Icon of the reliquary where are the biggest pieces of the Holy Cross on Mount Athos. Lithography with gloss varnish on a hard MDF.
In the Catholicon (Main Church) of the Holy Monastery of Xeropotamou, thirteen pieces of the True Cross of Jesus Christ are treasured. It is quite likely that all of these pieces of the True Cross were originally one large and unique piece. This piece was donated to the monastery by the Eastern Roman Emperor (Byzantine) Romanos Lekapinos I.
The first and largest of these pieces is considered to be the largest piece of the True Cross of Christ in the world, and at the lower section of it, one of the holes that was created by the nails that pierced Christ’s holy Body can be seen. The entire piece weighs 320 grams. This piece of the True Cross is never out of the Monastery and is only displayed on feast days of the monastery and during the feast days of the Holy Cross.
