Procession of the Precious Wood of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord

The Procession of the Precious Wood of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord. According to the Greek Horologion of 1897, in Constantinople from the most ancient times there was a custom of carrying the Precious Cross of the Lord through the streets of the city, the reason for which was the frequent spread of illnesses among the inhabitants in the month of August. On the day before, 31 July, the holy thing used to be brought out with honour from the court church of the Byzantine emperors, where it was kept, and laid on the altar of the church of Hagia Sophia; the blessing of water was performed. Then, the next morning, the Precious Cross was carried out into the streets of the city and taken round the districts for two weeks to sanctify the places and to ward off illnesses.

The feast of the Procession of the Precious Cross of the Lord must have been instituted in the ninth century. At first it was only a local feast, but from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, with the spread of the Jerusalem Typicon, it became universal.