Thursday, May 7, 2026

It is the 7th of May 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

Video killed the Radio Star. The video also seems to have killed the sky apparition. The giant sign in the sky for all to see. Once a commonly claimed occurrence, especially in the 19th century, the global apparition or portent has either disappeared or become a localized event (like at a shrine or on a piece of toast).

 

But they make sense, in Christian history, on account of the teaching from Revelation that “every eye shall see”. How else but using the backdrop of the heavens as a canvas for instant communication? We’ve had various famous Marian apparitions in the last few centuries, while the 16th century was keen on portents- comets, eclipses, strange lights. Back in the 4th century, Constantine was said to have seen the sign of the cross with the words “In this sign, conquer” before his fateful victory at the Milvian Bridge. But it was on this, the 7th of May in 351, that the largest and perhaps most theologically charged apparition was said to have appeared.

 

The story comes from St. Cyril and his letter “On the Apparition of the Cross in Jerusalem,” as it has come to us from Sozomen’s Church History from around 440.

 

Let me read this remarkable record:

 

 

In these holy days of the Easter season, on May 7, at about the third hour, a huge cross made of light appeared in the sky above holy Golgotha extending as far as the holy Mount of Olives. It was not revealed to one or two people alone, but it appeared unmistakably to everyone in the city. It was not as if one might conclude that one had suffered a momentary optical illusion; it was visible to the human eye above the earth for several hours. The flashes it emitted outshone the rays of the sun… It prompted the whole populace at once to run together into the holy church, overcome both with fear and joy at the divine vision. Young and old, men and women of every age, even young girls confined to their rooms at home, natives and foreigners, Christians and pagans visiting from abroad, all together as if with a single voice raised a hymn of praise to God’s Only-begotten Son, the wonder-worker. They had the evidence of their own senses that the holy faith of Christians is not based on the persuasive arguments of philosophy but on the revelation of the Spirit and power; it is not proclaimed by mere human beings but testified from heaven by God himself. Accordingly, we citizens of Jerusalem who saw this extraordinary wonder with our own eyes have paid due worship and thanksgiving to God…

Cyril’s letter, as quoted by Sozomen, was written to Constantius, the son of Constantine, the son and next emperor, who had embraced Arianism. Cyril’s point was that the sign itself was an affirmation of the Nicene definition of Christ, not the Arian. The “pervasive arguments of philosophy” were considered to be the Arian heresy that denied the full divinity of Jesus. Cyril ends his letter in praise of the "Consubstantial Trinity”- another dig at the Arians.

 

It became one of the early feast days in the church, dating to the 4th century, until it was assumed into the celebration of the discovery of the True Cross- the commemoration of Helena, the mother of Constantine, who is said to have found the cross while on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

 

The Coptic, Armenian, and Byzantine churches still celebrate this as a distinct feast day today- the feast of the Apparition of the Cross- you might be asking- did it really happen? I do not discount miraculous tales- and when the claim is that many saw it, I’m prone to wonder if God indeed did reveal himself in various ways in various times. Did pre-modern people experience the world differently from us? All I can tell you is what Cyril wrote, what became a very early holiday in the church, and that in church history, in history, weird things happen, and sometimes we can just report the story and let you do with it what you will.

 

Today, the 7th of May, is the anniversary of that apparition- the Holy Cross stretching across the sky from Golgotha to the Mount of Olives, reported on this day in 351.

 

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and from Psalm 66, which some of us will be reading this Sunday as well:

Praise our God, all peoples,
 let the sound of his praise be heard;

he has preserved our lives
 and kept our feet from slipping.

For you, God, tested us;
 you refined us like silver.

You brought us into prison
 and laid burdens on our backs.

You let people ride over our heads;
 we went through fire and water,
 but you brought us to a place of abundance.

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 7th of May 2026, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who knows it was the Buggles- first video ever on MTV- Video Killed the Radio Star- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who suggests covers of that by the Presidents of the United States of America, and Ben Folds Five- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.