Ukrainian American Veterans will hold our National Convention here in New Haven Thursday October 31st thru Saturday November 2nd. We expect 140 attendees at the convention and we are asking for your help to make this event a success. Please contact Post Commander Carl Harvey for further details and how you can help. Thank you!

STAMFORD CHARITIES APPEAL

REMINDER: Please don’t forget to donate to the Charities Appeal. Forms are designed for each family of our parish. Attached to the form is an envelope into which you can place your contribution. Please enclose the form with your contribution into the envelope and place it into the collection basket during church services. Kindly make checks payable to the Byzantine Rite Eparchy of Stamford. DO NOT MAIL THIS FORM TO THE CHANCERY OFFICE. We sincerely ask all parishioners to make generous contributions.

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, celebrated every year on September 14, recalls three historical events: the finding of the True Cross by Saint Helena, the mother of the emperor Constantine; the dedication of churches built by Constantine on the site of the Holy Sepulcher and Mount Calvary; and the restoration of the True Cross to Jerusalem by the emperor Heraclius II. But in a deeper sense, the feast also celebrates the Holy Cross as the instrument of our salvation. This instrument of torture, designed to degrade the worst criminals, became the life-giving tree that reversed Adam’s Original Sin when he ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden.

According to tradition Saint Helena decided to travel to Jerusalem in 326 to excavate the Holy Sepulcher and attempt to locate the True Cross. A Jew by the name of Judas, aware of the tradition concerning the hiding of the Cross, led the expedition to the spot in which the Holy Cross was hidden. Three crosses were found and the inscription “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” remained attached to the True Cross. In one version of tradition, the three crosses were taken to a woman who was near death; when she touched the True Cross, she was healed. In another version, the body of a dead man was brought to the place where the three crosses were found, and laid upon each cross. The True Cross restored the dead man to life.