Episcope Partenij: The Mystery of the Cross is the main teaching of the Church of Christ
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My Dears, when an army wins, it displays and raises its flag as a sign of joy and a sign of its victory. The people of Israel, in the time of the Old Testament, were the only guardians of the God-revealed faith, but many times were subjected to temptations (trials) because of their corporal-passions, which led them to deviate from the truth.
One of their greater temptations (tribulations) was the Egyptian slavery, when the descendants of Jacob were forced to suffer for five hundred years in a foreign land. But God heard the prayer of His people, and chose the prophet Moses, one of the greatest most righteous people of the Old Testament, to lead Israel to the land of their fathers, to the inheritance of the forefather Abraham. Supported by the great power from above, Moses succeeded in leading the people out of Egypt and, after forty years of wandering in the desert, brought them to the Promised Land.
It can be said that their long journey was at the same time both crucifixion and resurrection, filled with many temptations and sufferings, by which God detached them from the wickedness, educated (disciplined) them, in order to make them a fruitful nation. Particularly striking is the last act that Moses, who was already very old, performed before the Jews entered Canaan. Namely, when the army of Joshua, the disciple and successor of Moses, fought against Amalek and his people, who had settled in the Promised Land, Moses stood at the top of the mountain to pray. And while his arms were raised cross-like, the army of Israel was prevailing. But because he was old and frail, he could not keep his arms in the shape of a cross all the time, so his brother Aaron the high priest and his assistant Or (Hur) supported him on both sides. In this way, Joshua succeeded in defeating the Amalekites, even though they were far more numbers (Exodus 17, 8-16). So they won, not because of the strength of his army, but only because of the prayer of their spiritual father, Moses. It seems by this God wanted to tell Israel that “you can toil and fight as much as you want, and you should toil, but all is in vain if you do not have the power from above, the power that comes from the victorious flag – The Cross.” Thus, with this miracle, the prophet Moses prefigured (pre-formed) the Cross of the Lord. Soon after, his earthly life ended, and the Jews entered into the Promised Land. If one immerses oneself in this unusual event, one will discover great symbolism. Namely, the initial letters of the names of Moses’ companions Aaron and Orr are, in fact, the first and last letter of the Greek alphabet: Alpha and Omega – beginning and end. It refers to the Messiah Christ, Who is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End! (Rev. 22:13). What a beautiful portrayal of the cross and of the Crucified One!
In the time of his life, the nation-leader Moses foretold the coming of a Prophet disproportionately greater than himself. He humbly knew that he was only a forerunner of the One Who was to come and the One Who would establish a New Covenant between God and the sons of men. In the same way as him, the New Moses – Christ the Saviour, after His restorative action on earth, stretched out His arms on Golgotha and raised the Cross as the flag (banner) of our victory. That is why on this day we celebrate and triumphantly raise that flag. And that is why today’s feast is called Exaltation, i.e. Elevation of the Precious Cross, and is done in memory of the discovery of this “weapon of peace and victory” by Empress Helena, the mother of the Holy Co-Apostle and Emperor Constantine.
Symbolically, there is also a great deal of similarity between Moses’ action against the Amalekites and what happened to the Emperor Constantine. Namely, when the pious emperor, who was taught in the faith of Christ by his especially pious mother Helen, was in great temptation (distress), because he was to fight the much more numerous army of his enemy Maxentius, the night before the battle he had a powerful vision. He saw in the sky a huge glowing cross composed of stars and heard a voice shouting to him: “Win with this sign.” After this unusual vision, St. Constantine ordered the army to depict the sign of the cross and the Christogram on their shields and battle flags. The next day the army of the pious emperor won a glorious victory. This victory was an additional motive for Constantine to establish Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire. He then sent many funds and solders to his mother, the Holy Empress Helena, in order to find the Cross of the Lord and to build magnificent temples in the holy places, which she did diligently and in the glory of God. And the Holy Co-Apostle and Emperor Constantine created a great Christian Empire, he built the “City-Empress” of all cities – Constantinople and ennobled the whole territory of his dominion with beautiful temples of God.
Through the Cross of the Lord, therefore, the Israelites entered the Promised Land, through the Cross, King Constantine and the Church of God reigned in the entire universe. But that did not mean the end of the fight (struggle), neither for Israel, nor for the Church of Christ. Sacred history teaches us that there were many temptations (tribulations), many struggles, many crosses, and so it will be until the next coming of Christ. However, we know now that He came once and was crucified on Golgotha, rose again, defeated death, and He opened the Kingdom of Heaven again. Just as the Jews entered the Promised Land through the sign of the cross of Moses, so now in this life, following the cross, we enter into the Kingdom of Heaven also. After Golgotha and the Resurrection, the tribulations (temptations) of the Apostles did not diminish; on the contrary, they faced even greater suffering. But now with a clear vision of the Kingdom of Christ. They knew why they were suffering and where they were going and voluntarily took up their crosses. If they had not renounced themselves, their selfishness, if they had not put Christ above everything else, their preaching of the mystery of the Cross would have remained empty; they could have not conquered the world for Christ and established His Church.
It was the same in the time of Constantine – the cross miraculously and magnificently won and was elevated. But after that, in the imperial city (Constantinople)- which, by the way, is still crucified, and everywhere in the world, numerous and great heresies appeared. Again the Church and her followers bravely carried the cross of suffering and walked the path which was walked by the Lord Christ Himself, which is the path both of crucifixion and resurrection. In fact, the whole history of the Church is crucifixion and resurrection. It is no coincidence that the first reading from the Old Testament we read tonight was about the bitter spring of Marah. The Bible passage tells us that when the people crossed the Red Sea and entered the desert, they had no drinking water for three days, so they all became very thirsty. They finally found a spring, but its water was bitter. Immediately they began to complain against their leader Moses, who, being meek and humble, prayed to God. Then the Lord showed him a tree that Moses threw into the water, and the water became sweet (Exodus 15: 23-25). This event symbolically showed us that salvation would come through the cross-tree, but also it showed us that every medicine is bitter.
Thus, no matter how bitter the cross is, no matter how severe the sufferings are, it is the only true path for man. The cross means cutting off the passions in us, trampling on the old selfish man, who is deteriorating in false lusts, and renewing the new man in Christ. The whole preaching of the Church is, in fact, this magnificent mystery of the Cross. Such is the call of Christ from the cross: constantly to fight our passions, to think of the (consider) others, to think of every person in this world. Above all, let us love humility and preserve the truth and the love in the Church. Because, you can see, even today the Church is in many not small trials and tribulations from all sides. We constantly hear all kinds of defamation, condemnation, slander… But let us stand with faith and hope before our Lord, Who was Crucified and Resurrected and Who will never leave us.
May the mystery of the Cross of the Lord reign in our hearts and may the Holy and Honourable Cross protect us all!
Amen!
Episcope Partenij
Abbot of the Bigorski Monastery – “St John the Baptist”
26 / 09 / 2020
Church of the Great Martyr St. George the Triumphant – Rajchica
