Where it is indicated that Christ crucified on the cross. What cross right? Why we don't wear fish sign
His accurate copy appeared recently in the Samara temple.
In the Samara Temple in honor of St. Spiridon Trimifuntsky before Easter, a new shrine has appeared - the cross of the Lord, made by exact dimensions Life-giving crosswhere the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. Going into the room sunday school And seeing the cross, stop in front of him in amazement and involuntary trepidation: it felt the divine saving strength of Christ Crup. The vertical beam of the cross almost rests on the high ceiling. It seems incredible that one person could carry such a huge cross.
Once on the cross, the victim would have a body weight suspended in her arms. In this position it is difficult to completely exhale. The victim could break a little, but in the end it would be forced to rise to sigh. At this point there are three things. The nail through the legs is likely to hit the two main nerves passing through the area. When the victim pushed his breath, the wrists rotate against the nail, irritating the nerves and causing strong pain in hand. Some authorities also believe that the crucifixion position will cause shoulder or elbow any movement aggravated pain from these injuries. Wounds of the victims back from the beat will be pushed to the coarse part of the central part. This, as a rule, will reveal the wounds again, which will lead to pain and blood loss.
- His feet are fully supported at the foot of the victim.
- The result will be painful pain in the legs.
- Nails in the wrists are likely to piercing the main nerve running in hand.
Cross Lord - chief symbol Christianity. This is an instrument of the passion of Christ and the instrument of our cleansing from sins. According to the reverend nectaria, the old man Optina, "break out of fuss, chaos, idleness, emptiness, death human heart It will be able only when it will continue from the Crucifixion of Christ. As two thousand years ago, and today, nowadays the Cross of the Lord stands in the midst of the whole universe, and it is impossible to bypass it. "
In the end, the victim will no longer be able to rise and suffocate. Shock from the loss of blood due to the scourge will speed up this process. In some cases, the feet of the victims were broken to finish it. This would prevent the victim to be able to climb and suffocate in a matter of minutes.
Features of the crucifixion of Jesus
The crucifixion of Jesus basically followed the standard procedure, although there were some differences. There is a condition called hemogrosis or hematosis, which occurs in people under strong physical or emotional stress. The blood vessels in their sweat glands break and pass blood into the sweat. The effect is one of the patting blood. Several prestiges believe that this is a plausible explanation of what happened to Jesus.
But in our Orthodox churches exact copies The crosses of the Lord are rare. About how such a copy of the Cross of Christ appeared in the temple of St. Spiridon, he tells his abbot, the renunal central degree of the city of Samara archpriest John Mokhov:
At the very beginning of the Great Post, we gathered a parish asset, and I proposed to discuss what our exposition to Easter. The idea was that our parishioners were deeper than gospel events - events Passionate sadmitsa And Easter.
Although the loss of blood would not be significant, it shows that he was under stressful stresswhich would relax him physically. Before the beat and crucifixion, Jesus was beaten by his guards, which will weaken it. In addition, he did not sleep that night and went there and back from the court to the court.
As a rule, the prisoner carried its cross on the site of the crucifixion. The fact that Simon was oppressed by the Cross of Jesus, says that Jesus was too weak to carry his cross. It was a day of preparation. When evening, Joseph Arimafi, a prominent member of the Council, who he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God, boldly went to the Pilate and asked the body of Jesus.
And we decided to make a cross of the Lord, who would coincide alone in one with the life-giving cross, on which the Savior was crucified. Began with the clarification of the exact sizes of the cross. It turned out to be a difficult matter: they are not specified in the sources. But we managed to discover the description of the Kiyan Cross, which was made in the XVII century in Jerusalem on the sample of the Cross of the Lord for the Russian Patriarch Nikon. While Jeromonakh, Nikon almost drowned on a boat in the storm and saved, landing on the deserted island of cue in the Onega Gulf White Sea. He gave a vow and built a Kiway monastery in this place, for which he ordered a cross in Jerusalem "Mero and the similarity" of the Cross of the Lord. A particle of the life-giving cross was placed in it, many particles of the relics of saints and stones from the places of biblical events. Now this cross is located in front of the altar in the Moscow temple Rev. Sergius Radonezh in wipes.
Since the Jewish Saturday will begin at sunset, it is important that the bodies do not remain aside because the Jewish law demanded that they were buried on Saturday. Note that Pilate is surprised that Jesus is already dead. As mentioned earlier, the destruction of the legs of a crucible person can cause a suffocation within a few minutes, because they will not be able to raise their breath.
Again, it was a typical crucifix practice - to kill the victim to make sure he died before sending him to relatives. The water that John describes how the current probably is a serous pleural and pericardial fluid - a liquid that will accumulate from shock and blood loss. This liquid will accumulate in the chest cavity and lungs.
Having learned the sizes of the cross, we turned into various carpentry, carpentry workshops, but we were answered everywhere that such a cross could not be done quickly, you need to think about everything weigh. When only ten days left before Easter, I said: "Everything, do the cross for yourself!" We found suitable on the standards of wood - pine. Although the central beam of the Cross of the Lord was three-stroke: cedar, cypress and pine. The tree from which the Cross of the Lord was made by legend, grew out of three staffs. When Abraham appeared Most Holy Trinity In the form of three angels, before departure in soda to punish the city for wickedness, they left Abraham three proud. These persecution miraculously sprout into the triune tree. It became a special, sacred tree. When King Solomon erected the Jerusalem temple, lacked the same column to restore the arch of the temple. The tree was cut and made a column out of it, but she did not come anywhere. After that, the timber buried to the ground. He was just in the Siloam Bath, because of this, famous healing. When Pontius Pilate betrayed the Lord to the crucifix, the tree in the source surfaced. Jews decided exactly from it to make a vertical carrier pillar for the Cross of the Savior.
The second drink, which he takes a few minutes before his death, is described as a wine vinegar. It is important to note two points. Recall that these events occurred for the Easter holiday. At this holiday, the Issop was used to use the blood of an Easter Lamb on wooden door shoals of the Jews.
Robert Hydley. "Crucifix facts". Cross reading. This article is reprinted with the permission of the author. Robert Gipers belongs to the Episcopal Church of All Saints in Redmond, Washington, where the technical writer also works. He has four computers, two cats and one wife.
- What are the sizes of the Cross of the Lord?
The height of the vertical beam is three meters nine and a half centimeters, a transverse beam long one meter ninety-five centimeters. The vertical beam of the Cross of the Savior weighed about a hundred twenty kilograms! Our beam weighs seventy-four kilograms. The exact indications that the upper crossbar was nailed, no, in the sources it is said that, most likely, it was tied, so we tied it with a rope. The tree was laid, because the sacred tree lay in water a lot of centuries and smoked.
This is a scene, familiar from the movies and even some modern Bible translations: When Jesus Christ hangs on the cross, the eclipse sweeps the sun. But is it really a complete solar eclipse in heaven during the crucifix? For centuries, scientists discussed the exact date The death of Jesus and asked if there could be an eclipse at that time.
Why do people think that during the crucifixion of Jesus an eclipse occurred? Three of the four Gospels that fix earth life And the ministry of Jesus - Matthew, Mark and Luke, - mention that the sky is dark, when Jesus hung on the cross. "It was for about noon, and darkness passed throughout the earth up to three, because the light of the sun failed," according to Luke 23.
- Amazed the size of not only the cross, but also the guns of the crucifixions of the Lord - nails and spears.
We decided that they should also be in the exposition. Such a wide tip had a Roman parade spear, or a melee spear. This is a murder tool, such a spear can easily pierce a person through. Nails are widely described in the literature. One of them, transmitted as a gift Russian Orthodox churchLocated in the Church of Christ the Savior. He recently showed him to all believers from the Ambon of the Temple His Holiness Patriarch Moscow and All Russia Kirill. The length of the nail fourteen and a half centimeters, the weight of seventy five grams. They are really very big. Studying new tavory archaeological sources at one time, I learned that when there were people buried after the Roman execution on the cross, nails could not pull out of their hands. They were moved from the cross along with nails and so buried. These nails inspire and thrill, and dislike, and horror. The Romans executed this cruel way. The man was experiencing terrible torment when he was heard to the tree, and then long hung alive on these nails. The execution of a roman citizen through the truncation with a sword on this background looks relatively more humane.
The new American Bible even translates this "due to the eclipse of the Sun." From the point of view of the priest in the Catholic diocese of La Cross, Wisconsin, Rev. James Kurzinsky said that he was considering this question as "a by-product of life in modernist culture, which is trying to explain everything with the help of science."
We begin to realize that the Bible should have a natural explanation, "said Kurzinsky. According to John Dvoraik, the author of the book "Sun mask: science, history and forgotten knowledge of eclipses," he pursued even Sir Isaac Newton. It looks like a good natural explanation. Is there a solar eclipse during the death of Jesus?
Sometimes the Savior is depicted with penetrated palms. But blood flows on the Turin Dospider are located in the places of wrist. Palms would not stand the weight of a person, he would just fell. When a hand breaks into the wrist, the tendon is torn and the phalanx's instant abbreviation occurs thumbHe immediately "dies" - therefore only four fingers on each hand are visible on the ship, large fit into.
The Gospels clarify that Jesus was crucified during the Jewish holiday of Easter, said consolvent, which is always celebrated during full Moon In the spring. But the new moon is necessary for a solar eclipse, which makes her "exactly the wrong Phase of the Moon," he said.
In addition, Darkness, which descended during the crucifix, was too long to become sunny Eclipse. According to the astronaut of the Vatican, the time from the beginning to the end of the partial eclipse can last about three hours, but the darkness of the total solar eclipse lasts only a few minutes.
Looking at all this, you can feel that the Golgotha \u200b\u200bvictim, which Lord Jesus Christ brought for us, was indeed the martyrdom of love, which he could only bring the God for human genus.
In this exposition, historical relics are the crown and a small cross who brought our pilgrims from Jerusalem. Cross end XIX. century, three-stage, according to the analogue of the Cross of the Lord. The crown is made of a tern bush growing within Jerusalem. So tern wrapped the head of the Savior. The crown is very different from those who are brought from Jerusalem today, they are more like a rose hips familiar to us. And then the murderous needles are a few centimeters who dug in the head and could punch not only the skin, but also the bone. But this thorns of the crown is not entirely accurate: the real was gossip in the form of a hat and covered the whole head.
Not to mention the fact that people knew what eclipses are, and could accurately predict them, "said Consalmano," therefore, they are confident that darkness reported during crucifixion cannot be a typical solar eclipse. " According to the Phase of the Moon during Easter, if during the crucifixion there was an eclipse, it would be a lunar eclipse, according to the Dvoraik.
And it represents the problem of the theory of lunar eclipse: although that night was complete moon eclipseThis probably was not seen from Jerusalem, where the Gospel was recorded Jesus was crucified outside of urban walls. Maybe this theory is incorrect. "Or another opportunity - they knew that the lunar eclipse would happen that night, even if he was not seen," he said. "We simply do not have enough evidence to solve it right now."
- It is touching to see how the crumb of five ran here and kissed the glass under which nails were exhibited.
IN Good Friday The children themselves wanted and with awe carried the image of the Savior on the Turin Dainznice, nails, spear, a thorns, nails, and a reverence. One child was asked what the nails he carries. He replied: "These nails have begun to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ." When he grows, he will have spiritual immunity to any sects. Let the children already at an early age recognize about Christ, his Calvary sacrifice. Evangelsk truth is perceived by them naturally, right and forever.
So, as Christian readers interpret this darkness, if this is not an eclipse? According to Kuzhinsky, if not an eclipse, darkness could be caused by an increase in cloud coating, or perhaps it was a "poetic device to emphasize the seriousness of the moment."
It could also be a wonderful sign. Evangelist Ann Graham Lotz said she believes that the darkness "was not just creating, a pitiful for the Creator, it was not just a warning; It was a sign God's court" Christians who adhere to the doctrines of the replacement redemption believe that Jesus died as a substitute for sinners, taking on the judgment they deserve.
The Cross of the Lord was consecrated and at the Great Friday drew him around the temple. Three men who carried him, then said that it was very hard not only physically, but also morally.
The cross leads to true gigs. We negotiate with Sretensky male monastery In Moscow: they promised to make a copy for us with their own, again, copies of the Turin Distshing. We want to spend Procession Similar to what it goes to the Great Friday in Jerusalem with a cross, and then with the Cottage from the trick of Pontius Pilate to Calvary.
Lotz pointed to other references to the darkness in the Bible, including the darkness of the darkness described in the outcome, one of 10 disasters sent to God to Egypt to convince Pharaoh to free the Jewish slaves. The Prophet Joel also describes how the sun turns into darkness and the moon in the blood until the day of the Lord.
And brought up us together and forced us to sit together in Heaven in Christ Jesus: In order for the next century to show the excessive wealth of his grace in his kindness to us through Christ Jesus. For grace you are saved through faith; And this is not from you: this is the gift of God: not from affairs so that no one boasts. For we are his skill, created in Christ Jesus, to good deedswho God prescribed us to go to them.
From the editorial On the same days - from April 20 to April 27 - in the Samara Temple in honor of St. Spiridon Trimifuntsky, there was a ark with a particle of the relics of the blissful Matron of Moscow and other saints, and many believers arrived in this temple. The turn to the shrines ended far beyond the goal of the temple ...
Photo of Catherine Chevak.
Fast reading of this article: There is a wonderful story about the Kizyl tree, which is used by wood for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The story, usually told on Easter when the flower is dogwood, adds that Christ made the kizyl flowers to be a reminder of the cross on which he died. He allegedly did it, giving the flower with two long and two short petals, and to have what it looks like a nail, prints on the petals to remind us that Christ suffered on the cross of nails through his hands.
The story is rather noteworthy, but unfortunately, the legend is not true. The story of three verses is as follows. When Christ was on Earth, Rizil grew up. To huge size with an excellent tint. His branches were strong and intertwined. And for the Cross of Christ, his logs were chosen.
The life-giving cross is a cross, on which, according to the conviction of the majority of Christians, Jesus Christ was crucified. He is one of the instruments of the Passion of Christ and refers to the main Christian Relics.
The gospel does not report special details about the cross, in which Christ was executed through a crucifix. It is referred to as a ready-made subject when describing his carrying of Christ in Calvary.
Be frustrated when using wood. Christ made a promise that still holds. Never increase shorts. To be large enough for wood, and so. Slender and twisted it should always be. With cruciform flowers so everyone can see.
Petals will have blood stains marked by brown. And in the center of the flower - the thorny crown. Everyone who sees it will think about me, nailed to a cross from Kizyl. Protected and cherishes this tree. Reflection of my whole agony. It is said that pink dogwood is a redness of shame for shedding innocent blood. The crying creek is a heart cry that this tree is used to crucify Christ.
Apocryphic literature, unlike canonical texts, contains many details legendary Story Life-giving cross. However, the history of the cross as a significant relic for the Christian world, supported by reliable evidence, begins only with excavations conducted by the Holy equal to the Apostles Tsaritsa Elena and many early Christian historians described by many early Christian historians.
God imposed a lot of reminders on earth, which should make us glorify him for his wonderful greatness, mercy and love. Flowers from Kizyl can make exactly it. But we must remember that there is nothing in the Bible that Christ crucifixed on the ridge tree.
And there is not a single authoritative record, where Christ cursed the tree from which the cross was made to make him shrink forever after, or what he changed appearance Flowers to remind us of his death on the cross. In fact, the only records that we have about anything that Jesus Christ has ever said are in the Bible. The only tree in which the Bible writes it as a curse was a fig tree in his illustration of the importance of faith. And it was one tree, who had no fruit - it did not affect the whole view or genus of fig trees over the centuries all over the world, as the story of Kizyl.
The cycle of legends about the lively cross arose mainly in Palestine and has ancient origin (early lists The gospel of Nicodema is dated V c.). The main focus of apocryphic legends is made in touch cross death Christ with one of the paradise trees and other events Old Testament. Also, apocryphas are narrated about the circumstances of the Holy Cross (apocrypha "Teaching Addia Apostle").
Researchers believe that the authors of these legends did not set the goal to glorify the Christian relic, the significance of which was never challenged. The goal was to show the origin of Christianity (formerly a young religion at that time) from ancient tradition, literally "from Adam."
The apocryphalist history of the life-giving cross found its reflection in numerous images. Most full cycle Images of this story was made in 1452-1465. Piero della Francesca on the frescoes in the main chapel of San Francesco Basilica to Arezzo.
Bogomyl is attributed to one of the dualistic legends about the life-giving cross, telling about the creation of the world and the planting of Paradise at the same time by God and Satanail. According to this legend, God, when planting one of the paradise trees, says Satanail: "There will be my body here, and the tree will serve for your exile." When Satanal rejected God, then, come to look at the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he was expelled by his mysterious force from Paradise, and the devil first became black. The tree went into three trunks, called Adam's trunks, Eve and gentlemen (in the center). After the expulsion of the first people from Paradise, the tree broke out, and only part of the Lord remained in place. Part of Adam fell into a tiger and was brought by water to the ground Madiam, and part of Eve during World Flood He fell into Merru. From these two parts, according to the Bogomyl legend, and a cross was made to crucify Jesus Christ.
Another text of the legend of the life-giving cross was preserved in the West as part of the "Golden Legend", in the east known only in several Greek manuscripts.
The basis of history about the origin of the material for the life-giving cross is taken from the apocryphic gospel of Nicodemus. It tells it that when Adam was at death, his son Sif went to the gates of Paradise to get the oil forgiveness and anxious their father's body. However, the Archangel Mikhail said that the oil forgiveness to the whole world would be granted in 5500 years (the prophecy of the coming of Christ), and gave Sifu from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the fruit from which Adam tasted during the fall. Handing the branch, Archangel said: "If you can revive this dry fruit, then it is healed."
Returning home, Sif found Adam dead and put a dry branch in his mouth (according to other versions, on the head of Adam Sif put a wreath, woven from this branch, or did it adam himself, which was still alive by the time of the Sif return). Then, a tree of three surrounding trunks sprout out of it, which continued to grow the millennium before the time of Tsar Solomon.
This king, having shot down a tree, tried to use it in the construction of the Jerusalem Temple, but it did not come out due to size. The bar was used in the construction of the bridge. When Karina Savskaya, known for his wisdom, caused Solomon's visit, she bated her knees before the tree. Ascended, she predicted that the Savior of the world would be hung on this tree and because the kingdom of Jews will come ruin and end. Then, instead of step on the tree, she barely crossed the stream. Scared Solomon ordered to bury the timber.
Wood was found in the construction of a pool for the ablution of sacrificial animals. However, the water in it became famous for healing, and turned it into a healing bath (this is the Siloam Fike). After the arrest of Christ, the tree popped out of the waters of the bath. It was decided to make a cross for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, namely the vertical carrier pillar. The transverse timber, the plate and footage were made from other tree breeds. According to legend, the cross was collected from the wood of palm trees, cypress, cedar and olives.
In the Russian apocryph "Word about the Cross Tree" (XV-XVI centuries), the history of the congestive tree is given, similar to the European "gold legend", with adding the legends about Moses and Lot. However, the queen who came to Solomon is called Sivila. She, having to look at the tree thrown by Solomon, sat on him and was laid fire.
In Russian apocryphs, Queen Savskaya is often called Sivila and in a number of sources it is attributed to the prophecy about the fate of the Tree, rejected by Solomon when building the temple.
The next cycle of legends, which is already talking about the acquisition of a historical church relic - a cross generally accepted by believers as true, leads his beginning from 326, when, as it is believed, he was found by Saint Elena (Mother Emperor Constantine Great) during her journey in Jerusalem, Deal with the purpose of pilgrimage and the search for Christian relics.
Together with the Cross, the Lord of Elena were found four nails and Title INRI.
The earliest church historian of Eusevia Caesaresky (approx. 263-340) in his work "Life Constantine" reports in detail about the opening of the "Divine Tomb", but does not mention the acquisition of the life-giving cross, or about the participation in this event of the Queen Elena. According to his story, the cave, where Christ was buried, found during the fight against the pagan temples. When, on the orders of Constantine, a mound of the temple "Summountain Defend of Love", "Suddenly, in the depths of the Earth, beyond all the aspirations, an empty space seemed, and then honest and honest sign of saving resurrection. Then the sacred cave was made for us a controversial of the Savior's life. " Eusevia does not specify what was a sign. According to Eusevia, Tsarina Elena revised the Church in Bethlehem near another cave, where Christ was born in the flesh.
For the first time in the preserved texts, the history of the cross appears in the deployed form from the Ambrose of the Mediogenian in 395 in the "Word on the death of Feodosia" he talks about how the Holy Queen Elena ordered to dig in Calvary and found three crosses there. According to the inscription "Jesus Nazori, the Tsar of Jewish" she found the true cross and bowed to him. She also found a nail with which the Lord was crucified, and one of them inserted in the ultimate, and the other in the diatha.
Based on these historical evidence with the addition of apocryphic sources, the story about finding a life-giving cross was made by Yakov Voorginsky in his "Gold Legend", gained broad fame in the West.
The search for a cross, crowned with success, was carried out on the site of the alleged coffin of the Lord. The reason for this was the rabbi prescription, which stained that "... a stone, which someone was killed, a tree on which someone was hanged, a sword, to whom someone was beheaded, and a rope that someone was strangled, Must be buried with execution. " However, gospel texts, reporting the burial of Christ by his students, do not speak about the situation in the coffin of the cross. There was a chance that all three crosses used for execution on that day could be buried near the crucifixion. The consonent in his work put forward the following assumption about the possible fate of the cross after removing the body of Jesus: "The warriors, as the story tells, first found the dead on the Cross of Jesus Christ and, removing him, gave for burial; Then, intending to accelerate the death of the crucified on both sides of the robbers, killed her legs, and the most crosses threw one by one, as they fell. "
And Eusevius Kaesariya describes the place of excavations: "This saving cave, some atheists and wicked people intented to hide from the gaze of people, with the insane intention to hide through this truth. Used a lot of work, they were brought from somewhere earth and poured it all the place. Then, lifting the mound to some height, they dismissed it with a stone and under this high embankment were hidden by the Divine cave. Having graduated from such a job, it was left only on the surface of the earth to prepare a strange, truly tomb of the souls, and they built a gloomy dwelling for dead idols, the secret of the Demon Demon, Aphrodite, where hated sacrifices brought on unclean and nasty altars. "
The temple of Venus in Jerusalem really existed. It was built in the 130s. Emperor Adrian, which led to meat among the local population. It is believed that on the coins that minted with the Emperor Antonina Pie in Caesarea Palestinian depicts the statue of Venus Winner, standing in her temple in Jerusalem.
The fact of the construction of the Temple of Aphrodite on the site of the coffin of the Lord mentions both FEOFAN: "After that, it is soon indicated by a macaria place on which the temple of unclean Aphrodite was built and her statue was put. The Viedennaya Elena, in the royal power, immediately commanded the great set of masters to start to the ground and clear the place of the Temple of Aphrodites, for the big money built in ancient times by Elay Adrian. "
The place of finding the cross is currently in the underground armenian church Saint Helena. Her 13 iron steps lead to the cave in which the arrival of the cross is arranged, where the marble slab is designated the place of gain. The church has a window, noting the place from which Elena watched the move of excavations and challenged to encourage those who worked money.
Most modern historians, relying on Eusevia's testimony, consider the version about finding the Cross of Saint Elena legendary. Supporters of the legendaryness of this version note that the first mention of finding the Cross of St. Elena appear only in the text of the end of the IV century: in a fragment from the "Church History" Gelacy of Caesaresky (about 390), which remained in latin translation Rufina, and "Word on the death of the Feodosia" Amvrosia of the Mediogenian (395).
Many researchers consider legendary the very fact of finding a cross during excavations conducted during the reign of Emperor Konstantin. In addition to evidence of Eusevia, the legendaryness of this fact may indicate the lack of references to the life-giving cross in the Bordeaux Pottorator (ITINERARIUM BURDIGALENSE), the oldest of the preserved guides for the Holy Land, composed of anonymous pilgrim from Bordeaux who visited holy places in 333-334. The pilgrim reports about the location of Calvary and the tomb of Christ, over which the Basilica is built by the command of Emperor Constantine, "but nothing speaks of the reverence of the Cross.
According to many authors, the cult of the life-giving cross arose between 333 g. When Jerusalem visited the pilgrim from Bordeaux, and the middle of the IV century, when the first testimonies about this cult appear in Kirill of Jerusalem, and a little later, in his own letter. To the Emperor, the Constance, and the first mention of the cross in the time of Constantine is also found. As for the legend about finding the Cross Saint Elena, for a long time it was believed that she had arisen in the West, but recent studies have shown that its origins should be sought in Jerusalem in the middle or second half of the IV century.
Constantine's contemporary in the description of the acts of Constantine does not speak anything about the acquisition and division of the cross, nor about the role of St. Helena in the opening of the tomb, notes only that "in the most excellent of all the temple of the royal tags, in the foster deepening of the ceiling, on the middle of it, He [Konstantin] ordered to approve the magnificent picture with the image of a symbol of saving suffering [Cross], which was composed of various precious stones, richly marked in gold. "
According to Socolastik, Tsarina Elena divided the life-giving cross into two parts: one placed in Silver Storage and left in Jerusalem "as a monument for subsequent historians," and the second sent to his son Konstantin, who placed her in his statue established on the column in the center of Konstantinov Square. Information about this, according to Socrates itself, is written by them "by hearing" with reference to the conversations of the residents of Constantinople.
The part of the Cross remained in Jerusalem was there for a long time And exhibited to worship the people. This is evidenced by the message Kirill of Jerusalem, as well as the story of the notable pilgrimage IV century. Silvia (Eteriy). She tells about the rite of worship of the Tree of the Cross of the Lord in the Great Friday, as well as about the measures that were taken against the stunning of the parties of the Tresh pilgrims.
However, these precautions did not prevent the separation of the wood of the cross. The church legend believes that the practice of separating the particles began under Holy Elena - on the way to Constantinople, she left his particles in the monasteries founded by her.
The Jerusalem part of the Cross continued to be stored in the Sunday Temple, as evidenced by the presence in the IX century. Among his clearing two presbyters - guards guarding the Cross of the Lord.
The Jerusalem Cross was in Persian captivity from 614 to 628, until he was given back the Persian warlord of Jarem in exchange for the promise of Byzantines to help him with the troops in the inner confusion. However, after 10 years, in 638, Jerusalem surrendered to the Arab army, which began the victorious spread of Muslim faith in the East. The cross was divided into parts and taken out ships to Constantinople and other places. One of the parts after some time was returned back to Jerusalem, where she was kept to the era of crusades.
The Jerusalem part of the cross was lost in 1187 in the battle of Khattin, when, after the defeat of the Knight's troops, the shrine, apparently, captured Muslims, as Frank reported, the participant of that battle. He also tells the story of a certain Templier, which several years after the battle reported that he had buried the cross and could point out the place. However, the searches were not crowned with success.
The Konstantinople part of the cross was abducted in 1204 after the plunder of the capital of Byzantia Crusaders. She became a source for some of the livelihood of Western Europe. Academician F. I. Uspensky in his work "The History of Crusades", describing the plundering of relics from Constantinople temples, mentions the abducted particles of the cross.
Crosses-locked with a particle of a life-giving cross are known for a long time. They had many Byzantine emperors and other members of the royal family. In Russia, this relic was probably known for quite a long time - in one of the earliest monuments (the first half of the XI century) of the ancient Russian literature, the "word about the law and grace" of Metropolitan of Hilarion, there is a mention of the life-giving cross: "He [Emperor Konstantin ] With the mother of his Elena, the cross from Jerusalem brought [and], all over the world to his suspension, faith approved. "
One of the first relics Life-giving tree In Russia, the particle in the Cross of Evphroshnia Polotsk, brought in the XII century. From Jerusalem among other relics. The fraction of the Cross Drev was placed in Dionysios Ark, which in the wills of the Moscow Great Princes XV centuries. He headed the list of transmitted shrines, and in the XVII - early XX century. He was one of the main shrines of the Blagoveshchensky Cathedral.
During the patriarchate of Nikon in Russia, the crosses of the "measure and similarity of the Cross of Christ" began to make crosses. One of them was the Kyussian Cross, where, apart from the particle of the life-giving cross, 108 particles of the power of the saints and 16 stones were placed from the places of biblical events.
Russian pilgrims in the Holy Earth from the first halves XIX. In., From among the most famous persons, he received crosses from the Jerusalem Patriarch with a particle of the Cross of the Lord as a blessing, and later and the rewards. The Order of the Cross with a particle of a lively tree and is currently the highest award of the Jerusalem Church.
Source for creating relics, revered in Western Europe, Jerusalem and Constantinople parts of the life-giving cross are.
As a rule, Reliquaries were made in the form of a cross, sometimes richly decorated. The particles of the life-giving cross were a fragment of the relics or climbed into the inside.
The origin of four such relics from the fragment of the life-giving cross exported by the Crusaders from Byzantium was documented. They are stored in the Basilica Santa Croce-In-Jerylarusmem in Rome, Cathedral Parisian Mother of God and cathedrals Pisa and Florence. In the study of these relics, it is confirmed that all particles of the life-giving cross consist of olive wood.
The cross fragment stored in the Reliquarian of the Austrian Cistercian Monastery of Heiliegenkroitz is one of the few originating directly from the Jerusalem part of the tree. This fragment was donated by the Jerusalem King Baldwin IV Duke of Austria Leopold V.
The most famous relics containing parts of the cross are also stored in the Spanish Franciscan monastery of Santo Toribio de Leban in Cantabria, in Vienna Hofburg, in Brussels and Venice.
For its history, the trees of the life-giving cross was divided into particles different sizewhich can now be found in the relics in many temples and monasteries of the world. Falsification should be taken into account, the number of fakes is difficult to determine. Church reformer XVI century. Jean Calvin in the heat of the controversy somehow stated that the ship could be built from the numerous parts of the cross. However, the study of the end of the XIX century. It showed that the total weight of all documented cross fragments is about 1.7 kg.