Has the original crucifix been found?

Answer 1

Helena, mother of the fourth-century Roman emperor, Constantine, claimed to have found the true cross on which Jesus was crucified. Local Christians are claimed to have told her that it could be found buried under a a shrine of the pagan goddess Aphrodite. Stimulated by visions, she ordered that the site should be excavated, whereupon three crosses were disinterred, together with the inscription which Pontius Pilate had set up, in Hebrew, Greek and Latin.

It next remained to discover which of the three crosses was the one on which Jesus had died. Here Bishop Macarius of Jerusalem undertook, with prayer for God's help, to place a sick woman on each of the crosses in turn, so that it could then be seen what happened to her on each of the three occasions. When she was placed on the first two crosses, nothing happened. When she was made to lie on the third cross, she was healed. That, it was conciuded, must have been the True Cross on which Jesus had met his death.

This was, at best, a dubious, discovery. Not only did it fortuitously involve demolishing an important pagan temple, and replacing it with a Christian church, it is rather doubtful that the bishop would have taken the risk that his 'test' would have resulted in no miraculous response from the woman - unless he knew what would happen and the woman was party to a plan whereby she would suddenly claim to be cured. Moreover, if the cross could really perform miraculous cures, it ought to be surprising that the Church never again used the cross to perform other cures, relieving much of the suffering of the ancient world.

In summary: This was the first time the true cross was allegedly discovered. However it is more likely that no real cross of Jesus has ever been found.