The Elevation of the Holy Cross

Last updated on: September 13, 2008 at 5:00 pm by Henry Karlson

The Elevation of the Holy Cross 2008-09-13T17:00:12-05:00 Henry Karlson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Legend tells us that the conversion of St Constantine to the Christian faith came after a vision he had of the cross, whereupon seeing it, he heard these fateful words:

Ἐν τούτῳ νίκα
In hoc signo vinces
In this sign, you will conquer

He took the words to heart, and believed they meant that he would gain the empire he wanted by the power of the cross; that is, through the cross, he shall have find the means to gain supreme authority over Rome. And in many ways, one can read the legend this way, and leave it at that. Certainly it appears that he was correct. By taking on the mantle of the cross, his armies were victorious. Afterwards, partly through the guidance of his Christian advisors, he was able to reform the empire from within, and bring back to the empire a sense of unity which it had lost when the Christians were being persecuted. The Church prospered through his advocacy of the Christian faith, and his power over Rome became supreme. As a reward, he restored to the Christians the property which previous emperors had confiscated from them, and helped build great monuments to the martyrs, making sure that their spiritual victories would not be forgotten. His mother, St Helen, even went on a mission to find the true cross, found it, brought it back to Rome, housing it in a church specifically built in its honor. The glory of the cross was joined with the glory of the empire, and when the two came together, Christians had at last experienced the full triumph of cross over all their enemies. Or so they thought.

Looking at the cross, we must wonder, what does the sign of the cross really mean? Should we ever associate it with military might? And what kind of victory did St Constantine really have when, even during his reign, Christians ended up dividing the empire with their theological conflicts, forming the lines of demarcation which would break the empire apart at the time of his death? We do not need to doubt the legend itself; it is one thing to be shown a sign, it is another to understand its true meaning: “not all revelations turn out according to what we understand by the words.”[1] For St Constantine, what was revealed to him was his great moment with God, and it truly had an effect on his soul; it was by this means that his conversion to God could begin. That, of course, was the primary intent of the locution: to work for St Constantine’s conversion. The words, while important, were secondary to the event itself. Yet the words, since they come from God, must be words of truth, and there must be some significance to them, otherwise they would not have been uttered. So how do we go about understanding their meaning? What was God telling St Constantine (and through Constantine, to us) by this locution?

To find the answer, we should turn to St Paul who tells us who it is we are fighting against, and therefore, who it is we should seek to conquer. “For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). The cross is the sign of victory, the victory of life over death, God’s kingdom of love over the demonic powers of hate, and even the victory of self-giving over self-seeking egoism. And St Constantine, before the end of his life, would finally understand and find that victory as he truly put himself under the power of the cross.

St Constantine was right in thinking that the cross is a weapon. But it is a special kind of weapon, the kind which the world had never known before its elevation: it is the weapon of peace, as the Kontakion for the feast proclaims: “O Christ our God, Who was voluntarily lifted up on the Cross, grant your mercies to your new people named after you. Gladden with your power Orthodox Christians and give them victory over their enemies. May they have as ally that invincible trophy, your weapon of peace.” Christ, the prince of peace, can only use weapons of peace to conquer his foes. The sword of truth, when it is used by him, cuts through all falsehood (and what is sin but the presentation of a falsehood as truth, that is, a lesser good as something more than it actually is), leaving the one who was previously encased by sin free to experience his love, to be swayed by his love, to be converted by his love. But there is no greater weapon of peace than the cross. It is on the cross where we see Christ in his full glory. Even when humanity did all it could to destroy him, it could overcome his love. The cross is his sign of victory because it shows hate has an end – when he died, love did not die, but remained, while the hate which was shown to him had come to its conclusion; thus Joseph of Arimathea was allowed to bury him with honor. Love is greater than hate, because love has no bounds and knows no end.

All of Christ’s followers, all Orthodox Christians, all true believing Christians, are called to take up the weapon of peace and carry it with them throughout their life. Even before his own ascent up the cross, he told his followers that they would have to take their own cross and bring it with them as they follow Christ. “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it” (Luke 9:23b-24). The cross is a weapon of victory, but first, to experience that victory, we must mount our very self upon it, crucify the self, and let it and all our selfish desires die, so that we can become pure at heart and see God. We must deny ourselves in the way Jesus did, in the path of love. And all true love is self-sacrificial. For love is found when we denying our self-centeredness, our ego, and all that would close us off from the world around us. Only when we are not tied to ourselves can we look upon the other in love. Love can only be found in the sign of victory, in the sign of the cross. We must come to understand this simple point: the cross is the sign of God’s love for humanity. Our cross is our response to God. We give ourselves back to God, in an act of love. Through God, we end up loving all of humanity, for we love that which God loves. And it is such love which triumphs over those who would be our foes, because love is more powerful than hate, as shown in the ultimate contest between the two on Golgotha.

Sadly, many, even Christians, have yet to understand this. They do not believe in the power of the cross, in the weapon of peace. They think ot victory only in earthly terms, and that peace is established by the force. They believe that if a Christian relies upon the power of the cross for peace, they are foolish, and not worthy of respect. Yet, we should not give heed to their laughter. “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18).

There appears to be two reasons why we see this kind of reaction to the cross. The first comes from the fact that the word of the cross tells us to deny ourselves, while our instinct tells us to do all we can to affirm ourselves, to preserve all we can about ourselves, to make sure we continue as we are now for another day. To find peace requires true effort on our part; it is easier to lash out at someone else and hope it creates peace than it is to reform ourselves from within. But the only way to bring peace to the world is to demolish the seeds of conflict within ourselves; if we can’t do that, how can we expect others to do it instead? Even if we can force a false sense of peace upon the earth, it is a peace which will not last, and the violence used to enforce that peace will be the grounds by which that peace will be destroyed. The second reason, which is not entirely different from the first, lies in the fact that people are more inclined to live in and through the things of the world as they are found under the structures of sin; they know nothing but life as it exists under the power of sin, and respond to conflicts in the way the structures of sin suggest we should act. Thus, in a world of sin, peace is preserved not by love but by force, not by giving, but by taking. We are led to believe that might makes right.

The cross is the ultimate sign of resistance to the way of sin; it shows us that the end result of our earthly, Promethean charade is the “peace” of death, and nothing else. It is so counter-intuitive. We believe that when we build up ourselves through the ways of the world, we shall have ever-lasting glory, and yet everyone who followed this path ends the same: dead. Yet. Christ, the Son of God, who let himself to be used and abused by all, to become the servant of servants, shows us that the way of self-sacrifice leads not to death, but to resurrection. When we see the Son of God placed high upon the cross, in his greatest moment of weakness, we feel even more attracted to him at that point than at any other. What the ways of the world tells us should not work, does work, for “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor. 1:25). High upon the cross, Christ shows us that victory is found in self-defeat.

Thus, it is true, St Constantine was shown the sign by which he would have victory, but he initially interpreted such victory only within the ways of empire. He understood properly that the cross would lead him to victory, but he didn’t understand what that victory was. He is not alone in this error; too many people have turned the cross into a weapon of violence to be used on others instead of a weapon of peace, to be used upon oneself. He could tell that the cross was a sign of power, but he did not know what that power was. As Christians, we should know the answer: it is the power of love. “The power, fire, and nature of love consist in the fact that love has the character of the cross; and there is no love that does not have the character of the cross. The cross is the self-sacrificial character of love, for love is sacrifice, self-surrender, self-renunciation, voluntary self-depletion for the sake of the loved one.“[2] Victory is found in defeat – where one surrenders oneself to love. Yet St Constantine, in the end, would come to understand this. When he saw his life was near an end, and his plans for the empire failing, he had come to know the uselessness of his pursuit. He eventually had to humiliate himself, and accept that baptism which he had long put off. Finally, at the end, he took on the cross of Christ and applied it to himself. He found true victory in Christ’s peace; the illusion of power was overcome by the reality of God’s love. And that sign, that sign of victory, the sign of the cross, is still there, asking for us to come under its mantle.

Footnotes

[1] St John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel in The Collected Works of St John of the Cross. Trans. Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriquez (Washington, DC: ICS Publications, 1991), II-19.1 (213).
[2] Sergius Bulgakov, Churchly Joy. Trans. Boris Jakim (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdman’s Publishing Company, 2008), 3.

Henry Karlson

Liturgical Year

Peace

Previous Post

September 12, 2008

Best Wishes and Congratulations to Policraticus and Katerina

Next Post

September 14, 2008 Obama National Headquarters, November 3, 2008...

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 2019 A Consistent Ethic of Life Aaron Weldon Abortion absurdity Abuse Scandal Academics Adoption Advent Africa agreement/disagreement with Church teaching Alexander Schmemann Alexham Alterity America Amnesty International Anarchism angels Anglicanism Animals Annual Statistics Anthony Anxietas Apocalyptic Apophatic Appalachia Aquinas Art Atheism Atonement Augustine Authority Baptism Beauty Bible biblical criticism biblical scholarship Bioethics Bishops Black Catholics Black Theology Blackadder Blogs Books Breastfeeding Brett Salkeld Buddhism Bush administration Byzantine Catholic Calvinism Canada Canon Law Capital Punishment Capitalism Caryll Houselander Catholic Blog Awards Catholic Blogging Catholic League Catholic Social Teaching Catholic Worker Movement Catholicity CFL Charity Children Chris West Christ and Culture Christian Democracy Christian Unity Christmas Christology Church Church Doctrine Church History Climate Change Cohabitation Colbert Collegiality Communion Communism Comparative Theology Competition Conferences conscience conscience rights Consequentialism Consistent Life Ethics Consumerism Contraception Contrition Conversion Converts Coptic COVID-19 Creation Critical Thinking Cross Cuba Culture Culture of Death Culture of Life Darfur David Cruz-Uribe David Wheeler-Reed Death Death Penalty Democracy Demons Desert Fathers Devil Dialogue dignity Disability Disarmament discernment Discipleship discrimination Dissent Distributism Division Doctrine Domestic Church Dorothy Day Double Effect Doubt Down syndrome Driving Early Church Easter Eastern Churches Ecclesiology Economics Economy Ecumenism Education El Salvador Election Election 2020 Ellul Embryonic Stem Cell Research Empire Energy Enlighenment Environmentalism Ephraim Radner Episcopal Church epistemology Equality Eschatology Ethics Eucharist Europe Euthanasia Evangelization Evil Evolution Excommunication F.X. Durrwell Facism Facts Fair Trade Faith Family Fashion Feddie Feminism Feminist theology Fertility Fetal Rights Fiction Film Finances First Things flags Folk Religion Food Foreign Affairs Forgiveness Frank Sheed Free Speech Freedom gay & lesbian persons Genocide George W. Bush George Weigel Gerald L. Campbell Girard/Mimetic Theory Global Warming Globalization Gnosticism Good Friday Grace Gratitude Greed Grey Cup 2009 Guadalupe Guest Post Guest Posts Gun Control Gustave Martelet Habitat for Humanity Hans Urs von Balthasar Harry Potter Hate Speech Health Health Care Healthcare Heather King Hebrew Bible Henri de Lubac Henry Karlson Herbert McCabe Heresy HHS Mandate Controversy History Holidays Holiness Holy Spirit Homiletics Homily Homosexuality Hope Hospitality How Far Can We Go? How Far Can We Go? Human Person Human Rights Humanae Vitae Humility Humor Hunger Hunting Identity Idolatry Ignacio Ellacuría Imagination Immigration In Memoriam Income Inequality Inculturation Indigenous People Individualism Inklings Intellect Interdependence Internet Interpretation Interviews Introduction Iraq War Islam Israel Jain James Alison James Martin Jazz Jesus Christ Jews Joe Biden Joe Hargrave Johann Baptist Metz John Allen John Henry Newman John Paul II John the Baptist John XXIII Jonathan Josef Pieper Joseph (the husband of Mary) Joseph Bernardin Joseph Ratzinger Josh Brumfield Journals Joy Judgment Just War Justice Kari Lundgren Karl Rahner Katerina Ivanovna Kenya Keynes Kingdom of God Kyle R. Cupp Labor Language Latin America Law Leanne Ogasawara Legion of Christ Leisure Lent Liberalism Liberation Theology Libertarianism Libya Lies Life life & dignity & responsibility of the human person Literature Little Way Liturgical music Liturgical Year Liturgy Living Simply Living Wage Local Church Lombard Lord of the Rings Louis Dupre Love M.Z. Magic Magisterium Mark DeFrancisis Mark Gordon Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Jr. Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masculinity Matt Talbot Matthew Fish Matthew Levering McCain Media Memorial Day Mennonites Mental Illness mercy Michael Iafrate Middle East militarism Miroslav Volf Mitt Romney Modesty Moral Theology Morality Mormonism Morning's Minion Mother Teresa Music Muslims Natalie Nate Wildermuth Nationalism Native Americans Nature Nazis Neuhaus New Evangelization New York City News NFP nihilism Nonviolence Not Abortion Nova's Ordo Nuclear weapons Nuns Obama Occult Old Age Opus Dei Ordination ordination of women original sin Orthodoxy Oscar Romero Other Voices Pacifism Palestine Palin Papacy Papal Peace Messages Papal Social Encyclicals Particular Affections Partisanship Patriotism Paul Paul Ryan Paul VI Peace Pentimento persecution Personalism Phantastes Philosophy PKD Planned Parenthood Pluralism Poetry Policraticus Politcal Apathy Politics Poll Pope Benedict XVI Pope Francis Pope John Paul II Pope Leo XIV Population Postcolonialsim Poverty Power Prayer Preaching Predictions Predictions for 2012 President Barack Obama priestly formation & discernment Pro-Life Progress Prophetic Witness Proportionalism Public Diplomacy Public Policy Question Quotes Rachel Maddow Racism Radical Catholic Mom Radical Catholicism Raymund Schwager Real Catholic TV Real Presence Reconciliation Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange Religion religious freedom Responsibility Ressourcement Resurrection Rick Garnett Ridiculous Crap You Never Thought You'd See Robert Barron Roe v. Wade Roman Curia Rome Russia Sacraments Saints Salvation History Sam Harris Sam Rocha Same-sex Marriage Saskatchewan Roughriders Satire School of the Americas Science Scripture Seamless Garment Second Vatican Council Seeing Sex sexual violence Sexuality Sia Sin social justice Social Security Socialism Society of Jesus Sofia Loves Wisdom Solidarity Sophia soteriology Soutenus Spirituality Sports St. Dismas St. Joseph Stanley Hauerwas Statistics Stimulus Suffering Sunday Reflections Supernatural Supreme Court Symbolism Syria Taxing Technology Terrorism The State The Tea Party The Trump Administration Theological Anthropology Theology Theotokos Thomas Merton Throwaway Culture Tim Muldoon Tim Riley Tim Tebow Time Titian Tolkien Torture Toys Trade Traditionalism Transgender Transportation Transubstantiation Trinity Truth TV U.S. Affairs Uncategorized Unions unity among people who disagree US Catholicism USCCB Usury Utilitarianism Utopia Valentine's Day Vatican Vatican II Veterans Vicarious Suffering Video Violence Virgin Mary Vocations Voluntary Associations Voluntary Poverty Voting Vox Nova vox nova blog war War and Peace War Strategy Wealth Weirdness Welfare state Women Women Priests Work Woundedness Youth

Select a Month June 2026 May 2025 February 2025 January 2025 July 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 July 2023 March 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 November 2021 September 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

John the Baptist Peter Paul Jesus