While in Jerusalem, Empress Helena learned the location where the Holy Cross was buried; she had the Temple of Venus demolished and discovered three crosses beneath it. Patriarch Macarius then instructed her to place them, one by one, upon a dead man whose body was being carried past. When the third cross was placed upon him, the dead man came back to life. The Empress fashioned a silver reliquary and placed the Holy Cross inside it. When King Chosroes conquered Jerusalem, he carried the Holy Cross away with him. Fourteen years later, Emperor Heraclius returned it to Jerusalem. He carried it on his back, but suddenly he stopped, unable to take another step. Patriarch Zacharias saw an angel preventing the Emperor from walking beneath the Cross while clad in magnificent robes—along the very path the Lord had walked barefoot and humiliated. Consequently, the Emperor, dressed in humble attire and barefoot, carried the Holy Cross into the Church of the Resurrection.

Saint Empress Placidia. Venerable Martyr Macarius of Thessalonica. Venerable Mary of Tarsus.