The text of the brochure begins with a statement of importance of the cross as a symbol of the Christian Church and an indication that, according to the clergy, it is the original symbol of Christianity and is associated with the propitiating self-sacrifice of Christ, as well as the conclusion that “throughout the centuries-old existence of Christianity, the cross played a reactionary role”. The author set a question: what actually stands behind the cult of the cross, and finds its origins in the deification of fire by primitive people, and as a consequence - in the special role of the crossing pieces of wood, with the help of which fire was produced, after which he gives an overview of cross-like images in the iconography of the most ancient civilizations of the Ancient East and the Mediterranean Basin, as well as pre-Columbian America. The second part of the book is on another question: how the cross came to the emerging Early Christian movement; here the author dwells in detail on such topics – characteristic for Soviet historiography of Early Christianity – as the position of slaves in the Roman Empire, the spread of Oriental cults, the myth of a dying and resurrecting god, gradual humanization of the image of Christ, and fabrication of the Gospel texts. The author retells the story of Theodoret about the acquisition of the Cross by Empress Elena. The most interesting even now is the author's observation that if Christians revered precisely the instrument of Jesus' execution, then the revered symbol would have the shape of the letter T, as evidenced by the ‘graffito of Alexamen’ (third century). The concluding part of the book tells about the political role of the cult of the cross and brings together all the examples when the cross overshadowed the blessing of slavery, murder for the sake of faith, the struggle against science, and other reactionary political affairs of the Church.