The third week of Great Lent is called Holy Cross Week. You can see a photo of its main symbol - a cross decorated with flowers - on this page. The Week of the Cross, as it were, sums up the first half of the difficult journey. On Friday, at the evening service, a festively decorated cross is solemnly carried out from the altar for general worship. It will be in the middle of the church on the lectern until Friday of the next, 4th week of Great Lent, reminding of the approaching Holy Week and Easter.
The cross is a symbol of the atoning sacrifice
Starting a conversation about the importance of the Holy Week for Orthodox Christians, it is necessary to answer the question of why the cross, that is, the instrument of torment, was chosen as an object of worship.
The answer follows from the very meaning of the Savior's suffering on the Cross. On it His atoning sacrifice was brought, which opened the gates of eternal life to a sin-damaged person. Since then, Christians all over the world see in the cross, first of all, a symbol of the saving deed of the Son of God.
Christian doctrine of salvation
Christian teaching testifies tothat in order to save human nature damaged by original sin, the Son of God, incarnated from the Most Pure Virgin Mary, acquired all the elements inherent in her. Among them are passion (the ability to feel suffering), perishability and mortality. Sinless, He contained in Himself all the consequences of original sin in order to heal them in torment on the cross.
Suffering and death were the price of such healing. However, due to the fact that two essences - Divine and human - were inseparably combined in Him, the Savior resurrected to life, revealing the image of a new man, delivered from suffering, illness, and death. Therefore, the cross is not only suffering and death, but, very importantly, Resurrection and Eternal Life for all who are ready to follow Christ. The venerable week of Great Lent is precisely designed to direct the minds of believers to comprehend this feat.
History of the Feast of Adoration of the Cross
This tradition was born fourteen centuries ago. In 614, Jerusalem was besieged by the Persian king Khosra II. After a long siege, the Persians captured the city. Among other trophies, they took out the Tree of the Life-Giving Cross, which had been kept in the city since it was found by the Equal-to-the-Apostles Helena. The war continued for many more years. With the combined forces of the Avars and Slavs, the Persian king almost captured Constantinople. Only the intercession of the Mother of God saved the Byzantine capital. Finally, the course of the war changed, and the Persians were defeated. This war lasted 26 years. According to herIn the end, the main Christian shrine - the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord - was returned to Jerusalem. The emperor personally carried him in his arms to the city. Since then, the day of this joyful event has been celebrated every year.
Setting the time of celebration
During that period, the order of Lenten church services had not yet been established in its final form, and some changes were constantly made to it.
In particular, the practice of transferring the holidays that fell on weekdays of Great Lent to Saturday and Sunday has become a practice. This made it possible not to violate the strictness of the fast on weekdays. The same thing happened with the feast of the Life-Giving Cross. It was decided to celebrate it on the third Sunday of Great Lent. The tradition, according to which the Holy Week became the third week of Lent, has survived to our time.
On the same days it was customary to start preparing the catechumens, that is, the newly converted, whose sacrament of baptism was scheduled for Easter. It was considered very expedient to begin their instruction in the faith with the worship of the cross. This continued until the 13th century, when Jerusalem was conquered by the crusaders. Since then, the further fate of the shrine is unknown. Only individual particles of it are found in some arks.
Peculiarities of the church service during the holidays
The Holy Week of Great Lent has a characteristic feature that is unique to it. At the church services of this week, an event is remembered that has yet to happen. In everyday life, you can rememberonly what has already happened, but for God there is no concept of time, and therefore in the services to Him the boundaries of the past and the future are erased.
The third week of Great Lent - the Adoration of the Cross - is a remembrance of the coming Easter. The uniqueness of the Sunday church service lies in the fact that it combines the dramatic prayers of Holy Week and joyful Easter hymns.
The logic of such a construction is simple. This order of rites came to us from the first centuries of Christianity. In those days, in the minds of people, suffering and resurrection were merged, and were links in one inseparable chain. One logically follows from the other. The cross and suffering lose all meaning without the resurrection from the dead.
The Week of the Cross is a kind of "pre-holiday" holiday. It serves as a reward for all who worthily completed the first half of Lent. The situation on this day, although less solemn than at the Easter service, but the general mood is the same.
Special significance of the holiday today
The third week of Great Lent - the Adoration of the Cross - has become especially important these days. In gospel times, when execution on the cross was considered shameful, and only fugitive slaves were subjected to it, not everyone was able to accept as the Messiah a man who came in such a humble appearance, shared a meal with tax collectors and sinners and was executed on the cross between two robbers. The concept of sacrifice for the sake of others did not fit in the mind.
They called the Savior a madman. Doesn't the preaching of self-sacrifice for the sake of others seem so crazy these days? Isn't the slogan that calls for enrichment and the achievement of personal well-being by any available means put at the forefront? Contrary to the religion of enrichment now professed, the 3rd week of Great Lent - the Adoration of the Cross - reminds everyone that the greatest virtue is the sacrifice made to one's neighbor. The Holy Gospel teaches us: what we do for our neighbor, we do for God.
