“If I Am Lifted Up…”

September 14 marks the commemoration of the rediscovery of the Cross of Christ in Jerusalem in the fourth century. This feast day is known as the Elevation of the Precious and Life Giving Cross in the Orthodox Church. For the Christian, the Cross of Christ is always and every day to be understood as precious and life giving. As it was elevated in Jerusalem by the city’s patriarch, St. Marcarius, so today’s 21st century Christian is to elevate the Cross in his or her consciousness. Further, the Cross is not to comfort, but to challenge, to alarm, and even offend — even more, to bring about death. St. Paul writes of this: “The message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but for those who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1: 18).

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