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 honored with such a great honor to be put on a par with the apostles - the closest disciples and followers of Christ.
The servant who gave birth to the emperor
Queen Elena's full name 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 Roman emperor.
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. This child entered world history as Emperor Constantine the Great, by whose command Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.state.
The Imperial crown that brought religious freedom to Rome
When her son was barely fifteen years old, Elena's family life 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 often happens, being a 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 happened - 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.
Helen'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, professed 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 Romandad.
Already at the end of her days, St. Helena Equal-to-the-Apostles made the main work of her life - a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, 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, tells the Holy 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. On the morning of the next day, Saints Constantine and Helena prayed for a long time that the Lord would send His Grace to fulfill such an important mission.
No easy task
As the legend tells, in the capital of ancient Judea, the pious queen faced great difficulties. The fact is that for such a long time the place of execution and 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 thieves were crucified together with Christ. The difficult task was to determine on which of them Jesus suffered 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 of a 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 reached 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 jubilation.
Finding the Holy Sepulcher
In addition to the life-giving Cross of the Lord, Saint Helena Equal-to-the-Apostles, as legend testifies, found four nails with which the body of the Savior was nailed and the very plate - the title on which Pontius Pilate personally inscribed "Jesus the Nazarene King of the Jews." 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 all over the world can today personally observe how in the window of the cuvuklia erected over the Holy Sepulcher the light of the Holy Fire descended on the occasion of Easter appears.
In memory of this great event, a holiday was established, called the Ex altation of the Holy and Life-Giving Crossthe Lord's. 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 found 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 built into the sculpture of Emperor Constantine, installed in one of the squares of the capital.
Having completed her mission, the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Empress Elena 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 Helena Equal-to-the-Apostles returned to Rome, where she soon passed away peacefully to 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 story related to her relics is rather long and confusing. According to several sources, the EmperorConstantine 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, during the time of the Paris Commune, they got to Paris, where they are still kept in the church of Saint-Le-Saint-Gilles.
Saints Equal to Apostles
For outstanding services in the spread of Christianity, Constantine and Elena 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 Elena are remembered in churches.
Posthumous veneration of mother and son
These saints, having acquired unfading glory for themselves, have become one of the most revered in the Christian world. One of the limits of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, erected by the crusaders in the middle of the 12th century at the place where she excavated in 326, is 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 Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Helena was erected in Kokand, but after the October Revolution, and the establishment of Soviet power in the republics of Central Asia, it was forever 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, entrust their most secret to her.
