O Lord, save Your people, / and bless Your inheritance. / Grant victories to the Orthodox Christians / over their adversaries. / And by virtue of Your Cross, / preserve Your habitation. (Troparion, Tone I)
On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, His Eminence Vladimir, Metropolitan of Chișinău and All Moldova, officiated the Divine Liturgy at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Nativity of the Lord in Chișinău.
Concelebrating with His Eminence were Archpriest Vadim Cheibaș, Metropolitan Secretary and Ecclesiarch of the Cathedral, together with a group of priests and deacons.
The Divine Service was adorned by two ordinations: Deacon Iulian Dogotari was ordained to the priesthood for the parish of Talmaza, Ștefan Vodă District, while Subdeacon Pavel Advahov was ordained to the diaconate for the parish of St Paisius Velichkovsky in Chițcani, Slobozia District, Transnistrian Region.
Unlike other Great Feasts of the Church, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is observed with fasting, for it reminds us of the Passion and death of our Saviour.
We bow down before Your Cross, O Christ, and we praise and glorify Your holy Resurrection.
Today we celebrate the exaltation of the Holy and Life-giving Cross—the Cross upon which our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ suffered for our salvation. The Cross, once a shameful instrument of cruel torture and condemnation, has become the holy sign of our deliverance from the curse of sin and the victory over death, sanctified by the priceless blood that flowed from the hands and feet of Him who was nailed and pierced with a spear.
Through the Cross of the Lord, and even through its image, countless healings and wonders have taken place and continue to be worked. By it, the Lord protects His people from all enemies, both visible and invisible. The Orthodox Church solemnly commemorates the finding of the Holy Cross, recalling also its appearance in the heavens to Emperor Constantine.
Today, when the efforts of worldly leaders to establish peace on earth remain fruitless, the only weapon of true hope for the world remains the one about which the Church sings:
“The Cross is the guardian of the whole world,
the adornment of the Church,
the strength of rulers,
the support of the faithful,
the glory of the angels,
and the wounding of the demons.”
Synodal Sector for Institutional Communication and Media Relations