www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology St. Constantine the Great

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today the Armenian Catholic Church celebrates the great Christian Roman Emperor, St. Constantine the Great (Gonsdanteen, Arm.). Some Romam Catholic brethren are unaware and surprised that St. Constantine is a canonized saint of the Catholic Church, celebrated annually by most (if not all) Eastern Churches.
I personally have such a respect for what he accomplished on behalf of Christ's Church, I nearly named our son after him. But a dear friend and fellow parishoner convinced me that my family needed at least one child with a good Armenian first name (Sahag). Honestly, I'm happy I caved into his guilt trip. Evenso, my family and I will be watching one of our favorites tonight on DVD, "Constantine and the Cross" to celebrate his blessed memory.

Trusting In Christ's Light,
Wm. DerGhazarian
Looys Kreesdosee
www.geocities.com/derghazar [geocities.com]

If interested, the following reading is a meditation on his life and what he means to the Christian East.

St. Constantine the Great:

The Emperor Constantine the Great was the son of Constantius Chlorus, who ruled the western part of the Roman Empire (Gaul and Britannia), and Helena, the holy equal of the Apostles. In accordance with the desire of the Emperor Diocletian, he was taken from his parents in his young years (18th year), and lived as a hostage at the court in Nicomedia. When Diocletian abdicated the throne, Constantine returned to Gaul and in 306 AD (after the death of the Emperor Constantius) was proclaimed emperor.

He became disposed to accept Christianity by his mother. His father, although he was a pagan, nevertheless protected the Christians, seeing that Christians were faithful servants and honest citizens. There were Christians in various posts at the court of Diocletian during the time when he had not yet begun to persecute the Church, and Constantine had many occasions to become assured of their honesty and devotion to duty. After that, he saw the horrors of the persecution and the unusual steadfastness of the confessors of Christ, and this also predisposed him in their favor. Subsequently, Constantine himself acknowledged that his stay at the court of Diocletian promoted his conversion to Christianity: "I become estranged from those who until then had been rulers," he said, "because I saw the savagery of their ways."

Constantine, whose character was active, belicose, accessible to all and generous, farsighted and perspicacious, manifests the traits of a world�class genius, and it was not in vain that he was chosen by God's Providence to accomplish the greatest turnabout in the empire and in the whole world.

The Emperor Constantine struggled in particular with three enemies during his reign; and during this struggle he gradually, but decisively became inclined to accept the holy faith.

In 308 AD, he emerged successful from the struggle with the Emperor Maximian Hercules and hastened to express his gratitude to the deity by rich sacrifices in the temple of Apollo. In this, the dominate trait in Constantine's character was revealed: although he still remained a pagan, nevertheless, he was a religious man and attributed the cause of his successes to help from on high.

In 312 AD, a new war arose between the Emperor Constantine and the Ceasar Maxentius, the son of Maximian. During this war, not long before the decisive battle, Constantine saw with his own eyes a shining cross in the sky with the inscription: "By this conquer" (NIKA in Greek). That night, the Lord appeared to him in a dream with the same sign of the Cross and said that by this sign he would defeat the enemy. On the following day, by Constantine's order, images of the holy Cross were made on all the standards of his army.

Having gained the victory over Maxentius, Constantine triumphantly entered into Rome and there commanded that his statue be set up on square with the Cross in its right hand and with the inscription: "By this saving sign, I saved the city from the tyrant's yoke". After this victory, the Emperor Constantine, together with his brother�in�law, Licinius, published a first manifesto in Milan that permitted everyone to accept Christianity without fear. In a second manifesto, signed by them in 313 AD, it was ordered that the places of assembly for Divine services and all the real estate taken away during the persecutions be returned to the Christians.

Meanwhile, the friendly relations between the Emperors Constantine and Licinius fell apart little by little and turned into an open conflict. This conflict was to decide the fate of Christianity in the Roman Empire, because Licinius, suspecting the eastern Christians of greater attachment to Constantine, began at first to oppress them, and then turned to openly persecuting them, while Constantine clearly protected the Christians. Both emperors prepared for a decisive battle, each in accordance with his faith. The oracles foretold victory to Licinius, while the Christians prayed for Constantine. God gave the victory to Constantine in the Battle of Adrianople (322 AD). Licinius was deprived of his throne and his life. Constantine became the sole ruler of the empire and Christianity triumphed.

The Emperor Constantine dedicated his whole life to the good of the Church and did so much good for her that he merited the appellation "Equal of the Apostles". From his time, state institutions, laws and military service began to be oriented toward the requirements which are contained in Christianity.

Besides the edicts mentioned, one may indicate the following measures and actions of the Emperor Constantine on behalf of Christianity � in chronological order: He stopped the pagan games; freed the clergy from civic obligations and Church lands from general taxes; abolished execution by crucifixion; permitted the freeing of slaves at churches without special formalities, which were very difficult in the civil courts; forbade private persons to offer sacrifices to idols and to turn to divination at home, reserving this right only to societies; commanded that Sunday be celebrated throughout the whole empire; in protecting Christian virgins, he abolished the laws which the Romans had against celibacy; he granted the Church the right to receive property by bequest; permitted Christians to occupy the highest state posts; ordered Christian churches to be built and forbade imperial statues and images to be carried therein as was customary in pagan temples.

The Emperor Constantine encountered opposition in Rome most of all, where the pagan party was powerful. This opposition by the pagans was revealed in particular during the celebration by Constantine of the twentieth anniversary of his reign and cooled him towards the former capital of the state. Finally, he completely left Rome, founded a new Christian capital on the shores of the Bosporus and invited Christian bishops to solemnly consecrate it, having named it Constantinople. In place of pagan temples in this new capital of the empire they began to raise up Christian churches, and in place of statues of pagan gods � sacred depictions.

The Emperor Constantine regarded the disturbances which incited in the Church the schism of the Donatists and especially the heresy of Arius with lively attention and in every way tried to reconcile those who were divided. One of Constantine's greatest services was the convocation of the First Ecumenical Council in the city of Nicaea in 325 AD.

Devoted to the Church with all his soul, Constantine, however, put off receiving baptism until the last days of his life, in accordance with the custom of that time,. When he sensed the approach of death, then he received this great Mystery with reverence and peacefully died during prayer on the 21st of May, 337 AD.

taken from the following web-site:
http://www.stjohndc.org/saints/9506a.htm

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Dear Ghazar,

I remember you contemplating the name Constantine for your baby on this forum!

Can you tell me if the DVD you mention is a documentary or a film?

Also, I cannot fathom that there has never been a movie about or involving Byzantium! Does anyone know of any that I might not know about? I would LOVE to be able to visualize it the way we are able to visualize historical Russia, China, Rome, England, etc. through film. Byzantium is really the forgotten empire in the West, don't you think?

Sts. Constantine and Helen are celebrated together on May 21 on the Orthodox calendar.

Looking forward to your answer about the DVD.

Alice

reply: Good memory. I consider myself very blessed to be able to discuss in any matter on my heart with all my friends at the Byzantine Forum.

reply: Its actually a full-length feature film (like "Ten Commandments"). We originally had the video but it got ruined. Then we ordered the DVD over the internet for less than ten dollars, and its great quality picture! I'll get the info. on where we got it hopefully tommorow.

reply: You certainly got that right. As Fr. Hopko said, what the West calls the "Dark Ages" happens to be a time of great learning for the East, several Ecumenical Councils and some of the greatest saints, theologians, artists, archietects, and musicians the Church has ever known!

Except, I've heard several noteworthy Eastern Christian writers state that "Byzantine" was also a Western construct. Actually the Empire we call "Byzantine" was actually "Roman." The French, during the Enlightenment created this notion of "Byzantium" for what had previously always been called "Roman." Perhaps it was because the Franks always sought to be known as the true "Holy Roman Empire" rather than Eastern Empire. As John S. Romanides writes:

"18. Between 330 and 1453 Constantinople New Rome was the Capital of the Roman Empire. She was not the capital of any Byzantine Empire which never existed. Those who say and write such nonsense are either intentional liars with a hidden agenda or else brainwashed by the creators of this Byzantine Empire which never existed. Those who hide the Roman reality of this Empire are either agents of the Frankish propaganda of Charlemagne who decided in 794 that the Roman Empire is a "Greek" Empire in order to hide it from West Romans enslaved to the Franco-Latins. Then this so-called "Greek" Empire had to become a "Byzantine" Empire in order not to confuse the Modern Greek State with the Greek Empire invented by Charlemagne in 794."

for more info. see: http://www.romanity.org/htm/rom.16.en.romanity_romania_roumeli.01.htm#s6

reply: Actually they are celebrated together on the Armenian Calendar as well.

Good hearing from you sister, Alice. I'll send you info on the DVD, when I find it.

In Christ's Light,
Ghazar

Dear Ghazar and Alice,

Yes, Happy St Constantine and Helen's Day tomorrow!

Constantine was born at York, England and there are a great number of Churches dedicated to his mother, St Helen, there.

Constantine himself did not become a Christian except on his death-bed and even then he was ministered to by Semi-Arian priests, but the sacraments were, of course, quite valid.

He did not declare Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire but, instead, made it an approved religion alongside others.

The so-called eight-pointed Constantinian Cross was actually already in place on pagan Roman helmets - Constantine merely gave it a new meaning.

Respectfully submitted,

Alex

St Constantine was born in Nis, but declared emperor by the garrison in York.

Spasi Khristos -
Mark, monk and sinner.

And, of course, we all know that Nis, in the third and fourth centuries was inhabited primarily by those warlike and militaristic Illyrians, who dominated the Romano-Byzantine military and whose direct descendants are today's Albanians.

I was sure that you all knew that, but just in case you didn't, I wanted to be sure that you did.


In Christ,
Andrew

Bless me a sinner, Father Mark!

Yes, my mistake!

He was declared Emperor at York or Eboracum.

It wasn't "Nis" of me to make such a mistake . . .

Alex

how come saint constantine gets little mention in the roman church? and saint helena does.

Dear Mateusz,

Good question!

This is because Constantine does not have the full honours of a saint in the West, but his mother, St Helen, does.

Constantine is only locally venerated in southern Italy where one can see devotional statues of him in churches.

In the East, Sts Constantine and Helen, the "Holy Crowned Ones" are patrons of marriage and are, of course, mentioned in the Byzantine marriage ceremony.

There are popes who are not in the Roman calendar, but who are honoured as full saints in the East such as St Liberius.

Alex

oh alright, i understand, i just thought he would be honored universally as a saint for his tolerance of christianity, and venerated in all the holy churches of the universal church, and especially by rome for his promotion of the faith like when he established the great basilicas and churches there such as the cathedral of saint john lateran. he also did great work in the east as well of course.

Dear Mateusz,

Priests in the West have the option, I believe, of venerating him locally, and he is a local Saint in the West.

Perhaps it is because he wasn't baptized except on his death-bed and for some other worldly actions that his cult was mitigated in the West.

There are dedications to him in England owing to the fact that he was declared Emperor at Eboracum or York.

In addition, there are about twenty Byzantine Emperors and Empresses in the Eastern Calendar who were put there for services rendered to the Church.

But there is no public, liturgical cult in their honour - the only honour they have is that of being commemorated in the calendar only - the lowest category of saint.

Alex

Was it a Cross or the CHI RHO which St. Constantine saw?

I think "privately" would be a better word than "locally." "locally" usually implies he has a liturgical cultus in a certain area.

Actually, the Roman Martyrology makes no mention of Constaintine at all, if I'm not mistaken.

However, since the Church's hagiographical patrimony is One, then Constantine the Great is considered to be a saint by the Latin Church; our Church just does not offer him public, liturgical veneration.

I assume much can be said about the Eastern Catholic Churches and the post-schism Western Saints.

Dear Pax Tecum,

You raise a number of interesting points of discussion.

Actually, the hagiographical tradition of the world-wide Church is anything but "one" even though there are universally venerated Saints - but the majority of them are local.

St George the Martyr, for instance, is apparently the only universally honoured Martyr - there is no apostolic church anywhere that does not have him in its local calendar.

I would still go with "local" rather than "private" since Constantine is not in the Latin universal calendar, but he is venerated locally in southern Italy. There Latin priests do indeed venerate him locally, just as John Cassian is venerated locally in Marseilles, and Bl. Charlemagne is venerated locally at Aachen etc.

There are saints in the East that are not venerated in the West and vice-versa. Pope Liberius is not a saint in the West, the first Pope not to be canonized from the time of Sts. Peter and Paul - but he is a full Saint in the East.

Once again, the hagiographic tradition of the Church's Saints is anything but "one."

Alex

Dear Ladyhawke,

The pagan Roman soldiers already had the "Chi-Rho" symbol engraved on their helmets.

Today, we do not know what these two letters, with the "P" superimposed on the "X" signified to the pagan Romans. Some say it was a form of "Pax Romana" and were deemed to be Latin, not Greek, letters.

Constantine simply gave this symbol a new meaning, making it refer to the first two letters of Christ's Name, but in Greek where the "P" is the Latin "R" and the "X" is the "Ch." The Roman Empire considered both languages to be its national languages at that time and so this would not have been a problem in the least.

Constantine would have already have been familiar with the early Christian practice of tracing the "X" as a cryptic, secret Christian symbol for "Christ."

If you and I met on a Roman street and I thought you might be a Christian, to determine this I could scratch a "/" symbol on a wall to see how you might respond.

If you completed the "X" with another side-slash, that was the secret Christian code and I could then trust you etc.

The same was true of the fish symbol.

Constantine would have known this.

His dream was truly remarkable, from what we know of it.

"In Hoc Signo Vinces!" "By this sign you shall conquer!"

What sign was that when at that time the most widely used Christian symbol for Christ was the first letter of the Saviour's Name in Greek?

Constantine perhaps saw a vision of Christ Himself and saw in the "Chi Rho" symbol TWO letters of Christ's Name, the new Constantinian emblem of Christ that is so named to this day.

The fact that it was already well beloved by the Romans who bore it on their helmets and "vexillols" or military standards as their conquering ideology symbol - Constantine was ingenious in the way he gave that symbol a reinterpretation.

The symbol of Christ's Name was then incorporated into representations of the Cross of Christ itself.

Many Crosses then began to bear both emblems. The Latin or Greek style Crosses often had the "X" superimposed on it to make an eight-pointed Cross, something that was also rich in Christian numerological meaning as "888" was the numerical value of Christ's Name in Hebrew.

Some scholars believe that the Celtic haloed Cross is simply a Celtic form of the "Chi Rho" symbol as well, promoted by St Ninian of Galloway in particular.

Alex