Armenian Church Celebrates the Feast of the Discovery of the Cross

Today, the Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates the Feast of the Discovery of the Cross, one of the four feasts dedicated to the wood of Christ's cross. The history of this feast is closely linked to two important events: the first and second discoveries of the Cross, which took place in the first and fourth centuries, respectively.

After Christ's ascension, the Lord's crosswood remained neglected on Golgotha for some time. According to tradition, a lame child, while playing, accidentally touched the crosswood and was immediately healed. After this incident, the fame of the Cross spread, and many sick people were healed by its power. Seeing these miracles, James, the Brother of the Lord, the first bishop of Jerusalem, took the crosswood under his care.

However, driven by envy, the Jews seized it and hid it in the Lord's tomb, placing a large stone over it. Despite this, the light coming out of the cracks in the stone continued to heal the faithful who visited the tomb. Later, during the persecutions of Emperor Nero, the Jews killed James, the Brother of the Lord, and buried the Crosswood on Golgotha, turning it into a garbage dump, where it remained for about three hundred years.

About three hundred years later, in 327, the mother of Emperor Constantine, the pious Empress Helena, had a vision in which she was commanded to go to Jerusalem and find the Lord's Crosswood. Arriving in Jerusalem, she found the city in ruins, as Isaiah had prophesied: "Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire... The daughter of Zion, Jerusalem, shall be left desolate, like a booth in a vineyard" (Isaiah 1:8).

Only a Jew named Judas knew the location of the cross, who at first refused to help the empress but eventually revealed the secret. As a result of the excavations that began on Golgotha, three crosses were discovered.

To distinguish the Lord's cross from the other two, at the suggestion of Bishop Macarius of Jerusalem, they were touched in turn to a dying woman. When the Lord's cross was brought near the woman, she was immediately healed. According to another tradition, the body of a young man was resurrected by the touch of the Cross, by which the Lord's cross was recognized. Seeing this miracle, Judas and many other Jews converted to Christianity. Judas was baptized with the name Kyriakos and later became the bishop of Jerusalem.

After the discovery of the Cross, Empress Helena beautified the holy places and built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Golgotha, where the life-giving Crosswood of the Lord was placed for the veneration of the faithful.