On the Third Sunday of Great Lent, the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross, Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia presided over the Divine Liturgy at the Church of Saint Sava in Vračar.
Speaking about the meaning of the Cross, the Patriarch recalled that in the ancient Roman Empire the cross was an instrument of the greatest humiliation, but that the Lord Jesus Christ transformed it through His suffering into a sign of victory and salvation.
Interpreting the words from the Gospel according to Mark—“Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mk 8:34)—His Holiness emphasized that the Cross is not only a symbol of suffering, but also an image of the entire human life:
“What is the cross, besides what we have heard? The cross is our whole life. And that cross—our life—can also become an instrument of shame; it can become our disgrace, our failure, and our loss. But it can also become glory, victory, and strength.
“In order for our life, our cross, not to become the first but rather victory, strength, and glory, it is necessary—according to Christ’s word and His call—that we take our life as our cross, deny ourselves, and follow Christ.
“It is clear to each of us what this means. To take up one’s cross, to follow Christ, and to deny oneself means to do what His apostles and disciples did, those who had boundless, infinite, and inseparable love for the Lord. To deny oneself means that in everything that belongs to us we do not set as our measure the logic of this world, human logic, or our own logic, but rather establish the logic of Christ as the foundation—placing the Lord Jesus Christ Himself as the foundation of our life.”
Source: spc.rs
