Procession of the Honorable Wood of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord
The Procession of the Venerable Wood of
the Life-Creating Cross of the Lord: In the Greek Horologion of 1897 the
derivation of this Feast is explained: “Because of the illnesses that occur in
August, it was customary, in former times, to carry the Venerable Wood of the
Cross through the streets and squares of Constantinople for the sanctification
of the city, and for relief from sickness. On the eve (July 31), it was taken
out of the imperial treasury, and laid upon the altar of the Great Church of
Hagia Sophia (the Wisdom of God). From this Feast until the Dormition of the
Most Holy Theotokos, they carried the Cross throughout the city in procession,
offering it to the people to venerate. This also is the Procession of the
Venerable Cross.”
In the Russian Church
this Feast is combined also with the remembrance of the Baptism of Rus, on
August 1, 988. In the “Account of the Order of Services in the Holy, Catholic
and Apostolic Great Church of the Dormition,” compiled in 1627 by order of
Patriarch Philaret of Moscow and All Rus, there is the following explanation of
the Feast: “On the day of the Procession of the Venerable Cross there is a
church procession for the sanctification of water and for the enlightenment of
the people, throughout all the towns and places.”
Knowledge of the day of
the actual Baptism of Rus was preserved in the Chronicles of the sixteenth
century: “The Baptism of the Great Prince Vladimir of Kiev and all Rus was on
August 1.”
In the present practice
of the Russian Church, the Lesser Sanctification of Water on August 1 is done
either before or after Liturgy. Because of the Blessing of Water, this first
Feast of the Savior in August is sometimes called ‘Savior of the Water.” There
may also be a Blessing of New Honey today, which is why the Feast is also
called “Savior of the Honey.” From this day the newly gathered honey is blessed
and tasted.
Source: https://oca.org/saints/lives/2016/08/01/102161-procession-of-the-honorable-wood-of-the-life-giving-cross-of-the
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