The meaning of prayer
The third week of Great Lent, when the Feast of the Holy Cross is celebrated, is half of the preparatory journey for Easter. There is a certain symbolism here - the carrying of the Cross of the Lord precedes the coming death of Christ and the subsequent Holy Resurrection.
Icon of the Exaltation of the Honest and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord
This holiday originally appeared in the great Orthodox empire - Byzantium. There is a version that they began to worship the Cross of the Lord during epidemics, which constantly raged in the empire in the 9th century. People began to pray to God and ask Him for protection from illness. To do this, they decided to walk around the city with the shrine of the Holy Cross, with prayers and chants.
About the Cross in Orthodoxy:
- Conversations with children about the Orthodox cross
- What does the Orthodox cross mean?
- Orthodox cross on the grave
Today, in every church, the Cross for veneration is brought to the middle of the church under solemn singing:
We worship Your Cross, Master, and we sing and glorify Your Honest Resurrection.
Such worship means that we reverently honor Christ who came into our world, who died on the Cross for each of us, thereby granting salvation to all humanity. From an instrument of shameful Jewish execution, the Cross became a real symbol of salvation for the soul.
The second part of the prayer, where the Resurrection of Christ is glorified, shows us that after suffering and death comes an incomparably greater good - the Resurrection and eternal life. In the middle of Lent, this is especially true, when fasting people are already a little tired, and Easter is still quite far away.
The solemn holiday of the Cross of the Lord inspires hope for the coming Resurrection, supports spiritual strength, and strengthens us along the way. By His death on the cross, Christ defeated this same death, giving each of us the opportunity to inherit eternal life.
The Cross of the Lord is a symbol of salvation for the soul of a Christian
“We worship Your Cross, Master...”
The Christian Orthodox world now solemnly venerates the Life-giving Cross of the Lord. During the all-night service, you contemplated with emotional tenderness its fivefold erection with the singing of the often repeated repentant prayer, Lord, have mercy, as the rector lowered the cross to the ground and then gradually raised it to the upright position of the celebrant. This elevation is performed on four sides as a sign that the Lord with His Cross has redeemed the entire fourfold world: east, west, north and south; and then further to the east - as a sign of the redemption of a five-sense person, who constantly sins with his five (fifth) senses.
What was the beginning of this solemn ceremony? Its beginning was the acquisition by Queen Helen, the mother of King Constantine, of the original Cross of the Lord, from which, upon acquisition, the miracle of the resurrection of a dead man took place and which all the people wanted to see, gathered in large numbers from Jerusalem and surrounding places to give him reverent worship. Then the people, seeing him on an elevated place in the hands of Patriarch Macarius, who raised him up on all four sides, worshiped and repeatedly exclaimed in tenderness and horror: Lord, have mercy! This is the beginning of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. At the same time, the miraculous appearances of the cross in the sky are also remembered: one to King Constantine and his army with the inscription around him: By this you conquer - and another under the Emperor Constantius and the holy Bishop Cyril of Jerusalem in a radiant radiance, seen by all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
The Church also remembers the solemn liberation of the Cross from Persian captivity in the 7th century and the solemn carrying of it to Jerusalem by the Emperor Heraclius, barefoot and in humble attire, without a purple robe and a royal crown. Such is the worldwide glory of the Cross after its three-century stay in the depths of the earth and under the pagan temple. Thus, heaven itself testified to the glory of Him crucified on the Cross, to the holiness and greatness of His Church, which was under the cross of persecution for three centuries, and to our holy duty of venerating the Cross and worshiping it in spirit and truth, just as the holy king-prophet commands to worship him: Lift up the Lord our God and worship His footstool, for He is holy (Ps. 98:5).
It is not in vain that we honor the Cross of the Lord, depict it on ourselves and worship it, for it is the Divine power that preserves and saves us during life and after death. The Church constantly preaches about his power and life-giving power, which manifested itself in previous centuries and is now being performed on believers: he healed all sorts of diseases, raised the dead, drove away armies of demons from people, extinguished passions in the hearts of people, brought about miraculous victories in wars with infidels. The cross is the Divine glory of Christ, who redeemed in it the world that had fallen into the depths of destruction, who destroyed the curse of humanity and who interceded for him the blessing of the Heavenly Father, who conquered our death and granted everyone the resurrection from the dead. Who will tell all the miracles and powers of the Cross that happened in both ancient and modern generations and all its beneficial effects in the world?
All church sacraments are performed by the sign and power of the Cross; water is sanctified, and all the elements, and all believers who accept it with faith or are signified by it themselves; We wear the cross on our chests and through it we are preserved from many temptations and deceits of the enemy; The Holy Church marks us with the cross even after death, when it performs funeral hymns over us; The cross is also placed on the graves of those who died in union with the Church and is not placed only on the graves of obvious apostates and suicides who consciously and willingly took their own lives. And this is because in the cross, used and depicted with faith, the Divine, saving power of Christ crucified acts, constantly demonstrating His Divine power over the whole world, over all nature, over all the hordes of the enemy, showing that Christ God has redeemed the whole world with His Cross from sin, curse and death, that He has the power of life and death, that He is the resurrection and life and God of all (John 11:25).
In the present unfaithful time, a time of fermentation of minds and corruption of hearts and morals, the cross is neglected by many, as is the Lord Himself, who suffered and died on it as a free sacrifice for us; and, just as in ancient times He was a temptation to the Jews and madness to the Greeks (1 Cor. 1:23), so now He serves as a temptation and madness to the foolish sages of this age. Such is truly the fool, who has a reputation for evil worldwide - a lion roaring at the Church of God with all his followers. He rebelled against God, against His all-wise, all-good, saving Providence, against the eternal Gospel, against common sense, against the convictions of all believing humanity, against history and against all the facts conveyed to us by the most faithful witnesses, mostly eyewitnesses. It is useless to convince free blind people who have blinded themselves with immeasurable pride; they cannot repent, because they do not want to see the truth, and they will perish in their pride and stubbornness, like Korah, Dathan and Abiron under Moses (Num. 16:31). But for a believer, the cross is everlasting salvation, protection, deliverance, victory and peace.
Sinning every day, willingly or unwillingly, being subjected to various acute temptations from invisible and visible enemies and our own passions, where - in whom and in what - will we find help and salvation? Only in Christ and in the cross, only in the immeasurably great and all-redeeming Sacrifice offered for us on the Cross; Only by the cross are we saved daily from the attacks of demons and from every storm of passions, when we resort to Christ with faith and true repentance; the cross is our life, our salvation, our strength, our glory, our victory; our constant renewal, our reconciliation with the justice of God, which righteously crushes all senselessly bold and stubborn sinners.
The cross is the guardian of the entire universe; The Cross is the beauty of the Church; The cross is the kingdom of kings; The cross is a true statement; The cross is the glory of angels and the plague of demons (Light of the Feast).
Without the cross there is no salvation for anyone. Let us diligently honor the Cross of Christ and lovingly worship the Author of our life crucified on it, remembering His eternal covenant to us from the Cross: Love one another. Amen.
Prayers in demonic misfortunes and temptations
- Psalm 90
- Prayer to the Honest Cross (May God rise again)
- Prayer to the Holy and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord
- Prayers to the Hieromartyr Cyprian and the Martyr Justina
Psalm 90
Audio:
1:21
He who lives in the help of the Most High will dwell in the blood of the Heavenly God, says the Lord: You are my Protector and my Refuge, my God, and I trust in Him. For He will deliver you from the snare of the trap and from the words of rebellion: His splash will overshadow you, and under His krill you hope that His truth will surround you with weapons. Do not fear from the fear of the night, from the arrow that flies in the days, from the thing that passes in the darkness, from the attack and the demon of the midday. Thousands will fall from your country, and darkness will be at your right hand, but it will not come near you: behold your eyes and see the reward of sinners. For You, O Lord, are my hope: You have made the Most High your refuge. Evil will not come to you, and wound will not approach your body {your village}: as His Angel commanded you about you, to keep you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their arms, lest you dash your foot against a stone: tread on the asp and the basilisk, and cross over the lion and the serpent. For I have trusted in Me, and I will deliver, and I will cover, because I have known My name. He will call to Me, and I will hear him: I am with him in tribulation, I will destroy him and glorify him: I will fulfill him with the length of days and show him My salvation.
Translation: He who lives under the roof of the Most High, under the shadow of the Almighty, rests, says to the Lord: “My refuge and my defense, my God, in whom I trust!” He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, from the destructive plague, He will cover you with His feathers, and you will be safe under His wings; shield and fence - His truth. You will not be afraid of the terrors in the night, the arrow that flies by day, the plague that walks in the darkness, the plague that devastates at noon. A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it will not come near you: you will only look with your eyes and see the retribution of the wicked. For you said: “The Lord is my hope”; You have chosen the Most High as your refuge; no evil will befall you, and no plague will come near your dwelling; for He will command His angels about you - to guard you in all your ways: they will carry you in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone; you will step on the asp and basilisk; You will trample on the lion and the dragon. “Because he loved Me, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he has known My name. He will call to Me, and I will hear him; I am with him in sorrow; I will deliver him and glorify him, I will satisfy him with long days, and I will show him My salvation.”
Interpretations of the 90th Psalm.
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Prayer to the Honest Cross (May God rise again)
May God rise again...
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Prayer to the Holy and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord
Audio:
2:07
Oh, marvelous with its miraculous power the four-pointed and three-part Cross of Christ! At your foot, spread out in the dust, I worship you, the honest Tree, which drives away from us all demonic shooting and frees us from all troubles, sorrows and misfortunes. You are the Tree of Life, you are the purification of the air, the consecration of the holy temple, the fencing of our home, the guarding of my bed, the enlightenment of my mind, heart and all my senses st. Your holy sign has protected me from the day of my baptism, it is with me and on me, all the days of my life, on land and on the waters, it will accompany me to the grave, it will overshadow my ashes , it is the holy sign of the miraculous Cross of the Lord , will announce to the whole universe about the hour of the general resurrection of the dead and the last terrible and righteous Judgment of God. Oh, All-Honorable Cross! With your way of your reason, taught and blessed, inaccurate, always undoubtedly believed in the invincible shirt, protecting me from all the enemy and adversaries, healing all my ailment of my soulful and carts. Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God! By the power of Your Honest and Life-giving Cross, have mercy and save me, a sinner. Amen.
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Prayers to the Hieromartyr Cyprian and the Martyr Justina
Prayer 1, Hieromartyr Cyprian
Audio:
1:24
Holy servant of God, Hieromartyr Cyprian, quick helper and prayer for all those who come running to you! Accept this praise from us, the unworthy; ask the Lord God for strength in weaknesses, consolation in sorrows, and everything useful to everyone in our life; Offer your merciful prayer to the Lord, may he protect us from the falls of sin, may he teach us true repentance, may he deliver us from the captivity of the devil and all the activities of unclean spirits and tame those who offend us. Be a strong champion for us against all enemies, visible and invisible; give us patience in temptation and at the hour of our death show us intercession from the torturers at the aerial ordeals; May we, led by you, reach Mount Jerusalem and be honored in the Kingdom of Heaven with all the saints to glorify and sing the holy name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
Translation: Holy saint of God, Hieromartyr Cyprian, quick helper and prayer book for all who come running to you! Accept praise from us, the unworthy; ask the Lord God for strength in weaknesses, consolation in sorrows, and for everything useful in our life; Offer your strong prayer to the Lord, may he protect us from the falls of sin, may he teach us true repentance, may he deliver us from the captivity of the devil and all influence of unclean spirits and tame those who offend us. Be our strong champion against enemies visible and invisible; give us patience in temptations and at the hour of our death, show us intercession from accusers at air ordeals; May we, guided by you, reach the Heavenly Jerusalem and be honored in the Heavenly Kingdom with all the saints to glorify and sing the holy name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
Prayer 2, to the Hieromartyr Cyprian and the Martyr Justina
Audio:
1:04
Oh, holy martyr Cyprian and martyr Justino! Hear our humble prayer. Even though you naturally died your temporary life as a martyr for Christ, you do not depart from us in spirit, always following the commandments of the Lord to teach us and to patiently bear your cross to help us. Behold, boldness towards Christ God and His Most Pure Mothers has been acquired by nature. In the same way, even now, you will be prayer books and intercessors for us unworthy (names). Be our intercessors of the fortress, so that through your intercession we may remain unharmed from demons, wise men and evil men, glorifying the Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever eyelids of centuries. Amen.
Source: Kanonnik. Canon to the Hieromartyr Cyprian and the Martyr Justina
Translation: O holy martyr Cyprian and martyr Justina! Hear our humble prayer. Although you ended your temporary life as a martyr for Christ, you did not abandon us in spirit, always teaching us to follow the commandments of the Lord and helping us to patiently carry our cross. Behold, we have found boldness towards Christ God and His Most Pure Mother. Therefore, even now, be prayer books and petitioners for us unworthy (names). Be strong intercessors for us, and protected by your intercession, we will remain unharmed from demons, sorcerers and evil people, glorifying the Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Prayers for the future with interpretation.
Synodal translation.
From the Akathist to the Honest and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord.
See also: DEMONS, TEMPTATION
“Seeing the Resurrection of Christ” is included in many services
“Seeing the Resurrection of Christ” is part of many Orthodox services. It is performed on the following dates:
- On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross;
- On Matins of Lazarus Saturday;
- On Sunday Matins;
- All week from Easter to Ascension.
The chant “Who saw the Resurrection of Christ” is never sung at the Matins of Palm Resurrection.
Also, sometimes “Seeing the Resurrection of Christ” needs to be performed three times:
- For Easter;
- On Easter week;
- All week from Easter to Ascension.
In addition, “Seeing the Resurrection of Christ” is included in the rite of the Easter funeral service.
The spring celebration in honor of the Holy Cross appeared in the church charter almost 14 centuries ago. According to legend, in the 7th century, Jerusalem was besieged by the Persians and the Tree of the Life-Giving Cross, found by Queen Helen Equal to the Apostles, was captured by the pagans. During the 26-year war, the Byzantine emperor managed to liberate both the ancient city and the shrine, which returned to Jerusalem. In honor of this event, the celebration of the Life-Giving Cross was established, which over time was assigned to the third Sunday of Lent.
Lent, as is known, was observed by Christians almost from the first centuries, but its severity and duration were not standardized for a long time. Also, the order of church Lenten services at this time was just being formed, and the Fathers of the Church usually transferred significant holidays that fell on the days of Pentecost to the Sunday following them, when the severity of fasting was slightly reduced. The same thing happened with the celebration in honor of the Return of the Tree of the Life-Giving Cross. It was moved to the Sunday following the celebration - and this was the third Sunday of Great Lent.
Over time, the historical event in honor of which the Lenten celebration of the cross was established faded into the background. And now the cross is brought out in the middle of Lent in order to strengthen all believers in their feat and give strength to continue fasting, as well as reminding people of the suffering that Christ endured for the salvation of mankind.
“There are two main points here,” explains priest Pavel Konkov, rector of the St. Nicholas Church at the Semashko Hospital in Ryazan. “Almost half of Lent is already behind us; among those fasting, only those who are truly ready to reach the end in their feat of abstinence, until the bright Resurrection of Christ, remain. But they also need to maintain spiritual strength - after all, we are all weak, and without God’s help it is difficult for us. The borne Cross inspires, strengthens, and gives us strength to move on. This celebration brings joy to our hearts, that joy that will help someone not to give up, not to give up everything, but to move on. On the other hand, we often forget about the very feat of the Savior - about how difficult and painful His suffering was for all of us. And the Life-Giving Cross, as a symbol of this suffering, reminds us of the importance of the Sacrifice of Christ and how insignificant and futile our vanity about earthly goods is.”
On the Saturday before the Sunday of the Cross, a special service is held in all churches, during which a cross is brought out of the altar for the worship of believers. At the same time, special chants are sung dedicated to the Life-giving Cross of the Lord, and kneeling prayers are performed.
The cross remains in the center of the temple throughout the fourth week of Lent. The image of the crucifixion reminds believers of how many imperfections in the soul still need to be corrected during the remaining half of Lent.
In the time of Christ, death on the cross was considered a shame; slaves and robbers were subjected to this execution. The cross itself as a symbol has existed for a long time, but in different civilizations it had different meanings. With the coming of the Savior, the Cross became the personification of the possibility of our return to God, reunification with the Creator, and the promise of the lost Kingdom of Heaven and Paradise. Worshiping the Cross with the crucified Lord depicted on it, we ask God to give us the strength not to succumb to earthly temptations, not to forget about this promise of Paradise, and to continue to walk the difficult and thorny path of salvation.
Bishop Athanasius the Great has these words: “God became man so that man could become God.” Every believer can make every effort to change his soul, become better and thus get closer to the Kingdom of Heaven. And the time of Lent is the best time for such spiritual self-improvement.
Svetlana Isaeva
based on materials from the newspaper "Panorama of the City"
Worship of the Cross and the Resurrection of Our Souls
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit!
“We worship Your Cross, Master, and we sing and glorify Your Holy Resurrection.” Today, in the middle of Great Lent, we again worship in a special way the instrument of our salvation - the Honest and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord. We take him to the middle of the temple, in all churches, all over the world, we bow to him, kiss him, remember the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ and look forward to the Resurrection of the Lord.
The crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. Cathedral of the Presentation of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. Sretensky Monastery
Now the Cross of Christ is often, both in those countries and among those peoples who once showed the world many martyrs for the faith of Christ, now, unfortunately, it is trampled under foot and persecuted. They try to remove it, not show it, under the pretext of not offending people who do not believe in Christ and the Cross of the Lord. And this is done by people who once themselves followed Christ.
Why is this happening? Because people wanted some temporary pleasures more and wanted to live here, in this life, as if in paradise. They did not follow Christ and rejected His Cross, as the Lord tells us today: “Whoever does not take up his Cross and follow Me.” People followed Christ, and then, at some point, they got tired of it, they abandoned Him. And it has already reached the point that they cannot tolerate the Cross of the Lord with anger and irritation. But he who does not honor the Cross of the Lord, does not believe in the saving suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ, does not believe in the Resurrection. A person who does not want to bear his cross rejects it - he thus rejects his Resurrection, his salvation.
The Church, many centuries ago, established this holiday during Lent, and established the whole Week of the Worship of the Cross in order to once again awaken our memory and our consciousness and prepare us for the Easter holiday. By honoring the Cross, we thus begin to celebrate the resurrection, Easter. We begin to celebrate our resurrection, the resurrection of our souls, and our meeting with the Savior in the Kingdom of Heaven. What ransom will a man give for his soul? There is nothing more valuable than the soul, and there is nothing more valuable than the presence of the soul of a Christian with Christ, his unity with God. And no temporary pleasures of this world are worth it, and people who reject Christ make a terrible, stupid, monstrous mistake.
But our joint prayer can awaken such people, lead them to the Cross of the Lord and lead them to the resurrection, so today we, according to the word of the Apostle, again boldly approach the throne of grace in order to receive mercy and find grace, for timely help, for so that our hearts and souls are filled with Divine grace, so that we bear this cross of the Lord with joy and gratitude and become heirs of the resurrection of Christ. Amen.
(MP3 file. Duration 5:07 min. Size 3.7 Mb)
“Seeing the Resurrection of Christ” was processed in their own way by composers Rachmaninov and Chesnokov
The motif of the chant “Seeing the Resurrection of Christ” was played out by some Russian composers in their works.
Sergei Rachmaninov in the spiritual choral cycle “All-Night Vigil” uses many ancient church chants. Among them is “Seeing the Resurrection of Christ.”
The composer managed to achieve an expressive archaic sound. The finale is especially interesting and powerful when it sounds “Destroy Death to Death.” This is both a reminder of the suffering of Christ and a promise of salvation to the Orthodox, expressed in a musical climax.
Pavel Chesnokov also processed “Seeing the Resurrection of Christ.” But his version is based on the Kiev chant of this prayer.
