Elevation of the Holy Cross: Feast Day, Iconography and Traditions
September 14th — the Universal Elevation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross. A day of strict fasting, and of veneration.
The feast of the Elevation
In the year 326, Saint Helen travelled to Jerusalem. She was the mother of Constantine, she was almost eighty, and she had come to give thanks — but what she wanted was the Cross itself. Three hundred years had passed. The site of the Crucifixion had been deliberately buried: a temple of Aphrodite stood on Golgotha, put there by the Romans precisely so that Christians would have nowhere to go.
She had it pulled down and ordered the ground beneath it dug out. And they found three crosses, lying together, with no way to tell which was which. The Bishop of Jerusalem, Makarios, settled it in the only way available to him. A funeral was passing; he had the body of the dead woman touched to each cross in turn. At the first, nothing. At the second, nothing. At the third, she rose.
Word went through the city like lightning, and the crowds that came to touch the wood were so great that people were being injured in the crush. So Makarios carried the Cross up to a high place inside the church and raised it — held it up, turning to each side, so that everyone could at least see what they could not reach. That lifting is the feast. Not the finding, but the raising: Ypsosis, the Elevation.
The day carries a second memory too. In 628 the Emperor Heraclius brought the Cross back to Jerusalem after the Persians had carried it off — and tradition says he could not take a step under its weight until he removed his crown and purple and walked barefoot, as a man rather than an emperor.
Because the feast commemorates the Passion, it is kept as a strict fast, even when it falls on a Sunday. It is one of the few days in the year when joy and mourning are held together in the same service.
In Byzantine iconography
Every element in an Orthodox icon carries meaning — the colours of the garments, the position of the hands, the objects held, the gold ground that stands for uncreated light.
The icon of the feast does not show Golgotha. It shows a church interior, and at its centre a bishop standing on a raised platform, holding the Cross above his head with both arms. Deacons support him on either side, and below, a crowd presses in with hands lifted — often bowing so low that only their backs are visible. Behind, the domes and arches of the Church of the Resurrection. Constantine and Helen usually stand at the sides, holding the Cross between them in the older Byzantine pattern.
Notice what the icon leaves out: there is no body on the Cross. This is the Cross as trophy, not as instrument of death — the reason the hymns of the day call it life-giving. Where the Crucifixion is shown instead, as in our Crucifixion icon, the composition changes entirely: Christ inclined, the Mother of God and the Beloved Disciple at either side, the skull of Adam at the foot of the Cross — because Golgotha, by tradition, is where Adam was buried, and the blood runs down onto the first man's bones.
In our Veneration of the Holy Cross, worked as gilded serigraphy on carved wood, you can see the traditional composition rendered in the classic Byzantine manner — the gold ground carrying the light exactly as it does on the icons of Mount Athos.
Traditions and customs
In Greece the name-day greetings ring out to every Stavros and Stavroula — and to Stavroula's cousins across the Orthodox world: Krste, Krstan, Cruz. It is a large name day, and it is kept with a visit rather than a party, because of the fast.
The other custom belongs to the basil. Tradition holds that basil was growing over the place where Saint Helen dug, and that its scent is what led them to the spot — the plant is called vasilikos in Greek, the royal herb, and the name has been read ever since as a sign. On the eve of the feast the cross is laid on a tray of basil and flowers, and after the service the priest hands a sprig to each person leaving the church. Many families take it home, put it in water on the icon shelf, and plant it when it roots.
Many households also mark the day by placing an icon in the prayer corner — such as this Elevation of the Holy Cross — and lighting a vigil lamp before it.
Choosing an icon as a gift
For a name day, a handmade icon is the gift that outlasts every other. A few practical notes before you choose.
Size. Small icons of 7x10cm or 11x15cm sit on a desk or a bedside table. Around 20x27cm you have a piece that holds a wall on its own. Above 30x40cm it becomes a family icon — the one that goes in the main room and is handed down.
Material. Serigraphy on wood is the traditional workshop method and the most durable. Carved wood adds a recessed border, so the image sits within the panel rather than on it, and the edge catches the light of a lamp. Gold-leaf canvas gives a softer, more painterly gilding. Sterling silver is the formal choice, and the one most often given for a baptism or a wedding.
For this feast in particular, there is another option: not an icon of the Cross, but a cross. Our workshop has just begun making hand-carved wooden crosses — cut and carved from solid wood, with the icon laid into the carved recess on gilded canvas. There is a smaller antiqued version for above a doorway, and one set with six icons along its arms. For a Stavros or a Stavroula, it is hard to better.
Everything is made to order in our workshop, so allow a few days before dispatch. If you are choosing between two and cannot decide, write to us — we would rather help than have you guess.
Icons for this feast
Every icon in our workshop is made by hand in Greece, in the Byzantine tradition, and shipped worldwide. If you have a question about a particular saint or size, we are always glad to help.