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Cross
The instrument of Christ's death — venerated as the Tree of Life; the sign of the Christian.
The cross (stauros) is simultaneously the instrument of the most shameful death in the ancient world and, in Christian theology, the Tree of Life: the instrument through which Christ conquered death. The exaltation of the Cross (September 14) is one of the twelve Great Feasts. Orthodox Christians make the sign of the cross repeatedly throughout the day and in every prayer — it is the primary Christian gesture, the physical inscription of the Name of the Trinity on the body. 'We preach Christ crucified' (1 Corinthians 1:23).