Do you know your Adoration from your Exaltation?

  • 0914elevation.jpgI hope I’m not the only one who gets the Feasts of the Cross mixed up. There are three main feasts of the Cross, and after twenty-odd years in the Ortho­dox Church, I still can’t keep the names straight, not to men­tion all the other impor­tant why’s and wherefore’s.

    So I did a lit­tle research and offer the fol­low­ing quiz as a bit of fun and education.

    (BTW, the answer to a ques­tion may be more than one feast or none of them. I thought it would be more sneaky that way.)

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    Your Cross Exam­i­na­tion (ha ha)

    A. This feast is cel­e­brated on Sep­tem­ber 14: (Easy one, but I had to start somewhere.)

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above


    B. This can also be called The Feast of the Exal­ta­tion of the Cross:

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

    C. This feast is cel­e­brated on August 1, coin­cid­ing with the start of the Dor­mi­tion Fast:

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

    D. This is one of the 12 major feasts of the Church year:

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

    E. This takes place dur­ing the third Sun­day of Great Lent:

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

    F. The tropar­ion (or apoly­tikion) of this feast is “O Lord, save Thy peo­ple and bless Thine inher­i­tance, grant­ing to Thy peo­ple vic­tory over all their ene­mies, and by the power of Thy Cross, pre­serv­ing Thy community.”

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

    G. This feast was also tra­di­tion­ally the time of the bless­ing of the new honey col­lected for the year:

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

    H. This feast com­mem­o­rates both the find­ing of the True Cross in 326 and its recov­ery from the Per­sians in 628.

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

    I. This feast is cel­e­brated in cathe­drals and monas­ter­ies by the chant­ing of 500 “Lord, have mercy”s while the cel­e­brant slowly raises and low­ers the cross five times (as shown at right)500lhmservice.jpg

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

    J. The cel­e­bra­tion of this feast can include a pro­ces­sion with all the faith­ful fol­low­ing the cross:

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

    K. This feast com­mem­o­rates the “Bap­tism of the Rus” in 988 and may also com­mem­o­rate two deci­sive 12th cen­tury vic­to­ries in battle:

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

    L. It is cus­tom­ary at this feast to dec­o­rate the Cross with flow­ers and basil leaves:

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

    M. Berries and berry wine are exchanged at the end of this feast:

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

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    ANSWERS

    (The answers are in red, just to keep any­one from hav­ing to scroll back and forth)

    A. This feast is cel­e­brated on Sep­tem­ber 14: (Easy one, but I had to start somewhere.)

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

    B. This can also be called The Feast of the Exal­ta­tion of the Cross:

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

    C. This feast is cel­e­brated on August 1, coin­cid­ing with the start of the Dor­mi­tion Fast:

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

    D. This is one of the 12 major feasts of the Church year:

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

    E. This takes place dur­ing the third Sun­day of Great Lent:

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

    F. The tropar­ion (or apoly­tikion) of the feast is “O Lord, save Thy peo­ple and bless Thine inher­i­tance, grant­ing to Thy peo­ple vic­tory over all their ene­mies, and by the power of Thy Cross, pre­serv­ing Thy community.”

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

    Yep, it’s all of them. Well, it’s called the Apoly­tikion of the Cross, so it kind of fig­ures, really.

    G. This feast was also tra­di­tion­ally the time of the bless­ing of the new honey col­lected for the year:

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

    H. This feast com­mem­o­rates both the find­ing of the True Cross in 326 and its recov­ery from the Per­sians in 628.

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

    I. This feast is cel­e­brated in cathe­drals and monas­ter­ies by the chant­ing of 500 “Lord, have mercy”s while the cel­e­brant slowly raises and low­ers the cross five times (as shown at right)

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

      5. I’ve only got­ten to see it one time. Kind of neat.

      (Later note: Oops, I may be wrong about this only being done for this feast. See Mimi’s com­ment HERE.)

    J. The cel­e­bra­tion of this feast can include a pro­ces­sion with all the faith­ful fol­low­ing the cross:

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

    Nat­u­rally.

    K. This feast com­mem­o­rates the “Bap­tism of the Rus” in 988 and may also com­mem­o­rate two deci­sive 12th cen­tury vic­to­ries in battle:

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross

    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

    L. It is cus­tom­ary at this feast to dec­o­rate the Cross with flow­ers and basil leaves:

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

    M. Berries and berry wine are exchanged at the end of this feast:

    1. The Feast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross
    2. The Ado­ra­tion of the Holy Cross
    3. The Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross
    4. none of the above

    Sorry. I’m fast­ing in prepa­ra­tion for tonight’s ser­vice, and that just sounds really good to me right now.

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    SCORING:

    • 1–3 wrong — Say! You’re a per­son who really knows your Feasts of the Cross!
    • 4–6 wrong — Per­haps some addi­tional prayer time would be beneficial?
    • 7 or more wrong — See your spir­i­tual father about cat­e­chism make-up classes.

    After­word: In look­ing into the August 1 Feast of the Pro­ces­sion of the Ven­er­a­ble Wood of the Cross, I start to think that this one is more cel­e­brated in the Russ­ian Arch­dio­cese than the Anti­ochian. So if you’re Anti­ochian, you can take all those ques­tions off your score if you want. I am the nice one, aren’t I? But then, I’ve come back from the ser­vice now and I’m feel­ing beneficent.


    Related posts:

    1. Feed­ing your­self, feed­ing others
    2. Vic­tory of the Cross
    3. Prayer request
    4. Bright Fri­day and my wooden heart
    5. The Lord will have mercy; the Lord has had mercy

    September 13th, 2007 | Grace | 10 Comments |

10 Responses and Counting...

  • Molly 09.13.2007

    That was great, Grace– very infor­ma­tive! Thank you! I am keep­ing my score pri­vate (ha ha).

  • Mimi

    I’ve only seen the 500 Lord Have Mer­cies once, and it was on the Prefeast of the Ele­va­tion of the Cross (so tonight) when the Bishop was here, so I dis­agree with that answer. But, I thought it was amaz­ing, I agree.

    Other than that, I got all of them right, except on some I didn’t choose all of the above (the Tropar­ion and the Procession).

    Great quiz. Happy Feast Day! It is the anniver­sary of my entry into the Church on this Feast Day, so it is a spe­cial one to me.

  • Grace

    500 Lord Have Mercy’s on Prefeast: Really? Well, live and learn. I was tak­ing my info from dif­fer­ent sources, but they must’ve had that one wrong.

    I also had to go back and change the next-to-last one after tonight’s ser­vice. I thought the cross was only dec­o­rated for Ado­ra­tion of the Cross, but Father said the flow­ers and basil leaves are for any Feast of the Cross, so oops.

    And con­grat­u­la­tions on your anniver­sary! No won­der you’re such an expert on these feasts.

  • Mimi

    Well, I was pon­der­ing it this morn­ing at Matins (there was no Liturgy due to no choir) and fig­ur­ing it may be a monas­tic — non­monas­tic thing, or an Anti­ochian — OCA thing.

    Either way, Happy Feast Day! Thanks for the congratulations!

  • DebD

    Uh — well. at least I don’t have to go back to Cat­e­chism class. This was fun. Thanks!

  • Erica

    Hmm…well, i learned something.

  • Cather­ine K.

    It may be an OCA/Antiochian thing, we did the 500 Lord-have-mercies last night at the end of the Matins in our Vigil for Exal­ta­tion (as we have in pre­vi­ous years).

  • Grace

    And are you OCA or Antiochian?

    (My priest might not be happy to find out that this is a pos­si­bil­ity. He has enough back issues as it is. :-) )

  • Grace

    Cather­ine K had trou­ble respond­ing here for some rea­son, but she e-mailed me her answer:

    I am in the Roman­ian Epis­co­pate of the OCA — I do not know if the Greeks do this, but the Slavs do (though per­haps not all of the Slavic or Roman­ian parishes do).There are also dif­fer­ences between the Russ­ian and Roman­ian traditions.

    From what I under­stand, this is done in the con­text of the Vigil ser­vice. Per­haps my under­stand­ing is incor­rect, but I don’t think the Anti­ochi­ans have Vigil services?

    And she’s right. I don’t think we Anti­ochi­ans do vig­ils apart from Holy Week.

  • Mimi

    I agree, I think Vig­ils are more of a Russian/Slavic prac­tice (I’m OCA also)

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