Christian Mythology
George Every
The traditional
site of the invention, or discovery, of
the cross
itself is not the Holy Sepulchre, but a
discarded
cistern of the appropriate period, which
was probably
found and cleared while the Martyrium
was being
built. The fragments referred to by St Cyril
may have
been found there, or they may perhaps
have been
in circulation in places like Edessa before
Helenas discoveries
made relics of the passion
popular.
What is important is that all our earliest
references
are to fragments or to objects made with
nails from
the crucifixion. No one claims to have
seen the
whole cross, and it should be obvious that
nothing found
intact would have been broken so
soon. The
number of fragments of the true cross may
be best explained
if we assume that every bit of
wood gathered
near the site became a relic, and in
many cases
a means whereby a sense of direct
contact with
Christ was communicated. Miraculous
healings
were the result of faith, not of the
application
of a particular holy object, but it is not
surprising
that they should be taken as evidence of
the authenticity
of the relics.
What may
be called the prehistory of the cross
became interesting
as the crucifix became a central
religious
symbol. The simplest and most widely
diffused
form of the legend of its origin survives in
the name
Adams apple for the epiglottis (sic). This
is based
on a just-so story of how man got his apple,
that the
fruit of the knowledge of good and evil got
stuck in
Adams throat. From the seed, after he was
buried, one
or three trees grew, of which one was
the crucifix.
In more elaborate versions of the same myth these seeds
are planted in his throat after his death by his son Seth.
They belong to the tree of life, not to the tree of knowledge
of good and evil, and they have been brought from Eden
with the oil of mercy to console the last hours of Adam. A
sapling from this root became the staff or the rod of Moses.
King David found it, used it for various wonders, and
planted it in his garden. Cut down for Solomons temple, it
would not fit into the building. Rejected and flung into a
ditch, it rose to the surface and became a bridge. The Queen
of Sheba was about to cross it
when she recognised its
nature and destiny, and took off her shoes to ford the
stream below. By her advice Solomon put it in
the Temple
after all, as a lintel over a door, overlaid with gold and
silver. But his wicked grandson Abijah stripped off the
precious metals and buried it on the spot where the pool of
Bethesda was afterwards dug. There the virtue of the wood,
as well as the ministry of the angel, gave power to the
waters to cure all who were afflicted, until as the time of the
passion drew near the beam came to float on the surface,
from whence it was taken to become the wood of the
cross.
