true timber

The True Cross is a term used for the cross upon which Jesus was said to have been crucified, particularly as an object of religious veneration. There are no early accounts that the apostles or early Christians preserved the physical cross themselves, although protective use of the sign of the cross was common by at least the 2nd century. Post-Nicene historians such as Socrates of Constantinople relate that Helena, the mother of the Roman emperor Constantine I, travelled to the Holy Land in the years 326–328, founding churches and establishing relief agencies for the poor. The late 4th-century historians Gelasius of Caesarea and Tyrannius Rufinus claimed that while there she discovered the hiding place of three crosses that were believed to have been used at the crucifixion of Jesus and the two thieves, St. Dismas and Gestas, executed with him. To one cross was affixed the titulus bearing Jesus's name, but according to Rufinus, Helena was not sure until a miracle revealed that this was the True Cross.Many churches possess fragmentary remains that are by tradition alleged to be those of this True Cross. The acceptance of these relics is generally restricted to the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church, and the Church of the East, while Protestants and other Christians dispute their authenticity. The medieval legends that developed concerning the provenance of the True Cross differ between Catholic and Orthodox tradition, as do the exact dates of the religious festivals celebrating its rediscovery. A supposed fragment of True Cross held by Waterford Cathedral was tested by Oxford University radiocarbon experts in 2016 and found to date from the 11th century. Forging of relics for sale or to promote religious tourism (pilgrimage) was common during the medieval period but so was the creation of third-class relics by touching mundane items to those believed to be holy, in the belief some of its spiritual power would be transferred by the process. Over time, many such third-class relics came to be taken as the original articles they had once touched.

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