True Cross

From RationalWiki
(Redirected from True cross)
Jump to: navigation, search
Christ died so we could write articles on

Christianity

link=:category:
Christianity
Random examples
Resources

The True Cross was discovered by St. Helena, reputedly a former British barmaid and mother of the Emperor Constantine in around 400 CE.

Contents

[edit] Sophisticated archaeology

At the age of 80 Constantine's mum excavated at Jerusalem using what was the latest and most sophisticated archaeological techniques at that time. These consisted of rounding up all the local rabbis and torturing them until they said where it was. Unfortunately they did not know but all said that a man named Judas Cyprianus knew. St. Helena and her team then imprisoned him without food or water until he revealed the position- or his relatives had time to plant them. This succeeded where today's so-called "scientific" methods could not and three crosses were found. The True Cross on which Jesus was crucified was identified by getting an old lady who was very ill to lie on each one, but only the True one made her feel better.[1]

[edit] Fate

The Cross was split up and a third taken to Rome (where it remains at the Church of Santa Croce), a third taken to Constantinople, and a third remained in Jerusalem until it disappeared after the city fell to the Saracens. It is claimed Saladin tied it beneath his horse's tail.[2][3]

The Constantinople fragments were looted when the city was sacked during the 4th Crusade; the parts were shared out among the kings and bishops involved.

[edit] Parts of the True Cross

It has been calculated that if all the parts of the True Cross were put together they would actually make up LESS than one whole cross,[4] refuting Calvin's claim that it would make a whole ship-load of crosses.[5]

A supposed sliver of the True Cross is housed in the Colleen Moore Fairytale Castle in the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry[6]

Optimistic believers are invited to place bids on eBay where parts of the True Cross are regularly offered for sale — often for less than $20.

According to the guidebook, The Church of the Holy Cross, in Seaview, Isle of Wight, has a piece, but when asked about this, the local Catholic History Society polled all the congregation, and even included it in the newsletter for all Isle of Wight Christians, and nobody could remember where they put it last.[citation needed]

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. Socrates and Sozomenus Ecclesiastical Histories: Chapter XVII.—The Emperor’s Mother Helena having come to Jerusalem, searches for and finds the Cross of Christ, and builds a Church.
  2. http://www.thecross-photo.com/The_True_Cross_by_Ron_Loeffler.htm
  3. http://www.catholicexpert.com/articles/the_true_cross.htm
  4. Fleury, Rohault de: Mémoire sur les instruments de la Passion (1870)
  5. Calvin, Jean: Traité Des Reliques (Sometime in the mid-16th century)
  6. [1]
Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Community
Tools
support