Fast of the Cross Day 2

Fast of the Cross Day 2

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 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.Patriarch Mor Aphrem II brings to our attention different names associated with the Holy Cross within the patristic tradition:i) The Living Cross - Sleebo HayoIn baptism, the believers clothe themselves with the Cross, and thereafter an everlasting relationship is built with it. The Cross becomes the vehicle by which we receive the blessings promised by God. Even those blessings promised to the Fathers of the Old Testament become real and are acquired by the power of the Cross, as Aphrahat says: "The spiritual blessings which were promised to Abraham, were distributed to the nations from the death of Christ on the Cross." (Demonstrations VIII)In his Hymns on Nativity, St. Ephrem the Syrian writes: "The Sheep of Christ rejoiced and stood before the baptism,in the water they put on the likenessof the glorious and living Crossand was sealed by it"Reference: Mor Cyril Aphrem Karim, 'The Sign of the Cross', in Pro Oriente Syriac Dialogue V 2003