CROSS
530
CROSS
sion, Death, and Burial of Christ had been profaned
and, it would seem, deserted. Under Constaatine,
after peace had been vouchsafed to the Church, Ma-
carius. Bishop of Jerusalem, caused excavations to
be made (about A. d. 327, it is believed) in order to
ascertain the location of these holy sites. That of
Calvarj' was identified, as well as that of the Holy
Sepulchre; it was in the course of these excavations
that the wood of the Cross was recovered. It was
recognized as authentic, and for it was built a chapel,
or oratory, which is mentioned by Eusebius, also by
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, and Silvia (Etheria). From
A. D. 347, that is to say, twenty years after these ex-
cavations, the same St. Cyril, in his discourses (or
catecheses) delivered in these very places (iv, 10; x,
14; xiii, 4) speaks of this sacred wood. An in-
scription of .\. D. 359, found at Tixter, in the neigh-
bourhood of S6tif in Mauretania, mentions in an
enumeration of relics, a fragment of the True Cross
(Roman Miscellanies, X, 441). For a full discussion
of the legend of St. Helena, see Section I of this
article; see also Helena, Saint. Silvia's recital
(Peregrinatio Etherise), which is of indisputable au-
thenticity, tells how the sacred wood was venerated
in Jerusalem about a. d. 380. On Good Friday, at
eight o'clock in the morning, the faithful and the
monks assemble in the chapel of the Cross (built on a
site hard by Calvary), and at this spot the ceremony
of the adoration takes place. The bishop is seated
on his chair; before him is a table covered with a cloth ;
the deacons are standing around him. The silver-gilt
reliquary is brought and opened, and the sacred wood
of the Cross, with the Title, is placed on the table.
The bishop stretches out his hand over the holy relic,
and the deacons keep watch with him while the faith-
ful and catechumens defile, one by one, before the
table, bow, and kiss the Cross ; they touch the Cross
and the Title with forehead and eyes, but it is for-
bidden to touch them with the hands. This minute
watchfulness was not unnecessary, for it has been
told in fact how one day one of the faithful, making
as though to kiss the Cross, was so unscrupulous as
to bite off a piece of it, which he carried off as a relic.
It is the duty of the deacons to prevent the repetition
of such a crime. St. Cyril, who also tells of this cere-
mony, makes his account much more brief, but adds
the important detail, that relics of the True Cross have
been distributed all over the world. He adds some
information as to the silver reliquary which contained
the True Cross. (See Cabrol, La Peregrinatio ad loca
eancta, 105.) In several other passages of the same
work Silvia (also called Egeria, Echeria, Eiheria, and
Etheria) speaks to us of this chapel of the Cross (built
between the basilicas of the Anastasis and the Mar-
tyrion) which plays so great a part in the paschal
liturgy of Jerusalem.
A law of Theodosius and of Valentinian III (Cod. Justin., I, tit. vii) forbade under the gravest penalties any painting, carving, or engraving of the cross on pavements, so that this august sign of our salvation might not be trodden under foot. This law was re- vised by the TruUan Council, a. d. 691 (canon l.xxii). Julian the Apostate, on the other hand, according to St. Cyril of Alexandria (Contra Julian., vi, in 0pp., VI), made it a crime for Christians to adore the wood' of the Cross, to trace its form upon their fore- heads, and to engrave it over the entrances of their homes. St. John Chrysostom more than once in his writings makes allusion to the adoration of the cross ; one citation will suffice: "Kings removing their dia- dems take up the cross, the symbol of their Saviour's death; on the purple, the cross; in their prayers, the cross; on their armour, the cross; on the holy table, the cross; throughout the universe, the cross. The cross shines brighter than the sun." The.se quota- tions from St. Chrysostom may be found in the a>i- thorities to be named at the end of this article. At
the same time, pilgrimages to the holy places became
more frequent, and especially for the purpose of fol-
lowing the example set by St. Helena in venerating
the True Cross. Saint Jerome, describing the pil-
grimage of St. Paula to the Holy Places, tells us that
"prostrate before the Cross, she adored it as though
she had seen the Saviour hanging upon it" (Ep. cviii).
It is a remarkable fact that even the Iconoclasts, who
fought with such zeal against images and representa-
tions in relief, made an exception in the case of the
cross. Thus we find the image of the cross on the
coins of the Iconoclastic emperors, Leo the Isaurian,
Constantine Copronymus, Leo IV, Nicephorus,
Michael II, and Theophilus (cf. Banduri, Numism.
Imperat. Rom., II). Sometimes this cult involved
abuses. Thus we are told of the Staurolaters, or those
who adore the cross; the Chazingarii (from chazus,
cross), a sect of Armenians who adore the cross. The
Second Council of Nic8ea(A.D. 787), held for the purpose
of reforming abuses and putting an end to the dis-
putes of Iconoclasm, fixed, once for all, the Catholic
doctrine and discipline on this point. It defined that
the veneration of the faithful was due to the form "of
the precious and vivifying cross", as well as to images
or representations of Christ, of the Blessed Virgin, and
of the saints. But the council points out that we
must not render to these objects the cult of latria,
"which, according to the teaching of the faith, belongs
to the Divine nature alone. . . . The honour
paid to the image passes to the prototype; and he
who adores the image, adores the person whom it
represents. Thus the doctrine of our holy fathers
obtains in all its force: the tradition of the Holy
Catholic Church which from one end of the earth to
the other has received the gospel." This decree was
renewed at the Eighth (Ecumenical Council , at Constan-
tinople, in 869 (can. iii). The council clearly dis-
tinguishes between the "salutation" (cunracriiii) and
"veneration" {vpoaKvvqaii) due to the cross, and the
"true adoration" {aKr)divT} Xarpeta), which should
not be paid to it. Theodore the Studite, the great
adversary of the Iconoclasts, also makes a very exact
distinction between the adoratio relativa (irpoo-Ki/njirts
(TX^TiKii) and adoration properly so called.
(2) Catholic Doctrine on the Veneration of the Cross. — In passing to a detailed examination of the Catho- lic doctrine on this subject of the cult due to the Cross, it will be well to notice the theories of Brock, the Abbg Ansault, le Mortillet, and others, who pretend to have discovered that cult among the pagans be- fore the time of Christ. For a demonstration of the purely Christian origin of the Christian de- votion the reader is referred to Section I of this article. See also the works of de Harlay. Lafar- gue, and others cited at the end of this section. With reference, in particular, to the ansated cross of Egypt, Letronne, Raoul-Rochette, and Lajard discuss with much learning the symbolism of that simple hieroglyphic of life, in which the Christians of Egypt seem to have recognized an anticipatory revelation of the Christian Cross, and which they employed in their monuments. According to the text of the Second Council of Nicisa cited above, the cult of the Cross is based upon the same principles as that of relics and images in general, although, to be sure, the True Cross holds the highest place in dignity among all relics. The observation of Petavius (XV, xiii, 1) should be noted here: that this cult must be considered as not belonging to the substance of religion, but as being one of the aSidipopa, or things not absolutely neces- sary to salvation. Indeed, while it is of faith that this cult is useful, lawful, even pious and worthy of praise and of encouragement, and while we are not permittcfl to speak against it as something pernicious, still it is one of tho.se devotional practices which the Church can encourage, or restrain, or .stop, according to circumstances. Tliis explains how the veneration.
