1. The Commemoration of the
Consecration of the Sanctuaries of the church of Resurrection in Jerusalem.
2. The Translocation of the Relics
of St. John Chrysostom (of the Golden Mouth).
1. Today we celebrate the consecration of the
sanctuaries of the church of Resurrection in Jerusalem in the year
326 A.D. In the twentieth year of the reign
of Emperor Constantine and after the meeting of the Holy Council at Nicea, the
saint Queen Helena told her son Constantine that she had vowed to go to
Jerusalem to receive the blessings of the holy places and to search for the wood
of the life-giving Cross. He rejoiced at this, gave her much money, and sent her
in the company of a large number of soldiers.
When she arrived there and received the blessings of
the holy places, she searched for the wood of the Cross and found it after much
toil. She praised it with great veneration and paid to it much reverence and
honor. She commanded the building of the sanctuaries of the Resurrection, the
Golgotha, Bethlehem and the manger, the upper room of Zion, Gethsemane and other
sanctuaries, and that they be inlaid with pearl and covered with gold and
silver.
There was in Jerusalem a saintly bishop who advised
her not to do that, saying, "After a while foreign people will come and seize
this place and destroy it and take the precious stones and the silver and the
gold. But it is preferable to construct the buildings well and give the
remainder of the money to the poor and the needy." She accepted his advice, gave
him the money and set him in charge of the work.
When she returned to her son and told him what she had
done, he rejoiced, and sent large sums of money and commanded to pay the workers
their wages in full so they would not complain. When the building of the holy
places was finished in the thirtieth year of the reign of Emperor Constantine,
he sent vessels and precious vestments for the altars. He sent word to the
Archbishop of Constantinople and to St. Athanasius, Pope of Alexandria, to take
their bishops and to go to Jerusalem where they would meet the Archbishop of
Antioch and the Bishop of Jerusalem, to consecrate these sanctuaries.
They tarried there until the sixteenth of the month of
Tute, when they consecrated all the altars that had been built. On the
seventeenth day they marched with the Honorable Cross around all the holy places
where they worshipped God, offered the offerings, and venerated the Cross and
honored it. Then they returned to their chairs.
Their prayers be with us to the last breath. Amen.
2. On this day also the church commemorates
the transfer of the relics of St. John Chrysostom (of the Golden Mouth) from the
city of Komanah, where he departed in exile, to Constantinople,
30 years after his departure. That was in
the year
437 A.D. during the reign of Emperor
Theodosius II.
His intercession be with us, and Glory be to our God,
forever. Amen.
