At the time of Christ, crucifixion on the cross was the cruelest and most humiliating death sentence imposed. Slow suffocation was hastened by breaking the legs of the condemned so they could no longer push up to take a breath. When the crowd shouted “Crucify him!” they expressed the greatest rejection and revulsion of the gentle man of God. Yet in St. John’s 
Gospel Christ’s utterance of the words, “It is finished.”acknowledges the goal to bring salvation to humanity by His death was accomplished. We are asked to take up our own cross and follow HIm. St. Paul stresses that the love and forgiveness of God toward humanity is made manifest by Christ’s death on the cross.
The perception of the cross begins to change after the death and resurrection of Christ. In the Old Testament the importance of the Cross was foreshadowed in Exodus 15:22-25 which tells of wood being cast into the bitter waters of Marah to make them sweet. Moses used his rod to perform miracles and stood with his arms outstretched as a sign of strength to his people. Genesis 2:9 talks of the Tree of Life. Wood sticks were carried by Issac as Aberaham took him to offer as sacrifice. Genesis 22:6.
After the establishment of Emperor Constantine’s empire as a Christian realm, pilgrimages to Jerusalem were numerous and his mother, Empress Helen, embarks on her own pilgrimages to visit the holy sites and build churches to mark their location. Tradition tells us she found the True Cross, authenticated it by its healing powers and brought back a relic of the True Cross to the Churches of Constantinople. The Cross remained and was revered in Jerusalem until taken by the Persians in 614. it was restored to Jerusalem in 631 and its relics spread throught the Christian world.
St. John Chrysostom developed a theology of the Cross that helped to increase its popularity in Christian art. For this great theologian the Cross was central to God’s loving kindness towards humanity; it was a symbol of his providential care for his creation; and the salvation of the world was rooted in the Cross of Christ. Baptism and the Cross free us from bondage to the Law of the old covenant; the erection of the Cross purified the air of demons and destroyed the power of the devil; the Cross thus becomes a monument of the banishment of the enemy. As the devil conquered Adam by tempting him with the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, so Christ conquered the devil by the wood of the Cross. St. John Chrysostom says, “For Jews the Cross is temptation, for pagans it is madness, but for us believers it reminds us of our salvation.” Festival Icons for the Christian Year by John Baggley
The icon of the Exaltation of the Cross shows Patriarch Macarius standing in the pulpit elevating the Cross for all to see and venerate. On each side of the Patriarch those attending the ceremony, deacons holding candles, many clergy and lay people, and Saint Helen, the mother of Emperor Constantine. In the background of the icon is a domed structure that represents the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem.
Further Explanation: https://www.goarch.org/en/exaltation
Say a Prayer
“As an unconquerable token of victory, an invincible shield and a divine sceptre, we worship Thy most Holy Cross, O Christ, whereby the world has been saved and Adam filled with joy. With the whole assembly of those born on earth we honour it, singing its praises, and as we celebrate its divine Exaltation, we entreat Thee for forgiveness.” The Festal Menaion, Stichera of Great Vespers