The Consecration of the Church of Christ's Resurrection

Life

When the holy Empress Helena found the Cross of the Lord in Jerusalem, she remained for some time in the Holy City and built churches in Gethsemane, in Bethlehem, on the Mount of Olives, and in other places made memorable by the life and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And on Golgotha, where she found the Precious Cross, she began building an enormous church beneath whose roof were both the very place of the skull, where the Lord was crucified, and the place where He was buried. The holy empress wished to unite under one roof both the place of His suffering and the place of His glory. But Helena reposed in the Lord before that magnificent church was completed. When the church was completed, that very year Constantine was celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of his reign. And so the consecration of the church and the celebration of the emperor's jubilee were both observed on one and the same day, September 13, in the year 335. At that time a local council of bishops was in session in Tyre. And these bishops, along with many others, gathered in Jerusalem for the solemn consecration of the Church of the Resurrection of the Lord. And it was then established that this day, as a day of victory and triumph of the Church of Christ, should be commemorated festively each year.

From the Hymn of Praise

The wondrous Cornelius, devout in feeling,Yet openly pagan in his mind,By much almsgiving he found mercy before God,And God Most High sent him a mighty angel.