Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Evensong on the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, 14th September 2025.

Isaiah 63.1-16 ‘It is I, announcing vindication, mighty to save.’

1 Corinthians 1.18-25 We proclaim Christ crucified

 

‘But far be it for me to glory except in the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.’ (Galatians 6: 14).

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I am currently reading a book by a Greek Orthodox writer called ‘The Crucifixion of the King of Glory’.

The title of that book would have been a mystery to the both Jews and gentiles at the time of Jesus’ death, and it is pretty mind boggling to many people today who, if they think about it all, see the cross as a piece of branding or a sign to represent Christians and the Christian faith.

The Romans would be astonished: crucifixion and crosses were for executing common criminals, slaves, rabble rousers and those who weren’t Roman citizens.

A noble Roman execution - yes, they thought of it that way, noble and ignoble – a noble Roman execution, would be to be beheaded by sword.

That was the fate of St Paul, author of our second lesson, at his martyrdom, because he was a Roman citizen.

So, to think of crucifixion, kings and glory in the same breath is a bit of a stretch until it is considered through the eyes of faith.

That’s the point St Paul made in our second lesson as he speaks of the message of the cross appearing to be foolishness to Jew and Greek alike; but to those who hear the proclamation that Christ crucified the cross reveals, no, is, the power and wisdom of God.

As Paul says in another letter, the one to the Galatians, “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6: 14).”

Something is transformed on the cross; the logic of power and the extent of love as understood and operated by you, me and human history is overturned.

This how St John Chrysostom, the fourth century Bishop of Constantinople, saw it.

In a phrase attributed to him says of the Crucified Lord on the Cross, ‘I see him crucified, I call him king’.

Above each crucified criminal the Romans would write the accusation against the victim.

So, we read in St John’s Gospel:

Pontius Pilate [the Roman Governor of Palestine] also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. (John 19.19,20)

You see this above a crucifix to this day: Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudeorum, the Latin letters INRI.

And in this crucifixion is a proclamation.

This proclamation transforms the instrument of death.

As a prayer in Holy Week, the time when we are intensely re-living the passion of Christ, puts it:

O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ.

By Christ’s suffering for us, an instrument of death becomes the means of life; folly becomes wisdom; a stumbling block becomes a foundation – that is why we can speak of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, why we exalt it in our proclamation and in our hearts.

In this transformative proclamation, there is something important we can learn from our Orthodox Christian siblings when it comes to the cross.

In the West we have tended to emphasise the pain, agony and disfigurement of the cross and what crucifixion is, and we are not wrong to do so: it was real; it was horrible; it was torture.

Nevertheless, when the Orthodox represent Christ on the cross, they proclaim more than an agonising death: they portray Christ serene, stately almost, and priestly.

‘I see him crucified, I call him king’.

Instead of INRI over his head - which is what it said - they place what we proclaim: Ὁ Βασιλεύς τῆς Δόξης (Ho Basileus tēs Dóxēs): The King of Glory.

This is the one who is glorified on the cross, the cross that becomes his throne of glory.

That’s what we’re about when we talk about the cross.

It’s not a bit of branding, or an accessory, we bear the cross because we rejoice that something so terrible should have been transformed into a means of redemption for the whole human race.

‘But far be it for me to glory except in the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.’ (Galatians 6: 14).