Christ Jesus came into the world to sabe sinners.Of these I am the foremost” (1 Tim 1:15)
On September 13th, 335 AD, the Church of the Resurrection and Martyrium was dedicated in Jerusalem. The next day, in a solemn ceremony, the cross that Empress Helena had found on September 14th, 320 was exposed. This is how this Feast began, to remember this sign of death and life, the cross, on which Christ gave his life to save us from our sins and open the gates of eternal life.
The Gospel of John expresses in an extraordinary way the immense value of this sacrifice of Jesus for us: “Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through him” (Jn 3:16).