*** Equal to the Apostles Tsar Constantine (337) and his mother Queen Helena (327). ** Blessed Prince Constantine (Yaroslav) (1129) and his sons Mikhail and Theodore (XII), Murom miracle workers. Venerable Cassian the Greek, Uglich miracle worker (1504). *** Icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir (a holiday established in memory of the salvation of Moscow from the invasion of the Crimean Khan Makhmet-Girey in 1521).
Saint Cyril, Bishop of Rostov (1262). Venerable Martyr Agapit of Markushevsky (1584). Blessed Andrei Simbirsk (1841). Revered lists from the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God: Vladimir-Rostov (XII), Pskov-Pechersk "Tenderness" (1524), Syrkovskaya (1548), Zaonikievskaya (1588), Krasnogorsk or Chernogorsk (1603), Oranskaya (1634), Florishchevskaya (XVII ), Tupichevskaya-Rostovskaya.
Day of Equal-to-the-Apostles Tsar Constantine and his mother Queen Helena
The Holy Emperor Constantine (306-337), who received the title Equal of the Apostles from the Church, and was called the Great in world history, was the son of Caesar Constantius Chlorus, who ruled the countries of Gaul and Britain.
The huge 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 Queen Helen, mother of Emperor Constantine, was a Christian. The future ruler of the entire Roman Empire - Constantine - was raised to respect Christian religion. His father did not persecute Christians in the countries he ruled, while throughout 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 Herculus (284-305) - in the West.
After the death of Constantius Chlorus, his son Constantine was proclaimed Emperor of Gaul and Britain by his troops in 306. The first task of the new emperor was to proclaim freedom of professing the Christian faith in the countries under his control. The pagan fanatic 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, with the help of God, defeated all his opponents in a series of wars. He prayed to God to give him a sign that would inspire his army to fight bravely, and the Lord showed him in the sky the shining sign of the Cross with the inscription “By this way conquer.”
Having become the sovereign ruler of the Western part of the Roman Empire, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan on religious tolerance in 313, and in 323, when he reigned as the sole emperor over the entire Roman Empire, he extended the Edict of Milan to the entire eastern part of the empire. After three hundred years of persecution, Christians for the first time had the opportunity to openly confess their faith in Christ.
Having abandoned paganism, the emperor did not leave the capital of the empire Ancient Rome, former center pagan state, and moved its 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, brought back Christian confessors from exile, built churches, and took care of the clergy.
Deeply revering the Cross of the Lord, the emperor wanted to find the very Life-giving Cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. For this purpose, he sent his mother, the holy queen Helen, to Jerusalem, giving her great powers and material resources. Together with Patriarch Macarius of Jerusalem, Saint Helena began a search, and by the Providence of God the Life-Giving Cross was miraculously found in 326.
While in Palestine, the holy queen did a lot for the benefit of the Church. She ordered to free all places associated with the earthly life of the Lord and His Most Pure Mother from all traces of paganism, and ordered the erection of Christian churches in these memorable places. Above the Cave of the Holy Sepulcher, Emperor Constantine himself ordered the construction of a magnificent temple in honor of the Resurrection of Christ. Saint Helena gave the Life-Giving Cross for safekeeping to the Patriarch, and 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, Holy Queen Helena returned to Constantinople, where she soon died in 327.
For her great services to the Church and her labors in obtaining the Life-Giving Cross, Queen Helena is called Equal to the Apostles.
Peaceful existence Christian Church was disrupted by the sentiments and discord that arose within the Church due to the emerging heresies. Even at the beginning of the activity of Emperor Constantine, the heresy of the Donatists and Novatians arose in the West, demanding the repetition of baptism over Christians who had fallen away during persecution. This heresy, rejected by two local councils, was finally condemned by the Council of Milan in 316.
One can be amazed at the deep church consciousness and feeling of Saint Constantine, who singled out the definition of “Consubstantial”, which he heard in the debates of the Council, and proposed to include this definition in the Creed.
After the Council of Nicea, Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine continued his active work in favor of the Church. At the end of his life, he accepted holy baptism, having prepared for it with his whole life. Saint Constantine died on the day of Pentecost in 337, and was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles, in a tomb he had prepared in advance.
Equal to the Apostles Tsar Constantine
St. King Constantine is called equal to the apostles because, like the apostles, he did a lot for the Christian Church. Before him, the Christian faith was persecuted and Christians were persecuted and punished, but he made it dominant in the Roman Empire. His parents were Constantius Chlorus, who ruled the western regions of the Roman Empire, Spain, Gaul and Britain and respected Christians for their good qualities, and Helen. In 306, after the death of his father, Constantine ascended the throne and, like his father, did not persecute Christians. At the same time, Maxentius reigned in Rome, an evil and selfish man. Under his rule, it was hard not only for Christians, but also for pagans, so the Romans turned to Constantine with a request to free them from the tyrant. Constantine went against Maxentius; and so, when he was approaching Rome, suddenly in the middle of the day he and his army saw in the heavens a cross of stars with the inscription: “With this conquer.” The very next night, the Lord appeared to Constantine in a vision and ordered him to make a banner like a cross and depict the cross on the weapons, shields and helmets of the soldiers. Constantine did so and defeated the enemy, despite his strong army; fleeing, the tyrant drowned in the Tiber River. Then Constantine accepted Christianity, although he had not yet been baptized; he was baptized shortly before his death. In the eastern regions of the Roman Empire, Licinius reigned, who persecuted Christians. Constantine declared war on him and, having defeated him, became the sole ruler of the entire Roman Empire, and from then on the Christian faith became dominant in the empire. The rights, positions, advantages and estates taken away by the persecutors were returned to Christians. All those sentenced to imprisonment for disrespect of idols were released. Temples began to be erected everywhere, and idolatry temples were destroyed. Constantine chose for himself new capital instead of Rome, the former capital of paganism, a city near the Black Sea, Byzantium, and called it New Rome, Constantinople (read May 11). He decorated Constantinople with many holy temples and charitable houses. Constantine restored Jerusalem and erected a magnificent temple here, on the site of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. During the reign of Constantine, the heresy of Arius and the schism of Meletius appeared. He convened the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, at which heresy and schism were condemned, and the first half of the Creed was compiled. Constantine died in 337 at the age of 65: his body was buried in Constantinople in the Church of the Holy Apostles, which he created.
Queen Helena
St. Queen Helen was an accomplice of her son Constantine in matters for the benefit of the Christian religion, which is why she is called Equal-to-the-Apostles. Upon the conversion of her son, she was not slow to accept Christianity. In 326, already in old age, she set off to travel around the Holy Land. There she destroyed the idolatrous temples built on places consecrated by Christ, building in their place Christian churches, discovered many relics of various saints, found the Holy Life-Giving Cross of Christ and showed many different mercies. Returning to her son, she brought with her part of the wood of the Holy Cross and the holy nails of the crucifixion. Saint Helena died in 327 at the age of 80. Particles of the relics of St. Constantine and Helena are kept on Mount Athos in the Intercession Cathedral of the Panteleimon Monastery and in Kyiv, in the Lavra. Hand of St. Helena is kept in Rome in the Lateran Cathedral, and her relics are in the Church of the Mother of God on the Capitoline Hill.
Blessed Prince Konstantin
St. Prince Constantine was the youngest son of Grand Duke Svyatoslav Yaroslavich and reigned in Murom. He himself begged his father for this city, located among the Finns, who were rude and stubborn pagans, in order to introduce Christianity there. He arrived in Murom in 1096. His family, clergy, army and servants went with him. Approaching the city, the prince sent his son Mikhail ahead to convince the Murom people to accept him without resistance; but the Murom people killed Mikhail and began to prepare for battle. St. Constantine approached the city with an army. The people of Murom reconciled themselves and agreed to accept the prince, but on the condition that they should not be forced to accept the Christian faith. Constantine entered the city and immediately began his apostolic activities: he built the Church of the Annunciation on the burial site of the body of his murdered son, Prince Michael, and then the Church of Sts. Boris and Gleb. The clergy, at the will of the prince, began preaching, and he himself often called the elders of the city to him and fervently persuaded them to accept the Christian faith. The most stubborn of the pagans in an armed crowd once approached the prince’s house, but he, having prayed with his squad, came out to the crowd with an icon of the Mother of God. The rebels were amazed and wished to be baptized. The baptism was performed solemnly on the Oka River. The prince presented gifts to those who were baptized. Having thus labored to spread and establish the Christian faith, St. Constantine died in 1129. His body was laid in the Annunciation Church, next to his sons, Michael and Theodore. Miracles were performed at the tomb of the holy princes, and their relics turned out to be incorruptible.
Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God
The Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, according to legend, was written by the Evangelist Luke on a board from the table at which the meal took place. Holy Family. The icon was brought to Russia from Byzantium at the beginning of the 12th century, as a gift to Yuri Dolgoruky from the Patriarch of Constantinople Luke Chrysoverkh. The icon was placed in the convent of Vyshgorod, not far from Kyiv; rumors of its miracles reached the son of Yuri Dolgoruky, Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, who decided to transport the icon to the north. Passing Vladimir, horses carrying miraculous icon, stood up and could not move. Replacing the horses with new ones also did not help. The prince interpreted this sign as the desire of the Mother of God to remain in Vladimir, where in two years the Church of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary was built.
In 1395, when Tamerlane moved his hordes to Moscow, the holy icon was brought from Vladimir. For ten days they carried the icon in their hands to Moscow. The place where the “meeting” of the icon by the Grand Duke, metropolitans and bishops took place is still called Sretenka, and the Sretensky Monastery was founded there. Tamerlane suddenly turned his troops back from near Yelets, “fled, driven by the power of the Blessed Virgin.” The icon was never returned to Vladimir, leaving it in Moscow.
In 1451, the army of the Nogai Khan with Tsarevich Mazovsha approached Moscow. The Tatars set fire to the Moscow suburbs, but Moscow was never captured. During the fire, Saint Jonah performed religious processions along the walls of the city. Warriors and militia fought with the enemy until nightfall. The small army of the Grand Duke at this time was too far away to help the besieged. The chronicles say that the next morning there were no enemies near the walls of Moscow. They heard an extraordinary noise, decided that it was the Grand Duke with a huge army and retreated. The prince himself cried in front of the Vladimir Icon after the Tatars left.
The third intercession of the Mother of God for Rus' was in 1480. Remember the “great stand on the Ugra”, known from school history lessons: Ivan III refused to pay tribute to the horde and the regiments of Khan Akhmat were sent to Rus'. The meeting with the Russian army took place near the Ugra River: the troops stood on different banks and were waiting for a reason to attack. In the front ranks of the Russian army they held the icon of Our Lady of Vladimir. There were skirmishes, even small battles, but the troops never moved, facing each other. The Russian army moved away from the river, giving the Horde regiments the opportunity to begin crossing. But the Horde regiments also retreated. The Russian soldiers stopped, but the Tatar soldiers continued to retreat and suddenly rushed away without looking back.
All the most important state acts of Russia were performed in front of this glorious icon: the oath of allegiance to the Motherland, prayers before military campaigns, the election of All-Russian Patriarchs.
The celebration in honor of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God is celebrated three times a year in gratitude for the threefold deliverance of our Fatherland from enemies with Her help: May 21, June 23 and August 26 (Old Style).
The Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God belongs to the iconographic type of Glycophilus (Sweetly Kissing); the Child rested his cheek against the Mother’s cheek. The icon conveys the tender communication between Mother and Child. Mary foresees the suffering of the Son in His earthly journey. Icons of this type received the name “Tenderness” in Rus' (Eleusa in Greek). A distinctive feature of this image is that the left leg of the Baby Jesus is bent in such a way that the sole of the foot is visible.
The icon previously stood in the Assumption Cathedral on the left side of the royal gates. The Robe on an icon made of pure gold with precious stones was valued at about 200,000 gold rubles (confiscated by the Bolsheviks). The icon was for a long time in the hall of ancient Russian art of the Tretyakov Gallery, now it is in the Nikon Church in Pillars, which is behind the Tretyakov Gallery, where prayer services are performed in front of it. On great patronal feasts, the shrine is transferred to the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin to participate in the most solemn prayer services.
June 03, 2014
June 3 is the day of remembrance of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Tsar Constantine and his mother Queen Helena
Today we celebrate a holiday in honor of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Tsar Constantine and Queen Helena. Emperor Constantine the Great ruled the Roman Empire in the first half of the 4th century. For outstanding services to the Holy Church, to the Christian faith, this king, together with his mother, Queen Helena, was canonized and even called Equal-to-the-Apostles.
Tsar Constantine was the son of one of the rulers of the then Roman Empire, which at that time was divided into four regions. His father ruled Britain. And so, after the death of his father, he was proclaimed emperor. At that time, the holy king Constantine had many enemies, and he was the only ruler in the then Roman Empire who patronized the Christian faith. Other rulers of the then Roman Empire, naturally, started a war. Military operations took place, and before the decisive battle, Tsar Constantine contemplated a vision of the Cross in the sky and the inscription: “By this, conquer.” That is, by the power of the Cross, God grants him victory.
For 300 years the Christian Church experienced severe persecution. And so the Providence of God leads Tsar Constantine to the Christian faith, then arranges it so that Tsar Constantine becomes the ruler of the entire Roman Empire, both Western and Eastern. In 313, he issues the Edict of Milan “On Tolerance,” where he stops the persecution of Christians and the Christian faith gains freedom. This was the providential significance of both the miracle of the vision of the Cross in heaven, and the subsequent victory of Tsar Constantine, and his rule over the Roman Empire.
And we also know that in 325 the Orthodox Church was tormented by the heresy of Arius, who called Christ a creation and denied the consubstantiality of the Son of God with God the Father. And so, in 325, to approve Orthodox faith, the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles King Constantine convenes the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, at which our Creed was compiled down to the words “... and in the Holy Spirit.” Thus, we see that it was not in vain that the Church glorified Emperor Constantine as equal to the apostles, thereby emphasizing that the works of this king and his mother were similar to the Apostles.
And the mother of the holy king Constantine, when her son reigned over the Roman Empire, went to the Holy Land, to Palestine, and there cleansed the holy places associated with the life of the Son of God from pagan temples. Together with her son, Tsar Constantine, she built the majestic Church of the Resurrection of the Lord on the site of the death and resurrection of Christ. Holy Queen Helena found the Life-Giving Cross near Golgotha, the one on which the Son of God was crucified. And so, for her faith, for raising such a great son - Tsar Constantine, for such zeal for the holy places in the Holy Land, in Palestine, Queen Helen was also canonized by the church as equal to the apostles.
We see, dear brothers and sisters, how the Church of Christ glorifies those people who built and reverently treated shrines. Saints Constantine and Helena are the builders of Orthodox churches. And they are glorified by the Church along with the Apostles. Of course, there are few of us who are temple builders. But we are all called to have a reverent attitude towards the shrine of the temple! Without a doubt, God must be honored, first of all, internally. But the inner content of our soul is necessarily expressed externally. The Lord said: “A good man brings good things out of a good treasure, and an evil man brings evil things out of an evil treasure” (Matthew 12:35). So, on this holy day, remembering the memory of these great saints, we need to think a little about the internal and external content of our life path.
Christ commanded us to fulfill His Divine commandments. New Testament, unlike the Old, is a renewal of the spirit. IN Old Testament all the significance, all the emphasis was placed on external religiosity, although there were prophets who said that God is looking for the human heart, looking for the spirit, looking for man’s love for God. There were prophets, but in general the Law of Moses had a ritual, external character. And representatives of the Old Testament religion, especially in the person of the clergy, Pharisees, and scribes, fulfilled the Old Testament law only outwardly. They made sacrifices, performed some external rituals, ablutions, outwardly visited the Jerusalem temple, the synagogue, but their hearts were far from God. And we know that the Lord likened the Old Testament teachers to “painted tombs,” which inside are filled with all kinds of sin, the stench of passions, but on the outside they seem to look okay, not bad. Such was Old Testament religiosity in its overwhelming majority. Of course, there were true righteous people in the Old Testament, but there were very few of them.
When Christ came, He revealed that true faith, true knowledge of God is accomplished within. The Savior says: “Blind Pharisee! Cleanse first the inside of the cup and the dish, so that the outside of them also may be clean” (Matthew 23:26). That is, the Lord Jesus Christ in His Gospel teaching places all its meaning, all its emphasis on the internal rebirth of man, in the renewal of the spirit, our heart and our thoughts. The Lord teaches about love for God and neighbor, but at the same time does not deny the external law. Because, naturally, a person’s faith, his desire for God, always, one way or another, manifests itself in external form. But the most important thing is kept in the soul, in a pure, believing, humble, reverent heart and in unfeigned love for others. Otherwise, there remains only hypocrisy, theater, what Christ called “pharisaism” remains, that is, only external service to God.
We are called to internal rebirth, to the renewal of our soul in the spirit of the Christian faith. However, we also have some external customs, rules, rituals. But, unfortunately, the sinfulness, the disease of the human soul is such that we are often not sufficiently renewed internally, we do not fight enough for the purity of our hearts and our thoughts. With great difficulty, internal rebirth occurs in us, renewal of us in joy, in love, in peace, in patience, in humility, in unfeigned faith, in helping other people. It is with difficulty that we excel in these inner virtues.
But if we look at some external customs and virtues, then, unfortunately, we will also see that we have a lot of purely external omissions. For example, with pain, it happens that you see that very, very few people know how to cross themselves correctly. Unfortunately, you can often see a believer who, instead of reverently making the sign of the cross, makes some kind of meaningless gesture: for example, he makes the sign of the cross on his stomach or his chest, or as if brushing something off his chest. Makes some kind of hasty, meaningless movement. And this is the sign of the cross? Naturally, the shepherd’s heart cannot look at this indifferently. And we really have a lot of such, purely external, omissions.
For example, let’s take the virtue of reverent attitude towards shrines Orthodox church. How do we actually implement it? A temple is a holy place, where God Himself is present, where terrible sacraments are performed, where the Holy Spirit breathes. In the temple majestic hymns and psalms are sung, Holy Bible, here we can get hope for salvation. So what do we see? Not everyone really approaches the temple with reverence, with the fear of God, feeling the holiness of this place. Some kind of petrified insensibility attacks the heart, some kind of spiritual illness. The person seems to forget where he is. He does not feel sacred when he hears the words of prayers and sacred hymns - he perceives it completely indifferently, as if it were something empty, something that absolutely does not concern him in any way. And this is precisely a manifestation, on the one hand, of an internal spiritual illness, and on the other hand, an external one. It's very scary. Each of us - and every clergyman, and every lower servant in the temple who performs this or that obedience, service, and every ordinary believer, both man and woman - is responsible for the shrine of worship, for the shrine of the temple. We should not look indifferently at some kind of disorder happening in the church, at some noise and interference with the divine service. The soul of every person should root for the shrine of the temple. And we must first pray about this. We must also be able to prompt a neighbor who has forgotten that he is in the temple, who behaves in the temple as in a store, or as in a market, or somewhere in a museum - we must be able to tell such a person with love, with Christian meekness and humbly advise, point out to him, remind him that he is in a holy place where prayer is made to God, where the Lord receives us, accepts our prayer, our repentance, and here it is inappropriate to be outrageous or make noise.
Thus, we certainly have a lot of purely external and internal shortcomings. But we need to remember the words of the Gospel that the Lord Jesus came into the world of sinners to save and not to despair. We must strive to fulfill God’s commandments, we must strive to renew ourselves internally: get rid of sinful thoughts, inappropriate feelings, aspirations, try to correct our life, remove everything unclean and sinful from it. On the other hand, we must try to carry out our external religious life in accordance with the church charter, in accordance with the traditions of the Church. The internal is more important than the external, but the internal cannot be imagined without the external. It happens that when a person stands reverently in a church and prays, his external behavior involuntarily begins to affect his soul. A person will make some external gesture: reverently worship God, venerate an image, an icon with the fear of God, or apply the sign of the cross to himself with reverence - and this external gesture has an effect internal influence and on his soul. Everything is interconnected here.
And on this holy day, through the prayers of the holy kings Constantine and Helena, may the merciful, good Lord grant us to be confirmed both in Christ’s holy Gospel commandments and in the external church statutes. Amen. Christ is Risen! Truly risen!
Every year on June 3 Orthodox Church commemorates the memory of the ruler of the Roman Empire, Equal-to-the-Apostles Tsar Constantine, and his mother, Queen Helena. Saint Constantine is famous for being the first Roman emperor to support Christianity.
What holiday is celebrated on June 3: the emergence of Constantine as monarch
Saint Constantine was the son of Constantius and Helena. He was born in 272. In 306, when his father died, he was proclaimed successor to the throne. In 312, he went to Italy, where, while at the head of his troops, he saw in the sky a shining pillar in the shape of a Cross with the words: “You will conquer.” The next night, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him in a dream and announced to him the power of the Cross and its meaning. In the morning, he immediately ordered a labarum to be made in the form of a cross, and inscribed the Name of Jesus Christ on it.
On October 28 he attacked Maxentius, and the next day entered Rome in triumph and became monarch over West and East. During his reign, all persecution against the Christian Church ceased. Christianity triumphed and paganism was overthrown.
In 325 he convened the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea. In 324 AD, in the ancient city of Byzantium, he laid the foundations of the new capital of his kingdom and inaugurated it on May 11, 330 AD, calling it Constantinople. Since the throne of imperial power was transferred to Constantinople from Rome, it was called New Rome, the inhabitants of its area were called Romans, and it was considered a continuation of the Roman Empire.
What holiday is celebrated on June 3: Constantine’s adoption of Christianity
Christian historians have been of the opinion that Constantine "adopted" Christianity as a kind of replacement for official Roman paganism. Although the document entitled "Donation of Constantine" was proven to be a forgery, it was credited as documenting the Roman Empire's conversion to Christianity over the centuries. Even Christian skeptics accepted this formulation, although Constantine's vision of politics was more political than spiritual.
By the end of the 3rd century, Christian communities and their bishops had become a force to contend with, in urban centers especially Christians favored high government positions; The Church was granted various special privileges; and churches such as the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.
Christian bishops adopted aggressive public positions that were known among other cult leaders, even among Jews. Proselytism was to be publicly outlawed, simply to maintain public decency. However, in the main legions Christianity was despised, and the soldiers followed the pagan cults of Mithras and Isis.
What he did was legalize Christianity, return confiscated church property, and establish Sunday as a day of worship. Although the Church flourished under Constantine's patronage, it also fell into the first of many social schisms. He called on the First Ecumenical Council to solve the problem of heresy, the dispute about the personality and divinity of Jesus Christ. Constantine produced a creed which favored the position of Saint Athanasius, the enemy of Arius, and became official teaching Churches.
What holiday is celebrated on June 3: the legacy of Constantine
Constantine's legacy can be seen in the translation of Christianity from a private sect to a public church embracing the entire society. He put it on an institutional basis that allowed the Church to become a leading cultural force in the ancient world.
However, a balanced assessment of the historical record shows that, just as Constantine may have contributed to the Christianization of the Roman Empire, Constantinople is the New Rome. With his decision to transform the village of Byzantium into the New Capital City of the Roman Empire, Constantine laid the foundation for what would become the major spiritual center, the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
As the New Rome, Constantinople was intended to signal the Roman Empire's break with its pagan past and communion with Christianity. By order of Constantine, there were no pagan ceremonies in the city. Constantinople flourished as a spiritual and political capital and was also the springboard from which missionary activity in Russia emerged.
What holiday is celebrated on June 3: Saint Constantine is revered as equal to the apostles
The Orthodox Church sees Saint Constantine as an emperor who helped the early Church in evangelizing the Roman Empire. For this reason, she honors him as Saint Constantine, equal to the apostles.
Saint Constantine issued a Decree in 313 that guaranteed religious tolerance for Christians. The Emperor revered the victorious Sign of the Cross of the Lord and wanted to find the real Cross on which Christ was crucified. He sent his mother Helen to Jerusalem, where she did many jobs, including giving money to the poor.
Helen also ordered that all places connected with the earthly life of the Lord and His All-Human Mother be freed from traces of paganism and directed that churches be built in each of these places.
Saint Helen continued to travel to holy places, building more than 80 churches. Constantine gave the order to build a church in Jerusalem in honor of the Resurrection of Christ. Saint Helena entered the Eternal Kingdom in 327. Because of her great service to the Church and her efforts to find the Cross of Life, Empress Helena is also called "an equal of the apostles."
Tradition has preserved for us information that the holy Empress Helen was not of noble birth. Her father was the owner of a hotel. She married the famous Roman warrior Constantius Chlorus. It was a marriage not of political convenience, but of 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, Emperor Diocletian demanded that Constantius divorce Helen and marry his (the emperor's) stepdaughter Theodora. In addition, the emperor took the 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 virtually a hostage to his father's loyalty to the emperor.
At the time when these events occurred, Elena was just over forty years old. She was torn away from her husband for political gain, and, obviously, the couple 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 later renamed Elenopolis in her honor, and it was here that she was introduced to Christianity. She was baptized in a local church and for the next thirty years she spent the next thirty years purifying and improving her own soul, which served as preparation for the fulfillment of a special mission, a work for which she was called “equal to the apostles.”
Soon after her conversion, Constantine, who often visited her, met a Christian girl named Minervina at her house. After some time, the young people got married. Two years later, the young wife died of a fever, and Constantine gave their little son, named Crispus, to the care of his mother.
Fourteen years have passed. Constantine's father, a military leader dearly loved by his soldiers, died. Constantine, who showed considerable military valor, achieved the rank of tribune, and, thanks to universal respect in the army, he was elected as his father's successor. He became Caesar of the western lands. Emperor Maximian, seeing a future rival in Constantine, decided to “insure himself”: he married his daughter Fausta to the young military leader, reinforcing his loyalty with ties of kinship. However, it was an unhappy union, and in the next few decades Constantine had to devote more energy and time to fighting his wife's relatives than to 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 the sky, and Constantine heard the words spoken by the Savior Himself, who commanded him to go into battle with banners with the image of the Holy Cross and the inscription “By this victory.” Maxentius, instead of defending himself inside the city walls, 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 persecutions that had lasted (with interruptions) for several centuries. Ten years later, Constantine became the sole Emperor of the eastern and western parts of the Empire, and in 323 he elevated his mother, declaring her Empress. For Elena, who by that time had managed to understand how transitory the joys and bitterness of earthly glory are, the Imperial power itself was of little attraction. However, she quickly realized that her new position gave her the opportunity to participate in the spread of the Christian gospel, especially by building churches and chapels in the Holy Land, in the 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 Aelia was built on the ruins of Jerusalem. The Temple of Venus was erected over Golgotha and the Holy Sepulcher. Elena's heart burned with the desire to cleanse the holy places from pagan defilement and rededicate them to the Lord. She was already more than seventy years old when she set off on a 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 request was fulfilled. Her prayer was answered and she fulfilled her vow. Nowadays, the Ekatontapiliani Church, inside of which stands the temple built then by St. Helena, is the oldest Christian temple in Greece.
Arriving in the Holy Land, she ordered the temple of Venus to be demolished and the rubble taken outside the city walls, but she did not know where her servants should dig to find the Cross in the huge piles of earth, stones and rubbish. She fervently prayed for admonition, and the Lord came to her aid.
This is how her life tells about it:
The discovery of the Holy Cross of the Lord took place in the year 326 from the Nativity of Christ as follows: when the rubble remaining from the buildings that stood here was cleared away at Golgotha, Bishop Macarius performed a prayer service at this place. The people digging the ground felt a fragrance emanating from the ground. This is how 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 memory ancient legend about his whereabouts. He himself, after finding the great shrine, was baptized with the name Kyriakos and subsequently became the Patriarch of Jerusalem. He suffered a martyr's death 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 possible to know which of these three crosses was the True Cross of the Lord? Bishop Macarius stopped the funeral procession passing by and ordered to touch the deceased one by one with all three crosses. When the Cross of Christ was placed on the body, this man was resurrected. The Empress was the first to bow to the ground before the shrine and venerate 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 Twelve (greatest) Holidays of the Orthodox Church.1
Helena took a piece of the Cross to Byzantium as a gift to her son. However, most of it, encased in silver, remained in the temple she built at the site of its acquisition. Every year on Good Friday it was taken out for worship. A small part of the Holy Cross is still in Jerusalem. Over the centuries, small particles of it were sent to temples and monasteries throughout the Christian world, where they are carefully and reverently kept as priceless treasures.
Saint Helena lived in Jerusalem for two years, leading the restoration of the holy places. She developed plans for the construction of magnificent churches in places associated with the life of the Savior. However, the modern Church of the Holy Sepulcher is not the same church that was built under St. Helena.2 This large building was built in the Middle Ages, and there are many small churches inside it. Including 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 site of the discovery of the Cross.
The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is the same one that was erected by the Empress. There are other churches in the creation of which she was directly involved, for example, the small Church of the Ascension of the Lord on the Mount of Olives (now owned by Muslims), the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary near Gethsemane, the church in memory of the appearance of three angels to Abraham at the Oak of Mamre, the temple on Mount Sinai and the monastery of Stavrovouni near the city of Larnaca in Cyprus.
In addition to the fact that Saint Helen invested enormous 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 powerful of this world, regularly organized large dinners for the poor of Jerusalem and its surroundings. At the same time, she herself put on a simple work dress and helped serve the dishes.
When she finally returned home, bitter, sorrowful news awaited her there. Her beloved grandson Crispus, who had become 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 young military leader, popular among the people, to be an obstacle on the way to the Imperial throne her own three sons.
Her work in the Holy Land tired her, and grief fell like a heavy burden on her shoulders. After the news of the death of Crispus, she lived only a year and died in 327. Now her relics (most of them) rest in Rome, where they were transported by the crusaders, and in many places in the Christian world particles of her relics are kept. 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, old style.
What happened to the Life-giving Cross of the Lord after it was found?
After Saint Helena found the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord in 326, she sent part of it to Constantinople, took the second part to Rome in the same year, and left another part in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. There it (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 brutalized Christians, destroyed churches, and killed priests, monks and nuns. They took away from Jerusalem the sacred vessels and the main treasure - the Cross of the Lord. Patriarch Zechariah of Jerusalem and many people were taken captive. Khosroes superstitiously believed that by taking possession of the Cross, he would somehow gain the power and authority of the Son of God, and he solemnly placed the Cross near his throne, according to right hand. The Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (610-641) offered him peace many times, but Chosroes demanded that he first renounce Christ and worship the sun. This war has become religious. Finally, after several successful battles, Heraclius defeated Chosroes in 627, who was soon overthrown from the throne and killed by his own son Syroes. In February 628, Siroi 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 in the new style) the celebration of its second erection 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 installed him in his former place of honor as a sign of gratitude to God for the victory given to him. As he approached the city, holding the Cross in his hands, the Emperor suddenly stopped and could not move further. Patriarch Zacharias, who accompanied him, suggested that his magnificent robe and royal position did not match the appearance of the Lord Himself, humbly carrying His Cross. The emperor immediately changed his magnificent outfit to rags and entered the city barefoot. The Precious Cross was still enclosed in the silver casket. Representatives of the clergy checked the safety of the seals and, opening the casket, showed the Cross to the people. From that time on, Christians began to celebrate the day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross with even greater reverence. (On this day, the Orthodox Church also remembers the miracle of the appearance of the Holy Cross in the sky as a sign of the impending victory of Emperor Constantine over the troops of Maxentius.) In 635, Heraclius, 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, Georgian, Crete, Ascalon and Damascus. Now particles of the Holy Cross are kept in many monasteries and churches around the world.
Today is June 3 (May 21, old style), the Orthodox Church celebrates Religious holiday Orthodox:
*** Equal to the Apostles Tsar Constantine (337) and his mother Queen Helena (327). ** Blessed Prince Constantine (Yaroslav) (1129) and his sons Mikhail and Theodore (XII), Murom miracle workers. Venerable Cassian the Greek, Uglich miracle worker (1504). *** Icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir (a holiday established in memory of the salvation of Moscow from the invasion of the Crimean Khan Makhmet-Girey in 1521).
Saint Cyril, Bishop of Rostov (1262). Venerable Martyr Agapit of Markushevsky (1584). Blessed Andrei Simbirsk (1841). Revered lists from the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God: Vladimir-Rostov (XII), Pskov-Pechersk "Tenderness" (1524), Syrkovskaya (1548), Zaonikievskaya (1588), Krasnogorsk or Chernogorsk (1603), Oranskaya (1634), Florishchevskaya (XVII ), Tupichevskaya-Rostovskaya.
Day of Equal-to-the-Apostles Tsar Constantine and his mother Queen Helena
The Holy Emperor Constantine (306-337), who received the title Equal of the Apostles from the Church, and was called the Great in world history, was the son of Caesar Constantius Chlorus, who ruled the countries of Gaul and Britain.
The huge 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 Queen Helen, mother of Emperor Constantine, was a Christian. The future ruler of the entire Roman Empire - Constantine - was brought up with respect for the Christian religion. His father did not persecute Christians in the countries he ruled, while throughout 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 Herculus (284-305) - in the West.
After the death of Constantius Chlorus, his son Constantine was proclaimed Emperor of Gaul and Britain by his troops in 306. The first task of the new emperor was to proclaim freedom of professing the Christian faith in the countries under his control. The pagan fanatic 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, with the help of God, defeated all his opponents in a series of wars. He prayed to God to give him a sign that would inspire his army to fight bravely, and the Lord showed him in the sky the shining sign of the Cross with the inscription “By this way conquer.”
Having become the sovereign ruler of the Western part of the Roman Empire, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan on religious tolerance in 313, and in 323, when he reigned as the sole emperor over the entire Roman Empire, he extended the Edict of Milan to the entire eastern part of the empire. After three hundred years of persecution, Christians for the first time had the opportunity to openly confess their faith in Christ.
Having abandoned paganism, the emperor did not leave ancient Rome, which was the center of the 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, brought back Christian confessors from exile, built churches, and took care of the clergy.
Deeply revering the Cross of the Lord, the emperor wanted to find the very Life-giving Cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. For this purpose, he sent his mother, the holy queen Helen, to Jerusalem, giving her great powers and material resources. Together with Patriarch Macarius of Jerusalem, Saint Helena began a search, and by the Providence of God the Life-Giving Cross was miraculously found in 326.
While in Palestine, the holy queen did a lot for the benefit of the Church. She ordered to free all places associated with the earthly life of the Lord and His Most Pure Mother from all traces of paganism, and ordered the erection of Christian churches in these memorable places. Above the Cave of the Holy Sepulcher, Emperor Constantine himself ordered the construction of a magnificent temple in honor of the Resurrection of Christ. Saint Helena gave the Life-Giving Cross for safekeeping to the Patriarch, and 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, Holy Queen Helena returned to Constantinople, where she soon died in 327.
For her great services to the Church and her labors in obtaining the Life-Giving Cross, Queen Helena is called Equal to the Apostles.
The peaceful existence of the Christian Church was disrupted by the sentiments and discord that arose within the Church due to the emerging heresies. Even at the beginning of the activity of Emperor Constantine, the heresy of the Donatists and Novatians arose in the West, demanding the repetition of baptism over Christians who had fallen away during persecution. This heresy, rejected by two local councils, was finally condemned by the Council of Milan in 316.
One can be amazed at the deep church consciousness and feeling of Saint Constantine, who singled out the definition of “Consubstantial”, which he heard in the debates of the Council, and proposed to include this definition in the Creed.
After the Council of Nicea, Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine continued his active work in favor of the Church. At the end of his life, he accepted holy baptism, having prepared for it with his whole life. Saint Constantine died on the day of Pentecost in 337, and was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles, in a tomb he had prepared in advance.
Equal to the Apostles Tsar Constantine
St. King Constantine is called equal to the apostles because, like the apostles, he did a lot for the Christian Church. Before him, the Christian faith was persecuted and Christians were persecuted and punished, but he made it dominant in the Roman Empire. His parents were Constantius Chlorus, who ruled the western regions of the Roman Empire, Spain, Gaul and Britain and respected Christians for their good qualities, and Helen. In 306, after the death of his father, Constantine ascended the throne and, like his father, did not persecute Christians
At the same time, Maxentius reigned in Rome, an evil and selfish man. Under his rule, it was hard not only for Christians, but also for pagans, so the Romans turned to Constantine with a request to free them from the tyrant. Constantine went against Maxentius; and so, when he was approaching Rome, suddenly in the middle of the day he and his army saw in the heavens a cross of stars with the inscription: “With this conquer.” The very next night, the Lord appeared to Constantine in a vision and ordered him to make a banner like a cross and depict the cross on the weapons, shields and helmets of the soldiers. Constantine did so and defeated the enemy, despite his strong army; fleeing, the tyrant drowned in the Tiber River. Then Constantine accepted Christianity, although he had not yet been baptized; he was baptized shortly before his death.
In the eastern regions of the Roman Empire, Licinius reigned, who persecuted Christians. Constantine declared war on him and, having defeated him, became the sole ruler of the entire Roman Empire, and from then on the Christian faith became dominant in the empire. The rights, positions, advantages and estates taken away by the persecutors were returned to Christians. All those sentenced to imprisonment for disrespect of idols were released. Temples began to be erected everywhere, and idolatry temples were destroyed. Constantine chose a new capital for himself instead of Rome, the former capital of paganism, a city near the Black Sea, Byzantium, and called it New Rome, Constantinople (read May 11). He decorated Constantinople with many holy temples and charitable houses. Constantine restored Jerusalem and erected a magnificent temple here, on the site of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. During the reign of Constantine, the heresy of Arius and the schism of Meletius appeared. He convened the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, at which heresy and schism were condemned, and the first half of the Creed was compiled. Constantine died in 337 at the age of 65: his body was buried in Constantinople in the Church of the Holy Apostles, which he created.
Queen Helena
St. Queen Helen was an accomplice of her son Constantine in matters for the benefit of the Christian religion, which is why she is called Equal-to-the-Apostles. Upon the conversion of her son, she was not slow to accept Christianity. In 326, already in old age, she set off to travel around the Holy Land. There she destroyed the idolatrous temples built on places consecrated by Christ, building Christian churches in their place, discovered many relics of various saints, found the Holy Life-Giving Cross of Christ and showed many different mercies. Returning to her son, she brought with her part of the wood of the Holy Cross and the holy nails of the crucifixion. Saint Helena died in 327 at the age of 80. Particles of the relics of St. Constantine and Helena are kept on Mount Athos in the Intercession Cathedral of the Panteleimon Monastery and in Kyiv, in the Lavra. Hand of St. Helena is kept in Rome in the Lateran Cathedral, and her relics are in the Church of the Mother of God on the Capitoline Hill.
Blessed Prince Konstantin
St. Prince Constantine was the youngest son of Grand Duke Svyatoslav Yaroslavich and reigned in Murom. He himself begged his father for this city, located among the Finns, who were rude and stubborn pagans, in order to introduce Christianity there. He arrived in Murom in 1096. His family, clergy, army and servants went with him. Approaching the city, the prince sent his son Mikhail ahead to convince the Murom people to accept him without resistance; but the Murom people killed Mikhail and began to prepare for battle. St. Constantine approached the city with an army. The people of Murom reconciled themselves and agreed to accept the prince, but on the condition that they should not be forced to accept the Christian faith. Constantine entered the city and immediately began his apostolic activities: he built the Church of the Annunciation on the burial site of the body of his murdered son, Prince Michael, and then the Church of Sts. Boris and Gleb. The clergy, at the will of the prince, began preaching, and he himself often called the elders of the city to him and fervently persuaded them to accept the Christian faith.
The most stubborn of the pagans in an armed crowd once approached the prince’s house, but he, having prayed with his squad, came out to the crowd with an icon of the Mother of God. The rebels were amazed and wished to be baptized. The baptism was performed solemnly on the Oka River. The prince presented gifts to those who were baptized. Having thus labored to spread and establish the Christian faith, St. Constantine died in 1129. His body was laid in the Annunciation Church, next to his sons, Michael and Theodore. Miracles were performed at the tomb of the holy princes, and their relics turned out to be incorruptible.
Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God
The Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, according to legend, was painted by the Evangelist Luke on a board from the table at which the Holy Family ate. The icon was brought to Russia from Byzantium at the beginning of the 12th century, as a gift to Yuri Dolgoruky from the Patriarch of Constantinople Luke Chrysoverkh. The icon was placed in the convent of Vyshgorod, not far from Kyiv; rumors of its miracles reached the son of Yuri Dolgoruky, Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, who decided to transport the icon to the north. While passing Vladimir, the horses carrying the miraculous icon stood up and could not move. Replacing the horses with new ones also did not help. The prince interpreted this sign as the desire of the Mother of God to remain in Vladimir, where in two years the Church of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary was built.
In 1395, when Tamerlane moved his hordes to Moscow, the holy icon was brought from Vladimir. For ten days they carried the icon in their hands to Moscow. The place where the “meeting” of the icon by the Grand Duke, metropolitans and bishops took place is still called Sretenka, and the Sretensky Monastery was founded there. Tamerlane suddenly turned his troops back from near Yelets, “fled, driven by the power of the Blessed Virgin.” The icon was never returned to Vladimir, leaving it in Moscow.
In 1451, the army of the Nogai Khan with Tsarevich Mazovsha approached Moscow. The Tatars set fire to the Moscow suburbs, but Moscow was never captured. During the fire, Saint Jonah performed religious processions along the walls of the city. Warriors and militia fought with the enemy until nightfall. The small army of the Grand Duke at this time was too far away to help the besieged. The chronicles say that the next morning there were no enemies near the walls of Moscow. They heard an extraordinary noise, decided that it was the Grand Duke with a huge army and retreated. The prince himself cried in front of the Vladimir Icon after the Tatars left.
The third intercession of the Mother of God for Rus' was in 1480. Remember the “great stand on the Ugra”, known from school history lessons: Ivan III refused to pay tribute to the horde and the regiments of Khan Akhmat were sent to Rus'. The meeting with the Russian army took place near the Ugra River: the troops stood on different banks and were waiting for a reason to attack. In the front ranks of the Russian army they held the icon of Our Lady of Vladimir. There were skirmishes, even small battles, but the troops never moved, facing each other. The Russian army moved away from the river, giving the Horde regiments the opportunity to begin crossing. But the Horde regiments also retreated. The Russian soldiers stopped, but the Tatar soldiers continued to retreat and suddenly rushed away without looking back.
All the most important state acts of Russia were performed in front of this glorious icon: the oath of allegiance to the Motherland, prayers before military campaigns, the election of All-Russian Patriarchs.
The celebration in honor of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God is celebrated three times a year in gratitude for the threefold deliverance of our Fatherland from enemies with Her help: May 21, June 23 and August 26 (Old Style).
The Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God belongs to the iconographic type of Glycophilus (Sweetly Kissing); the Child rested his cheek against the Mother’s cheek. The icon conveys the tender communication between Mother and Child. Mary foresees the suffering of the Son in His earthly journey. Icons of this type received the name “Tenderness” in Rus' (Eleusa in Greek). A distinctive feature of this image is that the left leg of the Baby Jesus is bent in such a way that the sole of the foot is visible.
The icon previously stood in the Assumption Cathedral on the left side of the royal gates. The Robe on an icon made of pure gold with precious stones was valued at about 200,000 gold rubles (confiscated by the Bolsheviks). The icon was for a long time in the hall of ancient Russian art of the Tretyakov Gallery, now it is in the Nikon Church in Pillars, which is behind the Tretyakov Gallery, where prayer services are performed in front of it. On great patronal feasts, the shrine is transferred to the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin to participate in the most solemn prayer services.
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