The cross, the sacrificial altar of the Savior

The cross is the most important sign and symbol of Christianity, with a special spiritual significance. Thus, the union of the two lines (horizontal-earth, vertical-sky) signifies the restoration of man’s connection with God.
For God so loved the world that His Only-begotten Son gave Him who believed in Him not to perish but to have everlasting life (In 3: 14-16). The cross reminds of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ, which signifies the overcoming of death and resurrection as a triumph of life on death.
The cross, used as the object of torture for the Savior, has become His altar of sacrifice: He has carried our sins in His body on the wood, that we, dying of sins, may live the righteousness (1 Peter 2:24) . She was sanctified by her crucifixion of the Son of God, which is why she is honored by all Christians and is called SFANTA CRUCE. By honoring her, the Savior is honest, for Jesus Christ the Crucified is inseparable from her. In this respect, the Apostle Paul says: I have judged not to know anything between you, except Jesus Christ, and that He was crucified (I Cor.2: 2).
Crossing the Cross in the Orthodox Church is permanently linked to the Resurrection, as church singing says: “Your crucifixes are christening, christian, and sacrificed to you by a praise and praise” (from the Divine Liturgy).

The spiritual meanings of the cross

Identified from the beginning with the sign of the Son of Man (Matthew 24:30) and the banner of the Church (Isa. 5:26), the cross is the way of Jesus’ crucifixion (Mk 8:34). Thus, in the sense of the duh, it has two meanings: CRUCE PURTATION and CRUCE SIGNS made with the three fingers.
God’s love for men is revealed in the incarnation and sacrifice of Christ on the cross, and man’s love for God is shown and fulfilled in the wearing of the cross by each, in His footsteps, on His Way, which is a path of the Cross. The strength of faith is revealed throughout the believer’s life, but especially when he is in distress: when weak, then I am strong (II Cor.12,10). Because he loved the people, Christ also loved the Cross and sanctified Himself for them (cf. 17:19). The Apostles and the martyrs took their cross (Mk. 8:34) and wore it as something uplifting, as a joyous occasion and praise: And let me not praise me, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified for me, and for the world! (Gal.6,14).

The sign of the cross

It is accompanied by the utterance of the name of the Persons of the Holy Trinity.
By this appointment, the Christian calls the power of God in his life. God’s intervention in people’s lives takes place only to the extent that they accept and assimilate the inner state of sacrifice, self-sacrifice for other people, so to the extent that they dump themselves, they take their Cross and follow Him. Certain ritual gestures from the private and public worship are accompanied by the sign of the Holy Cross: the blessing of the priest, the knees, the metania.
The cross appears in several places:
• as a sign of the blessing (Fc. 48, 17-20),
• as a sign of healing (Num. 21, 8-9),
• as a power-sign (Exodus 17: 8-16),
• as a part of the deliverance from death (Is. 9: 4-6).

The power of the holy cross

The cross is the sign of the victory over the enemy: Lord, the weapon on the devil, Your cross gave us a new one; that he was terrified and shuddered, trying to look for her strength; that the dead have risen to you, and that you have overthrown death, for this we have worshiped your burials and resurrection (Molitvelnic). On the eve of the Battle of Maxentius, in the year 312 Emperor Constantine the Great I showed a cross over the sky above which was written: In this sign you will defeat. In this way, God has revealed to him the power of the cross.
Everything is sanctified by the sign of the Holy Cross and by the Holy Spirit invoking the priest. So the cross is sanctifying because of the sacredness of the Sacrifice’s sacrifice and the fact that He has bestowed on the people with the power of sanctification.
The cross is indispensable from any service of the Church, in various forms: the blessing given by the priest accompanied by the sign of the Holy Cross, the cross on the Holy Table with which he blesses, etc.
By willingly accepting the crucifixion, the Savior Jesus Christ changed the significance of the cross, making it a torture sacrificial altar and a symbol of love. The love of God is shown by the power of sacrifice He gives to man. The Lord Jesus Christ has commanded that His sacrifice be remembered: this is for My remembrance (Lk. 22:19). In the plan of God for the salvation of the world, the sacrifice of the Lord was a prerequisite for His exaltation: Christ had to suffer these things and enter into His glory (Luke 24:26).
Through the cross we divide the believers from the unbelievers and we know each other. Therefore, this wood that Christ has sacrificed has to be honored because it was sanctified by touching with His Body and Blood. We therefore worship the sign of sin and the life of the cross-maker, even if it is made of another matter. We do not honor matter, but the sign, as a symbol of Christ. Therefore, we must worship the sign of Christ. Where there will be the sign, there will be Himself. (St. John of Damascus, Dogmatics)

Biblical arguments

The word of the Cross, for those who perish, is madness; and for us, those who redeem us, is the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18).
For many, of whom I have often spoken of to you, act as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is the perishing. (Phil. 3, 18-19)
How can we escape the cross, seeing that Christ is crucified on her?
How can we find our torment heavy by seeing our Master that he loves them, asking them and counting them on great marvels?
And since it is so, multiply our Lord’s labors, temptations and sorrows, but multiply ourselves and have power, so that we can endure all that would happen to us (of the Acatist of the Holy Cross).

The place of the Cross in the Holy Trinity

Not split the Cross of Jesus. You, the fate everywhere beside Him, As in the earth and Heaven are the same, Part of the highest glory. The holy martyr of the only Trinity, Christ has taken you on the same step, and as a scepter of the eternal Trinity holds you there in His right hand.
We must find the meaning of the Cross as a victory over spiritual death, the victory of love.