When the Homily is about Immunology

Elevation of the Holy and Life Giving Cross and Indiana Jones

The pagan emperor Hadrian (117-138AD) made it a point to "paganize" the Holy city of Jerusalem (recall that it was all but leveled in 70AD) by desecrating many sacred Christian sites via the building of pagan temples thereupon. Interestingly enough the emperor changed the name of the city to Helio-Hadrianopolis and forbade that it be called Jerusalem ever again. Well, things didn't quite go as he hoped. After the Edict of Milan (which contrary to popular belief did not make Christianity the official religion of the empire) granted legal recognition to all religions, St. Constantine sent his mother St. Helena to Jerusalem in order to destroy the pagan temples and to restore the sacred Christian sites - in particular those of Golgotha and the Holy Seplechure.

While there, the engaged in archeological digs in a quest for Christ's actual cross which it had been said had been buried near Golgotha in an attempt by rulers at the time to do away with any rememberance of the man Jesus. After some time of no success, St. Helena was directed to an elder Hebrew by the name of Jude who told her that the cross would be found under the Temple of Venus - in a scene which I imagine might not have been too different from something out of an Indiana Jones film. Indeed, while excavating the sight they found no less than three crosses, a plank with the well-known inscription ordered by Pilate, and four nails. In order to determine which cross was that of Christ, they touched each of them to a dead man - one of them immediately brought the man back to life. Many other miracles followed which further verified the identity of the discovery and the Patriarch of Jerusalem Saint Makarios was asked to elevate the cross for all from afar to see, contemplate, and venerate. The Hebrew Elder Jude would be converted by witnessing the many miracles of the Cross (as were apparently many others) and he would accept the new Christian name Kuriakos. Later he would become Bishop of Jerusalem under the cruel reign of Julian the Apostate (361-363) during which time he was martyred.

St. Helena returned to Constantinople with a portion of the cross and she died a year later in 327. St. Constantine ordered that a great Church be build in Jerusalem over the sites uncovered by his mother and in 10 years the Temple was completed. On Spetember 13th 335 the Church was consecrated and the following day the feast of the Elevation of the Holy and Life Creating Cross was established. We have kept the feast ever since.

Tomorrow, in my Parish, I will also venerate the Holy Cross in the same way that the people of Jerusalem did nearly 1700 years ago. A small fragment of that wood discovered by St. Helena resides in a small cross kept in our Temple. I am frequently asked why I believe such "fantastic tall tales" and I simply reply that I trust the Church and I believe in the miracles of relics in the same manner that I believe that St. Peter's shadow fell upon people and healed them, that St. Paul could pray over a cloth and send it out to people to touch and be healed, that a man could be raised to life by touching the bones of Elisha, that people could be healed by looking upon the statue of a snake on a pole, or that by simply touching the Ark on accident could get you struck down.

Again, it has to do with our Christianity being in our heads alone. It isn't and it shouldn't! Our religion is REAL and you can feel it with your hands.