Today is the Eve of the Feast of the Elevation of the Cross. Below are some quotes from the Early Church Fathers on the Cross. The first one is from Saint John Chrysostom.
BUT let us with a clear voice, shouting both loud and high, cry out and say (and should all the heathen be present, so much the more confidently), that the cross is our glory, and the sum of all our blessings, and our confidence, and all our crown.
I would that also with Paul I were able to say, “By which the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Gal 6:14) but I cannot, restrained as I am by various passions.
Wherefore I admonish both you, and surely before you myself, to be crucified to the world, and to have nothing in common with the earth, but to set your love on your country above, and the glory and the good things that come from it. For indeed we are soldiers of a heavenly King, and are clad with spiritual arms. — Homily LII On Matthew (on Mt 15:21, 22), translation from CCEL.
Saint Gregory Palamas said:
Such is the word of the cross. It was and is, therefore, a great and truly divine mystery…. On the face of it, anyone who lowers and humbles himself in all respects seems to be bringing dishonour on himself, anyone who flees carnal pleasures appears to be causing himself toil and grief, and anyone who gives away his possessions looks as though he is making himself poor. But by the power of God this poverty, grief and dishonour give birth to inexhaustible riches, inexpressible delight and eternal glory, both in this world and in the world to come. Paul ranks those who do not believe this, and [who] prove by their actions [that they don’t believe this], with the lost, or with the Greeks. “We preach,” he says, “Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block,” because they do not believe in the saving passion, “and unto the Greeks foolishness,” as they value transitory things above all else because of their complete disbelief in God’s promises, “but unto them that are called, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:23). St. Gregory Palamas (+1359) On the Precious and Life-Giving Cross
Saint Seraphim of Sarov said:
“Silence is the cross upon which we must crucify our ego.” – St. Seraphim of Sarov
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