The Mystery of the Cross in the Old Testament

The Cross is something we normally relegate with the New Testament only, which may surprise some to hear that the image of the Cross is found throughout the Old Testament. Much of this involving making the Sign of the Cross itself, which has been tradition for Christians since the earliest days as cited by St. Basil the Great, an unwritten holy tradition. This mystery shows the power of the Cross in all of history as God’s intended plan to redeem human nature from sin and to set us free from death, trampling down death by death. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Moses Parted The Red Sea With The Cross

St. John of Kronstadt highlights how Moses parted the red sea during Israel’s flight from Egypt with the Sign of the Cross. He says, “The Lord was crucified for us on the Cross. This is the reason why the sign of the cross has such power. This is why it is life-giving. This is why even in the Old Testament its prototype had such great power. The pole upon which the serpent was set cured those who were bitten by serpents; the Sign of the Cross made by Moses’s rod separated the waters; Moses’s hands uplifted in prayer and forming the Cross conquered Amalek, and so on.” (1).

Moses facing the sea, raised his staff upwards, he went from up high to down low to split the sea, then moved right and back to left. The same way Orthodox Christians make the Sign of the Cross. He tells the Israelites, “stand still and see the salvation of the Lord” (Exodus 14:13), lifting up his rod (Exodus 14:16), stretched out his hand (Exodus 14:21), the waters were like a wall on the right hand and on the left (Exodus 14:22).

Fr. Epiphanios says, “This is concluded if we think of what motions Moses did to achieve a passage way through the Red Sea. If we suppose that Saint Constantine Street is the Red Sea, then for it to be interrupted, the motion of the rod must be vertical toward the road. When we go across-that is, we pass through the "Red Sea" - in order for the waters to again unite, the motion of the rod must be parallel with the road. Thus, however, in the air the sign of the Precious Cross is formed with the vertical and the parallel signing toward the road/Red Sea." (2).

At the Feast of the Elevation of the Cross, the Church has a hymn which says as much, “When Moses executed a cross with his staff, the Red Sea immediately parted for Israel on foot.” (Irmos Ode 1, Matins Canon) ((3)).

The Bronze Serpent

When people were dying from venomous snakes in Numbers 21 after speaking against the Lord, God saw the repentance of the people and told Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” (Numbers 21:8).

This prefigures the Cross as well as St. Cyril of Jerusalem notes, “This was the figure which Moses completed by fixing the serpent to a cross, that whoever had been bitten by the living serpent, and looked to the brasen serpent, might be saved by believing. Does then the brazen serpent save when crucified, and shall not the Son of God incarnate save when crucified also? On each occasion life comes by means of wood.” + St. Cyril of Jerusalem (4).

Jesus Himself alludes to this event in John 3:14, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, likewise, the Son of Man must be lifted up.” Just as the serpent poisoned, God uses a serpent to heal. Just as all humanity fell in Adam, all humanity is raised and healed in Christ. This was done by means of the Cross. The serpent was bronze as it appears to be poisonous but is not, the same way Christ voluntarily took on sin even though He was sinless (2 Corinthians 5:21). Christ was lifted up both on the Cross and in His ascension into heaven.

Both St. Luke of Simferopol and St. Gregory Palamas are cited as saying the snake was positioned horizontally by Moses on the stake, so that it resembled the Cross. St. Luke says, “Moses fashioned a large snake from bronze and put it on a pole similar to a cross. This was a clear type of our Lord Jesus Christ, who saves all from the death of sin, who with deep faith turn to Him, and with tears venerate His cross, through which He saved the world.” (5).

This along with Christ’s own words speak this reality. As does the icon of the event, the Cross is there. This specific one is a Russian icon from the 1500’s, the earliest surviving icon from the iconoclast period of this event is the 1000’s to my knowledge.

Moses with his outstretched arms in the form of a cross defeating Amalek is another powerful example, only when the form of the cross was maintained was there victory, but I’d like to focus on a less looked-at example, Jacob’s blessing.

Jacob’s Blessing Was The Sign of the Cross

“And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it upon the head of Ephraim (who was the younger), and his left hand upon the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands… And he blessed them that day, saying, ‘By thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh.” + Genesis 48 14:16

Joseph placed his two sons in normal order; Manasseh on Jacob’s right side, Ephraim on the left side. Jacob stretches out then crosses his hands making the form of a Cross switching them. St. John Chrysostom says, “Do you see how the type of the Cross is here being delineated in advance? For by crossing his hands he depicted the form of the Cross, and thus he blessed them.” (6).

True blessing comes from the Cross, the younger Ephraim is blessed before the older Manasseh. This also prefigures the Gentiles and the Jews. In the Orthodox Hierarchical Blessing by the bishop, where he uses the the branched candlesticks called dikiri and trikiri, the rubrics lay instruction for crossing their arms in the same manner as Jacob did. To my knowledge this is in the Archeiratikon (the bishop service book), “All cross their arms in the form of a cross, as the Patriarch Jacob did with the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, and thus receive the blessing.” (7). This is a rough rendering translation I did myself using translate from Greek, someone feel free to correct this if needed.

The Mystery of the Cross

How did the Sign of the Cross have such power in the Old Testament before Christ was crucified? This is part of the mystery of the Cross, the uncreated God outside of time and space, entered into creation into time and space. But even before these prefigurations, the Cross is found in the Garden of Eden itself.

The Cross itself is considered the Tree of Life spoken about in the Garden. Mary Magdalene curiously supposes Christ to be the gardener in John 20:15; this is not a random detail devoid of meaning, it is pointing to that same reality of the Cross as the Tree of Life in the garden. Christ is the gardener, Who walked with Adam & Eve in the garden (Genesis 3:8), the Cross was the plan from the very beginning it was not a backup plan or ‘plan B’ from God.

“The Church is revealed as a second paradise, having the Tree of Life, as the first paradise of old; by touching Thy Cross O’ Lord, we share in immortality!” This is sung during the Lenten Triodon, Canticle 5. Some of these examples already listed are mentioned in the Lenten Triodon as well of the Cross prefigured in the Old Testament. Even Daniel in the lion’s den is listed as an example who “stretched out his hands in the form of a Cross” and was protected (8, 9).

St. Romanos the Melodist makes the same comparison of the Cross as the Tree of Life, “behold that Tree, which you have call dry and barren, bears fruit; a thief tasted it and has become heir to the good things of Eden.” (10). This is in his work titled On The Victory of the Cross.

The mystery is God signaling His love for mankind all throughout examples of the Cross in the Old Testament, through the Tree of Life itself being the Cross in the Garden. He has always given this power to His people, to those who willingly accept it. Deliverance is through the Cross like the Red Sea, healing is through the Cross like the Bronze Serpent, blessings are through the Cross like Jacob’s blessing. All of these are realities simultaneously in this life, there is suffering, sorrow, pain and there is deliverance, healing, and blessings in the very same moments and experiences.

Adam & Eve would have been allowed to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil when they were ready as many of the church fathers note, but they weren’t yet and disobeyed. They were allowed to eat of the Tree of Life, which means to me, in Paradise before the Fall both Adam & Eve were willing to be selfless for the other and bear the Cross. Only when knowledge crept in that they were not ready for (not that knowledge itself is bad) introduced selfishness which is opposite of life. This is why true theology is living, which in this life involves suffering.

Paradoxically it is because we do not enter into death that we now die. God sets cherubim and a flaming sword (Genesis 3:24) to guard the way to the Tree of Life after the Fall. This was not to keep man from salvation in the Cross, but to protect man because he could not bear it without Christ. It was also to protect man from entering into living forever in sin. Both St. John Chrysostom and St. Ephraim the Syrian assert this and that this Scripture shows God’s immense love for mankind wanting the salvation of all people.

“Their indifference which they had already demonstrated in regard to the command given them, proved the cause of the approach being barred against them with such precautions. Consider, I ask you, that the loving God was not content with their dwelling opposite the garden: he placed these powers, the Cherubim and the flailing sword of fire, to guard the way leading there.” + St. John Chrysostom (11).

Without Christ we would never conquer sin. Our lives here in this life are spent trying to become like Christ, to bear the Cross we have before us with Him, in order to live forever in love. That’s ultimately what a Christian’s goal is. As long as we turn from this, ignore the Cross, or even run away from it; we will not taste true life — only distorted fleeting versions of it. Every time we enter into the Cross we enter into immortality, into everlasting life with Christ.

The Cross is the centerpoint of human history as St. Maximus the Confessor attests, “The Cross stands in the middle of the ages (ἐν μέσῳ τῶν αἰώνων) as the fixed point around which the whole creation turns.” (12). Time itself is created, it will end. The Cross is the Tree of Life, meaning it was there at the beginning of time, and through it we go to everlasting life at the end of the world which is the end of created time; therefore the beginning and end of time is the Cross. Even more mysteriously, the Cross is also outside of time as an eternal reality in God. Awe and wonder are always the pinnacle.

Metropolitan of Nafpaktos Hierotheos says that the love of God expressed through the Crucifixion is the mystery of the Cross. Through it “man overcomes the selfishness or self-love rooted in the fear of death.” (13).

The Cross is teaching us how to love. And as Fr. Thomas Hopko says the kingdom of God is a kingdom of lovers. Love is only real when shared, self-love is therefore false love, self-sacrifice is true love. I’ve heard this imagery of the love of God from multiple holy people, like St. John of Kronstadt (14) and Elder Arsenie Papacioc, expressed that when a mother sets up her child to begin to walk, she steps back, the child takes a step and falls, but that mother is so joyous just to see the child’s effort with one step. That is how God views us with our cross we bear, even if we only take one step; begin. Even just looking at the cross we’ve been avoiding instead of ignoring it is progress.

Ultimately, the mystery of the Cross is the mystery of love, because the definition of love is the Cross. To love is to suffer, as Love Himself suffered; and this suffering is transformed into life. The mystery is to know that love is stronger than death firsthand, to let Love Himself conquer the self-love in you, and to let Love Himself resurrect the death in you; every day. “Jesus said to all, “Anyone who desires to come after Me must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” + Luke 9:23. The mystery of the Cross is following God home, to real Love, to Paradise; in other words, salvation.

Sources:

1. 1. St. John of Kronstadt. My Life in Christ. St. Job of Poachev Print Shop (Published 2018).

2. 2. Fr. Epiphanios Theodoropoulos. Counsels For Life. The Life & Teachings of Fr. Epiphanios Theodoropoulos. Page 228, paragraph 1.

3. 3. Ode 1, Matins Canon of the hymns on the Feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross.

4. 4. St. Cyril of Jerusalem. Catechetical Lectures 13. (New Advent). https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/310113.htm

5. 5. St. Luke of Simferopol. Cited by John Sanidopoulos. (Source: https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2020/12/homily-on-bronze-serpent-and-nativity.html?m=1)

6. 6. St. John Chrysostom. Homily 67 on Genesis. Fathers of the Church series, Robert Hill translation 1992.

7. 7. Archeiratikon (the bishop service book) better citation may be needed.

8. 8. Lenten Triodon, Canticle 5. https://www.liturgies.net/Lent/triodion/lent5sat.htm

9. 9. Lenten Triodon, Canticle 8. https://www.liturgies.net/Lent/triodion/lent5sat.htm

10. 10. St. Romanos the Melodist. On the Victory of the Cross.https://cbustamablog.wordpress.com/2015/04/24/romanos-the-melodist-leading-us-to-deeper-contemplation-of-the-paschal-mystery/

11. 11. St. John Chrysostom. Homily 18 on Genesis,https://www2.iath.virginia.edu/anderson/commentaries/ChrGen.html).

12. 12. St. Maximus the Confessor. Ambigua 41. On Difficulties in the Church Fathers (2014). Edited and Translated by Nicholas Constas. Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library.

13. 13. Metropolitan of Nafpaktos Hierotheos. Empirical Dogmatics of the Orthodox Catholic Church. (https://saintandrewgoc.org/blog/2015/3/17/the-mystery-of-the-cross-and-resurrection-of-christ.html).

14. 14. iibd. St. John of Kronstadt.

15. 15. Eastern Orthodox Bible (EOB) for biblical citations.