Exaltation of the Holy Cross

The Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross.

The Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross commemorates the finding of the true Cross of Christ in Jerusalem by St. Helen, mother of St. Constantine the Great, in the fourth century. The Cross was raised aloft by the Patriarch before the people, who bowed down crying out for mercy. The feast also recalls the return of the Cross to Jerusalem from Persian captivity in the seventh century.

Kept on September 14 as a strict fast day in reverence for the Passion, the feast celebrates the Cross as the weapon of victory over death. It is the name day of Stavros and Stavroula.

Feast day

On the New Calendar, Exaltation of the Holy Cross is commemorated on September 14. Churches on the Old (Julian) Calendar keep the feast on September 27 of the civil calendar.

Who celebrates a name day

People with these names keep their name day on this feast:

Stavros, Stauros, Stavroula, Stavrina

Also commemorated on September 14

• Plakilla the Empress

  Holy Woman, Πλακίλλα

  Righteous Plakilla, empress, wife of Theodosius the Great.

• Fathers of the Sixth Ecumenical Council

  Saint, ΣΤ' Οικουμενική Σύνοδος

  Commemoration of the Holy Fathers of the Sixth Ecumenical Council in Constantinople.

• Papas the Martyr

  Martyr, Πάπας

  Holy Martyr Papas of Lycaonia.

• Makarios the New of Thessaloniki

  Martyr, Μακάριος ο Νέος

  New Martyr Makarios of Thessaloniki, monk of Dionysiou and disciple of St. Niphon.

• Gerasimos of Sourvia

  Venerable, Γεράσιμος Σουρβιάς

  Venerable Gerasimos, founder of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity of Sourvia on Pelion.

Icon: public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.