beauty of the church, the cross is the power of kings, the cross is the strengthening of believers, the cross is the glory of angels and the plague of demons.” This is how one of the church hymns explains the meaning of the cross for the whole world. “With the reed of the cross, having dipped it in the red ink of Your blood, You, Lord, royally signed for us the forgiveness of sins,” says one of the stichera of the holiday.

About the Worship of the Cross

... “The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18). For the spiritual man judges all things, but the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:15, 14). For this is madness for those who do not accept with faith and do not think about the Goodness and Omnipotence of God, but investigate divine affairs through human and natural reasoning, for everything that belongs to God is above nature and reason and thought. And if someone begins to weigh: how God brought everything from non-existence into existence and for what purpose, and if he wanted to comprehend this through natural reasoning, then he will not comprehend. For this knowledge is spiritual and demonic. If someone, guided by faith, takes into account that the deity is good and omnipotent, and true and wise and righteous, then he will find everything smooth and even and the path straight. For without faith it is impossible to be saved, because everything, both human and spiritual, is based on faith. For without faith, neither the farmer cuts the furrows of the earth, nor the merchant on a small tree entrusts his soul to the raging abyss of the sea; neither marriages nor anything else in life happens. By faith we understand that everything is brought from non-existence into existence by the power of God; By faith we do all things correctly, both divine and human. Faith, further, is uncurious approval.

Every act and miracle-working of Christ, of course, is very great and divine and amazing, but most amazing of all is His Honorable Cross. For death has been overthrown, ancestral sin has been destroyed, hell has been robbed, the Resurrection has been given, we have been given the power to despise the present and even death itself, the original bliss has been returned, the gates of heaven have been opened, our nature has sat at the right hand of God, we have become children of God and heirs not through anything else, but through the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. For all this was arranged through the Cross: “all of us who were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ,” says the apostle, “were baptized into His death” (Gal. 3:27). And further: Christ is God's power and God's wisdom (1 Cor. 1:24). Here is the death of Christ or the Cross, which clothed us in the hypostatic wisdom and Power of God. The power of God is the word of the cross, either because through it the power of God was revealed to us, that is, victory over death, or because, just as the four ends of the Cross, united in the center, the height, and depth, and length, and latitude, that is, all visible and invisible creation.

The cross was given to us as a sign on the forehead, just as circumcision was given to Israel. For through him we, the faithful, are distinguished from the unbelievers and are known. He is a shield and a weapon, and a monument to victory over the devil. He is a seal so that the Destroyer will not touch us, as Scripture says (Ex. 12, 12, 29). He is the rebellion of those who lie down, the support of those who stand, the staff of the weak, the staff of the shepherd, the returning guide, the prosperous path to perfection, the salvation of souls and bodies, the deviation from all evils, the author of all good things, the destruction of sin, the sprout of resurrection, the tree of Eternal Life.

So, the tree itself, precious in truth and venerable, on which Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice for us, as consecrated by the touch of both the Holy Body and the Holy Blood, should naturally be venerated; in the same way - and nails, a spear, clothes and His holy dwellings - a manger, a den, Golgotha, the saving life-giving tomb, Zion - the head of the Churches, and the like, as the Godfather David says: “Let us go to His dwelling, let us worship at the footstool of His feet.” And what he means by the Cross is shown by what is said: “Become, O Lord, to the place of Your rest” (Ps. 131: 7-8). For the Cross is followed by the Resurrection. For if the house and bed and clothing of those whom we love are desirable, how much more is that which belongs to God and the Savior, through which we are saved!

We also worship the image of the Honest and Life-Giving Cross, even if it were made of a different substance; We worship, honoring not the substance (let it not be!), but the image, as a symbol of Christ. For He, making a testament to His disciples, said: “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven” (Matthew 24:30), of course the Cross. Therefore, the Angel of the Resurrection said to the wives: “Seek Jesus of Nazareth, crucified” (1 Cor. 1:23). Although there are many Christs and Jesuses, there is only one - the Crucified One. He did not say, “pierced with a spear,” but, “crucified.” Therefore the sign of Christ must be worshiped. For where the sign is, there He Himself will be. The substance from which the image of the Cross consists, even if it were gold or gems, after the destruction of the image, if this happened, should not be worshiped. So, we worship everything that is dedicated to God, paying respect to Him Himself.

The Tree of Life, planted by God in Paradise, prefigured this Honest Cross. For since death entered through the tree, it was necessary that Life and Resurrection should be given through the tree. The first Jacob, bowing to the end of Joseph's Rod, indicated the Cross by means of an image, and, blessing his sons with alternating hands (Gen. 48:14), he very clearly inscribed the sign of the Cross. The same thing was indicated by the rod of Moses, which struck the sea in a cross shape and saved Israel, and drowned Pharaoh; hands stretched out crosswise and putting Amalek to flight; bitter water that is sweetened by the tree, and a rock that is torn and pours forth springs; the rod that gives Aaron the dignity of the clergy; the serpent on the tree, lifted up as a trophy, as if it had been put to death, when the tree healed those who looked with faith on the dead enemy, just as Christ, in the flesh that knew no sin, was nailed for sin. The great Moses says: you will see that your life will hang on a tree before you (Deut. 28:66). Isaiah: “I stretched out My hands all day long to a disobedient people, who walked in an evil way, according to their own thoughts” (Isaiah 65:2). Oh, that we who worship him (that is, the Cross) would receive our inheritance in Christ, Who was crucified!

Venerable John of Damascus,
An accurate exposition of the Orthodox faith. 4