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Comment by 13of40 | Hacker News Reader

"The church also housed a fragment of the True Cross, upon which Jesus was crucified."

What is this, grammatically? It's hard to believe the person who wrote it believed it was literally true, so is it a metaphor?

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> The True Cross is the name for physical remnants which, by a Christian tradition, are believed to be from the cross upon which Jesus was crucified.[1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_Cross

I know what it is, but seeing it in this context is like reading an article about the archaeology of Mount Ararat and finding the casual statement that Noah landed the Ark there.

Edit: Jesus, how could someone downvote that?

If you google "Mount Ararat Archaeology", all of the top results are about Noah and his famous Ark

The edit alone must have been worth a few up votes. Was that intentional?

I think he means that any news/documentary source needs to provide an important qualifier like "believed-to-be".

It sounds weird but it is a term on common use. I hadn't heard it myself until a visit to Rome last year (where it shows up frequently ). But think of it like "The Holy Grail". Perhaps that should be "The Grail believed by some to be holy", but we don't say that.

I would say that "The Holy Grail" is the name (a trademark if you wish), like is "True Cross".

So, True Cross, upon which Jesus is believed to have been crucified or similarly, The Holy Grail, which is believed to have special powers.

We can even go further: a fragment of a cross we believe is a fragment of the True Cross, upon which Jesus is believed to have been crucified, a grail we believe is The Holy Grail, which is believed to have special powers.

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