The traditional procession before the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross took place on Sunday evening in Ehden.

The procession started in the square before St. Peter's Church then onto Saydet El Hosn.

Mass was said at Saydet El Hosnm with Father Joseph Moawad officiating assisted by sub deacons Paul Doueihi and Joseph Daif.


The feast commemorates the finding of the relics of the True Cross in 326 AD in Jerusalem by St Helena, the mother of the Roman Constantine.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built at the site of the discovery, by order of Helena and Constantine. In 335 the cross was placed in the church where it stayed until 614, when the Persians took it away. The cross was recaptured in 628 and returned to the church the following year.

The date of the feast derives from the feast marking the dedication of the church. The dedication was celebrated on 13th September and on the following day, 14th September, the cross was brought outside the church so both the clergy and laity could pray before it, hence the term, exaltation.

From its early beginnings the Feast was a solemn occasion and religious commentators say it was on an equal footing with those of the Epiphany and Easter. The feast attracted to Jerusalem a great number of monks, from Mesopotamia, from Syria, from Egypt, from the Thebaïd, and from other provinces, besides the laity of both sexes. Bishops would journey from their dioceses to be present at Jerusalem for the event. In due course the feast was celebrated in Constantinople and then by the 7th Century to Rome.

The feast is also known as the Triumph of the Cross and Holy Cross Day.

إطبع هذه الصفحة