Procession of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross
The annual procession of a relic of the True Cross through the streets of Constantinople, marking the start of the Dormition fast.
Biography
In Constantinople this day marked the “Procession” of the Holy Cross, when a portion of it was carried out from the palace, or from the treasury of the Great Church, to be taken through the city's streets for blessing and protection against illness; the day also opens the two-week fast before the Dormition of the Theotokos. One old manuscript from Patmos even records an alternate tradition, that the Great Church held a special sanctification service that day with a piece of the True Cross.