THE CROSS IN THE CATHEDRAL

English Translation by Gloria O’Brien

KRYŽIUS KATEDROS BAŽNYČIOJE

Daugiau nei šimtą metų Šventaragio slėny stovėjo rūstaus Perkūno -- dievų ir žmonių karaliaus – šventykla ..........

For more than a hundred years, the shrine of the wrathful Perkūnas – king of gods and men -- had stood in the Šventaragis valley, where an eternal flame burned in front of his statue, and an underground pit held sacred serpents.

But then, taking his seat on the throne of Lithuania’s Grand Dukes, came Jogaila. He, having accepted baptism and promised to baptize all of Lithuania, married the Polish princess Jadvyga, and was elected King of Poland. Almost immediately, with his queen, nobles and Polish clergy, he descended upon Vilnius and began to convert the pagans to Christianity.

After throngs of citizens had been baptized by Bodzentas, Bishop of Gnezno,

the authorities began to erase or destroy all remaining signs of paganism. The shrine of Perkūnas was the first to fall. The walls and altars were struck down, the flame extinguished, the serpents killed, and the statues of the gods were broken up and sunk to the bottom of the Neris River. The last Krivė Krivaitis, Gintautas, escaped and hid somewhere near Kaunas, and there lived out the rest of his days, mourning the loss of his gods, to which he remained faithful until his death.

Nothing was left of the old shrine, except for the underground and the tower from which the krivės used to announce the will of the gods to the people. Wanting to ensure that nothing remained to remind the people of their old gods, the bishops chose the very spot where a sacrificial altar once stood, to erect a large cross signifying their victory. That cross stayed, untouched, in the same spot (Legend puts it between the pillars, in front of the main altar, in the current Cathedral), even when a church was built on the foundations of the demolished shrine. So the symbol of Redemption remained in the middle of the cathedral church, which stood open day and night. That early cathedral, built by Jogaila, looked nothing like the one we know today, and it was fated to stand no more than twelve years,

before it burned to the ground in the great fire of 1399. Vytautas, who was then Lithuania’s Grand Duke, and his wife, Ona, built a larger, more beautiful and grand, Gothic-style cathedral, with several towers, on those same foundations. But the builders of Vytautas’ cathedral forgot to replace the cross in its rightful accustomed place.

One day, a visitor from the province, an elderly, gray-bearded priest with a long, pleasant face, arrived, and asked the priest in charge, Father Valentas, to show him around the new church. He was impressed by the splendid decorations, the rich and artistically carved lamps and candlesticks, and was fascinated by the unusual musical arrangements, comprising pipes, drums, whistles, kettles, and other instruments. As he took his leave, thanking Father Valentas for his service and declaring his joy that the church had been rebuilt, he also mentioned his disappointment, that the builders had forgotten to replace the old wooden cross, that symbol of remembrance, in its former place. The old priest declined Father Valentas’ invitation to join him at dinner, but instead quickly hurried away. Father Valentas paid no attention to the old man’s words, and the visit was soon forgotten.

A few days later, Bishop Mykolas, kneeling at a silk-covered, finely-carved prie-dieux, leading devotions in fervent prayer, was suddenly overtaken by a weary drowsiness. Unable to resist, he lowered his head to his clasped hands, and fell asleep. No sooner had he closed his eyes, than he saw the long-deceased Bishop Andrių, who had been his predecessor. Bathed in an unearthly light, Andrių carried a large wooden cross out of the sacristy, stood it in its former place, and disappeared. Bishop Mykolas immediately awoke, but could not forget the deep impression this unusual dream had made upon him. When devotions were over, the bishop related it to all the priests who were gathered, and Father Valentas remembered the words of the old priest who had visited the cathedral. No one had seen the old man before, and it seemed that no one knew him. But the bishop’s description of his predecessor, and that of the old priest who had visited the cathedral, were one and the same.

When the Grand Duke Vytautas heard about this, he personally paid to have a fine altar of the Holy Cross built in the middle of the cathedral, costly decorated, and ordered that a dark wooden cross bearing a small figure of the Crucified Christ, artistically-carved from ivory, should be hung above the altar.

That figure of the Crucified Lord survived many fires and wars; even now, it remains in the cathedral’s sacristy, nailed to a wooden cross that is carried in processions during Holy Week.

Source:

From “Vilniaus Legendos”, a collection

compiled by Stasys Lipskis and published by “Žuvėdra”

in Lithuania, 1998

This article was printed in Bridges March 2008

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