Saint Helena and Constantine's Day when. Elena Equal to the Apostles: biography, church veneration

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The icon of Saint Helena is the greatest relic in the history of Orthodoxy. She is a part of the past that came to the future in order to stay in it for centuries, turning into one of the most revered images. It contains the soul of the people, its pain and suffering, difficult periods of formation and faith, which, having traveled a long and difficult path, has become a symbol of all Christianity.

Icon of Elena Equal to the Apostles

The mother of the Roman emperor Constantine, Elena, like himself, can be called the most prominent personalities in the history of Orthodoxy of all centuries, who were canonized as equal to the apostles.

They have long been depicted on icons as people who contributed to the strengthening of Christianity. Elena helped faithful Christians to return their relics and shrines, helped in the construction of temples and churches. But most of all, she became famous for her righteous deeds in the name of Christ. And the main one is the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

Icon of St. Helena, meaning, what helps

The true meaning of this face is that every believer who turns to him not only finds help and salvation, but also strengthens his faith, just as Elena did. The holy image teaches that everyone who believes in the Lord must sacredly bear his cause and honor him.

On the face, Elena is depicted with her son Constantine, where each of them supports the Cross with one hand. This is a symbol of support and help in the revival of Christianity and a sign that it will always exist as long as there are people who, by their faith and righteous deeds, carry it in their hearts, as they carry the word of God, and it is eternal on earth.

What helps the Icon of St. Helena

Along with many Orthodox icons The face has tremendous miraculous power and is distinguished by the fact that the people depicted on it gained holiness and became revered among people, thanks to their thoughts and deeds, which means they had a high spiritual culture, which was not equal. This is a great Christian example of how a righteous deed in the name of the Most High becomes the road to eternal life, for faith for a person is everything: his strength, love, fidelity and repentance.

Even today, thousands of Christians come to the icon in order to raise their prayers in a petition for help and gain strength for struggle and formation. The face helps in such cases and life situations:

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• improvement of material well-being;
• the beginning of a new important business;
• career advancement;
• success in the political arena.

In addition, the image is the sacred patron of the family and everything connected with it. That is why he is often approached with prayers for preserving the family hearth, raising children (even about their birth - infertility treatment), resolving conflicts, reviving understanding, trust, love.

Also, the image is very revered among workers. Agriculture and ordinary Christians working on the earth. It is believed that it helps to increase crops and fertility, which, in turn, will bring prosperity to all who worked for good.

Great is her help in healing ailments and strengthening physical health, which is inextricably linked with the spiritual, for a person who wants to heal the body must begin with the soul. And here the main thing is faith, eternal and unshakable. Only she is the only true path to God's grace.

They turn to the Saint for protection with these words:

O king of foreboding and all-praise, holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Helen! To you, a warm intercessor, we offer up our unworthy prayers, as if you have great boldness to the Lord. Ask Him for the peace of the Church and the whole world for prosperity, wisdom for the chief, care for the flock for the shepherd, humility for the flock, longed-for repose for the elder, strength for the husband, splendor for the wives, purity for the virgin, obedience to the children, Christian upbringing for the infant, healing for the sick, reconciliation for the rebellious, offended patience, offending the fear of God. To those who come to this temple and pray in it, a holy blessing and to everyone who is useful for everyone, let us praise and sing the Benefactor of all God in the Trinity of the glorious Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and forever and ever. Amen.

The icon of Equal-to-the-Apostles Empress Helena is a real masterpiece of Christianity, the significance of which cannot be exaggerated. She not only helps, saves and gives hope, she teaches everyone a righteous life, because only in the thoughts and deeds of a person lies his future. It is important to always remember that the faith that the Lord gives must be multiplied and shared among others; you need to understand that only the right deed, aimed at the good and supported by God's grace, will have the result that every Christian strives for.

May the Lord keep you!

You will also be interested in watching a video about the life of St. Helena:

The Holy Emperor Constantine (306-337), who received from the Church the title of Equal-to-the-Apostles, and in world history called the Great, was the son of Caesar Constantius Chlorus (305-306), who ruled the countries of Gaul and Britain. The vast Roman Empire was at that time divided into Western and Eastern, headed by two independent emperors who had co-rulers, one of whom in the Western half was the father of Emperor Constantine. Holy Empress Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine, was a Christian. The future ruler of the entire Roman Empire - Constantine - was brought up in respect for the Christian religion. His father did not persecute Christians in the countries he ruled, while in the rest of the Roman Empire, Christians were subjected to severe persecution by the emperors Diocletian (284-305), his co-ruler Maximian Galerius (305-311) - in the East and the emperor Maximian Hercules (284-305) - in the West. After the death of Constantius Chlorus, his son Constantius in 306 was proclaimed Emperor of Gaul and Britain by the troops. The first task of the new emperor was to proclaim in the countries subject to him the freedom of confession of the Christian faith. The fanatic of paganism Maximian Galerius in the East and the cruel tyrant Maxentius in the West hated Emperor Constantine and plotted to depose and kill him, but Constantine warned them and in a series of wars, with the help of God, defeated all his opponents. He prayed to God to give him a sign that would inspire his army to fight bravely, and the Lord showed him in heaven the shining sign of the Cross with the inscription "By this win." Having become the sovereign ruler of the Western part of the Roman Empire, Constantine issued in 313 the Edict of Milan on religious tolerance, and in 323, when he reigned as the only emperor over the entire Roman Empire, he extended the Edict of Milan to the whole eastern part empire. After three hundred years of persecution, for the first time, Christians were able to openly confess their faith in Christ.
Having abandoned paganism, the emperor did not leave ancient Rome, the former center of a pagan state, as the capital of the empire, but moved his capital to the east, to the city of Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople. Constantine was deeply convinced that only the Christian religion could unite the huge, heterogeneous Roman Empire. He supported the Church in every possible way, returned Christian confessors from exile, built churches, and took care of the clergy. Deeply honoring the Cross of the Lord, the emperor wished to find the very Life-Giving Cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. For this purpose, he sent his mother, the holy Empress Helen, to Jerusalem, giving her great powers and material means. Together with the Jerusalem Patriarch Macarius, Saint Helen began to search, and by the Providence of God the Life-Giving Cross was miraculously found in the year 326. While in Palestine, the holy empress did a lot for the benefit of the Church. She ordered that all places connected with the earthly life of the Lord and His Most Pure Mother be freed from all traces of paganism, she ordered to erect in these memorable places christian churches. Above the cave of the Holy Sepulcher, Emperor Constantine himself ordered the construction of a magnificent temple to the glory of the Resurrection of Christ. Saint Helena gave the Life-Giving Cross to the Patriarch for safekeeping, and she took part of the Cross with her to present to the emperor. Having distributed generous alms in Jerusalem and arranged meals for the poor, during which she herself served, the holy Empress Helena returned to Constantinople, where she soon died in the year 327.
For her great services to the Church and her labors in obtaining the Life-Giving Cross, Empress Elena is called the Equal-to-the-Apostles.
The peaceful coexistence of the Christian Church was disrupted by the discords and strife that arose within the Church from the heresies that appeared. Even at the beginning of the activity of Emperor Constantine in the West, the heresy of the Donatists and Novatians arose, demanding a repetition of baptism over Christians who had fallen away during the persecution. This heresy, rejected by two local councils, was finally condemned by the Council of Milan in 316. But the heresy of Arius, which arose in the East, turned out to be especially disastrous for the Church, who dared to reject the Divine essence of the Son of God and teach about the creatureness of Jesus Christ. By order of the emperor, the First Ecumenical Council was convened in the city of Nicaea in 325. 318 bishops gathered for this Council, its participants were bishops-confessors during the period of persecution and many other luminaries of the Church, among them - St. Nicholas of Myra. The emperor attended the meetings of the Council. The heresy of Arius was condemned and the Creed was drawn up, in which the term "Consubstantial with the Father" was introduced, forever fixing in the minds of Orthodox Christians the truth about the divinity of Jesus Christ, who assumed human nature for the redemption of the entire human race.
One can be surprised at the deep ecclesiastical consciousness and feeling of Saint Constantine, who singled out the definition of "Consubstantial" heard by him in the debate of the Council, and proposed to include this definition in the Creed.
After the Council of Nicaea, Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine continued his active work in favor of the Church. At the end of his life, he received holy baptism, preparing for it with his whole life. Saint Constantine died on the day of Pentecost in the year 337 and was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles, in a tomb he had previously prepared.

Here is how the church historian Eusebius Pamphilus, Bishop of Caesarea of ​​Palestine, describes the pious life of King Constantine and his mother Empress Helen:

ABOUT THE LIFE OF Blessed Vasilevs Konstantin

CHAPTER 41
Having finished the work here, (basileus) very splendidly decorated other places, marked by two mysterious caves. He gave due honor to one, as the place of the first epiphany of the Savior and His birth in the flesh 1; he honored the other, as the monument of His ascension to heaven, standing on the top of the mountain.
CHAPTER 42
For recognizing it as her business to pay the All-Tsar - God the debt of her pious disposition, also intending to thank Him with prayers for her son, such a basileus, and for her offspring - God-loving Caesars, his children, this old woman of an extraordinary mind with the speed of a young man hurried to the east and with royal care she surveyed the wondrous land, the eastern eparchies, cities and villages, with the aim of making a due worship at the feet of the Savior, according to the word of the prophet: let us bow down in a place where we stand at His feet (Ps. 131, 7), - and left the fruit of her own piety to future posterity .
CHAPTER 43
At the same time, she erected two temples to the worshiped God: one at the cave of birth, the other on the mountain of ascension, for Emmanuel (God with us) deigned to be born for us under the earth, and the Jews recognize Bethlehem as the place of his carnal birth. Therefore, the most pious Vasilisa decorated this sacred cave in every possible way and honored the burden of the Mother of God with marvelous monuments. And a little later, Basileus also honored the same cave with his offerings, adding gold and silver gifts and various curtains to the bounties of his mother. high buildings on the Mount of Olives: the very top of this mountain she crowned with the sacred house of the church and the temple. There, in that very cave, according to legend, the Savior of all dedicated his disciples to unspoken secrets. Vasilevs also honored the Great Tsar with various gifts and decorations at that place. These are worthy of eternal memory, holy and most beautiful temples, as signs of pious disposition, erected to God the Savior over two mysterious caves by the God-loving mother of the God-loving Basil, the most august Helena, by the royal permission of her son. A little later, the old woman reaped the worthy fruits of her piety, for she spent all the time of her life until old age in all prosperity, by deeds and words bringing abundant fruits of saving commandments, she led this well-ordered, carefree life afterward in perfect health of soul and body, and therefore, while still here receiving from God a reward for good deeds, she was honored with a pious death.
CHAPTER 44
Traveling throughout the East with royal splendor, she showered countless blessings, both on the population of cities in general, and, in particular, on everyone who came to her; her right hand generously rewarded the troops, helped the poor and helpless a lot. To some she provided a financial allowance, to others she supplied clothes in abundance to cover up nakedness, to others she freed them from shackles, saved them from hard work in the mines, redeemed them from lenders, and returned some from imprisonment.
CHAPTER 45
But glorified by such deeds, Elena did not forget to serve God. They always saw how she went to God's church and decorated prayer houses with brilliant jewels, not leaving temples and in the smallest cities without attention. We saw how this marvelous wife, in modest but decent clothes, mingled with the crowd of people and expressed her reverence for God with all sorts of charitable deeds.
CHAPTER 46
Having already done enough long haul(earthly) life, (vasilisa) was called to a better heritage almost in the eightieth year of her life. Before her death, she made a spiritual testament, ordered and announced her last will in favor of her only son, basileus, autocrat of the monarch, and her grandchildren, his children, Caesars. Then, among her grandchildren, she divided her own estate, which she had throughout the Oikumene. Thus disposed of, she ended her life in the presence, in the eyes and in the arms of such a great son who served her. It seemed to well-minded people that this blessed wife did not really die, but only changed and shifted from earthly life to heavenly life, that her soul, accepted by the Savior, was transformed into an incorruptible and angelic being.
CHAPTER 47
And the body of the blessed one was also awarded extraordinary honors. Accompanied by numerous doryphors, it was transferred to the royal city 4 and there it was laid in the royal tomb. So the mother of Vasileus died, worthy of unforgettable memory both for her God-loving deeds, and for the successive and marvelous branch grown from her, (that is, for Constantine), who must be appeased both for other reasons, and for the sake of his respect for his parent; for out of a non-pious basileus he made her so pious that in the rules of piety she seemed to have been instructed by the common Savior Himself, and clothed her with such royal honors that among all peoples and in the whole army she was called august and vasilisa, and her face was depicted on gold medals . Moreover, Constantine gave her the right to use the royal treasury at her own request and dispose of everything as she wants and as she thinks best, so that in this respect her son made her fate excellent and enviable. Therefore, considering the qualities that perpetuate the memory of Constantine, we should rightly pay attention to the fact that, honoring his mother from an excess of piety, he fulfilled the divine laws that require proper respect for parents. in Palestine alone, he built new churches in all the eparchies, giving them a look much more excellent than the one in which they were before.
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1 Meaning Bethlehem (Matt. 2.1). Eusebius, speaking of the birth of the Savior, follows the tradition of the Ancient Church, in which both Christmas and the Baptism of the Lord were perceived to a large extent as one event, even during the celebration two holidays were not distinguished, but one was celebrated - Epiphany.
2 The Ascension of the Lord took place in Bethany (Luke 24:50), on the Mount of Olives.
3 At this time, when the iconostasis in modern form not yet developed, a veil or curtain was used instead, which was often embroidered with various images.
4 Body of St. Queen Helena, according to Nicephorus (L.8. cap. 30), was transferred from Palestine first to Rome, and then, two years later, to Constantinople. Helen died twelve years before the death of Constantine, that is, in 327. - approx. translator.
5 This refers to one of the ten commandments given to Moses. (Ex. 20:12).

(Eusebius Pamphilus. Life of Constantine. Translated. St. Petersburg. Theological Academy. - M., 1998).

Troparion, tone 8:

Seeing your image in heaven in heaven, and as if Paul did not receive a title from a man, your apostle in kings, Lord, put the reigning city in your hand; save him always in the world, with the prayers of the Mother of God, the One Lover of mankind.

Kontakion, tone 3:

Constantine today, with the matter of Helena, the Cross is an all-honorable tree, the shame of all the Jews is there, the weapon against the opposing faithful kings: for the sake of us, a great sign appeared and in formidable battles.

Greatness:

We magnify you, / holy faithful and equal-to-the-apostles king Constantine and Helen, / and honor your holy memory, / you have enlightened the whole universe with the Holy Cross.

Prayers to Saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Elena

Prayer one:

About Saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Helen! Deliver this parish and our temple from all slander of the enemy and do not leave us, the weak (names), with your intercession, implore the goodness of Christ our God to grant us thoughts of peace, from harmful passions and all filthy abstinence, piety is not hypocritical. Ask us, servants of God, from above for the spirit of meekness and humility, the spirit of patience and repentance, and let us live the rest of our life in faith and contrition of heart, and so at the hour of our death we thankfully praise the Lord who glorified you, the Beginningless Father, His Only Begotten Son and the Consubstantial All-Good Spirit, the Indivisible Trinity, forever and ever.

Prayer two:

O king of foreboding and all-praise, holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Helen! To you, a warm intercessor, we offer up our unworthy prayers, as if you have great boldness to the Lord. Ask Him for the peace of the Church and the whole world for prosperity, wisdom for the chief, care for the flock for the shepherd, humility for the flock, longed-for repose for the elder, strength for the husband, splendor for the wives, purity for the virgin, obedience to the children, Christian upbringing for the infant, healing for the sick, reconciliation for the rebellious, offended patience, offending the fear of God. To those who come to this temple and pray in it, a holy blessing and to everyone who is useful for everyone, let us praise and sing the Benefactor of all God in the Trinity of the glorious Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and forever and ever. Amen.

Church of St. Constantine and Helena. Settlement Leninskoe. Leningrad

Tradition has preserved for us information that the Holy Empress Helen was not of noble birth. Her father was the owner of the hotel. She married the famous Roman warrior Constantius Chlorus. It was a marriage not for political purposes, but for love, and in 274 the Lord blessed their union with the birth of their son Constantine.

They lived happily together for eighteen years, until Constantius was appointed ruler of Gaul, Britain and Spain. In connection with this appointment, the emperor Diocletian demanded that Constantius divorce Helen and marry his (the emperor's) stepdaughter Theodora. In addition, the emperor took eighteen-year-old Constantine to his capital at Nicomedia under the pretext of teaching him the art of war. In fact, the family was well aware that he was actually a hostage of his father's loyalty to the emperor.

At the time these events took place, Elena was a little over forty years old. She was torn away from her husband for political gain, and, obviously, the spouses have never seen each other since then. She moved as close to her son as possible to the town of Drepanum, not far from Nicomedia, where her son could visit her. Drepanum was subsequently renamed Helenopolis in her honor, and it was here that she became acquainted with Christianity. She was baptized in a local church and for the next thirty years she was engaged in the purification and perfection of her own soul, which served as preparation for the fulfillment of a special mission, a deed for which she was called "equal to the apostles."

Shortly after her conversion, Constantine, who frequented her, met a Christian girl named Minervina in her house. After some time, the young people got married. Two years later, the young wife died of a fever, and Constantine gave their young son, named Crispus, into the care of his mother.

Fourteen years have passed. The father of Constantine, a military leader, dearly loved by his soldiers, died. Constantine, who showed no small military prowess, reached the rank of tribune, and, thanks to universal respect in the army, he was chosen as his father's successor. He became Caesar of the western lands. Emperor Maximian, seeing Constantine as a future rival, decided to “insure himself”: he gave his daughter Fausta to the young commander, reinforcing his loyalty with kinship ties. However, this was an unfortunate alliance, and over the next few decades, Constantine had to devote more time and energy to fighting his wife's relatives than against the enemies of Rome. In 312, on the eve of the battle against the troops of his brother-in-law Maxentius, Constantine stood with his army at the walls of the capital. That night, a fiery cross appeared in heaven, and Constantine heard the words that the Savior Himself uttered, commanding him to go into battle with banners depicting the Holy Cross and the inscription “By this, conquer.” Maxentius, instead of defending himself within the walls of the city, went out to fight Constantine and was defeated.

The following year (315), Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, according to which Christianity received legal status, thereby putting an end to Roman persecution, which lasted (intermittently) for several centuries. Ten years later, Constantine became the sole Emperor of the Eastern and western parts Empire, and in 323 elevated his mother, declaring her Empress. For Elena, who by that time had managed to understand how transient the joys and bitterness of earthly glory were, the Imperial power itself was not very attractive. However, she quickly realized that her new position gave her the opportunity to participate in the spread of the Christian gospel, especially through the construction of temples and chapels in the Holy Land, in those places where the Lord lived and taught.

Since the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD, this land no longer belonged to the Jewish people. The temple was razed to the ground, and the Roman city of Elia was built on the ruins of Jerusalem. Above Golgotha ​​and the tomb of the Lord they placed the temple of Venus. Elena's heart burned with a desire to cleanse the holy places from pagan filth and re-dedicate them to the Lord. She was already over seventy years old when she went by ship from the coast of Asia Minor to Palestine. When the ship sailed past the islands of Greece, she went ashore on the island of Paros and began to pray to the Lord, asking him to help her find His Cross and promising to build a temple here if her petition was fulfilled. Her prayer was answered and she fulfilled her vow. Today, the church of Ekatontapiliani, inside which stands the temple built then by St. Helena, is the oldest Christian temple Greece.

Arriving in the Holy Land, she ordered the temple of Venus to be demolished and the debris to be taken out of the city walls, but did not know where her servants should dig in order to find the Cross in huge piles of earth, stones and debris. She fervently prayed for enlightenment, and the Lord came to her aid.

Here is how her life tells about it:

The acquisition of the Holy Cross of the Lord took place in the year 326 from the Nativity of Christ in the following way: when the debris left from the buildings that stood here was cleared away on Golgotha, Bishop Macarius performed a prayer service at this place. The people who were digging the earth felt that a fragrance emanated from the earth. So the cave of the Holy Sepulcher was found. The true Cross of the Lord was found with the help of a Jew named Judas, who kept in mind the ancient tradition about his whereabouts. He himself, after gaining the great shrine, was baptized with the name Cyriacus and later became the Patriarch of Jerusalem. He accepted martyrdom under Julian the Apostate; The church celebrates his memory on October 28.

Following the instructions of Judas, Elena found, east of the cave of the Holy Sepulcher, three crosses with inscriptions and nails lying separately. But how was it to know which of these three crosses is the True Cross of the Lord? Bishop Macarius stopped the funeral procession passing by and ordered to touch the deceased in turn with all three crosses. When the Cross of Christ was placed on the body, this man was resurrected. The Empress was the first to make a prostration in front of the shrine and venerated it. People crowded around, people tried to squeeze forward to see the Cross. Then Macarius, trying to satisfy their desire, raised the Cross high, and everyone exclaimed: “Lord, have mercy.” So on September 14, 326, the first “Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord” took place, and to this day this holiday is one of the Twelfth (greatest) Feasts of the Orthodox Church.1

Elena took a piece of the Cross to Byzantium as a gift to her son. However, most of it, enclosed in silver, remained in the temple built by her at the place of acquisition. Every year on Good Friday it was taken out for worship. A small part of the Holy Cross is still in Jerusalem. For centuries, small particles of it were sent to churches and monasteries throughout the Christian world, where they are carefully, reverently kept as priceless treasures.

Saint Helena lived in Jerusalem for two years, supervising the restoration of the holy places. She developed plans for the construction of majestic churches in places associated with the life of the Savior. However, the modern Church of the Holy Sepulcher is not the church that was erected under St. Helena.2 This large building was built in the Middle Ages, inside it there are many small churches. Including there is the Holy Sepulcher and Golgotha. Under the floor, on the back side of Calvary Hill, there is a church in honor of St. Helena with a stone slab at the place where the Cross was found.

The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is the very one that the Empress erected. There are other churches in the creation of which she was directly involved, for example, a small temple of the Ascension of the Lord on the Mount of Olives (now owned by Muslims), the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin near Gethsemane, the church in memory of the appearance of three angels to Abraham at the Mamre oak, the temple on Mount Sinai and the monastery of Stavrovouni near the city of Larnaca in Cyprus.

In addition to the fact that St. Helena invested tremendous energy and strength in the revival of the holy places of Palestine, she, as the Life tells, remembering her own years of life in humiliation and oblivion by the rich and the mighty of the world This, regularly arranged large dinners for the poor of Jerusalem and its environs. At the same time, she herself put on a simple work dress and helped serve the dishes.

When she finally returned home, bitter, mournful news awaited her there. Her dearly beloved grandson Crispus, who became a valiant warrior and had already proven himself in the military field, died, and, as some believed, not without the participation of his stepmother Fausta, who did not want this popular young military leader to be an obstacle on the way to the Imperial throne her own three sons.

Labors in the Holy Land tired her, grief fell on her shoulders like a heavy burden. After the news of the death of Crispus, she lived only a year and died in 327. Now her relics (most) rest in Rome, where they were transported by the crusaders, moreover, particles of her relics are stored in many places in the Christian world. Emperor Constantine outlived his mother by ten years.

The Church celebrates the memory of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Tsar Constantine and his mother Queen Helena on May 21, according to the old style.

What happened to the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord after its acquisition?

After St. Helena found the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord in 326, she sent part of it to Constantinople, the second part she herself took to Rome in the same year, and left another part in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. There she (this third part) remained for about three centuries, until 614, when the Persians, under the leadership of their king Chosroes, crossed the Jordan and captured Palestine. They mistreated Christians, destroyed churches, killed priests, monks and nuns. They took away from Jerusalem the sacred vessels and the main jewel - the Cross of the Lord. Patriarch Zechariah of Jerusalem and many people were taken prisoner. Khozroy superstitiously believed that, having taken possession of the Cross, he would somehow acquire the power and authority of the Son of God, and he solemnly erected the Cross near his throne, on the right hand. The Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (610-641) offered him peace many times, but Khosroi demanded that he first renounce Christ and bow to the sun. This war became religious. Finally, after several successful battles, Heracles defeated Khozroy in 627, who was soon overthrown from the throne and killed by his own son Syroy. In February 628, Siroy made peace with the Romans, freed the Patriarch and other captives, and returned the Life-Giving Cross to the Christians.

The cross was first delivered to Constantinople, and there, in the church of Hagia Sophia, on September 14 (September 27, according to the new style), the celebration of its second exaltation took place. (The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross was established in memory of both the first and second celebrations.) In the spring of 629, Emperor Heraclius took him to Jerusalem and personally erected him in his former place of honor as a token of gratitude to God for the victory granted to him. When he approached the city, holding the Cross in his hands, the Emperor suddenly stopped and could not move on. Patriarch Zakharia, who accompanied him, suggested that his magnificent attire and royal stature did not match the appearance of the Lord Himself, who humbly carried His Cross. The emperor immediately changed his magnificent attire for rags and entered the city barefoot. The precious Cross was still enclosed in a silver casket. Representatives of the clergy checked the safety of the seals and, having opened the casket, showed the Cross to the people. Since that time, Christians began to celebrate the day of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord with even greater reverence. (On this day, the Orthodox Church also remembers the miracle of the appearance of the Cross of the Lord in heaven as a sign of the impending victory of Emperor Constantine over the troops of Maxentius.) In 635, Heracles, retreating under the onslaught of the Muslim army and foreseeing the imminent capture of Jerusalem, took the Cross with him to Constantinople. In order to avoid its complete loss in the future, the Cross was divided into nineteen parts and distributed to the Christian Churches - Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Rome, Edessa, Cyprus, Georgia, Crete, Ascalon and Damascus. Now the particles of the Cross of the Lord are kept in many monasteries and churches around the world.

Among the vast pantheon of Christian saints, one of the most revered are Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Helena. Their role in spreading the true faith is invaluable. That is why they were awarded such a great honor to be placed on a par with the apostles - the closest disciples and followers of Christ.

The servant who gave birth to the emperor

The full name of Queen Helena is Flavia Julia Elena Augusta. It is known that she was born in the middle of the 3rd century in the city of Drepan, in Asia Minor, but the exact date of her birth has not been established. The childhood of the future queen passed very modestly - she served at the horse station that belonged to her father. There, among other travelers, she met her future husband Constantius Chlorus, who later became

The fruit of their love was a son who was born on February 27, 272 and received a rather vague name at birth - Flavius ​​Valerius Aurelius Constantine. IN world history this child entered as the Great One, by whose command Christianity became the official religion of the Roman state.

Imperial crown that brought religious freedom to Rome

When the son was barely fifteen years old, family life Elena was upset. Constantius turned out to be a rather windy spouse and broke up with her, preferring the young stepdaughter of the emperor Maximian, who was ruling at that time. However, as is often the case, when bad husband, he turned out to be a good father and, having ascended the Roman throne, secured the future of his son, making him the ruler of a large part of the country. The city of Trevir (the modern German city of Trier) became his residence, and Elena Equal to the Apostles moved to live closer to her son.

In 306, an important event took place - the emperor died, and Constantine became his successor, proclaimed by the Roman army of many thousands. It is known that one of his first acts was the establishment in Rome and the countries subject to him of freedom of religion and the cessation of all persecution on religious grounds. Thanks to this, after three centuries of persecution, Christianity finally emerged from the catacombs.

Helena's finest hour

Historical materials testify that throughout her life Elena Equal to the Apostles treated with great respect those who, despite the mortal danger, confessed Christ, but she herself was baptized when she was already over sixty. By this time, she was proclaimed "August", that is, the reigning person, and settled in a vast Roman estate located next to the Lateran Palace, which later became the residence of the popes.

Already at the end of her days, St. Helen Equal to the Apostles completed the main work of her life - a pilgrimage, where she undertook excavations directly on Golgotha ​​itself. Her goal was, if possible, to find material evidence of events that took place there three centuries ago.

The answer to the question of what prompted a woman at such a venerable age to go in search of the Cross of the Lord and other shrines is the sacred tradition. It tells about how, in a night vision, Saint Helen heard a voice commanding her to go to Jerusalem, and there, having cleared the place of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus Christ from the earth, to reveal to the world the priceless treasures found on it. In the morning next day Saints Constantine and Helena prayed for a long time that the Lord would send down His Grace for the fulfillment of such an important mission.

Not an easy task

As the legend tells, great difficulties awaited the pious queen in the capital of ancient Judea. The fact is that for such a long time the place of execution and the subsequent resurrection of Christ was hidden under a thick layer of earth and garbage, deliberately brought there by the wicked, and it was impossible to find it. Finally, after long inquiries from local residents, it was possible to find out the exact location of Golgotha ​​from one old Jew. After that, St. Helena Equal to the Apostles ordered the excavations to begin.

When the upper layers of the earth were removed and the top of the mountain was exposed, not one cross, but three, appeared before the eyes of those present, because on the day of execution, as is known, two robbers were crucified along with Christ. There was a difficult task ahead - to determine on which of them Jesus accepted suffering.

Checking the shrine for truth

What followed next was another confirmation of the wisdom that Queen Elena possessed. When everyone was waiting in complete bewilderment for her decision, a funeral procession came up to the excavation site, in front of which they carried the coffin with the body dead woman. Knowing that only one of the three crosses has Divine power, Elena asked the relatives of the deceased to stop and ordered the servants to touch the dead body in turn with each of the three crosses. As soon as the turn came to the one that was a true shrine, and the hand of the deceased was laid on him, she immediately resurrected, which caused universal joy and rejoicing.

Finding the Holy Sepulcher

In addition to the life-giving Cross of the Lord, Saint Helena Equal-to-the-Apostles, as tradition testifies, acquired four nails with which the body of the Savior was nailed and the very plate - the title on which he inscribed "Jesus of Nazarene King of the Jews" with his own hand. She also discovered a cave in which they laid the body of Jesus taken down from the cross. It is thanks to the labors of St. Helena that Christians around the world today can personally observe how the light of the Holy Fire descended on the occasion of Easter appears in the window of the Kuvuklia erected over the Holy Sepulcher.

In memory of this great event, a holiday was established, called the Exaltation of the Holy and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord. Every year on September 27, the Orthodox Church celebrates the anniversary of the day when, in 326, Empress Helen Equal to the Apostles revealed to the world the greatest shrines of Christianity.

Completion of a great mission

Having acquired the Life-Giving Cross, the Empress ordered to divide it into two equal parts, one of which, placed in a silver shrine, she left in Jerusalem to the local Bishop Macarius I, who provided her with significant assistance during the excavations. The other part of the Cross, and with it the nails, she sent to Rome to her son. There, this fragment of the Cross was mounted in a sculpture of Emperor Constantine, installed in one of the squares of the capital.

Having completed her mission, the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Empress Helena returned to Rome, founding along the way several monasteries that still exist today. The most famous of them is Stavrovouni in Cyprus. As a gift to these monasteries, she left particles of the shrines she found in Jerusalem.

The fate of the relics of St. Helena

Having thus accomplished the main work of her life, Empress Helen Equal to the Apostles returned to Rome, where she soon peacefully reposed in the Lord. The exact date of her death, as well as the place of burial, have not been established. According to some reports, she was buried in Trier, where she owned a rich estate, according to another - in Rome. Some historians claim that her remains were transported to Palestine.

In general, the history associated with her relics is rather long and confusing. According to a number of sources, Emperor Constantine placed her body in a tomb made for himself, giving his mother also his own sarcophagus. Then there is evidence that the relics were transported to France, where they were kept in Champagne for several centuries, and from there they got to Paris in time, where they are still kept in the church of Saint-Leu-Saint-Gilles.

Saints Equal to the Apostles

For outstanding services in the spread of Christianity, Constantine and Helena were canonized as saints Equal-to-the-Apostles. It should be noted that in the entire history of Christianity, only five women have been awarded this honor. Her veneration in the East began shortly after her death, while in the Western Church it was established no earlier than the 9th century. Today, the Orthodox Church pays tribute to the memory of finding the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord on March 19. In addition, on June 3, Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Helena are remembered in churches.

Posthumous veneration of mother and son

These saints, who acquired unfading glory for themselves, became one of the most revered in the Christian world. One of the limits erected by the crusaders in the middle of the 12th century at the place where she excavated in 326 was named after Equal-to-the-Apostles Helena. In addition, many temples were built in her honor on different continents, and in honor of her son. One of them - the temple of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Helena was erected in Kokand, but after October revolution, and establishing Soviet power in the republics Central Asia, was permanently closed. Now there is a mosque in its place.

There is also a recently established parish of these Equal-to-the-Apostles Saints in Moscow, in the Mitino region. Despite the fact that it was consecrated only in 2004, it has already earned a good reputation as one of the newly formed spiritual centers of the capital. His shrine is the icon of "Elena Equal-to-the-Apostles", in front of which you can always see those who, in prayers, confide their most secret to her.

Often, congratulating a person on his birthday, many call him a birthday man, and the very day he was born is a name day. But this is not always correct, because the birthday does not always coincide with the name day. It was customary in the old days to name a newborn after church calendar: the choice of a name depended on the day of which saint he was born.
And in our time, children are mainly named after close relatives or idols, and sometimes parents choose a fashionable or simply beautiful and euphonious name for the baby from their point of view. How to find out in this case the day of your name day and, accordingly, your heavenly patron? Consider this using the example of when the name day of Konstantinov is celebrated.

Constantine the Great - exemplary Christian ruler

The name Constantine is associated in Christian name-books with many saints. The most famous among them is Constantine the Great - the Roman emperor, revered in the guise of Equal-to-the-Apostles along with his mother Helen. Emperor Constantine the Great is best known for legalizing Christianity after hundreds of years of persecution. He renamed Byzantium Constantinople, making this city the Christian capital of the Roman Empire. True, Christianity did not become the state religion at that time, but under Constantine the Great it was the dominant religion, thanks to which Christians were finally able to confess their faith openly. Constantine was declared by historians as an exemplary Christian ruler, and it was for this that he was called the Great.

Constantine himself was baptized already being practically on his deathbed. He was buried in the Apostolic Church in the city of Constantinople.

parishioners Orthodox Church honor his memory as a saint and equal to the apostles. Name Day is celebrated on June 3rd.

June 3 - name day of Elena, Konstantin

This date is the best known. By the way, on the day of June 3, not only Constantine himself is revered, but also Elena. The temples erected on this date and the temple feast are named after both of these names. One of the Bulgarian resorts, located six kilometers from the city of Varna, also bears the names of Saints Constantine and Helena.

The famous island of St. Helena (it was to this place that Napoleon was exiled) was also named after this particular Helena, since it was discovered just on the day of the memory of the saint.

Elena - Constantine's mother

Celebrating the name day of Constantine and Elena on June 3, some mistakenly believe that they are spouses. In fact, Elena is his mother. This woman was from a simple family. In her youth, she helped her father, who worked at the horse station, worked as a maid in a tavern. There she met her future husband, Constantius Chlorus, who became Caesar of the Roman Empire under Maximian Herculius. Then the future emperor Constantine was born in this family.

Having thus become queen, Helen did many good deeds. By her command, Christian churches were built. And Emperor Constantine himself ordered the erection of a temple to the glory of the Resurrection of Christ.

Other saints of Constantine

The Roman emperor Constantine the Great was so popular that eleven emperors of Rome and Byzantium were named after him in subsequent times.

And in Rus' in the XII-XIV centuries, after the adoption of Orthodoxy, many famous historical figures also bore this name. For example, Konstantin Vsevolodovich - Prince of Vladimir, Konstantin Vasilyevich - Prince of Suzdal, another Konstantin Vasilyevich - Prince of Rostov, as well as Konstantin Mikhailovich - Prince of Tver and many others. This is probably why modern Konstantins have so many days on which they celebrate name days.

Name day of Constantine according to the church calendar

These name days are celebrated many times throughout the year. Let's take a look at a few of them.

Name days of various saints Constantine are also celebrated on June 15 and 21, July 8, 14 and 16, August 11 and 17, September 16, October 2 and 15, November 4, 23 and 27, and December 11. The names of the saints whose name days are celebrated these days can be found in the Orthodox church calendar.

How to define your day of Constantine

In order to find out the name day of Constantine, which suits a particular Kostya, you need to find the day of memory of a saint with the same name, the closest to his date of birth. It is important that the day when a person's name day is celebrated, including the name day of Constantine, is determined by the date following the birthday, and not preceding it, even if the latter is closer to the date of birth.

For example, the Konstantins, born after December 11 and before January 8, have their name day, respectively, on January 8, and their heavenly patron is St. Constantine of Sinad. Those born after January 8 and before February 27 Kostya celebrate their name day on February 27 and consider Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine of Moravia to be their patron.

On March 18, on the day of Prince Konstantin Yaroslavsky, it is necessary to celebrate the name day of Konstantin, who was born between February 27 and March 18, and so on, using the dates of the above church calendar.

By the same principle, people with any names can determine the day of their name day.

And when is your name day?