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:When the true Cross was identified, it was lifted on high for all the people to see, who then continually sang ''Kyrie eleison'', a practice which is still enacted at current celebrations of this [[feast]].
* The recovery of the [[Cross]] on which [[Jesus Christ]] was crucified from the Persians. The Persians had captured the [[Cross|True Cross]] as a prize of war when they sacked Jerusalem in 614 AD. It was recovered by the forces of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire)) in 627 AD, when Emperor [[Heraclius]] decisively defeated the Sassanid Persians at The Battle of Nineveh, surrounding their capital Ctesiphon, recovering the [[Cross|True Cross]], and breaking the power of the Sassanid dynasty. The Elevation took place on [[March 21]], 630 AD, when Emperor Heraclius entered Jerusalem amidst great rejoicing, and together with Patriarch [[Zacharias of Jerusalem|Zacharios]] (609-632), transferred the Cross of Christ with great solemnity into the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Jerusalem)|temple of the Resurrection]], joyously held up for veneration by the Christian faithful.
This is one of the two feast days which is held as a strict [[fast]]. The other is the commemoration of the [[Beheading of St. John the Forerunner]] on [[August 29]].
