Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

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Every autumn, the Armenian Church celebrates the Exaltation of the Holy Cross—one of the five major feasts of the Church, and the most important of the four feasts of the Holy Cross.

The Exaltation refers to the True Cross on which Christ was crucified, which according to Church tradition was ceremoniously elevated for veneration on three occasions. It was first elevated by St.James the Apostle, the first Bishop of Jerusalem, who lifted the cross with the words "We bow before thy cross, O Christ"—a formulation still used in the Armenian liturgy.

On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the Divine Liturgy is marked with an "antasdan" service (blessing of the fields) during which the processional cross is adorned with basil (a symbol of royalty and of the living cross) and the four corners of the church are blessed as a symbol for all the world.  Read more about the Feast here.