She is Queen Helena, who was born in the year 247 AD. Her son King Constantine later built a city named after her, “Helenopolis.” She was married to the Roman commander Constantius Chlorus and bore him her son Constantine, most likely in the year 274 AD. She later separated from her husband around the year 293 AD, and he died in 306 AD.

In the year 312 AD, Constantine entered into war, while his mother was praying to God on his behalf. As he prayed before the battle, he lifted his eyes to heaven and saw in its midst a shining cross with these words upon it: “In this sign you will conquer.” When he understood the meaning and value of what he had seen, he engraved this sign on his helmet, and his entire army carried this sign. He entered the battle and achieved a decisive victory over his stubborn enemy, enabling him to conquer Rome.

After that, a magnificent triumphal arch was erected for him in Rome, upon which was written: “Emperor Constantine the Great, the blessed and exalted.” The inhabitants of the city also erected a golden statue of him holding a long cross in his hand, beneath which was written: “By this saving sign, the mark of true courage, your city has been delivered from the yoke of oppression and humiliation.”

It is said that he was later baptized, although some sources say that he wished to be baptized in the waters of the Jordan as the Lord Himself was, and therefore postponed this desire until shortly before his death.

In the year 313 AD, he issued the Edict of Milan for religious tolerance, by which Christianity became a recognized religion throughout the Roman Empire and eventually became the official religion of the empire.

Then came the events of the Council of Nicaea, where he invited all the bishops of the world to discuss the heresy of Arius, the Alexandrian priest. The First Ecumenical Council was opened in 325 AD, becoming a new institution in the Christian Church. It established twenty canons governing the order and rites of the Church, including the determination of the date of Easter, affirming that the Church of Alexandria would set the official date each year due to the excellence of its scholars in astronomy and mathematics.

After that, Constantine moved the capital of the empire from Rome, which had remained the capital of the Roman state for ten centuries, to Byzantium, where Europe meets Asia. It is said that he did not wish to reside in Rome so as not to compete with the Roman Pope in his religious authority. Therefore, he appointed a deputy to govern the affairs of Rome and moved to Constantinople, which he established as a new capital. He renewed its walls, gates, fortresses, palaces, squares, and roads, laying out its foundations and plans himself. He named it after himself, “Constantinople,” and gave it the title “New Rome.” He inaugurated it as the capital on May 11, 330 AD. He erected his statue in its square, with the statue of his mother beside it, and between the two statues a large cross adorned with rich decoration, upon which was written: “You alone are holy. You alone are the Lord, Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.”

He ordered that crosses and icons be placed in all streets and squares, and he built great churches throughout the city. In a grand celebration, he dedicated the entire city to the Virgin Mary. Thus, the new empire established by Constantine became Christian in its faith, Greek in its language, and Eastern in its orientation, and it endured for approximately eleven and a quarter centuries.

As for his mother Helena, she received baptism at the time of the appearance of the sign of the cross to her son Constantine. He granted her access to the imperial treasury, and she generously distributed alms and gifts to widows, orphans, and the poor, and gave abundantly to the churches. She also took care to build many churches at the site of the tomb of Christ, in Bethlehem, and on the Mount of Olives. Constantine did likewise. Among the most famous of what he built was the Church of the Savior in Rome on the site of his Lateran palace, which he regarded as the head of all churches, their mother, their crown, and the summit of the Christian faith. He also built the Church of the Apostles, the Church of Peace, and the Church of Archangel Michael, these three churches being of remarkable beauty in Constantinople.

In the year 326 AD, about a year after the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, Helena traveled to Jerusalem and began searching for the wood of the Cross upon which the Lord Jesus was crucified. She was assisted in this by Saint Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem at that time. After finding it, she took part of it to her son Constantine and placed the other part in a reliquary which she placed in the church she herself oversaw in building at the site of the tomb of Jesus.

In the year 328 AD, Helena fell asleep in peace in the arms of her son as she blessed him. He built for her a magnificent tomb in Constantinople. As for him, he lived until 337 AD, when he reposed in Nicomedia. His body was preserved and transferred to Constantinople, where it was laid in the Church of the Apostles, which he had built.

Constantine and Helena believed in Christ with a fruitful faith, and the Church benefited from the fruits of this faith in many ways. Therefore, they are praised in the commemorations and feasts of most churches throughout the world. She is Helena the honorable and righteous, and Constantine, the first of the Christian kings.

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