The True Cross – Dr Georges Kazan

Soaked in the blood and water flowing from the crucified Christ, the True Cross has been venerated as a relic not only of the Passion but also of Christ Himself. By combining history, archaeology and modern science, it is now possible to trace the history of this holy object for the first time.

By Dr. Georges Kazan

CNN Series Finding Jesus: The True Cross (Nutopia Limited)
This film presents our study of a relic of the True Cross, alongside a dramatisation of the relic’s origins

The Wood of the True Cross is the first Christian relic to be widely venerated, paving the way for the rise of the public cult of relics. From the mid – 4^th century, Christian sources began to report that a relic of the Wood of the True Cross had been discovered and was in the possession of the Church of Jerusalem. To learn more, I have examined the surviving material evidence, comparing this with the surviving historical sources that describe the relic, from its alleged discovery in Jerusalem, to the modern day. Using this approach, I was able to draw conclusions concerning the size, appearance and storage conditions of the ‘original’ Wood of the True Cross, as well as the date of its discovery in Jerusalem.

Science cannot confirm whether or not this ‘original’ relic of the Wood of the Cross was actually used in the Crucifixion of Christ. Based on early sources (from the 1^st – 4^th century), the relic could certainly have dated to the 1^st c. or earlier, since it is said to have been excavated beneath (and therefore predates) a Roman temple dating built on the site of the Crucifixion in ca. 134. In the 1^st c. wood suitable for construction was in short supply in and around Jerusalem, and was extensively reused. This, I have argued, potentially increases the age of such a fragment.

To trace the history of the relics of the Wood after the its discovery, I initiated a number of case studies of individual relics, working with Professor Higham and other scientific collaborators. These studies assessed historical provenance, material context, dimensions, tree species, surface contaminants and radiocarbon date. In 2020, the methods for this approach, along with a history of the relic reconstructed from the existing evidence, was published here. One of our studies of a relic of the Cross is presented in the CNN documentary film series Finding Jesus (see video above).