Saints Constantine and Helena in the history of Christianity

    St Constantine the Great (324 – 337 AD) is a most prominent figure among the canonized saints in the history of the Christian Middle Ages. The time of his reign brought the end of the three centuries of persecution of Christians within the boundaries of the Roman Empire.

    Euthymius, Patriarch of Bulgaria, referred to him in his Laudatory Orations as the pride of kings and held him up as a model to be imitated by the last Bulgarian kings of the Second Bulgarian Empire.

    At the end of 3^rd and the beginning of the 4^th centuries AD Constantine was one of the four Caesars that succeeded to the throne of the Roman Empire after one of the most ferocious enemies of Christianity – Emperor Diocletian (284 – 305). Caesar Constantine and his co-governor of the western provinces Caesar Valerius Licinius appraised the significance that Christianity might have for the unification of the entire contemporary world, so they opposed the attempts of the other two Caesars – Maximine Daia and Maxentius – to preserve the old Roman tradition.

    As legend has it, immediately before the battle with Maxentius at Verona, Constantine and his troops saw in the sky a cross of stars and the words With this you will win! in broad daylight. In 313, the year after their victory over Maxentius, Constantine and Licinius issued a decree, known in history as the Edict of Milan, under which Christianity was recognized as equal to all the other religions in the Roman Empire.

Shortly before this important act, in the spring of the same year, Licinius defeated Maximine Daia in the battle at Heracleia and Hadrianopolis, and Constantine and Licinius gained control over the entire power in the Empire. However, Licinius renewed the persecution in his provinces later. Constantine challenged and subsequently defeated him. Thus, Constantine became the sole ruler of the entire Roman Empire and was proclaimed Emperor in 324. From then on Christians could rely on his constant patronizing.

There is no reliable information on where and when St Constantine accepted the Holy Baptism. Several legends have been preserved, but the most credible of them is the one that relates of his Baptism in the suburbs of Nicomedia shortly before his demise, despite having been a follower of Christ the Savior long before that. In the old days it was a custom to postpone the Baptism and prepare for it over a long period of time before accepting the holy sacrament of Christening (during it the proselytes – ones who were preparing – were catechized). The Emperor wished to be baptized in the River Jordan and probably considered it necessary to reduce the weight of his previous sins by a long repentance.

Having himself accepted the Faith, St Constantine dedicated his efforts to the dissemination of Christianity. However, he favoured conviction rather than violent ways as means to achieve this goal. Some of his close associates advised him to banish all pagans from Rome. But the Emperor replied: It is not the will of our God that people should come to Him through force and coercion. He accepts only the prayers of those, who believe in Him sincerely!

Shortly after his victory over Licinius, Constantine wished to build a new capital. He enjoyed the location of Byzantion, a small town on the Bosporus, near the Black Sea. He decided to establish his capital here and a few years later a magnificent big city, known by the names of New Rome, Tsarigrad (Kingtown) or Constantinople, sprang up at the place of the previous settlement. At the time it was the only city that had only Christian churches and no heathen shrines at all!

    During his reign, in 325 the First Ecumenical Council was held in Nicaea, which, besides the repudiation of Arianism and the solution of all the controversial issues of the time, compiled the Nicene Creed (insignificantly appended by the Second Ecumenical Council in 382) – an important document through which we still profess our faith.

    After the Council, Emperor Constantine the Great set out for Jerusalem, where he initiated a large-scale construction of Christian temples at the places that had been sanctified by the Saviour in order to transform them into centres for universal worship. At that time, Jerusalem was ruled by pagans – a town despised and deserted. Its name was still Aelia Capitolina by the order of Emperor Hadrian, and a pagan temple stood upon the ruins of the old Jerusalem Temple.

    According to the legend, Constantine’s mother Queen Helena, who had accepted the Faith of Christ much earlier, was accompanying him and managed to discover by miracle the Holy Cross of the crucifixion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Saint Helena built several churches in Jerusalem at her own expense – in the town itself, in Bethlehem, and on Mount Eleon. She died there in 327 AD.

    The Saint Emperor reigned for ten more years after the demise of his mother and died in Nicomedia in 337 at the age of 65. His body was transferred with honours to his favourite city, named after him. He was buried in the church “The Holy Apostles”, which he had built in the new capital.

    Saint Queen Helena and Saint Constantine the Great were canonized by the Church as saints, equal to the Apostles and patrons of Christianity, for their apostolic deeds in the dissemination and protection of the Faith.

    After “Lives of the Saints”

Bulgarian Orthodox Christian Art

    The images of St Constantine and his mother St Helena are part of the creative work of all Balkan iconographers, including the Bulgarian masters. Numerous works of the same name were painted in the period 13^th–19^th centuries.

    In 13-14^ths centuries the Bulgarian Tsars and the aristocracy sponsored generously the construction of separate churches as well as entire monastery ensembles. The images of both saints are part of the murals, the altar design, or are presented as church patrons. One of the best known representations of the saints belongs to the second horizontal row in the most notable creation of the Bulgarian medieval iconography – the mural paintings in the Boyana Church.

    The 15^th century images of Saints Constantine and Helena from St George Church in Kremikovtsi Monastery are among the best preserved ones from the time of the Ottoman rule. The faces of both saints are solemn and imposing. Despite of the fact that the texts on some of the murals and icons from this period are in Greek, the Bulgarian national character and origin of the works remains obvious. Icons of the two saints, painted by local or traveling iconographers from the most renowned art schools in Samokov, Tryavna and Debar, were spread across the whole country in 17-18^ths centuries.

    One of the most interesting icons of the same name and same period belongs to Saints Constantine and Helena Church in Plovdiv. Series of icons of high artistic value with the images of the two saints were also created in Nesebar, Sozopol, and other towns until the mid-18^th century. Individual works from that period have been preserved in Varna, Sliven, Kotel, and Zheravna.