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Memorial Day of Saints Constantine and Helen Equal to the Apostles. Helen Equal to the Apostles Queen of Constantinople

On June 3, Christians celebrate the Day of Saints Constantine and Helena. Helena, the wife of the Roman emperor, managed to raise her son Constantine in the spirit of faith in Christ, convincing her husband not to persecute believers. Her son, becoming ruler, made Christianity official. A selection of congratulations will help you congratulate everyone on this important day.

The era of the formation of the Christian faith is replete with difficulties. Many saints went through terrible trials, torture, persecution and execution. And yet people did not renounce their views.

In pagan Rome there were people who, despite all difficulties, adhered to the tenets of the Christian faith. The emperor's wife Helena was a Christian and raised the same views in her son Constantine.

The woman made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and brought from there the cross on which Christ was crucified at one time. Currently, people turn to Saints Helen and Constantine for support and strengthening of the spirit in difficult life situations.

To congratulate your loved ones on the Day of Saints Helen and Constantine, you can use a ready-made selection of poems.

Happy Saints Helena and Constantine Day
I hasten to congratulate you, friends.
So that life doesn't seem like a routine,
a person needs a family,

So that the heart does not harden inside,
so that each of us is kinder,
We need to think about the lives of Elena and Konstantin,
think quickly and

After all, their path, their thorny paths
involuntarily suggest
It’s not in vain that it’s not in vain for us
Life is given by God.

On the Day of Constantine and Helena
May everyone be blessed.
On faith, good deeds,
The hand of the Lord will help!

Who glorifies Christianity
The Lord allows him into his house,
And the world becomes kinder
The soul is wiser and brighter!

May faith reign forever,
In the name of the works of the saints and the Lord Christ!

Konstantin and Elena glorified the faith,
Helped people become lighter!
So that souls remain unchanged
Always blessed by the Lord!

Let's remember good deeds
Their holy lives, names,
We promise to become better and cleaner,
We praise the Lord Jesus!

Ready-made congratulations on the Day of Saints Helena and Constantine

Today is not only a Christian holiday. Angel Day is celebrated by everyone whose name is Elena or Konstantin. The name Elena has Greek roots. Translated, it means “chosen” or “bright”.

Konstantin is a name that has Russian and Latin origin. Translated as “permanent”.

Ready-made poems will help you congratulate friends and family on Angel Day or Saints Helen and Constantine Day. They will demonstrate your concern.

Happy Saints Helena, Constantine,
Saints - beautiful women and men.
Let the rest of you too on this day
There will be strength to overcome all troubles.

Not knowing any of life's difficult obstacles,
Not knowing longing, sadness, sadness and loss,
Let the spring of life flow,
Let every new moment be beautiful.

May there always be happiness
On Angel's Day today, Lena,
May good luck await you
And all good things will come!

I wish you to find happiness,
And your life cannot be exchanged,
And to live whole and wisely,
And only love sincerely!

Today we praise Konstantin,
And mother - beautiful Elena.
Their faith, strength, kindness
For centuries now they have been imperishable.

Let the saints help you,
When there is no other hope.
Let me keep you from sadness,
From pain, sorrows and troubles.

The most important task of history is to make sense of what is meaningful (Sinndeutung des Sinvollen), and not to give meaning to what is meaningless (Sinngebung des Sinnlosen).

[Dutch philosopher Johan Huizinga. From an address to historians in 1927.]

The first proclaimer of human rights

On May 21, Orthodox style, June 3, modern Western style, the Orthodox Church celebrates the day of the saints, Equal-to-the-Apostles, Tsar Constantine and his mother, Queen Helen. This is a great Christian universal holiday. Emperor Constantine the Great not only ended the persecution of Christians in the ancient Roman Empire and convened the First Ecumenical Council in 325 in Nicaea, but also established a new fundamental civilizational principle of the free exercise of religious beliefs:“In matters of faith, everyone must follow the dictates of his heart.” This was the first proclamation of human rights in history.

In Rus', Saints Constantine and Helen enjoyed special veneration and were a prototype good rulers within the framework of a good political system, in accordance with the Sixth Novela of the Emperor Justinian the Great, usually called the “Law of the Symphony.” According to this constitutional principle, good, that is, legitimate, political system must be “correct and decent” (in Latin: “recte et decenter”, and in Greek: “orthos te ke prosikontos”), and the rulers themselves must be decent and competent (decenter et competenter). The terminology of this constitutional law mainly borrowed from the definitions of Plato and Aristotle, according to which, in good political regime must prevail political principles monarchy, aristocracy or republic, but not tyranny, oligarchy or democracy.

In the Russian emigration, this day of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Tsar Constantine and his mother Queen Helena also had public importance for he was corps holiday of the Crimean Cadet Corps and patronage holiday of the First Russian

Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich of the cadet corps. Graduates of these cadet corps played no small role in public life in most countries of dispersion of Russian Emigration, especially after the Second World War.

The Cadet Association in Argentina considered this holiday its own and celebrated it solemnly and publicly. The chairmen and most members of the Board of the Argentine Association were Crimean cadets until the early 90s of the last century, as in some other cadet associations. At the same time, this holiday was celebrated by the rest of the Cadet Associations and single cadets in the Russian Abroad.

One of the sources of our value scale

In their deepest design, such annual holidays are established mainly in order to renew in memory certain principles, beliefs and concepts closely related to the date being celebrated. This means that the essence of such celebrations does not lie only in the recollection of “long-ago years”, but in a reminder of a specific program that continues to be relevant and is an instruction (memorandum) for the future. If history is the teacher of life, as the ancient Romans said, it is obvious that modern memories of the past are actually aimed at the future.

In this specific case, among other things, it is possible to draw some parallel between the times of the holy kings Constantine and Helen and our modern times. Then, as today, the civilized world was at a crossroads. The Roman Empire, approximately from the middle of the 3rd century after Christ, entered into a final general crisis, caused not only by the then aspiration of the barbarians into the territory of the then civilization, but also, mainly, by the deep the moral decay of this civilization itself.

It is interesting that it was from this moment that the period of reign of military emperors began in the Empire, natives of the then Illyria, whose territory coincided approximately with the territory former Yugoslavia. The most famous of them was the Emperor Diocletian, whose palace in the city of Split, in Dalmatia, partially survives to this day. He made titanic efforts to overcome the impending collapse of the Empire, resorting to this, first of all, to deep political and administrative restructuring. Perestroikas are always fruitless an ersatz of genuine renaissance. Diocletian himself, apparently, felt the inadequacy of his administrative restructuring, and therefore he attacked Christians with terrible persecution, seeing in them a threat to the old pagan Roman religion, which had then ceased to be the foundation of the Roman Republic (State). The Roman pagan religion had long since outlived itself, having dissolved in the endless stream of various pagan beliefs that surged and completely flooded Rome, so that it was impossible to save the state with its help. Christianity was not the cause of the death of these already dead beliefs, but a healing replacement for them for a new life and hope for the transformation of society and the state.

Diocletian divided the Empire administratively into two halves, each with its own emperor, with the title of Augustus, and then divided each half in half again, placing auxiliary emperors with the title of Caesar at the head of the other halves. Constantius Chlorus, the father of Constantine the Great, became Caesar, that is, an auxiliary emperor, in the western part of the Roman Empire, with his capital in the Rhine city of Treveris, today Trier. In 305, Diocletian and his August colleague Maximilian resigned and retired (Diocletian to the city of Split). They replaced Galerius and Constantius Chlorus. In 306, Constantius Chlorus died and was succeeded by his son Constantine, born in the city of Niš, in southern Serbia. It soon became obvious that these changes did not improve the situation in the Empire. On the contrary, it became even more complicated due to the created system of “four powers” ​​(the so-called “tetrarchy”). The period of permanent civil war between the “tetrarchs”, the limit of which was set by the triumph of Christianity, through the triumph of Constantine the Great.

Constantine the Great first began to improve his German territory, traces of which activity, at least in the field of architecture, are partially preserved to this day in Trier. However, like all the great geniuses of history, he soon became convinced that true salvation did not lie in administrative or political manipulation, but in finding new broad paths to the future.

The first such path was a return to unity of command, that is, to a true monarchy, and to the restoration of unity in the empire. Even if imperial power had previously been absolute in the area of ​​government, it was not based on the principle of supreme power. The empire established during the time of Augustus was not a true monarchy, but a dictatorship for life. The highest power of Augustus himself was determined by the Roman republican titles of dictator and tribune of the people, with the simultaneous addition of the title of high priest. This was a deep contradiction, for the emergency dictatorship was a typical short-term institution of the Roman Republic, like the position of tribune of the people, and not lifelong, like the titles of high priest and monarch. Only in the second half of the third century did Roman emperors begin to wear a diadem, that is, a royal crown, but at the same time they began to call themselves “gods” on their coins. For Christians and Jews such exaltation was absolutely unacceptable.

Through a series of victorious wars with his rivals, Constantine the Great achieved the unity of supreme power in the Empire, practically eliminating Diocletian's restructuring for this purpose. He also understands that inflation and economic ruin cannot be fought with bureaucratic prohibitions alone, as Diocletian tried to do. Constantine the Great introduced a new gold coin, the solidum, as a means of solid monetary circulation in the Empire, which then existed for more than seven centuries after him.

Constantine's main turn in imperial policy was turning his attention to the only healthy elements that continued to exist and develop in his state, despite the general processes of decay. This treasury of good principles in the society of that time, as in ours today, was the Christian Church and its teaching. Christian principles and concepts were better than other beliefs and norms of behavior that dominated the society of that time. However, Christians did not predominate numerically in the society of that time. Christians apparently represented only slightly more than ten percent of the total population of the Empire. Moreover, there were more Christians in the cities than in the countryside. Also in the armed forces, in percentage terms, there were more of them than in the entire Empire. There were especially many of them among the best elements of society and the army.

The unwritten constitution of the Roman State, from the beginning of its existence, based its legitimacy is based on the agreement of state structures and state symbols with popular beliefs. However, the indestructible development of Christianity, despite all the persecutions, knocked its former legitimacy out from under the feet of the Roman State. In addition, if at that time there was a “consensus” for turning the imperial dictatorship into a monarchy, then a “consensus” for merging the figures of the monarch and the “deity” was absolutely impossible for a significant part of the population. The true historical merit of Constantine the Great lies in the fact that he clearly saw the need for a separation between these two categories: the monarch and the “deity,” with the strengthening of the first category and the elimination of the second. In this division, then confirmed by the refusal of Emperor Theodosius the Great from the title of high priest, one can see the root of the Orthodox doctrine of the symphony, finally formalized by St. Justinian the Great two hundred years later, in 530.

Constantine the Great had a vision of the Holy Cross with the inscription " This way you will win.” He instantly changed the symbolism of his army, putting forward a new Banner with the image of the Cross in front of it. With this victorious Banner he wins, and since then it has been

becomes the Banner of the Christ-loving Army of the Roman, Byzantine and Russian empires. Furthermore, it is this Banner that creates the Christ-loving Host itself, as such. Soon this concept is fixed by St. John Chrysostom in the Christian Liturgy, during which prayers are offered for the “Philochrist stratum” (Christ’s beloved army). However, it would be wrong to think that as a result of the erection of new symbolism, an instant transformation of the Empire took place, from pagan to Christian. Historical processes are never instantaneous. They are always very long-lasting, and only isolated outbreaks at certain turns of these processes are instantaneous.

Constantine the Great in 313 gave the Christian Church and Christians only freedom of belief, profession and possession of property on an equal basis with other beliefs. It was only an act of tolerance towards Christianity, a truly magnificent act, after all the previous bloody and cruel persecutions. But the processes of further degeneration of pagan elements in the then civilization continued for a long time. The fundamental change was that the processes of revival received freedom to develop. Thus, then an open struggle began between the processes of degeneration and the processes of rebirth, or rather, the processes of transformation. It took about 80 more years for the final triumph of the Christian transformation of the then Roman State. It was only in 391 that the Spanish Emperor Theodosius the Great officially proclaimed the Roman Empire a Christian state in Constantinople, as a result of which he renounced the title of High Priest.

During these 80 years, many significant events took place in the history of mankind. The forces of Hell, always able to maintain continuous a chain of provocations in the history of mankind, the cessation of open persecution of Christianity was answered with a new type of provocation: heresies. In the fight against the terrible heresy of Arianism, Saint Constantine again stood out clearly. Without even being baptized, overshadowed from Above, he convened the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea in 325, which he personally opened, although then he was not officially present at it. Bishops from neighboring countries were also invited to this Council of Nicaea. This means that it was not only an imperial, but a truly ecumenical Council. Professor A.V. Kartashev believes that this was the first manifestation of global “universality” in the history of Humanity.

Despite the initial arithmetical superiority of Arius's supporters at this Council, Saint Constantine helped the leaders of Orthodoxy to achieve victory over the heresy of Arius, the affirmation of the first part of the Creed, which defines consubstantiality of the Son of God with God the Father. This is how the principle of conciliarity is affirmed, according to which Truth requires conciliar unanimous consent, for it prevails over temporary arithmetic vote counts. Arius himself and the followers of his heresy (who occupied the left wing of the meeting room, becoming the prototype of all left-wing parliamentary factions) were anathematized by the Council of Nicaea. At the same time, the Council of Nicea approved the principles of the new Christian calendar, which is a synthesis of the Old Testament Jewish lunar calendar with the Roman-Egyptian Julian solar calendar.

Then Saint Constantine certified the signatures of the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, believing this to be the beginning of the role of Orthodox kings as notaries of the Christian Church. From that moment on, all church council decrees were simultaneously sanctioned and government regulations. According to Lev Tikhomirov, Constantine the Great understood well what was in place Ancient Rome it was impossible to establish in full bloom the new Christian spirit. So he decided to build New Rome, in the future Constantinople, or in Slavic Constantinople, which since 330 has become the capital of the Roman Empire, as well as the see of the Ecumenical Patriarch, into whose jurisdiction our Russia came in 988.

Constantine the Great himself, canonized by the Christian Church as Equal to the Apostles, became a prototype of Orthodox kings, including Russian ones. Patriarch Joasaph II of Constantinople, in a conciliar charter of 1562, allows Tsar Ivan the Terrible “to be and be called king legally and piously; Tsar and sovereign of Orthodox Christians throughout the universe from east to west and to the ocean: may you be among the kings as equal to the apostles and glorious Constantine.”

Having been baptized shortly before his death in 337, Saint Constantine left behind him a Christian state that was not yet fully established. Both in the state and in the Church, even after his death, the struggle between the two great historical processes humanity: transformation and degeneration. There were moments of hesitation even by Tsar Constantine himself, under persistent pressure from Arius’s supporters, but on this disastrous path he invariably stood the saving barrier is anathema to Arianism and the principle of conciliarity, and in the state - its symbolism. Even from the royal family itself, a daring Apostate soon rose up, trying to proclaim the triumph of anti-Christian reaction.

The reaction of Julian the Apostate was only the first link in the chain of anti-Christian reactions and provocations in the history of mankind. But no reaction can ever completely defeat a person’s desire for his own transformation and the transformation of human society. It is only necessary to always remember that the processes of transformation, like degeneration, are always long lasting. There will never be a final victory or a final defeat here on Earth, in this century, until the very second coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, one should never despair in the face of certain retreats or even defeats, for such are always only temporary, that is, just convolutions in the general course of history. It is important to know where someone needs to stand, on whose side, and consciously take part in positive processes, while at the same time resisting negative processes.

Holiday of the Crimean Cadet Corps

In this sense, our Cadet Associations, throughout all the decades of their existence, were also tribunes of the revival of Russia, which we understand as an Orthodox state. This has always been our duty: to stand faithfully in our place, always taking part in the positive processes of the revival of our country and fundamentally rejecting everything anathematized and all reactionary, negative processes leading to degeneration.

This year 2016 marks the 95th anniversary of the first release of the glorious Crimean Cadet Corps. Crimean cadet corps was established by order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, General P. N. Wrangel in 1919. It was a combined corps of the Vladikavkaz and Poltava cadet corps, which arrived in Crimea on June 9, 1920. Cadets from other Russian cadet corps who fought as part of the Russian Army were assigned to them. By order of General Wrangel they were sent from the front Civil War and were sent to the Crimean Cadet Corps, sometimes under escort, like the previous chairman of our Argentine Cadet Association, Knight of St. George S. A. Yakimovich. (Having initially been a cadet of the Kyiv Cadet Corps, he volunteered for the Russian Army, under the command of General Wrangel. Having graduated from the Crimean Corps in Exile, he entered the Military School Kingdom of S.H.S. With the rank of major in the Yugoslav Army, he was captured by the Germans in 1941. He spent almost four years in German captivity in Germany, and immediately after the war he was included in the French Army of Occupation in Germany, from where he was then demobilized to Argentina).

In October 1920, the Crimean Cadet Corps was evacuated, through Constantinople (Constantinople), to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, then renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, where it arrived in December 1920. In the Crimean Corps there were then almost 650 cadets, of which about 230 were veterans of the Civil War, including 40 Knights of St. George, in seven classes, divided into 20 class sections and five companies, under the command of 29 officers, with an administrative staff of 8 people.

The director of the Crimean Corps was General V.V. Rimsky-Korsakov, former director of the First Moscow Cadet Corps. Classes began in the city of Strnishte, in Bosnia, in January 1921, and the first graduation of the Crimean Corps took place in October of the same 1921. In 1922, the Crimean Corps was transferred to the city White church, on the Romanian border, into two large three-story barracks of the Kingdom. In 1929, the Crimean Corps was closed, and the cadets remaining in it at that time were merged into the Combined Kiev-Odessa Cadet Corps, which, after evacuation to the Kingdom of S.H.S. in 1921, was renamed The First Russian Cadet Corps, in which the author of this note later studied. However, even after the temporary closure of the Crimean Corps, the Crimean cadets continued to always and everywhere celebrate their corps holiday on the Day of Saints Constantine and Helen, June 3 in the new style.

The Argentine association, as was said, considered this day its holiday and also always celebrated it. Shortly before the death of the previous chairman of our Argentine Association, the Crimean cadet S. A. Yakimovich, in the early 90s of the last century, I promised him that I would maintain this tradition in our Association until the very end. This note in the “Cadet Letter” (founded by the Crimean cadet A. G. Denisenko, whose son G. A. Dinesenko today is the chairman of the Cadet Presidium of the few surviving Russian foreign cadets) was also written by me in fulfillment of this promise of mine.

At the IV General Cadet Congress of the Open Commonwealth of Suvorov, Nakhimov, Cadets of Russia (OS NKR), held in 2014 in Khabarovsk and Vladivostok, I suggested contacting the appropriate authorities to to reopen the glorious Khabarovsk Cadet Corps in Khabarovsk and the glorious Crimean Cadet Corps in Crimea and to organize one of the next All-Cadet Congresses in Crimea.

The history of the Christian faith knows many examples of real feats that people went to, sincerely believing in the help and intercession of the Lord. It was these qualities that later granted them recognition from their loved ones, those around them and place of honor among the saints and righteous. Not every person can sacrifice something important and significant in the name of their faith, so such people should not only be respected, but also appreciated.

History of the holiday.

On June 3, a bright holiday is celebrated annually - the Day of Remembrance of Saints Helen and Constantine. Today in the history of the church, everyone knows Constantine as Equal to the Apostles; this is how he was christened for all his good deeds in the name of his faith and all of Christianity in general. The story of mother and son begins in the days of the Roman Empire. Helen was the wife of the ruler of the Western half of the empire, since at that time the whole country was divided into two parts. Elena was a true Christian, and her husband did not infringe on her in his faith, therefore, from childhood, the child was raised not only in attention to this religion, but also in respect for everything Christendom. It should be noted that the ruler’s loyal attitude towards Christians did not end only with his wife. In those countries where he was the ruler, no one was persecuted for choosing Christianity as his faith. In the rest of the empire, such people were not only handed over, but also brutally tortured in front of the rest as an example.

Constantine became ruler of Gaul and Britain after his father died in 306. First of all, immediately after he ascended the throne, Constantine declared complete freedom to practice the Christian faith. This tactic was not liked by the two dictators who ruled in the adjacent parts of the empire, they always tried to kill Constantine, but his faith in the Lord and his intercession helped get rid of all enemies, they were defeated, none of their insidious plans came true. According to legend and sources, during one of the battles, the ruler sincerely prayed to the Lord to send his troops a sign that could inspire them and instill faith in victory. After this, people saw a shining Cross in the sky and the inscription “Hereby conquer.”

Gradually, Constantine’s power was fully established in the western part of the Roman Empire, and in this part of the country he issued a decree “on religious tolerance” after he became the sole ruler of the entire empire; by his order, the edict extended to other regions. Constantine stopped any persecution and punishment of those people who professed Christianity. For the first time in several hundred years, people stopped hiding their true beliefs, they had freedom and the right to choose what to believe, to choose a god to worship and what commandments to build their lives by.

These were not all the changes that the emperor made during his reign. The capital of the state became Byzantium, which after some time was named Constantinople. The ruler really believed that a common faith among the people would help everyone unite and, as a result, a large and strong state would emerge with common views on important things and common goals. Constantine tried in every possible way to provide all possible assistance to people who chose preaching among the common people as their occupation. The clergy could always count on the help and support of their ruler in all good endeavors.

Life-giving cross.

Konstantin was deeply convinced that he simply had to find the Life-Giving Cross, which became the mortal refuge of Jesus Christ. In order to implement this plan, Konstantin asked for help from his mother Elena, since she completely shared his views on religion and was a real support and support. Elena went on an expedition to Palestine, endowed with very great powers from her son and significant material resources that could be needed in this matter.

Patriarch Macarius of Jerusalem helped Elena in her search; together they slowly searched for the Life-Giving Cross, overcame the obstacles that arose and eventually found this significant shrine. While on the expedition, Elena was busy not only with searching Life-giving Cross, at that time many recognized her as a determined woman who was able to do a lot for her brothers in faith. It was by her order that all the holy places that touched the life of Jesus and Mother of God were freed from traces of pagan faith. All monuments and altars were destroyed, and in their places she ordered the erection of Christian churches.

At the moment when a burial with a cross was discovered under a pagan temple, Elena saw three crosses there and in order to understand which of them was life-giving, they applied each one in turn to dead man. And only one of them was able to restore his life. This shrine was left for the keeping of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Elena took with her only part of the life-giving cross. Before leaving Jerusalem, Elena ordered the preparation of a lavish feast, at which she herself served the poor and sick people. The guests of this banquet were not only able to eat deliciously and chat with Elena, but also receive generous alms from her hands, with the warmest and sincere wishes.

Holiday today.

Today, Equal to the Apostles Constantine and his mother Helen are revered in all churches. People remember their achievements for the sake of their faith, their devotion to the people and their desire to give as much as possible to Christians. On this holiday, you should definitely go to church and thank the saints for the opportunity to speak freely about your faith and not be afraid of anything.

The history of Christianity knows many wonderful names, and it is the duty of every person today not to leave this memory in books, but to share it with their children, passing on the story further and further.

Often, when congratulating a person on his birthday, many call him a birthday boy, and the very day of his birth - his name day. But this is not always correct, because a birthday does not always coincide with a name day. In the old days it was customary to call a newborn by Church calendar: the choice of name depended on the day of which saint he was born.
And in our time, children are named mainly in honor of close relatives or idols, and sometimes parents choose a fashionable or simply beautiful and euphonious name for the baby from their point of view. How can you find out in this case the day of your name day and, accordingly, your heavenly patron? Let's look at this using the example of when Konstantinov's name day is celebrated.

Constantine the Great - an exemplary Christian ruler

The name Constantine is associated in the Christian naming book with many saints. The most famous among them is Constantine the Great, the Roman emperor, revered as Equal-to-the-Apostles along with his mother Helen. Emperor Constantine the Great is best known for legalizing Christianity after hundreds of years of persecution. He renamed Byzantium Constantinople, making the city the Christian capital of the Roman Empire. True, Christianity did not become the state religion then, but under Constantine the Great it was the dominant religion, thanks to which Christians were finally able to profess their faith openly. Constantine was declared by historians to be an exemplary Christian ruler, and it was for this that he was called the Great.

Constantine himself was baptized when he was practically on his deathbed. He was buried in the Apostolic Church in the city of Constantinople.

Parishioners Orthodox Church they honor his memory as a saint and equal to the apostles. Name Day is celebrated on June 3.

June 3 - name day of Elena, Konstantin

This date is the most famous. By the way, on June 3, not only Constantine himself is revered, but also Elena. The temples erected on this date and the temple festival are named after both of these names. One of the Bulgarian resorts, located six kilometers from the city of Varna, also bears the names of Saints Constantine and Helena.

The famous island of St. Helena (it was to which Napoleon was exiled) was also named in honor of this particular Helena, since it was discovered on the day of the saint’s memory.

Elena - mother of Constantine

Celebrating the name day of Konstantin and Elena on June 3, some mistakenly believe that they are spouses. In fact, Elena is his mother. This woman was from a simple family. In her youth, she helped her father, who worked at a horse station, and worked in a tavern as a maid. There she met her future husband Constantius Chlorus, who became Caesar of the Roman Empire under Maximian Herculius. Then the future Emperor Constantine was born into this family.

Having thus become queen, Helen performed many good deeds. At her command, Christian churches were built. And Emperor Constantine himself ordered the construction of a temple in honor of the Resurrection of Christ.

Other Saints of Constantine

The Roman Emperor Constantine the Great was so popular that in subsequent times eleven emperors of Rome and Byzantium were named after him.

And in Rus' in the XII-XIV centuries, after the adoption of Orthodoxy, many famous historical figures also bore this name. For example, Konstantin Vsevolodovich - Prince of Vladimir, Konstantin Vasilyevich - Prince of Suzdal, another Konstantin Vasilyevich - Prince of Rostov, as well as Konstantin Mikhailovich - Prince of Tverskoy and many others. This is probably why modern Constantines have so many days on which they celebrate name days.

Name day of Constantine according to the church calendar

These name days are celebrated many times throughout the year. Let's list a few of them.

The name days of various Saints Constantines are also celebrated on June 15 and 21, July 8, 14 and 16, August 11 and 17, September 16, October 2 and 15, November 4, 23 and 27, and December 11. The names of saints whose name days are celebrated on these days can be found in the Orthodox church calendar.

How to determine your day of Constantine

In order to find out the name day of Constantine that suits a particular Kostya, you need to find the day of remembrance of the saint with the same name, closest to the date of his birth. It is important that the day on which a person’s name day is celebrated, including Konstantin’s name day, is determined by the date following the birthday, and not preceding it, even if the latter is closer to the date of birth.

For example, the Constantines, born after December 11 and before January 8, have a name day, respectively, on January 8, and their heavenly patron is the Monk Constantine of Sinad. Those born after January 8 and before February 27 Kosti celebrate their name day on February 27 and consider Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine of Moravia their patron.

On March 18, the day of Prince Konstantin of Yaroslavl, it is necessary to celebrate the name day of Constantine, who was born between February 27 and March 18, and so on, using the dates of the church calendar given above.

By the same principle, people with any names can determine the day of their name day.

When is your name day?

Not long ago, the collection of my artifacts was replenished with a Roman coin dating back to the 4th century with the image of St. Helena. From history we know who Helen was and what contribution this woman made to the spread of Christianity.

Flavia Julia Helena Augusta (lat. Flavia Iulia Helena, c. 250-330) - mother of the Roman emperor Constantine I. She became famous for her activities in spreading Christianity and her excavations in Jerusalem, during which, according to Christian chroniclers, they were found The Holy Sepulcher, the Life-Giving Cross and other relics of the Passion.

Helen is revered by a number of Christian churches as a saint among the Equal-to-the-Apostles (Holy Queen Helen, Equal-to-the-Apostles, Helen of Constantinople).

The exact year of Elena's birth is unknown. She was born in the small village of Drepan (lat. Drepanum) in Bithynia (near Constantinople in Asia Minor), as Procopius reports. Later, her son, Emperor Constantine the Great, in honor of his mother, “made the former village of Drepana a city and named it Elenopolis.” Today this settlement is identified with the Turkish city of Hersek, near Altinova, Yalova province.

According to modern historians, Elena helped her father at the horse station, poured wine for travelers waiting for the horses to be re-harnessed and re-mounted, or simply worked as a servant in a tavern. There she apparently met Constantius Chlorus, who under Maximian Herculius became the ruler (Caesar) of the West. In the early 270s, she became his wife, or concubine, that is, an unofficial permanent cohabitant.

On February 27, 272, in the city of Naiss (modern Serbian Niš), Helen gave birth to a son, Flavius ​​Valerius Aurelius Constantine, the future Emperor Constantine the Great, who made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire. Nothing is known about whether Elena had any more children.

In 293, Constantius was adopted by Emperor Maximian and separated from Helen, marrying Maximian's stepdaughter Theodora. After this and before the reign of her son, there is no information about Elena’s life. She probably did not move far from her homeland, since her son Constantine began his rise from Nicomedia (the center of Bithynia), from where he was called to the west in 305 by his father, who became emperor of the western part of the Roman Empire. It is possible that Helen moved west closer to her son in Trevir (modern Trier), which became the residence of Constantine after he inherited the westernmost part of the Roman Empire from his father. A pamphlet published by the episcopate and clergy of Trier Cathedral reports that St. Helena “gave part of her palace to Bishop Agritius” for a church, becoming the founder of Trier cathedral St. Peter's.

When Constantine converted to Christianity (after his victory at the Milvian Bridge in 312), Helen, following his example, also converted to Christianity, although by that time she was already over sixty. The testimony of a contemporary, Eusebius of Caesarea, has been preserved about this. The first coins depicting Helen, where she is titled Nobilissima Femina (lit. “most noble woman”), were minted in 318-319. in Thessalonica. During this period, Helen probably lived at the imperial court in Rome or Trier, but there is no mention of this in historical chronicles. In Rome she owned a vast estate near the Lateran. In one of the premises of her palace, a Christian church was built - the Helena Basilica (Liber Pontificalis attributes its construction to Constantine, but historians do not exclude the possibility that the idea of ​​rebuilding the palace belonged to Helena herself).

In 324, Helen was proclaimed Augusta by her son: “he crowned his godly mother, Helen, with the royal crown, and allowed her, as a queen, to mint her coin.” Eusebius noted that Constantine entrusted Helen with managing the royal treasury at her discretion. There is also evidence of the emperor’s great respect for his mother from a non-Christian historian. Aurelius Victor tells the story of how Constantine killed his wife Fausta because of Helen's reproaches against her.

In 326, Elena (already at a very old age, although in good health) undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem: “this old woman of extraordinary intelligence hurried to the east with the speed of a youth.” Eusebius spoke in detail about her pious activities during the journey, and echoes of it were preserved in the 5th century rabbinical anti-evangelical work “Toldot Yeshu”, in which Helen (Constantine’s mother) was named the ruler of Jerusalem and was credited with the role of Pontius Pilate.

Elena died at the age of 80 - according to various assumptions, in 328, 329 or 330. The place of her death is not known exactly; it is called Trier, where she had a palace, or even Palestine. The version of Helen’s death in Palestine is not confirmed by the message of Eusebius Pamphilus that she “ended her life in the presence, in the eyes and in the arms of such a great son who served her.”

At the age of about 80, Elena took a trip to Jerusalem. Socrates Scholasticus writes that she did this after receiving instructions in a dream. The Chronography of Theophanes reports the same thing: “she had a vision in which she was commanded to go to Jerusalem and bring to the light of the divine places closed by the wicked.” Having received support in this endeavor from her son, Elena went on a pilgrimage:

«… Divine Constantine sent blessed Helen with treasures to find the life-giving cross of the Lord. The Patriarch of Jerusalem, Macarius, met the queen with due honor and together with her looked for the desired life-giving tree, remaining in silence and diligent prayers and fasting».

(Chronography of Theophanes, year 5817 (324/325)

In search of relics of the Passion of Christ, Elena undertook excavations at Golgotha, where, having excavated the cave in which, according to legend, Jesus Christ was buried, she found the Life-Giving Cross, four nails and the title INRI. Also, a 9th century legend, not based on historical chronicles, connects the origin of the holy staircase with Helen’s pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Her discovery of the Cross marked the beginning of the celebration of the Exaltation of the Cross. Help in the excavations of Helen was provided by the Bishop of Jerusalem Macarius I and the local resident Judas Cyriacus mentioned in the apocrypha.

This story is described by many Christian authors of that time: Ambrose of Milan (c. 340-397), Rufinus (345-410), Socrates Scholastic (c. 380-440), Theodoret of Cyrus (386-457). ), Sulpicius Severus (c. 363-410), Sozomen (c. 400-450) and others.

Helen's journey and charity during the pilgrimage are described in the Life of Blessed Basileus Constantine by Eusebius of Caesarea, written after the death of Constantine to glorify the emperor and his family (Discovery of the Life-Giving Cross by Helen in Jerusalem, Agnolo Gaddi, 1380).

Traveling throughout the entire East with royal splendor, she showered countless benefits both on the population of the cities in general, and, in particular, on everyone who came to her; The right hand generously rewarded the troops and helped the poor and helpless a lot. She provided monetary benefits to some, provided others with clothing in abundance to cover their nakedness, freed others from shackles, relieved them of hard work in the mines, ransomed them from lenders, and returned some from imprisonment.