† Sunday after the Elevation of the Cross
† The 3rd Appearance of the Precious Cross;
This appearance of the sign of the Cross took place in this manner
Then, regardless of the true motives for their presence and against their own will but according to the Will, which exceeds all human power, they became participants in the miraculous experience of the crowd of believers.
At 11:30PM, there began to appear in the heavens above the church, to the northeast, a bright, radiant Cross of light. It illuminated not only the church and the faithful but, in its rays, the stars of the clear, cloudless sky paled and the churchyard was filled with an almost tangible light. The form of the Cross itself was an especially dense light which could be clearly seen as a Byzantine cross with a crossbar toward the bottom. This heavenly miracle lasted for half an hour, until midnight, and then the Cross began to rise vertically, as the cross in the hands of the priest does in the ceremony of the elevation of the Cross in church. Having come straight up, the Cross began gradually to fade away.
Human language is not adequate to convey what took place during the apparition. The entire crowd fell prostate upon the ground with tears and began to sign prayers, praising the Lord with one heart and one mouth. The police were among those who wept, suddenly discovering, in the depths of their hearts, a childlike faith. The crowd of believers and the battalion of police were transformed into one united flock of faithful. All were seized with a holy ecstasy.
The vigil continued until 4:00AM, when this human torrent steamed back into the city, carrying the news of the miracle because of which they were still trembling and weeping.
Many of the unbelievers, sophists and renovationists, realizing their sin and guilt, but unwilling to repent, tried by every means to explain away or deny this miracle. But the fact that the form of the cross had been so sharply and clearly defined as that of the Byzantine Cross, with a crossbar at the bottom for a foot-rest, completely negated any attempt to explain away as an accidental physical phenomenon.
The fact that such an apparition of the Cross had also occurred during the height of the first great heresy must strike the Orthodox with an especial sense of the magnitude of the importance of the calendar question and of all that is connected with it. No sensible person can discuss this issue lightly, with secular reasoning or with worldly arguments. Renovationists, like the Arians in 351, are left without extenuation or mitigation.
Saint Evménios, Bishop of Gortyna
Saint Romýlos the Hagiorite
From his youth, Evménios wholeheartedly followed Christ, freeing himself of two heavy burdens: the burden of wealth and the burden of the flesh. He freed himself of the first burden by distributing his entire estate to the poor and needy, and the second burden by strict fasting. In this way he first healed himself, and then began to heal others. Passionless and filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, Evménios shone with a light that could not be hidden. As it is written, A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid (St Matthew 5:14), so the holy Evménios could not be hidden from the world. Witnessing his goodness, the people chose him as Bishop of Gortyna, and he governed the flock of Christ as a good shepherd. He was a father to the poor, wealth to the needy, consolation to the sorrowful, a healer of the sick and a most wonderful miracle-worker. By his prayers, he worked many miracles: he subdued a poisonous serpent, cast out demons and healed many of the sick-and he did this not only in his own town, but also in Rome and in the Thebaid. In a time of drought in the Thebaid, he obtained rain from God by prayer. There, in the Thebaid, his earthly life ended, and he took up his habitation in the eternal home of his Lord. He lived and labored in the seventh century.
Saint Luke 24:36-53 KJV
37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
38 And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
40 And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.
41 And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?
42 And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.
43 And he took it, and did eat before them.
44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
48 And ye are witnesses of these things.
49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
50 And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.
51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.
52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy:
53 And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
Galatians 2:16-20 KJV
17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.
18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Saint Mark 8:34-9:1 KJV
35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.
36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
9 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.
A LOAF OF BREAD
In the time of Emperor Justinian, the chief imperial tax collector in Africa was a certain Peter, a very wealthy but very hard and merciless man. The beggars grumbled among themselves, that not one of them had ever received alms from Peter. Then, one of them bet that he would succeed in getting alms from Peter. He persistently begged alms of the miser until Peter, in a rage, hit him with a loaf of bread, since he had nothing else close at hand. Joyfully the beggar took the bread and fled. Immediately after this Peter became seriously ill and had this vision: He was being interrogated by demons in the other world. There was a scale, and on one side of it, the demons heaped Peter's sins, making that side extremely heavy. On the other side-which was empty-angels stood, sorrowing that they had not even one good deed in Peter's life to help balance the scale. One of them said: "We have nothing to place on the scale except one loaf of bread, with which he struck a beggar the day before yesterday.'' The angels placed this one loaf of bread on the empty side of the scale, and that loaf of bread outweighed the other side of the scale, laden with all of Peter's sins. When the vision was over Peter said to himself: "Indeed, this was not an apparition but the living truth, for I saw all my sins from my youth. And when I can be helped so much by one loaf of bread that I threw at a beggar, how much help would I receive from many deeds of almsgiving, performed from the heart and with humility?''
And from that time, Peter became the most compassionate man in his town. He distributed all of his possessions to the poor, and when he had finished distributing his possessions, he sold himself into slavery for thirty gold pieces and distributed even his own price as a slave to the poor as alms in the name of Christ. He was, thereafter, called Peter the Merciful.
And from that time, Peter became the most compassionate man in his town. He distributed all of his possessions to the poor, and when he had finished distributing his possessions, he sold himself into slavery for thirty gold pieces and distributed even his own price as a slave to the poor as alms in the name of Christ. He was, thereafter, called Peter the Merciful.
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