The third Sunday (23.3.2025) of the Great Forty (3rd fasting) is called the Sunday of the Crucifixion and is celebrated every year 28 days before Easter.
Today, Sunday of the Crucifixion, the Cross is honored, the symbol of Christian faith, as we are in the middle of the Great Lent.
The Church promotes us the Cross of Christ, in order for the faithful to draw strength and continue their spiritual struggle and observance of strict fasting along the way to Easter.
The Cross also recalls that after Calvary and the Crucifixion the Resurrection follows, therefore gives comfort and hope to the faithful in view of the Holy Week of the Lord’s Passion.
After the doxology in Orthros, the priest leaves the north gate of the sanctuary, holding the cross on his head on a disc adorned with flowers (violets and rosemary) and with three lit candles, symbolizing the three hypostasis of God. During the liturgical procession, he makes three over the table in the middle of the temple and deposits the disc with the cross.
He then circulates the cross three times, chanting the trophy “Sisson Lord Your People”. The priest kneels first and worships the Cross and at that moment the trumpet is chanted, “Your Cross worshiping Despot, and your Holy Relt.” Then the chants and the faithful come and worship the Cross with reverence.
At the same time, in the evangelical reading of this Sunday, Christ’s command is heard: “Anyone who wants to follow me, renounce myself, and I do the cross of him and follow me” (Mark 8:34), which means that the faithful are called upon to face all the time.
It is worth noting that the Cross remains in the center of the temple throughout the week, so at the end of each sequence it is worshiped by the Ecclesiastes. At the end of the Divine Liturgy, the priest distributes to the faithful the so -called cross -blessing, which they guard in the iconostasis of their homes, such as the Flowers of the Epitaph.
Finally, according to the decision of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, the 3rd week of the fasting is dedicated to the priestly calls, to emphasize the importance of God’s call to the mystery of Priesthood.