These saints lived model lives

Every year on May 21, both the Orthodox Church and the Byzantine-Catholics celebrate Sts. Constantine and Helen. They are considered to have lived model lives.

Constantine is known as the Roman emperor who granted true freedom of Christianity.

But how it all began?

Here is what the church historians like Lactantius and Eusebius of Caesarea tell us.

In October 312, on the eve of a battle, Constantine faced Maxentius at Milvius Pons (Eagle Bridge in ancient Rome).

Constantine saw a cross sign in the sky. An inscription said, “by this sign you will conquer.”

The night before battle in a dream, the emperor saw Jesus Christ who asked him to put the Holy Cross on the flags of his army as a protective sign.

The next day, the miracle happened: Constantine’s army, only 20,000 soldiers, defeated the much larger army of Maxentius, which numbered 150,000.

Believing that victory was a help from God, the emperor told Eusebius that the signs revealed to him showed him that he had to side with the Christians.

In January 313, Constantine the Great proclaimed the Edict of Milan, by which Christianity became a “religio licita” (allowed religion).

Constantine, as the Roman emperor, advised all the Romans to become Christians.

Constantine did not declare Christianity the state religion. This was done later in the year 380, by Emperor Theodosius the Great.

With the Edict of Milan, Constantine becomes a true protector of Christianity.

Even this looks like a smart political decision because under his direction there have been several measures taken in favor of the Church and its servants.

There have been granted subsidies to the clergy, especially to the priests and they were exempt from certain municipal obligations, rights or benefits similar with what our military has today.

As an Emperor, Constantine earned his title of “Great” from Christian historians long after he died, but he could have claimed the title based on his military achievements and victories.

Emperor Constantine considered Sunday an official day of rest. This was done in the Roman Empire in AD 321.

Tradition tells us of Constantine’s sickness of leprosy, the disease without healing.

But after he sees in a dream the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, the Emperor Constantine looks for advice from Bishop Sylvester.

The bishop advises him to accept the Christian baptism and to meet the training required for baptism in order to receive healing of his sickness.

The emperor promised that he would fulfill all the needs for Holy Baptism, and the bishop, putting his hand on his head, prayed and made him one of those called to receive Holy Baptism.

After this event the Emperor Constantine gathers all the faithful, all the Christians and commands them to fast and pray to stop such hatred against the Church of God, against him and against the Empire.

The bishop and St. Silvester start teaching the emperor about the holy mysteries of faith.

The emperor is ready to be baptized in a water pool and St. Sylvester plunges him three times in the name of the Trinity (in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Trinity).

Suddenly, a great light shone from the sky, and the Emperor was immediately healed by the power of the grace received from the Holy Spirit through the sacrament of Baptism.

He commanded all those who wanted them to be Christians to be baptized.

The saint Emperor Constantine is known also for the first ecumenical Council that he gathered at Nicea.

The council proclaimed the right of the orthodox faith.

With the same faith in God that her son had, Helen, Constantine’s mother, went to Jerusalem to search for the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified and the place where Jesus was buried.

She found the Holy Cross on Sept. 14, 326, and built the Tomb of our Lord Jesus Church in 330 on the place of Joseph’s of Arimathea’s family tomb.

Constantine the Great died May 22, 337, on Pentecost Sunday, and was buried in the Church of Holy Apostles, constructed under his leadership.

The Rev. John Dumitrascu is a parish priest at Holy Trinity Romanian Orthodox Church in Youngstown and a chaplain at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton.