# What Does the Cross Mean for the Christian Believer? > The Holy Spirit is like the dove that leads us to the Lamb. When the Holy Spirit appeared, He appeared in the form of a dove, and what we learned about the dove from the mouth of the Lord Jesus is "meekness." *2016-12-03T13:37:41Z* ![Quote card on a brown textured background with an icon of the crucified Christ at left. St. Gregory the Theologian, Homily on the Feast of Pascha 45:2 and 23: "Let us sacrifice ourselves to God, or rather let us offer our souls as sacrifices every day and on every occasion. Let us accept everything for the sake of the Logos, let us imitate His sufferings by our sufferings, let us honor His blood by our blood, and let us ascend the Cross with courage."](/uploads/sites/1274e232-e31c-46f4-a48b-27b854406479/media/meaning-of-the-cross.png?w=815&h=815) The Holy Spirit is like the dove that leads us to the Lamb ("as Fr. Lev Gillet expressed it, in the book The Dove and the Lamb"). When the Holy Spirit appeared, He appeared in the form of a dove, and what we learned about the dove from the mouth of the Lord Jesus is "meekness." So the Holy Spirit is a meek Spirit, who always waits for a submissive and humble heart in which to dwell, but He does not rest in a proud and puffed-up heart. When the Holy Spirit finds a humble dwelling, He dwells in it and is at ease, and begins to show His fruits and gifts in the heart of the believer, and from there the believer sets out on the life with God, the true life under the genuine leading of the fiery Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit appears under many names in the Holy Bible, as for example in the Book of Isaiah the prophet: The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. (Isaiah 11:2) Each of these names enlightens our eyes to one of the attributes of this great fiery Spirit, but the Holy Bible was not content with these names only; it also came in the First Epistle of St. Peter with the name "the Spirit of glory": If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. (1 Peter 4:14) Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty comments on this verse in his commentary on the First Epistle of Peter and says: \[As long as the sufferings and reproaches do not arise from personal enmity or from a wrong the believer has committed, but "for the name of Christ," then blessed is he. The secret of this blessing is that the Holy Spirit, "the Spirit of glory," rests upon the one who suffers for the sake of the Lord. He rests upon him to carry his burdens and support him, and He rests upon him to grant him glory\] [^1] It is clear that the Spirit of glory appears in a person when the believer shares in the sufferings of Christ, which are the sufferings of reproach for the sake of the name of Christ, these sufferings of which St. Paul the Apostle spoke, saying: And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. (Romans 8:17) So all suffering with Christ is a prelude to glory, and therefore all the suffering the believer feels on the path of witnessing for the Lord Jesus is met in return by the Spirit of glory, who plants in the heart a glory and a consolation that cannot be uttered. **1- The Cross and the Fellowship of Suffering in the Believer's Life:**\ Are you a believer? You do well, but if you are a believer and have not tasted the sufferings of Christ by being reproached for His name, then you are not yet a believer! St. Gregory the Theologian (329 AD - 390 AD) says: \[The Pascha of the Lord; on this occasion let each one offer good fruit, an offering fitting for the feast, whether small or great, from the spiritual things beloved by God, each according to his ability.. Let us sacrifice to God the sacrifice of praise on the heavenly altar with the choirs on high.. Rather, I say what is greater than that: let us sacrifice ourselves to God, or rather let us offer our souls as sacrifices every day and on every occasion. Let us accept everything for the sake of the Logos, let us imitate His sufferings by our sufferings, let us honor His blood by our blood, and let us ascend the Cross with courage; for the nails are sweet, though they are exceedingly painful, because suffering with Christ and for Christ is better than a life of ease with others!\] [^2] Suffering for the sake of witnessing to the truth that the Lord Jesus taught us through His words that He left us in the Holy Gospel is the most wonderful kind of fellowship. You may share love with anyone, and this will not cost you much, but very rarely do you share suffering with someone, because sharing in it is always costly and wearisome! But the explicit rule that St. Paul laid down, "if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together," means there is no glory without suffering and no rest without self-giving. So if the fellowship of suffering is of such importance, then what is the Lord's commandment concerning it, how do we walk in it, and what will I gain after I walk in it? Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. (Matthew 16:24) There is no room and no way for following Christ without passing through the carrying of the cross, and what is carrying the cross but the fellowship of suffering for the sake of witnessing to the name of the Lord Jesus? Our attaining to the carrying of the cross will not come before self-denial, and we spoke about self-denial in our first article, titled The Orthodox Prayer of Repentance. Self-denial is a state of going out of the self and turning toward God through repentance, and this is exactly what the Lord Jesus said: "let him deny himself." So the stage of carrying the cross comes after a person casts off from himself all the burdens of sin and begins the life of repentance, righteousness and holiness that belongs to the Lord Jesus, where the Holy Spirit begins to work within the soul, and there wells up within the person a strong desire to witness for the Lord Jesus. This desire appears in his conduct and in his manner of speaking, so that the center of his life and his speech becomes witnessing for the Lord Jesus. Here the carrying of the cross begins. The carrying of the cross is what the Lord Jesus Himself spoke of in the Beatitudes, for He gave blessedness to those who are persecuted and reproached: Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:11 - 12) **2- The Transfiguration and the Spirit of Glory:**\ Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; 2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. 3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. 4 Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." 5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!" 6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. 7 But Jesus came and touched them and said, "Arise, and do not be afraid." 8 When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. (Matthew 17:1 - 8) After the Lord Jesus spoke about carrying the cross as an act necessary for anyone to become a disciple of Christ, He took the "pillars," Peter, John and James, and went up on a high mountain and was transfigured before them! After He rebuked Peter and told him that he must carry his cross, He took him to behold His glory! St. Peter himself bore witness to this event in his epistle, saying: For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." 18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. (2 Peter 1:16 - 18) St. Abba Macarius the Great says: \[ And the Lord discusses with the soul and shows it the places of the nails, saying: Look at the marks of the nails, look at the scourgings, look at the spitting, look at the wounds; all these I suffered for your sake.. for in My love for mankind I came to seek you and to set you free, for from the beginning I formed you in My image, and created you to be a bride to Me.. And the Lord shows Himself to it in two forms: in the form of His wounds, and in the form of His glorious light. And the soul sees the sufferings He endured for its sake, and sees the surpassing glory of His divine light, so it is changed into that very image, from glory to glory, as by the Lord the Spirit. And it advances in both forms: in the form of His sufferings and the form of His glorious light, until in a certain way it forgets its own nature, being held by God, and mingled and united with the heavenly Man and with the Holy Spirit, and indeed it itself becomes spirit\] [^3] This is exactly the work of the Spirit of glory in us, for if we suffer with Him, the Lord Jesus shows us the ways of glory, and takes us with Him up a high mountain and is transfigured before us, whether by His light or by His word or by His voice and His powerful revelation, and in every case the soul will be filled with rest and reassurance because it becomes spirit, as St. Abba Macarius says, so it is lifted above the level of the body and worldly preoccupations, and soars in beautiful heavenly contemplation. Here God begins the journey with the soul, and begins to open our mind to grasp the depths of God's love and His mysteries, and the Holy Spirit becomes kindled to the highest degree, and teaches the soul and leads it and guides it to the true way it must walk, and guides it on its journey to the very end. **3- A Liturgical Prayer on Carrying the Cross and the Spirit of Glory:**\ Psali Adam on the Third Hoos - Arbsalin\ It is a hymn of praise to the Lord Jesus, whose words come from the additions to the Book of Daniel the prophet and the story of the three holy youths who suffered for the sake of witnessing to the truth, and the result was that they were saved from the fire and the Lord Jesus came to be in their midst and turned the furnace into a cool dew! Its words: Chant to Him who was crucified for us and was buried and rose, and abolished death and shamed it; praise Him and exalt Him exceedingly\ Put off the old man, put on the splendid new, and draw near to the greatness of mercy; praise Him and exalt Him exceedingly\ For the sake of your God, Messiah, the Giver of kindness, come to us, O Hananiah; praise Him and exalt Him exceedingly\ O zealous Azariah, in the evening and the morning and the noon give glory to the power of the Trinity; praise Him and exalt Him exceedingly\ Behold, Emmanuel is in our midst; O Misael, speak with a voice of rejoicing; praise Him and exalt Him exceedingly\ Gather together and persevere, all of you; speak with the priests; praise the Lord, all you His works; praise Him and exalt Him exceedingly\ Behold, the heavens declare the glory of God to this day, O you angels whom He made; praise Him and exalt Him exceedingly\ And now, O power of the Lord, bless His precious name, O sun and moon and stars; praise Him and exalt Him exceedingly\ Also, O rains and dews, praise our Savior, for He is the God of our fathers; praise Him and exalt Him exceedingly\ Give glory, O clouds together, the airs and the souls and the spirits and the hail and the fire and the heat; praise Him and exalt Him exceedingly\ Also praise Him without slackening, the Lord, King of kings, O seas and rivers; praise Him and exalt Him exceedingly\ Thus we, as we look upon them, let us say with all these beings\ Bless the Lord, all you birds; praise Him and exalt Him exceedingly\ O ice and snow and beasts and wild animals, bless the Lord of lords; praise Him and exalt Him exceedingly\ Praise the Lord as is fitting for Him, and not like the transgressors, O sons of men; praise Him and exalt Him exceedingly\ Offer glory and honor before Him, O Israel, with a voice of rejoicing, O priests of Emmanuel; praise Him and exalt Him exceedingly\ O true servants of God and souls of the righteous, the humble and the loving; praise Him and exalt Him exceedingly\ God, my God, I am the one who saves you from danger, O Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego; praise Him and exalt Him exceedingly\ Hasten with great care, O pious ones of the Lord, and all the natures that He made; praise Him and exalt Him exceedingly\ Give us all coolness and winds without ceasing, that we may say with delight; praise Him and exalt Him exceedingly\ Likewise, make Your poor servant Sergius free of judgment, that he may say with these as a partaker; praise Him and exalt Him exceedingly [^1]: Tafsīr Risālat Buṭrus al-Ūlā, chapter 4 [Commentary on the First Epistle of Peter] - Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty [^2]: Homily on the Feast of Pascha 45: 2 and 23 - St. Gregory the Theologian [^3]: The Third Collection of Homilies, Homily 3:2 - St. Macarius the Great --- Source: https://abba.fadymondy.com/en/blog/meaning-of-the-cross