The Feast day of the Appearance of the Church of the Honurable Cross .

On this day the church celebrates the Appearance of the church of the Honorable Cross of ourLord Jesus Christ . The Cross was uncovered by the lover of God, Queen Helena, mother ofEmperor Constantine, from under the pile of Golgotha, after she ordered its removal .As for the reason of how this great pile of dirt came into being: the Jewish leaders, when they sawall the signs and wonders which were manifested from the sepulchre of the Savior, such as raisingthe dead and healing the sick, became angry, and they sent forth throughout Judea and Jerusalemordering all the people to cast the sweepings of their houses and the dirts over the sepulchre ofJesus of Nazareth . They continued to do so for more than 200 years, until it became a very greatheap .2His biography and the commemoration of his departure is mentioned on the 17th day of the blessed month ofHatour .25When St . Helena came to Jerusalem, and asked the Jews about the whereabouts of the Cross, theydid not inform her . Finally, some of them told her about an old Jew called Judas who knew theplace . She called him, and he denied it at first, but when she urged him, he told her about that pile .She ordered its removal and the Holy Cross was found . She built a church for it, consecrated itand celebrated for the Honorable Cross on the seventeenth day of the month of Tute . Christiansmake pilgrimages to that place every year as they do on the feast of the Resurrection .A certain Samaritan called Isaac, as he was travelling with his family among the people going toJerusalem, reproved the people for taking such trouble in going to Jerusalem to worship a piece ofwood . Among the people was a priest whose name was Okhidus . While travelling along the road,they became thirsty . They found no water and they came to a well where the water was foul andbitter . The people became dismayed . Isaac the Samaritan started mocking them, saying, "If Iwitness a power by the name of the Cross, I will become a believer of Christ ." The priest Okhiduswas moved with divine zeal and prayed over that foul water and made the sign of the Cross on it,and it became sweet . All the people and their animals drank, but when Isaac drank, the water wasbitter and wormy . He regretted and cried and came to the saint, Father Okhidus, bowed down athis feet and believed in the Lord Christ . Then he drank from the water, and he found it sweet . Thewater of that well possessed the power of becoming sweet for the believers and bitter for theothers . A cross of light appeared in the well and a church was built there .When Isaac the Samaritan arrived in Jerusalem, he went to its bishop who baptized him and hisfamily .Because the feast of the appearance of the Honorable Cross, which is on the tenth of Baramhat,always comes during fasting, it was substituted by the fathers for the Seventeenth of Tute which isthe day of consecration of its church .Glory and worship be to Jesus Christ our Lord forever and ever . Amen .