The Amazing story of the Cross of Jesus Christ

Possibly, the Cross of Christ is the most renowned, most noted and most talked about religious symbol in the world. Cross, ‘the symbol of contradiction’, has divided the history into two, before Christ and after Christ. The death of Christ has been the most decisive event in this history of mankind, when considered in the redemptive perspective. Since, the Cross is the key instrument of Christ’s death, it becomes the decisive redemptive symbol. Where is the true cross of Christ? What are the legends associated with the cross? What is the story of the Cross? On this feast day of the Exaltation of the Cross, an exploration is relevant; it is exciting too.

The Golden legend of the cross

There are many stories narrating the origin of the cross, foremost of which is recounted in the Golden Legend, by Jacopo de Voragine, the Bishop of Genoa. The story is said to have pre-Christian origins, yet it was recorded in 13th century. Golden Legend contains many stories.
In a story titled ‘The Life of Adam’, Voragine describes that the true cross sprouted from three trees which grew from three seeds from the “Tree of Mercy,” which Seth collected and planted in the mouth of Adam’s corpse.
There is another account related to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. According to this account, the True Cross came from a tree that grew from part of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, or “the tree that Adam ate of.” Seth, third son of Adam, planted it on Adam’s grave where it “endured there unto the time of Solomon.”

Many centuries passed and the tree was cut down, eventually, and the wood was used to build a bridge. The Queen of Sheba, on her journey to meet King Solomon, passed over this bridge. The queen was awestruck by the portent contained in the timber of the bridge that she fell on her knees and paid homage. When she met Solomon, she told him that a piece of wood from the bridge would bring about the replacement of God’s Covenant with the Jewish people, by a new order. Solomon, fearing the eventual destruction of his people, had the timber buried. But after fourteen generations, the wood taken from the bridge was fashioned into the Cross used to crucify Christ.

The Discovery of the Cross

The one thing all the four evangelists unanimously agree in narration is the death of Christ. There is no doubt that Christ died on the cross. But, what happened to the cross after the death of Jesus? The tradition says that the disciples of Jesus could not find the cross, as it might have been thrown into a well or a ditch then covered with stones and earth.

Christianity went through horrible persecution under the Roman Emperors. There is no mention about the true cross of Christ during these periods. After three centuries, Constantine the Great, the son of Queen Helena, is said to have a vision of a luminous cross in
the sky along with a the inscription, “In this sign you will conquer.” This incident is said to have occurred in 312 AD.
Constantine, the Roman Emperor who would later play a decisive role in the history of Christianity, had the Cross placed on the shield of every soldier that went to battle with him. He won over Maxensius at the Malvian Bridge of Rome, under the banner of the cross, on October 28, 312. In gratitude, he legalized Christianity as the religion of the Roman Empire.

The events that followed led to the discovery of the cross. According the account passed on by Eusebius, the original site where Christ was buried had been later covered with earth and a temple of Venus was constructed over it. The temple is supposed to have constructed by Emperor Hadrian during his reconstruction of Jerusalem.

The true cross of Christ is said to have been discovered in 326 by Saint Helena, the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, during her pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

Theodoret of Cyrus, bishop, theologian and a Bible commentator, gives a detailed account of how St. Helena discovered the cross of Christ:
“When the empress beheld the place where the Saviour suffered, she immediately ordered the idolatrous temple, which had been there erected, to be destroyed, and the very earth on which it stood to be removed. When the tomb, which had been so long concealed, was discovered, three crosses were seen buried near the Lord’s sepulchre. All held it as certain that one of these crosses was that of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that the other two were those of the thieves who were crucified with Him. Yet they could not discern to which of the three the Body of the Lord had been brought nigh, and which had received the outpouring of His precious Blood. But the wise and holy Macarius, the president of the city, resolved this question in the following manner. He caused a lady of rank, who had been long suffering from disease, to be touched by each of the crosses, with earnest prayer, and thus discerned the virtue residing in that of the Saviour. For the instant this cross was brought near the lady, it expelled the sore disease, and made her whole.

With the Cross, she found the Holy Nails, which she took back to Constantinople. Theodoret continues: “She had part of the cross of our Saviour conveyed to the palace. The rest was enclosed in a covering of silver, and committed to the care of the bishop of the city, whom she exhorted to preserve it carefully, in order that it might be transmitted uninjured to posterity.”

Saint Helena is said to have found three crosses at the site. She was in a dilemma on which was the true Cross of Christ. Eventually, the true cross was identified and confirmed when “its touch miraculously healed a dying patient.”