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St. Constantine and St. Helen       

By Yannis Samatas of www.explorecrete.com

There is an enduring legend about how the emperor Constantine the Great wrested control of Rome. While marching from Gaul to Rome in his campaign to destroy the imperial usurper, Maxentius, he felt the need for divine assistance against the numerically superior forces and the numerous religious incantations deployed by his adversary. It is said that Constantine invoked the Deus Summus, the “Highest God” of the universe, for aid and power in his time of trial. He thought he had a vision from the God of the Christians and decided to emblazon the shields of his troops with Christian symbols as talismanic emblems (picture1). His climactic victory at the Battle of the Mulvian Bridge on 28 October 312 convinced him that he had chosen the right divine patron and that he should thereafter direct his energies to honour this Divinity. And, to a large extent, he did.

 Picture 1-Chi-Ro sign

Constantine was born 27 February 274 to Constantius Chlorus (so nicknamed because of the paleness of his complexion) and Helena. His father was the Caesar of the West Roman Empire (junior emperor) until his death in 306. Constantine’s mother was the daughter of an inn-keeper at Drepanum in Bithynia.

Constantius was ordered by Emperor Diocletian to divorce Helena to qualify as Caesar of the west. Helena never remarried; she lived in obscurity for many years but remained close to her only son. On becoming emperor, Constantine brought his mother back into public life and bestowed upon her the rank of Augusta, or empress of the Roman world. Constantius was known as a man of martial courage, administrative talent, and mild disposition; and Helena a woman of personal dignity, mystical piety, and emotional passion. Constantine seems to have inherited the best qualities of each — qualities he needed in his rise to leadership of a Roman state battered by the manifold imperial crises of the 3^rd Century.

Upon becoming Caesar of the West in 306, he restored religious freedom to the Christians in his domains. He gradually evolved from pagan polytheism through a fascination with a sun-god oriented monotheism to Christian monotheism.

He included Christian clergymen in his court, studied Christian literature, and intervened in Church disputes. He used legislative powers to give the Church a favoured position in Roman law, built Christian basilicas in Roman cities, and employed imperial propaganda to spread Christianity through Roman society. His final victory in 324 to become sole Emperor ensured the triumph of Christianity. During his 31-year reign, Christianity was transformed from a persecuted minority cult into an established majority religion; and the pagan Roman state of classical antiquity evolved into the Christian empire of the Byzantine Era.

He convoked the Council of Nicaea in 325 when great dissensions arose about the nature of Jesus Christ. Bishops from all parts of the Christian world were invited. It was at this Council that Jesus Christ, three centuries after his birth, was finally declared divine.

After these questions had been decided, the emperor turned his attention to building the great Christian churches in the Holy Land. His aged mother, Helena Augusta, had gone on pilgrimage to Palestine and had discovered the Holy Sepulchre and the true cross. She gave many presents to the poor, released prisoners, did many acts of kindness, mingled with the ordinary worshippers in modest attire, and exhibited a true Christian spirit. At her instance, Constantine authorised the construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem and, later, a Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and a Church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives. Helena’s Church of the Ascension was later renamed Church of the Eleona (derived from the Greek word for olives grove).

Constantine the Great transferred the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Byzantium. The latter already existed as a city but Constantine rebuilt it and named it Nova Roma (New Rome). Byzantium was renamed Constantinople (in Greek the name is Konstantinoupolis = Konstantinos + polis = Konstantinos’ city) following the death of Constantine, and remained the capital of the Byzantine Empire for over a thousand years until its fall to the Turks in 1453 AD. In 1930 Kemal Ataturk renamed it Istanbul, a name it bears to this day.

Constantine continued building churches and composing religious discourses up to his last days. He asked the bishop of Nicomedia to baptise him when he fell sick. He thought the baptism purified his soul of past errors. He put on white robes, refused to wear the imperial purple anymore, and died on 21 May 337.

Constantine and his mother Helen were declared saints and they are always commemorated together on 21 May. So 21 May is the name-day of people called Costas, Constantine, Takis, Helen, Eleni and Lena.

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