1. Thanksgiving prayer for Holy Communion
2. Hand out prosphora
3. Introduce each child and greet them
4. Introduce the Jesus prayer and using the prayer ropes, pray the Jesus prayer together
5. Show and pass around the icon of the Elevation of the Cross around and
ask who these people are and then introduce them to St. Helen…
Saint Patriarch Macarius is holding up the Cross
St. Helen is there, subdeacons next to the Patriarch and
others, including monks and nuns are there.
When Saint Macarius held up the Cross,
what did the people say?
kyrie eleison! which means Lord have mercy!
This feast of the Cross is linked to St. Helen who found the Cross after centuries of it
being hidden, buried underground!
Who is St. Helen who found the Cross and how did she find it???
Does anyone know?
[talk about this and see what they know]
St. Helen was the mother of St. Constantine the Great, and was born at Drepanum (Helenopolis) in Asia Minor to parents of humble means. She married Constantius Chlorus, and their son Constantine was born in 274. Constantius divorced her in 294 in order to further his political ambitions by marrying a woman of noble rank. After he became emperor, Constantine showed his mother great honor and respect, granting her the imperial title “Augusta.”
After St. Constantine became the sole ruler of the Western Roman Empire, he issued the Edict of Milan in 313 which guaranteed religious tolerance for Christians. St. Helen, who was a Christian, may have influenced him in this decision. In 323, when he became the sole ruler of the entire Roman Empire, he extended the provisions of the Edict of Milan to the Eastern half of the Empire. After three hundred years of persecution, Christians could finally practice their faith without fear.
The emperor deeply revered the victory-bearing Sign of the Cross of the Lord, and wanted to find the actual Cross upon which our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. He sent his mother, Helen, to Jerusalem, providing her with a letter to St. Macarius, Patriarch of Jerusalem.
Although St. Helen was already in her declining years, she set about completing the task with enthusiasm. Searching for the Life-Creating Cross, she questioned both Christians and Jews, but her search remained unsuccessful. However, in 326, she was directed to an elderly Hebrew named Jude who stated that the Cross was buried at the Temple of Venus. St. Helen ordered that the pagan temple be demolished. After praying, the ground began to be excavated. Soon, the Tomb of the Lord was uncovered. Not far from it were three crosses, a board with the inscription ordered by Pilate, and four nails which had pierced the Lord’s Body.
In order to determine the cross on which the Savior had been crucified, St. Macarius alternately touched the crosses to a corpse. When the dead man was touched by the True Cross of the Lord, the body came to life. Having beheld the raising of the dead, everyone was convinced that the Life-Creating Cross was found.
During the discovery of the Life-Creating Cross, another miracle took place – a grievously sick woman, beneath the shadow of the Holy Cross, was healed instantly. Elder Jude and other Jews came to believe in Christ and accepted Holy Baptism. Jude received the name Cyriacus and afterwards was consecrated Bishop of Jerusalem.
Christians came in huge throngs to venerate the Holy Cross, beseeching St. Macarius to elevate the Cross, so that even those far off might reverently contemplate it. The Patriarch and other spiritual leaders raised up the Holy Cross, and the people, saying “Lord have mercy,” reverently prostrated themselves before the Venerable Wood.
While in Jerusalem, St. Helen performed a variety of good works, including giving money to the poor. She also ordered that all places connected with the earthly life of the Lord and His All-Pure Mother be freed of all traces of paganism, and directed that churches be built at each of these places. St. Helen gave the Life-Creating Cross to the Patriarch for safe-keeping, and took part of the wood and nails back to Constantinople.
St. Helen continued to journey to the holy places connected with the earthly life of the Savior, building more than eighty churches – at Bethlehem at the birthplace of Christ; on the Mount of Olives where the Lord ascended to Heaven; and at Gethsemane where the Savior prayed before His sufferings and where the Mother of God was buried.
Emperor Constantine gave orders to build at Jerusalem a majestic and spacious church in honor of the Resurrection of Christ, also including under its roof the Life-Giving Tomb of the Lord and Golgotha. The temple was constructed in about ten years.
St. Helen did not survive to see the dedication of this temple. She entered into the Eternal Kingdom in 327. However, the church was consecrated on September 13, 335. On the following day, September 14, the festal celebration of the Exaltation of the Venerable and Life-Creating Cross was established.
The Orthodox Church commemorates the Uncovering of the Precious Cross and the Precious Nails by the Holy Empress Helen on March 6.
Because of her great service to the Church and her efforts in finding the Life-Creating Cross, Empress Helen is called “the Equal of the Apostles.”
What is the Cross for us in our lives?
Do you remember how last year we talked about the Cross in the middle of Great Lent?
“This became the occasion of the institution in all of the Churches of the Exaltation of the Precious Cross, not only in memory of the event of the finding of the Cross, but also to celebrate how an instrument of shame was used to overcome death and bring salvation and eternal life.
The Feast is an opportunity outside of the observances of Holy Week to celebrate the full significance of the victory of the Cross over the powers of the world, and the triumph of the wisdom of God through the Cross over the wisdom of this world. This Feast also gives the Church an opportunity to relish the full glory of the Cross as a source of light, hope and victory for Christ's people. It is also a time to celebrate the universality of the work of redemption accomplished through the Cross: the entire universe is seen through the light of the Cross, the new Tree of Life which provides nourishment for those who have been redeemed in Christ.”
We need to wear our Cross and remember how our true source of life
is from Christ and the Cross that He saved us on!
Craft Idea:
draw Saint Helen finding the Cross
Draw the Cross
Draw Saint Macarius holding up the Cross.
Note:
When teaching older children, the following quotation would be a good one to discuss in detail
and gather other sources and Scripture verses about.
Quotation from the book on St. Elizabeth::
“If you desire inner peace and to be worthy of the crown of immortality, then with heartfelt joy take your cross and carry it, each and everyone one of you. Then it will itself carry each of us and take us to our desired destination, where there is an end to all suffering, but such an end is not to be found in the present world. If, however, we carry our cross unwillingly, it will be be yet more difficult, more burdensome. But regardless, each of us must carry his cross. If we refuse one cross, we are sure to find another, perhaps even weightier. The entire life of Jesus Christ on earth was a cross and suffering, a constant sacrifice for our salvation. We, meanwhile, seek tranquility and happiness.
No, we become lost, thoroughly lost, when we seek to shun adversity, because this whole mortal life is full of misfortunes and is surrounded by crosses. The more a person advances in the ways of the Lord, the heavier, often, becomes his cross, because together with his love, his sufferings also increase.
But he whom God tries through suffering does not remain without joy or consolation, because he senses within himself the power of the Cross, which is the fruit of his patient endurance in bearing his cross, for when a man voluntarily, in mind and will, bows beneath the cross, the weight of his sufferings turns into a sweet joy and hope sent by the Holy Spirit to console him. The more his outer man is weighted down by adversity, the more the Holy Spirit strengthens his inner man with the grace of Christ.”
(pages 192-192 in Lubov Millar’s book Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia: New Martyr Under the Communist Yoke, 6th printing, revised).
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