True Cross

Lore & Background

The story of the True Cross was well established by the 13th century when, in 1260, it was recorded by Jacobus de Voragine, Bishop of Genoa, in the Golden Legend. The Golden Legend contains several versions of the origin of the True Cross. In The Life of Adam, Voragine writes that the True Cross came 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. In another account contained in "Of the Invention of the Holy Cross", Voragine writes that the True Cross came from a tree that grew from part of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, "the tree that Adam ate of", that Seth planted on Adam's grave where it "endured there unto the time of Solomon". After many centuries, the tree was cut down and the wood used to build a bridge over which the Queen of Sheba passed on her journey to meet Solomon. So struck was she by the portent contained in the timber of the bridge that she fell on her knees and revered it. On her visit to 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. After fourteen generations, the wood taken from the bridge was fashioned into the Cross used to crucify Jesus Christ. Voragine then goes on to describe its rediscovery by Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine. According to the sacred tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Church the True Cross was made from three different types of wood: cedar, pine and cypress. This is an allusion to Isaiah 60:13: "The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box [cypress] together to beautify the place of my sanctuary, and I will make the place of my feet glorious."

In Their Own Story

The rediscovery of the True Cross, called the "Invention of the True Cross" (from the Latin inventio, "finding"), was traditionally attributed to Saint Helena, mother of Constantine I. The Life of Constantine by Eusebius of Caesarea (died 339) is the earliest and main historical source on the rediscovery of the Tomb of Jesus and the construction of the first church at the site, but does not mention anything concerning the True Cross. Perhaps the earliest witness to the tradition of the True Cross was Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem (c. 350-386). In the fourth of his Catechetical Lectures, which are dated to around the year 350, he says that "the whole world has since been filled with pieces of the wood of the Cross." About forty years after Cyril, there was a fully developed story about how the True Cross was discovered. Cyril's nephew Gelasius of Caesarea recorded the account in a now lost Greek Ecclesiastical History prior to his death in 395. This version was adapted circa 402 in Rufinus of Aquileia's Latin additions to Eusebius' Church History. In this narrative, Helena went to Jerusalem in search of the relic and was made aware of its location by a heavenly sign. She tore down the temple of Aphrodite that had been built there, and beneath the rubble found three crosses. The cross of Jesus was identified, with the aid of Bishop Macarius of Jerusalem, by its miraculous effecting of a cure for a mortally ill woman. A Church was then built on the spot and the relic was divided, with part staying in Jerusalem and part given to Constantine along with the nails. In his Ecclesiastical History, nearly a century after Eusebius and forty years after Rufinus, Socrates Scholasticus (died c. 440) gives a description of the discovery later repeated by Sozomen and Theodoret. Socrates' account is very similar to Rufinus'. [Helena] found three crosses in the sepulchre: one of these was that blessed cross on which Christ had hung, the other two were those on which the two thieves that were crucified with him had died. ... Since, however, it was doubtful which was the cross they were in search of, the emperor’s mother was not a little distressed; but from this trouble the bishop of Jerusalem, Macarius, shortly relieved her. And he solved the doubt by faith, for he sought a sign from God and obtained it. The sign was this: a certain woman of the neighborhood, who had been long afflicted with disease, was now just at the point of death; the bishop therefore arranged it so that each of the crosses should be brought to the dying woman, believing that she would be healed on touching the precious cross. Nor was he disappointed in his expectation: for the two crosses having been applied which were not the Lord’s, the woman still continued in a dying state; but when the third, which was the true cross, touched her, she was immediately healed, and recovered her former strength.

Reader's Guide

The Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox churches, as well as denominations of the Church of the East, have all claimed to possess relics of the True Cross as objects of veneration. Historians generally dispute the authenticity of the relics, as do Protestant and other Christian churches, who do not hold them in as high regard. This event is celebrated on the liturgical calendar as the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (Roodmas) by the Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Persian, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican churches. A further tradition holds that these three trees from which the True Cross was constructed grew together in one spot. A traditional Orthodox icon in the Monastery of the Cross depicts Lot, the nephew of Abraham, watering the trees. According to tradition, these trees were used to construct the Temple in Jerusalem ("to beautify the place of my sanctuary"). Later, during Herod's reconstruction of the Temple, the wood from these trees was removed from the Temple and discarded, eventually being used to construct the cross on which Jesus was crucified ("and I will make the place of my feet glorious").

Did You Know?

• The late fourth-century historians Gelasius of Caesarea and Tyrannius Rufinus wrote that while Helen was in Jerusalem, she discovered the hiding place of three crosses believed to have been used at the crucifixion of Jesus and the two thieves, Dismas and Gestas.
• According to Rufinus, Helen was unsure of the True Cross's legitimacy until a miracle revealed it: a mortally ill woman was healed upon touching the third cross.
• The Golden Legend, recorded in 1260 by Jacobus de Voragine, contains several versions of the origin of the True Cross, including one where it came from three trees grown from seeds from the 'Tree of Mercy' planted in Adam's mouth.
• According to the sacred tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the True Cross was made from three different types of wood: cedar, pine and cypress, alluding to Isaiah 60:13.
• Socrates Scholasticus (died c. 440) wrote that Helena found three crosses in the sepulchre, and Bishop Macarius of Jerusalem identified the True Cross by having a dying woman touch each cross; she was healed only by the third.