351 A.D.: A Giant Cross of Light Appears Over Jerusalem!
During the days of the Arian controversy, when a Christian Bishop named Arius was contending that Jesus was not to be properly understood as an actual full son of God, but rather one who was elevated to such a position from a lower form of existence and given great insight from Heaven, there was an interesting manifestation in the skies above Jerusalem. It was generally taken to refute Arianism.
Arianism held that Jesus was something less than the Son of God. But who besides God could place Jesus's well-known sign (the cross) in the sky above what God called His Holy Mountain (Mt. Zion).
The Bishop of the Christian Church in Jerusalem then was a man named Cyril, (b. approx. 315 A.D. - d. approx. 386 A.D.) who was not an Arian adherent, but essentially what came to be called a 'trinity' believer. The manifestation which was seen occurred on May 7th, 351 A.D.
It occurred early in Cyril's Episcopate (time as Bishop) on the 'nones of May' just after Pentecost. At about 9:00 A.M. a large cross appeared in the sky, stretching roughly from Golgotha, the attested sight of Jesus's crucifixion, to the Mount of Olives just east of the city of Jerusalem, so it was pretty large. This distance should approach 1/2 mile, if I remember correctly from visiting there. It was described as being 'brighter than the sun'. It's significant that 9:00 A.M. was about when Jesus's crucifixion had begun approx. 319 years earlier, or perhaps 320 years earlier. This manifestation lasted for several hours, so it was by no means brief. It was reported as visible to all in the city of Jerusalem.
The Christians living in Jerusalem then hurried to church to praise God and no doubt to talk excitedly about this. We've all heard of miracles, but to see one all together with your fellow believers would certainly have been a faith strengthening event. I know I'd love to have been there, though I believe anyway.
Here, from this website, https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/ follows Cyrus' (called 'Cyril', which may be more common, I don't know) eye witness account of the event as he describes it to Emperor Constantius:
On the nones [or 7th] of May, about the third hour [or nine in the morning], a vast luminous body, in the form of a Cross, appeared in the heavens, just over the holy Golgotha, reaching as far as the holy Mount of Olives [that is, almost two English miles in length], seen not by one or two persons, but clearly and evidently by the whole city. This was not, as may be thought, a momentary transient phenomenon: for it continued several hours visible to our eyes, and brighter than the sun, the light of which would have eclipsed it, had not this been stronger. The whole city, struck with a reverential fear, tempered with joy, ran immediately to the church, young and old, Christians and heathens, citizens and strangers, all with one voice giving praise to our Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, the worker of miracles; finding by experience the truth of the Christian doctrine, to which the heavens bear witness.
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Also, I read at the same website that a certain Philostorgius in the Chronicle of Alexandria reports that a circular rainbow surrounded this manifestation. I can personally attest that when a circular rainbow surrounds something it can sometimes be meaningful and from God.
Praise God, who never quits trying to reach and strengthen believers.