On Sunday, September 27, on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, in the Church of St. Nicholas in Kotor, a holy liturgy was served at which Father Nemanja Krivokapić preached.

"In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Today, on this day, the Orthodox Church celebrates a great holiday — it celebrates the Holy Cross, and that is why we solemnly place it in the center of the church, we bow to it and kiss it. This holiday is called the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Exaltation means the elevation, the solemn installation of the Holy Cross.

And it concerns, first of all, the event of finding the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, but not only that event, but also several other historical events related to the Cross.

First of all, as I said, we celebrate the day when Emperor Constantine and his mother, Empress Jelena, found the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. That was in the 4th century. Christians only waited for the Holy Cross to be found in the 4th century - it was not found immediately because it was not easy for Christians to profess the Christian faith in the first three centuries, because the emperors until then were polytheists, so they persecuted and killed Christians. Only with the arrival of Emperor Constantine and his pious mother, Empress Jelena, did Christianity get the opportunity to publicly confess its faith. Only then do churches begin to be built. Until then, there were no churches, they gathered in rooms, houses, graves, catacombs, prayed and served liturgies there, and from Emperor Constantine onwards, freedom also arose for Christians. His mother, Empress Jelena, wished to find the holy Cross, so they went to Jerusalem, inquired where could it be, they showed them where that Golgotha ​​is where the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. However, a polytheistic temple was built there.

They demolished that temple, put it away and really managed to find the Holy Cross in the middle. They solemnly brought it into Jerusalem and that is the great holiday that we celebrate today.

Also, we remember today's day and the event when in the 7th century Emperor Heraklius returned the Holy Cross to Jerusalem after a battle with the Persians. Namely, the Persians had taken the Cross as a trophy to Persia, and then Emperor Heraklius defeated the Persians again and ceremoniously returned the Cross to Jerusalem. According to tradition, the emperor wanted to ceremoniously bring the Cross in the way that the Lord Jesus Christ carried it through the streets of Jerusalem, but he simply could not physically, something prevented him. The Patriarch saw an angel who announced to him that the Lord was carrying that Cross that way, but not in a solemn garment, but barefoot and in a modest garment and that he carried the cross on his shoulders. So then, in that way, the emperor also carried the Cross, so that it could be solemnly raised and glorified.

We also remember another event, also related to the Cross and Emperor Constantine — when in the battle against the polytheistic Emperor Maxentius, Emperor Constantine saw the sign of the Cross in the sky and it was written: 'Conquer with this.'

Why did it happen? Because it was not just one battle of one emperor against another emperor, but it was a battle of good against evil. That emperor Maxentius was a polytheist and a persecutor of Christians. And not only that, but his polytheism and sacrifices were such that they also sacrificed children and pregnant women, so it looked more like Satanism than polytheism. Because he hated Christians and persecuted them, the fight against that emperor was a fight between good and evil. That is why God appeared and helped him, and gave him the sign of the Christ with which he would defeat the enemy. Emperor Constantine gave this sign of the Cross to the soldiers to put on their shields. Therefore, it is not just one victory, but the victory of good over evil, and a reminder to us that in the fight against evil we have the Cross as a powerful symbol, not just a symbol, but a weapon of victory against evil.

So why do we fast on this day? Because every memory of the Cross is actually a memory of the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. We heard that the Gospel that we just read describes in detail the event of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, when He was tried, condemned and crucified on the Cross.

Therefore, whenever we remember the Cross, we also remember the suffering of Christ. That is why we fast, so that in some way we suffer with Christ who suffered for us.

But is it a sad holiday? It's not! It is a joyful holiday because the crucifixion and suffering never happen by themselves, but always together with the Resurrection. Because Christ suffered in order to be resurrected. It was planned that he would come to suffer in order to rise again. Because in order to save our human race, it was necessary to defeat death. And death could only be defeated by the Resurrection. And so, as a true God and a true man, he was crucified, died, but also resurrected, conquering death!

That is why, when we remember all these events, we always remember, above all, the Resurrection. He suffered so that he could be resurrected and give us salvation. We sang a wonderful song a little while ago: 'We worship your cross, Lord, and we sing and celebrate your resurrection.' The two always go together.

That is how the Lord God defeated death with the Resurrection, and also gave us salvation with the Resurrection. But he also gave us the Cross as a powerful weapon in the fight against evil forces. And that's why we sing in that church song: 'The cross is power and a sign, the cross is salvation.'

May the Lord God, by the power of the Holy Cross, which defeated death, grant us eternal life as well. Amen!" said Father Nemanja.