Among the vast pantheon of Christian saints, one of the most revered is the equally apostolic Constantine and Elena. Their role in spreading true faith is invaluable. That is why they were so honored to be put 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 Elena is Flavia Julia Elena Augusta. It is known that she was born in the middle of the III century in the city of Drepan, in Asia Minor, but the exact date of her birth was not established. The childhood of the future queen passed very modestly - she served at the horse station owned by her father. There, among other travelers, she met her future husband Constantius Chlorine, who later became the Roman emperor.
The fruit of their love was the son who was born on February 27, 272 and received at birth a rather long name - Flavius Valery Aurelius Constantine. This child entered the history of the world as Emperor Constantine the Great, whose command Christianity became the official religion of the Roman state.
The imperial crown that brought Rome religious freedom
When her son was barely fifteen, Elena's family life was upset. Constantius turned out to be a rather windy spouse and broke up with her, giving preference to the young stepdaughter of the emperor Maximian who ruled at that time. However, as this often happens, being a bad husband, he turned out to be a good father and, ascending the Roman throne, secured the future of his son, making him the ruler of a significant part of the country. The city of Trevir (the modern German city of Trier) became its residence, and Elena the Equal-to-the-Apostles moved to live closer to her son.
In 306, an important event occurred - the emperor died, and Constantine became his successor, proclaimed by the many thousands of Roman army. 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 religious persecution. Thanks to this, after three centuries of persecution, Christianity finally emerged from the catacombs.
Helena Hour
Historical materials testify that Elena the Equal-to-the-Apostles throughout her life treated with great respect those who, despite the mortal danger, professed Christ, but she was baptized when she was already over sixty. By this time, she was proclaimed “Augustus,” that is, a 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 sunset of her days, St. Helena of the Equal Apostles completed the main work of her life - a pilgrimage trip to Jerusalem, where she undertook excavations directly at Calvary itself. Her goal was, as far as possible, to find material evidence of the events that happened 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 holy places is narrated by Holy Tradition. It tells how St. Helena heard a voice in a night vision, commanding her to go to Jerusalem, and there, having cleared the land of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus Christ from the earth, to reveal to the world the priceless treasures acquired on it. The next morning, 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
According to legend, in the capital of ancient Judea, the pious queen was in great difficulty. The fact is that for such a long time the place of Christ's execution and subsequent resurrection 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 much questioning by the locals, one old Jew managed to find out the exact location of Calvary. After this, St. Helena of the Equal-to-the-Apostles ordered the excavation to begin.
When the upper layers of the earth were removed and the top of the mountain was exposed, not one cross appeared before the eyes of those present, but three, because on the day of execution, as you know, two robbers were crucified with Christ. It was not an easy task to determine on which one Jesus suffered.
Verification of the shrine for truth
What followed was another confirmation of the wisdom possessed by Queen Elena. When everyone was in complete bewilderment awaiting her decision, a mourning procession reached the site of the excavation, in front of which they carried a 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 alternately touch the dead body with each of the three crosses. As soon as the turn came to that which was a true shrine, and the deceased's hand was laid on it, it immediately resurrected, which caused general joy and glee.
Finding the Holy Sepulcher
In addition to the life-giving Cross of the Lord, St. Helena of the Equal-to-the-Apostles, as the legend testifies, acquired four nails with which the body of the Savior was nailed and the same plaque - the titlet on which Pontius Pilate personally wrote “Jesus the Nazarene King of the Jews”. She also discovered a cave in which they laid the body of Jesus lifted from the cross. It is thanks to the work of St. Helena that Christians of the whole world can today witness firsthand how the light of the Holy Fire descended on the occasion of Easter appears in the window of the cuvuklia 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 Tsarina Elena the Equal Apostles opened the world the greatest shrines of Christianity.
The 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 crab, she left in Jerusalem to the local bishop Macarius I, who provided her with significant assistance during the excavation. The other part of the Cross, and with it the nails, was sent to Rome to her son. There, this fragment of the Cross was mounted in the sculpture of Emperor Constantine, installed on one of the squares of the capital.
Having completed her mission, the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Tsarina Elena returned to Rome, having founded several monasteries that exist today. The most famous of them is Stavrovouni in Cyprus. As a gift to these monasteries, she left particles of the shrines she had acquired in Jerusalem.
The fate of the relics of St. Helena
Having thus completed the main work of her life, Tsarina Elena of the Equal-to-the-Apostles returned to Rome, where she soon peacefully departed 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 associated with its relics is quite long and confusing. According to a number of sources, Emperor Constantine placed her body in a tomb made for himself, giving his mother his own sarcophagus as well. Then there is evidence that the relics were transported to France, where for several centuries they were stored in Champagne, and from there during the time of the Paris Commune they came to Paris, where they are still stored in the church of Saint-Le-Saint-Gilles.
Saints Equal to the Apostles
For outstanding merits in the cause of the spread of Christianity, Constantine and Helen were counted as equal saints. It should be noted that in the entire world history of Christianity, only five women have been awarded this honor. Her veneration in the East began shortly after her death; in the Western Church, it was established no earlier than the 9th century. Nowadays, the Orthodox Church pays tribute to the acquisition of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord on March 19. In addition, on June 3, the churches recall the equally apostles Constantine and Elena.
Posthumous veneration of mother and son
These saints, gaining unfading glory, became one of the most revered in the Christian world. One of the boundaries of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, erected by the crusaders in the middle of the XII century at the place where in 326 year she excavated, was named after the equal-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 Central Asian republics, it was permanently closed. Now in its place is a mosque.
There is also the recently established parish of these Equal-to-the-Apostles Saints in Moscow, in the Mitino area. Despite the fact that it was consecrated only in 2004, it has already managed to earn good fame as one of the newly formed spiritual centers of the capital. His sanctuary is the icon “Elena Equal to the Apostles”, in front of which one can always see those who in prayers believe her most sacred to her.