Saints Day June 3rd. Name day of Constantine. When to celebrate and which saints are patrons? Prayers to Saints Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Elena
03 June 2014
June 3 - Memorial Day of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Tsar Constantine and his mother Queen Helena
Today we are celebrating a feast in honor of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Tsar Constantine and Empress 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, Empress Elena, was canonized as a saint and is even called equal to the apostles.
King 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 went to war. There were hostilities, and before the decisive battle, Tsar Constantine contemplated in the sky the vision of the Cross and the inscription: "Sim win." That is, by the power of the Cross, God will grant him victory.
For 300 years, the Christian Church experienced the most severe persecution. And so the Providence of God leads Tsar Constantine to the Christian faith, then arranges for Tsar Constantine to become the ruler of the entire Roman Empire, both Western and Eastern. In 313, he issues the Edict of Milan "On Toleration", where he stops the persecution of Christians, and the Christian faith gains freedom. This was the providential meaning of the miracle of seeing the Cross in heaven, and the subsequent victory of Tsar Constantine, and his reign over the Roman Empire.
And we also know that in the year 325 the Orthodox Church was tormented by the heresy of Arius, who called Christ a creation, denied the consubstantiality of the Son of God to God the Father. And so, in the year 325, in order to establish the Orthodox Faith, the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Tsar Constantine convenes the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, at which our Creed was drawn up to the words “... and in the Holy Spirit.” Thus, we see that the Church did not in vain glorify Emperor Constantine as Equal to the Apostles, thereby emphasizing that the works of this king and his mother are similar to the Apostles.
And the mother of the holy Tsar Constantine, when her son reigned over the Roman Empire, went to the Holy Land, to Palestine, and there she cleansed the holy places connected with the life of the Son of God from pagan temples. Together with her son, Tsar Constantine, she built a majestic temple of the Resurrection of the Lord on the site of the death and resurrection of Christ. The Holy Empress Elena found the Life-Giving Cross near Golgotha, the one on which the Son of God was crucified. And now, for her faith, for the upbringing of such a great son - Tsar Constantine, for such jealousy for the holy places in the Holy Land, in Palestine, Queen Elena 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 the shrines. Saints Constantine and Helena are the builders of Orthodox churches. And they are glorified by the Church along with the Apostles. Of us, of course, there are few temple builders. But we are all called to 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 forth good things out of a good treasure; but an evil man brings forth 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 keep His divine commandments. The New Testament, unlike the Old, is a renewal of the spirit. In the 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 on the whole the Law of Moses had a ritual, external character. And representatives of the Old Testament religion, especially in the person of the clergy, Pharisees, scribes, fulfilled the Old Testament law only outwardly. They offered 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 full of all kinds of sin, the stench of passions, but outside they seem to look nothing, not bad. Such was the overwhelming majority of Old Testament religiosity. Of course, there were true righteous people in the Old Testament, but they were very few.
When Christ came, He revealed that true faith, true knowledge of God, takes place within. The Savior says: “Blind Pharisee! first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, so that their outside may also be clean” (Matthew 23:26). That is, the Lord Jesus Christ in His Gospel teaching makes the whole point, the whole emphasis is on the inner rebirth of a person, 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 an external form. But the most important thing is stored in the soul, in a pure, believing, humble, reverent heart and in unfeigned love for one's neighbors. Otherwise, only hypocrisy, theater, remains what Christ called “pharisaism,” that is, only external service to God.
We are called to an inner 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 illness of the human soul is such that we often do not renew ourselves internally enough, we do not fight enough for the purity of our hearts and our thoughts. With great difficulty, an inner rebirth takes place in us, we are renewed in joy, in love, in peace, in patience, in humility, in unfeigned faith, in helping other people. In these inner virtues we hardly succeed.
But if we look at some external customs, virtues, then, unfortunately, we will also see that we also have a lot of purely external omissions. For example, with pain, it happens, you see that very, very few people know how to cross themselves correctly. Unfortunately, one can often see a believer who, instead of reverently applying the sign of the cross, makes some kind of meaningless gesture: for example, he baptizes his stomach or his chest, or as if brushing something off his chest. Produces some hasty, senseless movement. And this is the sign of the cross? Naturally, the heart of a shepherd cannot look at this with indifference. And we really have a lot of such purely external omissions.
In, for example, let's take the virtue of a reverent attitude towards the shrine of an Orthodox church. How do we actually implement it? The temple is a holy place where God Himself is present, where terrible sacraments are performed, where the Holy Spirit breathes. Majestic hymns and psalms are sung in the temple, the Holy Scriptures are read, here we can receive hope for salvation. And what do we see? Not everyone with reverence, with the fear of God, really refers to the temple, feeling the holiness of this place. Some kind of petrified insensitivity 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 is something empty, something that absolutely does not concern him in any way. And this is just 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 - are responsible for the shrine of worship, for the shrine of the temple. We should not look with indifference at some kind of outrage happening in the temple, at some kind of noise and interference with divine services. The soul of every person should root for the shrine of the temple. And we should first of all pray about it. We must also be able to prompt a neighbor who has forgotten that he is in a temple, who behaves in a temple like in a store, or like 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 not worthwhile to be rude or make noise.
Thus, of course, we have a lot of purely external shortcomings and internal ones. But we need to remember the words of the Gospel that the Lord Jesus came into the world to save sinners and not despair. We must strive to fulfill the commandments of God, we must strive to renew ourselves internally: to get rid of sinful thoughts, improper feelings, aspirations, try to correct our lives, remove everything impure, sinful from it. On the other hand, we must also try to carry out our external religious life in accordance with the church charter, in accordance with the traditions of the Church. The inner is more important than the outer, but the inner without the outer is not conceivable. It happens when a person stands reverently in a temple and prays, then involuntarily his outward behavior begins to affect his soul. A person will make some kind of external gesture: reverently bow to God, with the fear of God, venerate an image, an icon, or place the sign of the cross on himself with reverence - and this external gesture has an internal influence 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 affirmed both in Christ's holy Gospel commandments and in the external statutes of the Church. Amen. Christ is Risen! Risen indeed!
Tradition has preserved for us information that the Holy Empress Helen was not of noble birth. Her father was the owner of the hotel. She married the famous Roman warrior Constantius Chlorus. It was a marriage not for political purposes, but for 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, the emperor Diocletian demanded that Constantius divorce Helen and marry his (the emperor's) stepdaughter Theodora. In addition, the emperor took 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 actually a hostage of his father's loyalty to the emperor.
At the time these events took place, Elena was a little over forty years old. She was torn away from her husband for political gain, and, obviously, the spouses 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 subsequently renamed Helenopolis in her honor, and it was here that she became acquainted with Christianity. She was baptized in a local church and for the next thirty years she was engaged in the purification and perfection of her own soul, which served as preparation for the fulfillment of a special mission, a deed for which she was called "equal to the apostles."
Shortly after her conversion, Constantine, who frequented her, met a Christian girl named Minervina in her house. After some time, the young people got married. Two years later, the young wife died of a fever, and Constantine gave their young son, named Crispus, into the care of his mother.
Fourteen years have passed. The father of Constantine, a military leader, dearly loved by his soldiers, died. Constantine, who showed no small military prowess, reached the rank of tribune, and, thanks to universal respect in the army, he was chosen as his father's successor. He became Caesar of the western lands. Emperor Maximian, seeing Constantine as a future rival, decided to “insure himself”: he gave his daughter Fausta to the young commander, reinforcing his loyalty with kinship ties. However, this was an unfortunate alliance, and over the next few decades, Constantine had to devote more time and energy to fighting his wife's relatives than against 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 that the Savior Himself uttered, commanding him to go into battle with banners depicting the Holy Cross and the inscription “By this, conquer.” Maxentius, instead of defending himself within the walls of the city, 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 persecution, which lasted (intermittently) for several centuries. Ten years later, Constantine became the sole Emperor of the eastern and western parts of the Empire, and in 323 elevated his mother, declaring her Empress. For Elena, who by that time had managed to understand how transient the joys and bitterness of earthly glory were, the Imperial power itself was not very attractive. However, she quickly realized that her new position gave her the opportunity to participate in the spread of the Christian gospel, especially through the construction of temples and chapels in the Holy Land, in those 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 Elia was built on the ruins of Jerusalem. Above Golgotha and the tomb of the Lord they placed the temple of Venus. Elena's heart burned with a desire to cleanse the holy places from pagan filth and re-dedicate them to the Lord. She was already over seventy years old when she went by 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 petition was fulfilled. Her prayer was answered and she fulfilled her vow. Today, the church of Ekatontapiliani, inside which stands the temple built then by St. Helena, is the oldest Christian church in Greece.
Arriving in the Holy Land, she ordered the temple of Venus to be demolished and the debris to be taken out of the city walls, but did not know where her servants should dig in order to find the Cross in huge piles of earth, stones and debris. She fervently prayed for enlightenment, and the Lord came to her aid.
Here is how her life tells about it:
The acquisition of the Holy Cross of the Lord took place in the year 326 from the Nativity of Christ in the following way: when the debris left from the buildings that stood here was cleared away on Golgotha, Bishop Macarius performed a prayer service at this place. The people who were digging the earth felt that a fragrance emanated from the earth. So 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 mind the ancient tradition about his whereabouts. He himself, after gaining the great shrine, was baptized with the name Cyriacus and later became the Patriarch of Jerusalem. He accepted martyrdom 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 to know which of these three crosses is the True Cross of the Lord? Bishop Macarius stopped the funeral procession passing by and ordered to touch the deceased in turn with all three crosses. When the Cross of Christ was placed on the body, this man was resurrected. The Empress was the first to make a prostration in front of the shrine and venerated 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 Twelfth (greatest) Feasts of the Orthodox Church.1
Elena took a piece of the Cross to Byzantium as a gift to her son. However, most of it, enclosed in silver, remained in the temple built by her at the place of acquisition. Every year on Good Friday it was taken out for worship. A small part of the Holy Cross is still in Jerusalem. For centuries, small particles of it were sent to churches and monasteries throughout the Christian world, where they are carefully, reverently kept as priceless treasures.
Saint Helena lived in Jerusalem for two years, supervising the restoration of the holy places. She developed plans for the construction of majestic churches in places associated with the life of the Savior. However, the modern Church of the Holy Sepulcher is not the church that was erected under St. Helena.2 This large building was built in the Middle Ages, inside it there are many small churches. Including there is 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 place where the Cross was found.
The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is the very one that the Empress erected. There are other churches in the creation of which she was directly involved, for example, a small temple of the Ascension of the Lord on the Mount of Olives (now owned by Muslims), the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin near Gethsemane, the church in memory of the appearance of three angels to Abraham at the Mamre oak, the temple on Mount Sinai and the monastery of Stavrovouni near the city of Larnaca in Cyprus.
In addition to the fact that St. Helena invested tremendous 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 on the part of the rich and powerful of this world, regularly arranged 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, mournful news awaited her there. Her dearly beloved grandson Crispus, who became a valiant warrior and had already proved himself in the military field, died, and, as some believed, not without the participation of his stepmother Fausta, who did not want this popular young military leader to be an obstacle on the way to the Imperial throne her own three sons.
Labors in the Holy Land tired her, grief fell on her shoulders like a heavy burden. After the news of the death of Crispus, she lived only a year and died in 327. Now her relics (most) rest in Rome, where they were transported by the Crusaders, moreover, particles of her relics are stored in many places in the Christian world. 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, according to the old style.
What happened to the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord after its acquisition?
After St. Helena found the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord in 326, she sent part of it to Constantinople, the second part she herself took to Rome in the same year, and left another part in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. There she (this third part) remained for about three centuries, until the year 614, when the Persians, under the leadership of their king Chosroes, crossed the Jordan and captured Palestine. They mistreated Christians, destroyed churches, killed priests, monks and nuns. They took away from Jerusalem the sacred vessels and the main jewel - the Cross of the Lord. Patriarch Zechariah of Jerusalem and many people were taken prisoner. Khozroy superstitiously believed that, having taken possession of the Cross, he would somehow acquire the power and authority of the Son of God, and he solemnly erected the Cross near his throne, on the right hand. The Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (610-641) offered him peace many times, but Khosroi demanded that he first renounce Christ and bow to the sun. This war became religious. Finally, after several successful battles, Heracles defeated Khozroy in 627, who was soon overthrown from the throne and killed by his own son Syroy. In February 628, Siroy 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, according to the new style), the celebration of its second exaltation 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 erected him in his former place of honor as a token of gratitude to God for the victory granted to him. When he approached the city, holding the Cross in his hands, the Emperor suddenly stopped and could not move on. Patriarch Zakharia, who accompanied him, suggested that his magnificent attire and royal stature did not match the appearance of the Lord Himself, who humbly carried His Cross. The emperor immediately changed his magnificent attire for rags and entered the city barefoot. The precious Cross was still enclosed in a silver casket. Representatives of the clergy checked the safety of the seals and, having opened the casket, showed the Cross to the people. Since that time, Christians began to celebrate the day of the Exaltation of the Cross of the Lord with even greater reverence. (On this day, the Orthodox Church also remembers the miracle of the appearance of the Cross of the Lord in heaven as a sign of the impending victory of Emperor Constantine over the troops of Maxentius.) In 635, Heracles, 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, Georgia, Crete, Ascalon and Damascus. Now the particles of the Cross of the Lord are kept in many monasteries and churches around the world.
Often, congratulating a person on his birthday, many call him a birthday man, and the very day he was born is a name day. But this is not always correct, because the birthday does not always coincide with the name day. In the old days it was customary to call a newborn according to the Church calendar: the choice of a name depended on the day of which saint he was born.
And in our time, children are mainly named after 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 to find out in this case the day of your name day and, accordingly, your heavenly patron? Consider this using the example of when the name day of Konstantinov is celebrated.
Constantine the Great - exemplary Christian ruler
The name Constantine is associated in Christian name-books with many saints. The most famous among them is Constantine the Great - the Roman emperor, revered in the guise of 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 this city the Christian capital of the Roman Empire. True, Christianity did not then become the state religion, but under Constantine the Great it was the dominant religion, thanks to which Christians were finally able to confess their faith openly. Constantine was declared by historians as an exemplary Christian ruler, and it was for this that he was called the Great.
Constantine himself was baptized already being practically on his deathbed. He was buried in the Apostolic Church in the city of Constantinople.
The parishioners of the Orthodox Church honor his memory as a saint and equal to the apostles. Name Day is celebrated on June 3rd.
June 3 - name day of Elena, Konstantin
This date is the best known. By the way, on the day of June 3, not only Constantine himself is revered, but also Elena. The temples erected on this date and the temple feast 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 this place that Napoleon was exiled) was also named after this particular Helena, since it was discovered just on the day of the memory of the saint.
Elena - Constantine's mother
Celebrating the name day of Constantine 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 the horse station, worked as a maid in a tavern. 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 in this family.
Having thus become queen, Helen did many good deeds. By her command, Christian churches were built. And Emperor Constantine himself ordered the erection of a temple to the glory of the Resurrection of Christ.
Other saints of Constantine
The Roman emperor Constantine the Great was so popular that eleven emperors of Rome and Byzantium were named after him in subsequent times.
And in Russia 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 Tver and many others. This is probably why modern Konstantins 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 take a look at a few of them.
Name days of various saints Constantine 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 the saints whose name days are celebrated these days can be found in the Orthodox church calendar.
How to define your day of Constantine
In order to find out the name day of Constantine, which suits a particular Kostya, you need to find the day of memory of a saint with the same name, the closest to his date of birth. It is important that the day when a person's name day is celebrated, including the name day of Constantine, 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 Konstantins, born after December 11 and before January 8, have their name day, respectively, on January 8, and their heavenly patron is St. Constantine of Sinad. Those born after January 8 and before February 27 Kostya celebrate their name day on February 27 and consider Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine of Moravia to be their patron.
On March 18, on the day of Prince Konstantin Yaroslavsky, it is necessary to celebrate the name day of Konstantin, who was born between February 27 and March 18, and so on, using the dates of the above church calendar.
By the same principle, people with any names can determine the day of their name day.
And when is your name day?
Christians who are named in honor of Saints Constantine, Elena, Yaroslav, Michael, Theodore, and Andrew celebrate their name day on this day.
May the peace and blessings of God be with you, dear birthday people. Joy to you and peace in the Holy Spirit.
Today the Holy Church commemorates Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Helena.
The Holy Emperor Constantine, who received from the Church the title Equal-to-the-Apostles, and in world history - the Great, was the son of Caesar Constantius Chlorus, who ruled the countries of Gaul and Britain. The vast Roman Empire at that time was 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 Empress Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine, was a Christian. The future ruler of the entire Roman Empire - Constantine - was brought up in 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, his co-ruler Maximian Galerius in the East, and Emperor Maximian Hercules in the West.
After the death of Constantius Chlorus, his son Constantine in 306 was proclaimed Emperor of Gaul and Britain by the troops. The first task of the new emperor was to proclaim in the countries subject to him the freedom of confession of the Christian faith. The fanatic of paganism 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 in a series of wars, with the help of God, defeated all his opponents. He prayed to God to give him a sign that would inspire his army to fight bravely, and the Lord showed him in heaven the shining sign of the Cross with the inscription "By this win."
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 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, for the first time, Christians were able to openly confess their faith in Christ.
Having renounced paganism, the emperor did not leave ancient Rome, which was the center of a 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 faith could unite the huge, heterogeneous Roman Empire. He supported the Church in every possible way, returned Christian confessors from exile, built churches, and took care of the clergy. Deeply honoring the Cross of the Lord, the emperor wished to find the very Life-Giving Cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. For this purpose, he sent his mother, the holy Empress Helen, to Jerusalem, giving her great powers and material means. Together with the Jerusalem Patriarch Macarius, Saint Helen began to search, and by the Providence of God the Life-Giving Cross was miraculously found in the year 326. While in Palestine, the holy empress did a lot for the benefit of the Church. She ordered that all places associated with the earthly life of the Lord and His Most Pure Mother be freed from all traces of paganism, she ordered that Christian churches be erected in these memorable places. Above the cave of the Holy Sepulcher, Emperor Constantine himself ordered the construction of a magnificent temple to the glory of the Resurrection of Christ. Saint Helena gave the Life-Giving Cross to the Patriarch for safekeeping, and she 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, the holy Empress Helena returned to Constantinople, where she soon died in the year 327. For her great services to the Church and her labors in obtaining the Life-Giving Cross, Empress Elena is called Equal-to-the-Apostles.
The peaceful existence of the Christian Church was disturbed by the discords and strife that arose within her from the heresies that appeared. Even at the beginning of the activity of Emperor Constantine in the West, the heresy of the Donatists and Novatians arose, demanding a repetition of baptism over Christians who had fallen away during the persecution. This heresy, rejected by two Local Councils, was finally condemned by the Council of Milan in 316. But the heresy of Arius, which arose in the East, turned out to be especially disastrous for the Church, daring to reject the Divine essence of the Son of God and teach about the creatureness of Jesus Christ. By order of the emperor, in 325, the First Ecumenical Council was convened in the city of Nicaea. 318 bishops gathered for this Council, its participants were bishops-confessors during the period of persecution and many other luminaries of the Church, among them St. Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra. The emperor attended the meetings of the Council. The heresy of Arius was condemned, and the term “Consubstantial with the Father” was introduced into the compiled Creed, forever fixing in the minds of Orthodox Christians the truth about the divinity of Jesus Christ, who assumed human nature for the redemption of the entire human race.
One can be surprised at the deep ecclesiastical consciousness and feeling of Saint Constantine, who singled out the definition of "consubstantial" heard by him in the debate of the Council, and proposed to include it in the Creed.
After the Council of Nicaea, Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine continued his active work in favor of the Church. At the end of his life, he received Holy Baptism, having prepared for it with his whole life. Saint Constantine died on the day of Pentecost in the year 337 and was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles, in a tomb he had previously prepared.
Father Savva writes: “First of all, pray to God fervently, with strict fasting, for the gift of a spiritual father. Then, when the prayer is fulfilled, it is necessary to have complete trust in the spiritual father.” He gave this testament to his spiritual children:
“Bring full confession from the age of six. Ask to establish a rule for church and home prayer, for sleep, for work. Before coming to the spiritual father with any question, pray fervently that the Lord would reveal to him His will; go to the spiritual father with full faith that the Lord will reveal His will to us through him. Unconditionally and accurately fulfill everything said by the spiritual father, have complete obedience to him. Do not hide anything from the spiritual father, no embarrassment, sin, and so on.
If any embarrassment, distrust, suspicion appears in relation to the spiritual father, immediately tell the spiritual father about it with complete frankness, otherwise the enemy may destroy you. Constantly pray for your spiritual father and always ask for his blessings and prayers. In difficult circumstances, cry out to the Lord: "Lord, through the prayers of my spiritual father (name), save me or help me in this and that."
If there is a desire to change any of the rules given by the spiritual father, either with regard to lengthening prayers, fasting, and other things, or, conversely, reducing them, then do this with the blessing of the spiritual father.
Useful thoughts of the holy fathers:
“In order to be successful in the fight against passions, one must take care to have an experienced mentor, not a flatterer, but a fair one. And in earthly sciences mentors and long training are required, so how can one do without them in the most difficult and great work of heaven? Be reverent before your confessor, as before a servant of God or an angel, but do not become attached to him as a human being, kiss your hand like an icon or the sores of Christ, do not talk too much with him, especially do not joke, do not try to arouse his disposition: after all, he is not given for friendship, but for the salvation of the soul. Be afraid to entertain or seduce him. It is bad if you become attached to him, and he will obscure the image of Christ in your heart. To do this, keep in mind his instructions, but not the features of his face, otherwise you will not receive healing of the soul, but harm.
The most important spiritual condition is that a person should not obscure the image of Christ, so that, as Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh says, the priest should be, as it were, “transparent”: the face of Christ should be visible through him.
“Just as a ship that has a skilled helmsman safely enters its harbor with God’s help, so the soul that has a good shepherd conveniently ascends to heaven, even though it has done much evil before.”
“Those who experience any anxiety, or any kind of bewilderment, or split in their conscience should turn to their spiritual father, experienced in the matter of spiritual life (if they do not have their confessor), accompanying this with a hopeful prayer, may the Lord through them reveal the truth and will give a soothing solution to perplexity and confusion, and then completely calm down on their word.
“Everything must be done with the blessing of the spiritual father. You are prudent that without blessing you do not enter into any fellowship with others. If you do so, you will easily preserve and save yourself.”
The Church pays a lot of attention to the relationship between the confessor and his child. There are enough warnings about what you need to carefully test so as not to get instead of the helmsman (the one who controls the ship) on an ordinary rower. Much is said about the right relationship: that one should not become attached, seek sincerity, friendship. The emerging sincerity overlaps spiritual relationships, and there is predilection, partiality. A confessor should be a doctor, but treating a spiritual child as a human being (when relations have developed in this way), he loses sobriety, clarity, sensitivity and prudence and can make some decisions already for human pleasing, because everyone is weak. And this is not useful, because it does not bring spiritual fruit and results.
Let's be careful, my dear! Let us ask God to give spiritual guidance, cherish these relationships, if they have developed, and understand that this is a certain degree of church maturity - when a person has a permanent priest for advice. Help us all Lord!
Priest Yevgeny Popichenko
Transcription: Nina Kirsanova
Saints Helena and Constantine's Day - June 3rd.
The memory of the ruler of the Roman Empire Equal-to-the-Apostles
Tsar Constantine and his mother Queen Helena
The Orthodox Church honors June 3 every year.
Raised by a Christian mother and father,
not allowing persecution of adherents of the Christian
religion, Konstantin from childhood absorbed special respect
to faith. Having become the ruler, he directed all his efforts,
that the freedom to profess faith in Christ be proclaimed
in all countries under his control. Queen Elena, mother
Constantine, also made a great many
good deeds for the Church, she built temples and, at the insistence
son, even brought from Jerusalem the same
Life-giving Cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified
for which she was also awarded the title Equal-to-the-Apostles.
For Elena...
Congratulations to Elena
Paris was right that he preferred
Greek Goddess Helen!
Let this fact lead to war
And the walls of Ilion fell.
But what nations and kings!
What are the cities of their residence!
If beauty was chosen by Paris
Your object of adoration!
That was in the old days
Troy has long been a legend.
And here is Elena forever
It remains a wonderful symbol!
@Names in verse
For Constantine
There are light wines
There are strong wines
And for Konstantin -
You need a middle ground.
Need a middle
Not empty at all.
No, for Constantine -
Need gold!
Found the middle.
So let's thunder three times:
Vivat Constantine!
Vivat! Vivat! Vivat!!!
The meaning of the name Elena
The female name Elena has Greek roots and happened
from the word "helenos", meaning "light", "bright",
"radiant". It was originally pronounced "Selena"
(that's what the Greeks called the moon), and then transformed
to Elena. In Russia, this name has always been a prototype of a female
beauty, a kind of subtle, intelligent and supple
Elena the Beautiful. Interestingly, the popularity of the name
Elena survived many centuries and is currently
is as common and popular as
like before.
Characteristics of the name Elena
Elena's character is emotional and
cheerfulness. She is usually very sociable,
open, kind, charming and witty woman,
which attracts everything beautiful. In childhood
this is a little reserved, modest and obedient child.
Little Elena studies well, but diligence
usually does not apply. But she likes to dream, maybe
even invent a whole world of her own in which she
rich, pompous, self-confident beauty.
Adult Elena is often quite lazy, but in general
loves work. She easily finds a common language with people,
knows how to flirt beautifully with men and diplomatically
avoid conflicts. She has a lot of friends, but not all
Elena is fully revealed. Because she is very
gullible, easily deceived. Such a friend is the owner
this name will not forgive, and even try to punish him.
Compatibility with zodiac signs
The name Elena is suitable for many signs of the zodiac, but best of all
name them a girl born under the auspices of Cancer,
that is, from June 22 to July 22. alternately open and
melancholic Cancer is in many ways similar to Elena, who is under
his influence will feel a great need for a family,
home comfort, but at the same time in society will show
charm and sociability. In addition, she will
homely, sensitive, bohemian, kind,
diplomatic, appreciating family traditions and loving
sit alone.
Pros and cons of the name Elena
What are the pros and cons of the name Elena?
This name is positively characterized by its gentle beauty,
familiarity, a good combination with Russian surnames and
patronymics, as well as the presence of many euphonious
abbreviations and diminutive forms,
such as Lena, Lenochka, Elenka, Lenusya, Lenulya, Lenchik.
And when you consider that the character of Elena also causes more
positive than negative emotions, then obvious disadvantages
in this name is not visible.
Health
Elena's health is quite strong, but many owners
this name throughout life there are problems with
pancreas, kidneys, intestines or
spine.
Love and family relationships
In family relationships, Elena takes great care
about her husband and children, but always makes it clear that laundry and cleaning are
it's not something she wants to do. In youth
rather amorous Elena, having met her future
spouse, is transformed and, as a rule, very jealous
refers to the fact that the husband has some separate
from family hobbies. As partners in life she chooses
a man with status or material prospect,
but it happens that she falls in love with a man whom
just regretted it.
Professional area
As for the professional sphere, then from Elena
can be a successful artist, actress, writer,
journalist, psychologist, interior designer, architect,
director, massage therapist, hairdresser.
name day
Name days according to the Orthodox calendar Elena notes