Helena Finds the Cross

Through the devoted efforts of the same queen, the cross of the Lord was found at that time. Of course it could not have been consecrated at the beginning, because the Jews opposed it; and afterward it had been buried under the rubble of the ruined city. Even now it would never have come to light except to someone who searched for it with such faith. So Helena first gathered information about the place of the Lord’s passion. Then she had a band of soldiers brought to it, while the whole crowd of the local people competed with one another to carry out the queen’s wishes; and she ordered the earth to be dug up and all the vast ruins nearby to be cleared away. Before long, as the reward of her faith and labor, three crosses were found, the ones that had once been set up for the Lord and the two robbers. [a]

But now a greater difficulty troubled everyone’s mind and thoughts: how to tell which was the cross on which the Lord had hung. They feared that by a mistake, such as mere mortals might easily make, they might perhaps consecrate as the cross of the Lord the one that belonged to one of the robbers. So they formed the plan of bringing someone who had recently died into contact with the crosses. There was no delay in carrying it out. As if by the appointment of God, the funeral of a dead man was just then being held with the usual ceremonies, and everyone rushed up and took the body from the bier. It was laid against the first two crosses in vain. But when it touched the cross of Christ, wonderful to tell, while everyone stood trembling, the dead man threw off death and stood up in the middle of those watching. So the cross was found, and it was consecrated with all due ceremony.