|
Question:
I've read your
article about the tree of life and its fruit. In the article it
is noted that during the feasts of the cross and in the prayers
of the horologion, "Lord, we see Thee in the pine, the cedar and
the cypress!" Therefore, does this reflect the wood that
was used for His Cross? Thank you. I have always wanted to know
what types of wood were in that wood.
|
|
Answer:
Dr. Alexander Roman
alex@unicorne.org
There is more than one tradition with
respect to the types of wood used in the construction of the Precious
Cross of OLGS Jesus Christ.
In the sixtieth chapter of Isaiah, verse sixteen, we read: "The glory of
Lebanon shall come to you, the cypress, the cedar and the pine to beautify
the place of my sanctuary and I will glorify where my feet rest."
The Eastern Church has its own developed theology of the Cross or
"Staurology" which is based also on its liturgical veneration of the
Cross.
The Eastern Church believes that these three types of trees grew together
near where Adam was buried. There is an icon depicting the nephew of
Abraham, St Lot, watering this group of three trees that would form the
single Cross of the future Messiah, reflecting His new Church or Temple
that would glorify the Most Holy Trinity.
The Ukrainian church writer Lavrenti Zizany-Tustanovsky wrote a popular
book on the Eastern theology of the Cross that discusses the above
prophecy of Isaiah in this light. The place where God's Feet would rest
is, of course, the slanted Foot-rest of the Orthodox Cross that celebrates
the victory of Grace over sin as our Lord leaned toward the Good Thief who
confessed Him and whom our Lord promised that he would be with Him in
paradise that very day.
|
