Why do Copts celebrate the Feast of the Cross?
By CopticBot.ai (Coptic Space Inc.) · Last reviewed 2026-10-10
In the Coptic Orthodox Church, believers celebrate the Feast of the Cross in remembrance of the glorious and honorable Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and its miraculous recovery.
As explained in Focus on the Coptic Family Fr. Mikhail Mikhail, the feast honors the appearance of the Cross after King Constantine the Great saw the Cross appear between the stars bearing the inscription, "With this you conquer." Constantine sent his mother, the God-loving Queen Helena, to Jerusalem to recover the holy relic. According to the-ancient-coptic-churches-of-egypt-part-2-alfred-butler, when miracles occurred at the holy sepulchre—such as the raising of the dead and curing of cripples—the Jews became enraged and ordered everyone in Judea and Jerusalem to cast their sweepings and dust upon the sepulchre. Over more than two hundred years, this heap grew into a mountain. St. Helena ordered the pile removed and discovered the Cross after imprisoning a man named Juda until he revealed the site. In dictionr, it is recorded that the three crosses of Golgotha were found, with the true Cross being identified through a miracle, namely "the resurrection of a dead."
Queen Helena subsequently built and consecrated a church for the holy Cross. The actual appearance of the Cross was on the tenth of Baramhat; however, because that date falls during Lent, the celebration was substituted by the seventeenth of Thuout (or Tôt), which marks the consecration of its church. The feast is celebrated over multiple days, extending through the eighteenth and nineteenth of Thuout.
Spiritually, G4 - Growing with Discipline highlights that the feast teaches how the Cross provides believers with power and strength. St. Paul explains its divine importance, writing: "For the message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" [ 1 Cor. 1: 17- 31 ], and stating: "But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." The feast also emphasizes discipleship, showing that those who carry the Cross become disciples and heirs of Christ.
Sources: the-ancient-coptic-churches-of-egypt-part-2-alfred-butler; Focus on the Coptic Family Fr. Mikhail Mikhail; G4 - Growing with Discipline; dictionr