St. Constatine (246-330)
St. Constantine, usually called the Great, was the first Roman Emperor to accept Christianity and to make it a state religion along with the "pagan", already existing one. Prior to that, Christians had been persecuted by a number of emperors, the infamous Nero for example.
Constantine
came from a humble background; his father was a Roman officer and his mother
Helen the daughter of a Serbian inn-keeper.
He served in the Roman army and rose to become one of the co-emperors with
Britain, Gaul and Spain as part of his responsibility. After inner disputes
had caused a great rift between the rulers, Constantine defeated Maxentius
on the battlefield. Before the battle Constantine was said to have had a vision
of a cross in the sky, accompanied by a heavenly voice telling him he would
win under this sign.
After his victory, Constantine founded a "new Rome" on the banks of the Hellespont. It was a historically and economically strategic place that many important figures from myths and reality had passed by: Jason, Alexander the Great and St. Paul, for example. The new city was named Constantinople after its emperor and was to become one of the most important financial, political and culural centres in the world. Before Constaninople, a Greek city called Byzantium had stood here, which is why the new era Constantine started was to be known as the Byzantine.
In 313, Constantine stated in the famous Edict of Milan that it was no longer punishable to be a Christian and he made himself a patron of both Christianity and the old gods. His mother Helen had become a Christian before him and spent much of her life in pursuit of holy relics and founding churches.
It was Constantine who summoned hundreds of church fathers in the First Council of Nicaea where famous saints such as St. Basil, St. Spyridon and St. Nicholas attended. The purpose of the meeting was to organise the church and rid it of heresy and the emperor presided it wearing full regalia.
Despite his inclination towards Christianity, Constantine could be a cruel man. At one point he had both his son and wife killed, the latter was "roasted" in a hot bath, and he acquired many enemies during his lifetime. Towards the end of his life he softened, however, and asked to be baptised on his death bed.
Bizarrely, Constatine was embalmed and kept in office for many months after his death, as his three sons were away and therefore could nor inherit the throne. The officials went to the dead emperor, as if attending an audience, and kept running the empire until one of the sons finally arrived.
In
icons St. Constantine is usually depicted with his mother St.
Helen. They are both celebrated on the 21st of May and on Skiathos there
are several churches in their honour. One stands by the main road near Koukounaries
and another just before the road to Kastro.
The beach Agia Eleni is named after St. Helen and Agios Konstantinos, the
port town some of the ferries and hydrofoils go to, after Constantine. In
Volos there is also a beautiful church dedicated to St. Constantine by the
sea.
The name in Greek is Konstantinos, fem. Konstantina, and it is usually shortened to Kostas or Kostis for men, Tina or Dina for women.
Although the Orthodox church disapproved of it, the so called Anasthenaria are helf in northern Greece in honour of Constantine and Helen on May 21. After invoking a kind of holy extacy, the participants wals on burning coal without getting scathed.
Click here for more about St. Helen and icons of Constantine and Helen.
More about Constantine the Great in our book "A History of Skiathos".