St. Mary Church in ElKasren celebrated bringing to the church a part of the Holy Cross, and part of the relics of St. Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine.
HG Anba Marteros Bishop of eastern railway churches and pastors of the church attended the welcome celebration and perfumed the relics amid the attendance of worshipers.
St. Helana saw a vision at night as if one said to her: “Go to Jerusalem and search carefully for the Honorable Cross and the Holy places.” When she informed her son about this, he sent her with many soldiers to Jerusalem.
She searched for the wood of the Honorable Cross until she found it along with the other two crosses whereon the two thieves were crucified. She wanted to know which was the cross of the Lord Christ. St. Macarius, bishop of Jerusalem, told her that it was the cross that was written on the top of it: “This is Jesus, king of the Jews.” She asked him that she wished to see a miracle to make sure that it was the cross of the Lord. By the Will of God, a procession of a dead man was passing by at that time. She placed the other two crosses on the body of the dead man, but he did not rise. When she placed the third cross, straightway the dead rose up.The cross has been divided into several parts distributed around the world, and there is a part at St. Bishay Church in Damietta.
It is worth mentioning that the arrival of a part of the Cross to St. Mary Church will have a special resonance in the hearts of worshipers on Sunday, as the Orthodox Church celebrate the Holy Cross feast on Sunday 19th March.
