Today the Church celebrates the Holy Emperor Constantine and Empress Helena.

In the Church of St. Nicholas in the Old Town of Kotor, the Liturgy was served, and the troparion that was sung reads: “I saw the image of your cross in heaven, and I, Paul, called not by man, received it, in the kingdoms, your apostle, O Lord, put the reigning city into your hand: save it always in peace, through the prayers of the Mother of God, the only lover of mankind.”

Emperor Constantine issued the famous Edict in Milan in 313 to stop the persecution of Christians. Having defeated the Byzantines, he built a capital city on the Bosphorus, which has since been called Constantinople.

Emperor Constantine the Great was born in 274, into a non-Christian family. While still alive, he was given the title: EQUAL TO THE APOSTLE. The Lord Himself appeared to him many times and met him in his prayers.

Considering himself unworthy to go to worship at the Tomb of Christ, he prepared and sent his mother, Empress Helena, in his place. She went to worship at the Tomb of Christ, and from that trip returned with a particle of the Holy Cross, which she took as a gift to her son. Holy Empress Helena did many things that were useful for the Christian faith.

In Jerusalem, she found the Holy Cross, which the pagans had thrown outside the city and covered with garbage; she built many churches.

Having found the Holy Cross and dug it up, the holy Empress Helena placed it on a dead man, because at that moment a funeral procession was passing by, because a man from the city had died, and he was resurrected in the sight of all those present.

From that day on, the Orthodox Church celebrates this event on September 14 as the Day of the Cross. Many pagans came to the Christian faith, and the Holy Cross was placed in a silver casket for safekeeping and veneration. This holy empress reposed in 327 at the age of 80.

The holy Emperor Constantine, pious and generous, lived another 10 years after the repose of his mother, and he also presented himself to God in 337 at the age of 65.

His holy body was transferred to Constantinople and buried according to his will in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople.

And today, after so many years, the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles King lives an endless life in the eternal Kingdom of Christ, helping many who seek help and healing from him and the One God.