So they were released, and they told the queen what Judah had said. She ordered that he be scourged, whereupon he confessed that he knew the spot. He went out until he reached the place where the tomb and Golgotha lay, a huge rubbish heap covering it. There he prayed, saying, “O God, if the tomb is truly in this place, I ask You to shake the ground and cause smoke to rise from it so that we may believe.” The earth quaked, and smoke issued just as he had requested, and he believed.
Helena then ordered the site to be swept clear of dirt. The tomb and Golgotha appeared, and three crosses were uncovered. Helena said, “How are we to know which is the Cross of the Lord Christ?” Nearby lay a man grievously ill, past all hope. They placed the first cross on him, then the second, and then the third; at once the sick man rose up, sound in health. Helena knew, therefore, that this was the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. She placed it in a gold casing, took it with her, and adorned it as best she could. She also brought to light every relic of our Lord Jesus Christ that had been buried and conveyed them to her son Constantine.
She built the Church of the Resurrection on the site of the Cross and Golgotha, as well as the Church of Constantine, and departed, instructing the bishop of Jerusalem to build the remaining churches. All this occurred in the twenty-second year of Constantine’s reign.
He said: From the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ to the discovery of the Cross three hundred and twenty-eight years elapsed, and he mentioned that after this they assembled in a great council at Bayt