There were times in my life when I wore all sorts of amulets around my neck. Sometimes they were Vedic amulets, such as the Om mantra symbol or the trident of Lord Shiva, and sometimes I wore a beautiful Buddhist vajra around my neck.
Once Sathya Sai Baba came to me in a dream and showed me a pectoral Orthodox silver cross, which lay in his palm. After a pause, he said, “you change various amulets all the time, they are all very good.” After a short pause he added, “put on this cross, God lives in the center of this cross!” I woke up. Thinking about this dream, I felt that I must definitely find the very cross that Sathya Sai Baba showed me in the dream.
Subsequently, I went to different churches, but nowhere could I find the cross that I saw in the dream. All the details of this cross were very clearly imprinted in my memory, and I was sure I would easily recognize it as soon as I saw it. Visiting the Kiev-Pechersk, Pskov-Pechersk and Trinity-Sergius Lavra, as well as Optina Pustyn, I carefully looked at the crosses that were sold in the monastery shops. I hoped that in some of the holy places I would definitely find the very cross that I saw in the dream, but I could not find it anywhere. After some time, I went to the Life-Giving Cross in the village of Godenovo. This is a famous place, which is located relatively close to Pereslavl-Zalessky.
The history of the Life-Giving Cross is truly amazing. It appeared at the very beginning of the fifteenth century. It so happened that the shepherds, who were grazing cattle in a field near a swamp, saw a bright light descend from heaven along with a ray of light, and a huge three-meter wooden cross came down from heaven landing among the people; immediately, the cross received the name: the Life-Giving Cross.
Subsequently, the cross was installed in a monastery, which was founded near the place where the cross appeared to the shepherds. For several centuries, the cross was in the monastery.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, immediately after the bloody communist revolution of 1917, the Life-Giving Cross was transferred to a neighboring village and installed in the church of St. John Chrysostom in the village of Godenovo, where it is now. The Life-Giving Cross is a powerful artifact and for several centuries many miracles have been happening around it.
When I arrived in the village of Godenovo, I immediately saw pectoral crosses in the icon shop, which were exact copies of the Life-Giving Cross. As soon as I saw these pectoral silver crosses, I immediately recognized with joy the very cross that Sathya Sai Baba showed me in the dream. I bought it, and often wear it around my neck with pleasure.