Bulletin

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Good to know
 

On this third Sunday of Great Lent we celebrate the veneration of the precious and Life Giving Cross which is placed before us to remind and refresh our souls.  The Cross reminds us of the Passion of our Lord.  St. Theodore the Studite (826 AD) wrote “In the Cross there is no mingling of good and evil, as in the tree of Paradise: it is wholly beautiful to behold and good to taste. The fruit of this tree is not death but life, not darkness but light. This tree does not cast us out of Paradise, but opens the way for our return. This was the Tree on which Christ, like a king on a chariot destroyed the devil, the lord of death and freed the human race from his tyranny. This was the tree upon which the Lord, like a brave warrior wounded in hands, feet, and side, healed the wounds of sin that the evil serpent had inflicted on our nature. A tree once caused our death, but now a Tree brings life. By the cross death was slain and Adam was restored to life. The Cross is the glory of all the Apostles, the crown of the Martyrs, the sanctification of the Saints. By the Cross we, the sheep of Christ, have been gathered into one flock, destined for the sheepfolds of heaven. The supreme wisdom that flowered on the Cross has shown the folly of worldly wisdom’s pride. The knowledge of all good, which is the fruit of the Cross, has cut away the shoots of wickedness. “

[source: SYNAXARION OF THE LENTEN TRIODION AND PENTECOSTARIAN, HDM Press Rives Junction, Michigan 1999]

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