Fast of the Cross

Fast of the Cross

Admin: The inclusion of this event in the online calendar is for educational purposes. Please follow the guidance from one's spiritual father. The Fast of the Cross is an 8-day fast attested in the Canons of Mor Hananyo Monastery (Kurkmo Dayro). It was probably instituted as a fast in preparation of the Feast of the Holy Cross on September 14. Most likely a local fast in the Mardin area; it is not found in the Hudaya Canon of Mor Gregorios bar Ebroyo and is not presently one of the fasts currently in vogue within the SOC worldwide. It remains to be seen what - if any - connection this fast has with the Fast of the Cross in the Armenian Church. The mention of this fast here in the online calendar is absolutely not an attempt to impose a fasting period in contravention of current Patriarchal/Synodal directions. Rather, the purpose is twofold i) to bring awareness of the plurality of rites and traditions that existed historically in the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, and more importantly ii) to bring further attention to the Feast of the Holy Cross, in the hopes that faithful may spend this week meditating on the Holy Cross.Below are 3 excerpts from Church Fathers of different time periods about the Holy Cross: 1. O Son of the Creator, O Son of the carpenter,Who when creating created all things in the symbol of the cross.Perhaps even in the House of Joseph, the carpenter, He was continuously meditating on the Cross. - St. Ephrem the Syrian ♰ 373, Hymns on Faith 17.112. "Everyone that sweareth by Him shall be commended" (Psalms 63:12)ln Thy life-giving Cross, O! Christ, one may see a depth of riches and of wisdom and of power. For, when thou who art the power of God was fastened upon it, thou renderedst the wood of weakness or of the Cross a wood of God-befitting power : and, inasmuch as thou art the wisdom of Cod and the Father, through Him thou didst make and render those who proclaimed the gospel-tidings wise. Henceforth fishermen and unlearned men defeated and brought to naught the wisdom and the wise men of the world; and those who believed and were martyred from among the nations through their courage dissolved and put to shame the power of the tyrants. Before one piece of wood, every piece of wood and stone that was carved and made a god fled and perished; and every desire of the flesh was already extinguished, having been killed by the nails of the cross. For a blessed thing is the wood through which cometh righteousness, as it is written. (Wisdom 14: 6-7) Praise to thee! - St. Severus of Antioch ♰ 538, Hymn on the Holy Cross 3. God, glory be to Him! Who has been revealed in His Incarnation, praise be upon Him! Who has delivered us from worship of [everything that is] other than God, [the Cross] is His sure sign upon the earth, which one who intends to worship Him manifestly believes in, and hopes for His return to the earth in the end [times] with honor and esteem, as He truly promised when He said through His evangelists that: “There they shall see My sign preceding before Me when I return in the end [times] together with My armies and My angels.” O what a terrifying fear this is for the clear enemy and his rebellious soldiers because it exposes them and puts them into flight! And he and his soldiers will never cease to beware and be fearful... For how is it possible that the one who turns his face toward worship of his Lord be oriented to a qiblah other than His qiblah? Now the Cross is for us a qiblah and a glorious [thing], deserving of exaltation and honor and devotion, and who takes up [this] qiblah, apart from [all] other things, is saved. We, the Christian community, worship our Lord and our God, and do not worship another god from among creatures. - Ḥabīb ibn Khidma Abū Rāʾiṭa l-Takrītī (♰ 9th century), On the proof of the Christian ReligionThe Cross in the Writings of St. Ephrem (Thesis by HH Patriarch Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II): http://bit.ly/MorAphremCrossThe Types and Symbols of the Cross in Holy Scripture (courtesy Hymonutho): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICdjVB3w8_cSleeba Quqalion സ്ലീബാ കുക്കിലിയോൻ A Study (courtesy Hymonutho): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFBWi_2LPXU