The feast is celebrated on the anniversary of the day on which St. Helena found the True Cross on which Jesus of Nazareth was crucified.
[1] The feast also commemorates the day in 335 AD on which the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem was dedicated,[2] and the day in 629 AD on which Patriarch Sergius I elevated the True Cross at Hagia Sophia after it was recaptured from the Persians by Byzantine Emperor Heraclius.
[5] In Eastern Orthodox Christianity, the official name of the feast is "Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Lifegiving Cross".
During religious service on the feast day, a cross decorated with flowers is brought into the middle of the church by a procession, accompanied by candles and incense.
The priest elevates the cross in four cardinal directions, each time repeating a benediction.