Today, perhaps, every believer is familiar with Cross processions. We perform solemn processions within our capacity praising and glorifying God. Even in those Cross processions that last more than one day, you can meet both the elderly and children. The Lord gives strength, He supports and encourages us… But did you know that such processions existed and are described in the Old Testament?
The takeover of inaccessible Jericho
The biblical story, which describes the military tactics of Joshua the son of Nun, is very interesting. The fact is that without God’s help, a takeover of a city like Jericho was impossible. Then, following the revelation, Joshua ordered to organize a kind of Cross procession. Seven priests were to take the Ark of the Covenant, walk around the walls of the city and trumpet. The warriors who accompanied the priests front and back kept silence.
Such a procession should be performed once a day exactly six times. And on the seventh day after the priests trumpet with the jubilee horn, the people who had been silent before made their presence known. And the walls of the city fell…
Traditions
The wonderful procession of God’s people on the waters of the Red Sea, and the transfer of the Ark of the Covenant, when King David himself rejoiced and danced, can also be called prototypes of Cross processions. Both priests and the common people always participated in such “Cross processions”. It had always been accompanied with the prayer to the Creator.
And here is how the wonderful crossing the Jordan, which preceded the takeover of Jericho, is described in the Bible: “And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people; And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,) That the waters which came down from above stood and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the people passed over right against Jericho. And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan” (Joshua 3:14-17).
Today, our Cross processions reflect the traditions of the ancestors: we carry shrines in front of us – icons and banners, we glorify the Lord just as they did. And we also get what we pray for with faith…