The Church calls St Constantine (306-337) “the Equal of the
Apostles,” and historians call him “the Great.” He was the son o the
Caesar Constantius Chlorus (305-306), who governed the lands of Gaul and
Britain. His mother was St Helen, a Christian of humble birth.
At
this time the immense Roman Empire was divided into Western and Eastern
halves, governed by two independent emperors and their corulers called
“Caesars.” Constantius Chlorus was Caesar in the Western Roman Empire.
St Constantine was born in 274, possibly at Nish in Serbia. In 294,
Constantius divorced Helen in order to further his political ambition by
marrying a woman of noble rank. After he became emperor, Constantine
showed his mother great honor and respect, granting her the imperial
title “Augusta.”
Constantine, the future ruler of all the whole
Roman Empire, was raised to respect Christianity. His father did not
persecute Christians in the lands he governed. This was at a time when
Christians were persecuted throughout the Roman Empire by the emperors
Diocletian (284-305) and his corulers Maximian Galerius (305-311) in the
East, and the emperor Maximian Hercules (284-305) in the West.
After
the death of Constantius Chlorus in 306, Constantine was acclaimed by
the army at York as emperor of Gaul and Britain. The first act of the
new emperor was to grant the freedom to practice Christianity in the
lands subject to him. The pagan Maximian Galerius in the East and the
fierce tyrant Maxentius in the West hated Constantine and they plotted
to overthrow and kill him, but Constantine bested them in a series of
battles, defeating his opponents with the help of God. He prayed to God
to give him a sign which would inspire his army to fight valiantly, and
the Lord showed him a radiant Sign of the Cross in the heavens with the
inscription “In this Sign, conquer.”
After Constantine became the
sole ruler of the Western Roman Empire, he issued the Edict of Milan in
313 which guaranteed religious tolerance for Christians. St Helen, who
was a Christian, may have influenced him in this decision. In 323, when
he became the sole ruler of the entire Roman Empire, he extended the
provisions of the Edict of Milan to the Eastern half of the Empire.
After three hundred years of persecution, Christians could finally
practice their faith without fear.
Renouncing paganism, the
Emperor did not let his capital remain in ancient Rome, the former
center of the pagan realm. He transferred his capital to the East, to
the city of Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople, the city of
Constantine (May 11). Constantine was deeply convinced that only
Christianity could unify the immense Roman Empire with its diverse
peoples. He supported the Church in every way. He recalled Christian
confessors from banishment, he built churches, and he showed concern for
the clergy.
The emperor deeply revered the victory-bearing Sign
of the Cross of the Lord, and also wanted to find the actual Cross upon
which our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. For this purpose he sent his
own mother, the holy Empress Helen, to Jerusalem, granting her both
power and money. Patriarch Macarius of Jerusalem and St Helen began the
search, and through the will of God, the Life-Creating Cross was
miraculously discovered in 326. (The account of the finding of the Cross
of the Lord is found under the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross,
September 14). The Orthodox Church commemorates the Uncovering of the
Precious Cross and the Precious Nails by the Holy Empress Helen on March
6.
While in Palestine, the holy empress did much of benefit for
the Church. She ordered that all places connected with the earthly life
of the Lord and His All-Pure Mother, should be freed of all traces of
paganism, and she commanded that churches should be built at these
places.
The emperor Constantine ordered a magnificent church in
honor of Christ’s Resurrection to be built over His tomb. St Helen gave
the Life-Creating Cross to the Patriarch for safe-keeping, and took part
of the Cross with her for the emperor. After distributing generous alms
at Jerusalem and feeding the needy (at times she even served them
herself), the holy Empress Helen returned to Constantinople, where she
died in the year 327.
Because of her great services to the Church
and her efforts in finding the Life-Creating Cross, the empress Helen is
called “the Equal of the Apostles.”
The peaceful state of the
Christian Church was disturbed by quarrels, dissensions and heresies
which had appeared within the Church. Already at the beginning of St
Constantine’s reign the heresies of the Donatists and the Novatians had
arisen in the West. They demanded a second baptism for those who lapsed
during the persecutions against Christians. These heresies, repudiated
by two local Church councils, were finally condemned at the Council of
Milan in 316.
Particularly ruinous for the Church was the rise of
the Arian heresy in the East, which denied the Divine Nature of the Son
of God, and taught that Jesus Christ was a mere creature. By order of
the emperor, the First Ecumenical Council was convened in the city of
Nicea in 325.
318 bishops attended this Council. Among its
participants were confessor-bishops from the period of the persecutions
and many other luminaries of the Church, among whom was St Nicholas of
Myra in Lycia. (The account about the Council is found under May 29).
The emperor was present at the sessions of the Council. The heresy of
Arius was condemned and a Symbol of Faith (Creed) composed, in which was
included the term “consubstantial with the Father,” confirming the
truth of the divinity of Jesus Christ, Who assumed human nature for the
redemption of all the human race.
One might possibly be surprised
by St Constantine’s grasp of theological issues during the discussions
at the Council. The term “consubstantial” was included in the Symbol of
Faith at his insistence.
After the Council of Nicea, St
Constantine continued with his active role in the welfare of the Church.
He accepted holy Baptism on his deathbed, having prepared for it all
his whole life. St Constantine died on the day of Pentecost in the year
337 and was buried in the church of the Holy Apostles, in a crypt he had
prepared for himself.
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