On Saturday the 26th and Sunday the 27th of September – the Great Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord – Bishop Theodosius of Manhattan, vicar of the Eastern American Diocese, presided over the All-Night Vigil (featuring the Rite of the Exaltation of the Cross) and celebrated Divine Liturgy in the Synodal Cathedral of the Sign in New York City.

Serving alongside His Grace were cathedral clergy: Archpriest Seraphim Chemodakov, Abbot Zosimas (Krampis; rector of St. Sergius English Mission at the Synodal Cathedral), Hieromonk Theognost (Kogan), and Protodeacon Serge Arlievsky, as well as Protodeacon Vladimir Bigdan (cleric of the Diocese of Australia & New Zealand).

The Synodal choir sang beautifully at the services under the direction of conductor Vadim S. Gan.

The cathedral was filled with the faithful. On the feast day itself, the majority of the worshippers communed of Christ’s Holy Mysteries. Following Liturgy, Bishop Theodosius greeted the clergy and the faithful with the feast and addressed those gathered with a sermon, in which he said, in part:

"The history of the Cross has held profound significance since ancient times, and we can learn how the Tree upon which our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified came to be. After Lot left Sodom and Gomorrah and committed a grave sin, he went to his kinsman Abraham, who lived in Hebron; he repented of his sin and asked Abraham for a sign that he would be forgiven. Abraham gave him three pieces of dry staff-wood – remnants of the staffs left to Abraham by the angels in Hebron. They were made of three different types of wood: cypress, pine, and cedar.

"Lot was instructed to plant these three dry pieces of wood and water them with water from the Hebron stream, to which he would travel. He would constantly encounter a wayfarer (who was, in fact, a demon) to whom he was obliged to give a drink. Consequently, no water would remain in his vessel when the time came to water the dry pieces of wood. So, he turned to Abraham again. Abraham said: ‘Here are two twigs joined in the shape of a cross; place them at the bottom of the vessel when you draw water.’ And when he encountered that wayfarer again, the stranger wished to drink the water but vanished into thin air—for Abraham had foreseen that the Tree of the Cross would save the human race.

"In time, this tree grew large. It had a single trunk that branched out just above the base; during the reign of King Solomon, the plan was to use this timber for the construction of the Temple. However, it appears the wood was not used for that purpose; instead, it was fashioned into a small bridge over the Hebron stream. Tradition holds that Solomon prophesied the tree would serve the salvation of many; indeed, when the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon and was expected to cross this bridge, she refused, declaring that the wood was destined for the salvation of many people on earth. Later, the bridge was dismantled, and the timber was cast into the Pool of Bethesda. When the time came to fashion the Cross for the Lord Jesus Christ, this massive beam – which had been lying at the bottom of one of the pools – was used. The Lord carried this Cross to Golgotha, and it was upon this very wood that He was crucified."

Bishop Theodosius explained that the vertical beam of the Cross represents God’s love for humanity, while the horizontal beam represents the love of people for one another. "The Lord was crucified on the Cross to save the human race, to deliver us from the fear of death and from ending up in places we would not wish to go after our earthly lives have concluded." He also noted that a fragment of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord is contained within the Cross standing in the center of the cathedral.

Afterward, the clergy performed a short moleben before the Cross in the center of the church.

The clergy and the faithful gathered for a luncheon in the cathedral hall, where their fraternal fellowship continued.