Chapter I. The Age of Constantine the Great If the events of the 4th century can be attributed to the will and decisions of one person, then such a person was Emperor Constantine the Great. In military terms, having come to power, he did approximately the same thing as Caesar once did. Constantine's army

Cross-monogram “shepherd’s staff” Prefiguring Christ the Shepherd, the Lord imparted miraculous power to the staff of Moses (Exodus 4:2–5) as a sign of pastoral power over the verbal sheep of the Old Testament church, then to the staff of Aaron (Exodus 2:8–10) . Divine Father, through the mouth of the prophet Micah,

Cross “monogram of Constantine” To the Holy King Constantine, Equal to the Apostles, “Christ the Son of God appeared in a dream with a sign seen in heaven and commanded, having made a banner similar to this seen in heaven, to use it for protection from the attacks of enemies,” the church narrates

Labarum of Constantine the Great

The first mention of labarum is found in Lactantius (d. ca.). According to this author, the image of the labarum appeared to Constantine in a dream on the eve of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge (). At the same time, he heard a voice uttering the words: Greek. ἐν τούτῳ νίκα - lat. "In hoc signo vinces", i.e. "With this sign you will win." At the insistence of Constantine, his soldiers placed the image of the labarum on their shields and the next day won a resounding victory, which brought their leader the imperial throne.

Labarum before and after Constantine

Not a single copy of the labarum has survived to this day, but judging by its images on various monuments, the shape of the banner was varied in detail. Constantine's immediate successors retained the labarum; the pagan Julian removed the monogram of Christ from him, which was later restored again. According to the historian Socrates, the original labarum, as a relic, was kept in his time (about 430) in the palace of Constantinople, and according to Theophanes, it was seen there as early as the 9th century. Those who wore a labarum were called dragonaria or vexilifers.

In medieval Western Christianity, the labarum was not widely used until the Renaissance, when artists and scholars of antiquity became interested in it. Linguists were unable to reliably establish the etymology of the word, but a number of later researchers discerned in the letters P and X, enclosed in a circle, an ancient pagan symbol of the Sun. For this reason, Protestants, as a rule, do not recognize the labarum as an original Christian symbol, although this sign is also found in Christian tombs of the 3rd century. AD, that is, long before the reign of Constantine.

In the twentieth century, Swedish geologist Jens Ormo suggested that the cross Constantine saw in the sky was an atmospheric phenomenon caused by the collision of the Earth with a meteorite, which left a crater in Sirente, Abruzzo. This hypothesis did not find support in the scientific community. In recent years, there has been speculation on the Internet that the name of the Windows XP operating system is a hidden reference to the labarum.

Literature

• Negin A.E. Christian symbolism in the Roman army of the 4th century // Problems of ancient history and medieval studies. Vol. 2.: To the 30th anniversary of the Department of History of the Ancient World and the Middle Ages of Nizhny Novgorod State University. N.I. Lobachevsky. N. Novgorod, 2006. pp. 144-152.

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See what the “Cross of Constantine” is in other dictionaries:

Constantine cross- A cross with eight identical ends, evenly diverging from the center. (Terms of Russian architectural heritage. Pluzhnikov V.I., 1995) ... Architectural Dictionary

Wikipedia has articles about other people with this surname, see Konstantinov. Andrey Dmitrievich Konstantinov Andrey Dmitrievich Bakonin ... Wikipedia

Wikipedia has articles about other people with this surname, see Konstantinov. Anatoly Ustinovich Konstantinov Date of birth June 12, 1923 (1923 06 12) Place of birth ... Wikipedia

Anatoly Ustinovich Konstantinov June 12, 1923 October 22, 2006 Place of birth ... Wikipedia

Piero della Francesca, Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo “The Dream of Constantine the Great.” On the eve of the decisive battle, the emperor dreamed of an angel with a labarum cross in his hands, in the sunshine and with the inscription “By this victory!” The list includes enumeration ... ... Wikipedia

Piero della Francesca, Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo “The Dream of Constantine the Great.” On the eve of the decisive battle, the emperor p ... Wikipedia

Cross. war against feudal serf oppression. Starting on the Don as an uprising of Cossacks and fugitives, it covered a vast territory. Russia and developed into a war between Russian and Ukrainian. peasants and peoples of the Volga region against serfdom. oppression. Cross. the war was caused... Soviet historical encyclopedia

Nazarbayev, Nursultan- President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Kazakhstan President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Kazakhstan. Doctor of Economic Sciences. He has led the country since 1989, when he took the post of first secretary... ... Encyclopedia of Newsmakers

One of the most remarkable teachers of schism and the initial leaders of the schism. His full name was Nikita Konstantinov Dobrynin. Nothing is known about his life before speaking out against Nikon’s innovations, except that he was a cathedral priest in the city of Suzdal.... ... Large biographical encyclopedia

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Books

• Half-breed Echo of the Curse The Cross Found, Konstantinov A.. She is a modest St. Petersburg teacher with the name Samsut, which is unusual to our ears. Armenian, Russian and Ukrainian blood was mixed in her in a bizarre way, but until now she had not even thought about it...

Chrism (also called chrismon) is one of the main sacred emblems of early Christianity, which, according to some researchers, in its symbolism dates back to the pagan era. Graphically, the cross of chrisma is a monogram of the name of Christ, or more specifically, its Greek version - ΧΡΙΣΤΌΣ. That is, we are talking about combining the letters X (“chi”) and P (“rho”), which “overlap” each other. Christian theologians call this not “overlay,” but “re-baptism,” hence the phrase “cross of Christ.”

The most ancient images of chrism date back to the period BC; in particular, several coins with chrism from the era of Ptolemy III (ruled Egypt in the middle of the 3rd century BC) were discovered. However, the first official mentions of the cross of Christianity correspond to the first centuries of ours. The most famous image of the chrism is the labarum, this is the banner of the Roman Empire, on which the traditional chrism is located above the standard. The inscription on the banner under the chrism reads “With this you conquer” (“hoc vinces” in Latin).

The labarum with a pommel in the form of a cross of chrisma was introduced by Constantine the Great. Exact information about why Constantine chose this particular symbol has not been preserved, but a popular Christian legend claims that the emperor saw the chrism in the sky before the legendary battle of the Malvian Bridge (312). This battle brought Constantine sole and undisputed power over Rome. Historically, the first mention of the labarum of Constantine (and, accordingly, of the cross of chrisma) is found in the African rhetorician Lactantius in the year 320.

The symbol of Christianity has become widespread in Christian culture. It is found on banknotes (coins of Emperor Magnetius), on bas-reliefs of funeral sarcophagi (Rome, 3rd-5th centuries), on gravestones (an image of the cross of Chrism can be found in the Smolensk cemetery in St. Petersburg), as well as on individual religious emblems (on the flag of the Japanese Orthodox Church). At the same time, initially the Christian cross looked exactly like this - the combined letters X and P, without any additional elements. However, the newer images also contain the Greek letters "α" and "ω", which is an obvious reference to the Apocalypse (Revelation John 22:13 "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end").

Some theologians connect the emergence of Christianity with another fragment of the Apocalypse, which mentions a certain “seal of the living God” (Revelation from John 7:2, probably a reference to Jesus Christ). However, it is impossible to determine exactly when exactly the letters “alpha” and “omega” appeared on the chrism, but it is known that the original symbol did not have additional graphic elements. In addition, there is no doubt that the cross of Chrism is a purely Christian esoteric emblem, since images of Chrism were actively used by early Christians in southern Europe and before this period this symbol was not found at all.

There are many versions about the origin of Christianity. Hypotheses are put forward according to which the cross of Constantine arose from the symbolism of the Orphic and Gilios mysteries, or as a result of the synthesis of early Christian cults with the ritual symbolism of the beliefs of the Chaldeans. But there are also more prosaic assumptions, according to which the monogram of the letters “chi” and “rho” goes back to the Greek word “chrestos”, which means “auspicious”. There is no generally accepted version and it is unlikely that it will ever be possible to shed light on the real origin of this sign.

Equal to the Apostles King CONSTANTINE (†337) and his mother Queen ELENA (†327)

Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles King Constantine the Great was the son of Constantius Chlorus, who ruled the western part of the Roman Empire (Galilee and Britain), and Saint Helen Equal to the Apostles. He was encouraged to accept Christianity by his Christian mother. His father, although he was a pagan, patronized Christians, seeing that they were faithful servants and honest citizens. Throughout the rest of the Roman Empire, Christians were subjected to severe persecution by the emperors Diocletian, his co-ruler Maximian Galerius in the East, and the emperor Maximian Herculus in the West.

At the request of Emperor Diocletian, in his youth (18 years old), Constantine was taken from his parents as a hostage and lived at court in Nicomedia. Court life in the capital then personified in a small form all the moral and religious corruption to which humanity can reach, enslaved by unclean, passionate lusts - vain pomp and luxury, drunkenness and gluttony, unbridled depravity of thought and life, intrigue and sedition, bitterness against true worship of God and hypocritical, false respect for imaginary gods. On the other hand, Constantine saw a completely different life of the Christian community, where elders and elders, young men and maidens, simpletons and learned sages, even children proved the truth of their faith, the purity and height of its content not only with words, but also with their deeds, by suffering for it even to death. Subsequently, Constantine himself admitted that his stay at the court of Diocletian greatly contributed to his conversion to Christianity: “I became alienated from the hitherto rulers,” he said, because I saw the savagery of their morals.”

After the death of Constantius Chlorus, his son Constantius in 306 was proclaimed emperor of Gaul and Britain by the troops. The first task of the new emperor was to proclaim freedom of professing the Christian faith in the countries under his control. The pagan fanatic Maximian Galerius in the East and the cruel tyrant Maxentius in the West hated Emperor Constantine and plotted to overthrow and kill him, but Constantine warned them and in a series of wars and with the help of God, defeated all his opponents.

He prayed to God to give him a sign that would encourage his army to fight bravely. In the year 312, during the war with Caesar Maxentius, shortly before the decisive battle, Constantine with his own eyes saw a luminous cross in the sky with the inscription: "Win this way"(in Greek: NIKA). This sight horrified both the king himself and the army that was with him, for the cross, as a shameful instrument of execution, was considered a bad omen by the pagans. Konstantin was perplexed. At night, in a dream, the Lord appeared to him with the same sign of the cross and said that with this sign he would defeat the enemy. Rising from sleep, Constantine called experienced craftsmen and ordered to build, in the likeness of the image of the cross, a banner of gold and precious stones; He ordered his soldiers to depict the Cross on their shields and helmets.

The combination of (combined) letters known as the monogram of Constantine is made up of the first two letters of the word Christos - “Chi” and “Rho”.

Struck by the wondrous vision, Constantine decided not to worship any other gods except Christ who appeared to him. From that time on, he began to diligently read the Holy Scriptures and constantly had priests with him, although he had not yet received holy baptism.

Having become the sovereign ruler of the Western part of the Roman Empire, Constantine issued a law on religious tolerance in 313, and in 323, when he reigned as the sole emperor over the entire Roman Empire, he extended the Edict of Milan to the entire eastern part of the empire. After three hundred years of persecution, Christians for the first time had the opportunity to openly confess their faith in Christ.

Constantine stopped pagan games; exempted the clergy from civil duties and church lands from general taxes; abolished execution by crucifixion; allowed the freeing of slaves in churches without special formalities (very difficult in civil courts); prohibited private individuals from making sacrifices to idols and using fortune telling in their own homes; ordered the whole empire to celebrate Sunday; to protect Christian virgins, he abolished the Roman laws against celibacy; granted the Church the right to receive property under wills; allowed Christians to occupy the highest government positions; ordered the construction of Christian churches and forbade the introduction into them, according to the custom of pagan temples, of imperial statues and images.

Most of all, Constantine encountered opposition in Rome, where paganism was strong. He decided to found a new Christian capital on the banks of the Bosphorus and invited Christian bishops to solemnly consecrate it, calling Constantinople . Extensive palaces, aqueducts, baths, and theaters decorated the capital; it was filled with art treasures brought from Greece, Italy and Asia. But temples dedicated to pagan gods were no longer built there, and instead of the Colosseum, where gladiator fights took place, a circus was set up for horse competitions. The main decoration of the new city were temples dedicated to the true God.

Constantine was deeply convinced that only the Christian religion could unite the huge, heterogeneous Roman Empire. He supported the Church in every possible way, brought back Christian confessors from exile, built churches, and took care of the clergy.

Deeply revering the Cross of the Lord, the emperor wanted to find the very Life-giving Cross on which our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. For this purpose, he sent his mother, the holy queen Helen, to Jerusalem, giving her great powers and material resources. There Saint Helena did not dress in the attire characteristic of her rank, walked in the most modest clothes among the crowd of people and, trying to be unrecognized, gave out generous alms.

In Palestine, all the places consecrated by the gospel events have long been devastated. The Cave of the Holy Sepulcher was filled with rubbish, and on a hill built on top of the holy cave, a temple was built for the “voluptuous demon of love” - Venus. According to Elena’s instructions, idolatry temples erected on places sacred to Christians were destroyed and holy temples were built in their place. At the expense of the queen, churches were built in Bethlehem, above the cave of the Nativity of Christ; on the Mount of Olives - the place of the Ascension of the Lord; in Gethsemane - the place of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary; at the oak of Mamre - at the place of the appearance of the Holy Trinity to Abraham.

After a long and intense search for the Cross of the Lord, its location was finally indicated by a certain Judas, a Jew, an old man of advanced years, the son of a Jewish teacher - under a pagan temple built on a hill covering the cave of the Holy Sepulcher.

Cave of the Holy Sepulcher

Window where Queen Helena stood

The Cave of the Holy Sepulcher was found and cleansed; Near it, on the eastern side, three crosses were found, and next to them a board with an inscription and honest nails. But how was it possible to find out which of the three crosses was the Cross of the Savior? It happened that at that time a dead man was being carried past this place for burial; Saint Macarius ordered the funeral procession to stop; They began to believe, on the advice of the bishop, that the crosses found were one for the deceased, and when the Cross of Christ was laid, the dead was resurrected.

Everyone, seeing this miracle, rejoiced and glorified the power of the life-giving Cross of the Lord. And so that it would be possible to see the shrine at least from afar, Saint Macarius reverently raised it and stood on an elevated place, erecting the Cross of the Lord in front of the eyes of many faithful, who at that time loudly exclaimed: "Lord have mercy!" This was the first; it happened in 326. The Orthodox Church celebrates this event annually September 14.

The Holy Cross, later placed in a silver ark for preservation, then converted many of the pagans and Jews to Christ; including Judas, who indicated the place of its storage. Saint Helena, leaving Jerusalem, took a piece of the life-giving Tree with her as a gift to her son Constantine.

Elena died at the age of 80 - according to various assumptions, around 327-330 The place of her death is not known exactly, it is called Trier, where she had a palace. For her great services to the Church and her labors in obtaining the Life-Giving Cross, Queen Helena is called Equal to the Apostles .

Above the Cave of the Holy Sepulcher, Emperor Constantine himself ordered the construction of a magnificent temple in honor of the Resurrection of Christ, which would be “more magnificent than all the temples that exist anywhere.”

The peaceful existence of the Christian Church was disrupted by the unrest and discord that arose within the Church due to the emergence of heresies. Even at the beginning of the activity of Emperor Constantine, the heresy of the Donatists and Novatians arose in the West, demanding the repetition of baptism over Christians who had fallen away during persecution. This heresy, rejected by two local councils, was finally condemned by the Council of Milan in 316. But especially destructive for the Church was the heresy of Arius, which arose in the East, which dared to reject the Divine essence of the Son of God and teach about the creatureliness of Jesus Christ. By order of the emperor, it was convened in 325, the First Ecumenical Council in the city of Nicaea . 318 bishops gathered for this Council, its participants were bishops-confessors during the period of persecution and many other luminaries of the Church, among whom was St. Nicholas of Myra. The Emperor attended the meetings of the Council. Having irrevocably condemned Arianism, the Fathers of the Council decided to give believers an exact confession of Orthodox teaching - the Creed. Constantine proposed introducing into the Symbol the term he had heard in the debates of the Council, “Consubstantial with the Father.” The word spoken by the king was unanimously accepted by the Council and served as the definitive basis for the teaching about the Face of the Lord Jesus, the central Christian dogma.

Constantine lived after that for more than 10 years, adhering with unwavering fidelity to the Nicene Confession of Faith, and zealously tried to establish the spirit of Christian piety in his kingdom, setting a worthy example in himself. Long before his death, Konstantin began to prepare for it. In his new capital, he built a temple in the name of the holy Apostles, in which he built his tomb.

In 337, Constantine solemnly celebrated Easter in Constantinople for the last time and soon fell ill. But he had not yet been baptized. The pious king postponed his baptism out of humble awareness of his sinfulness, wanting to prepare himself for this through the feat of his whole life. Moreover, in his soul there was a sincere desire to be baptized in the waters of the Jordan River. Feeling an extreme decline in bodily strength, Constantine called the bishops and asked them to honor him with holy baptism, saying: “I thought of doing this in the waters of the Jordan River, where, as an example for us, the Savior Himself was baptized; but God, who knows the Useful, honors me with this here.” Dressed in white clothes at baptism, he did not take them off until his death. The scarlet - this royal distinction - the “servant of God” no longer wanted to touch.

The great and Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine died, bequeathing the kingdom to his three sons, on the day of Pentecost in 337, in the thirty-second year of his reign.

Material prepared by Sergey SHULYAK

for the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity on Sparrow Hills

Troparion, tone 8
Having seen the image of Your Cross in heaven, and just as Paul did not receive the title from man, Your Apostle became king, O Lord, place the reigning city in Your hand: save it always in the world through the prayers of the Mother of God, who alone is the Lover of Mankind.

Kontakion, tone 3
Constantine today, with the matter Helena, the cross reveals the all-honorable tree, for the shame of all the Jews exists, and a weapon against the faithful kings: for for our sake a great sign has appeared and a terrible sign in battle.

Prayer to Equal-to-the-Apostles Tsar Constantine and Queen Helena
About the wonderful and all-praised king, the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Helen! To you, as a warm intercessor, we offer our unworthy prayers, for you have great boldness towards the Lord. Ask Him for peace for the Church and prosperity for the whole world. Wisdom for the ruler, care for the flock for the shepherd, humility for the flock, desired repose for the elder, strength for the husband, beauty for the wife, purity for the virgin, obedience for the child, Christian education for the baby, healing for the sick, reconciliation for the offended, patience for the offended, fear of God for the offended. To those who come to this temple and pray in it, a holy blessing and everything useful for each request, let us praise and sing the Benefactor of all God in the Trinity of the glorified Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. A min.

From the book “Modernity in the Light of the Word of God” by Archbishop Averky Taushev.

“The cross is the power of kings,” the cross is “an invincible victory for piety,” the cross is “an invincible weapon,” - in such words and expressions of St. The Church glorifies the Cross, “on which Christ, the King and Lord, was crucified,” on the solemn day of the feast of his Universal Exaltation.

And that these are not just words, but really so, is clearly demonstrated by the great event that took place in 312 AD. - a wondrous sign in heaven, which finally made the Emperor of the ancient pagan Roman Empire, Constantine the Great, a deeply religious Christian, and not only put an end to the terrible three-century frantic persecution of Christians, but also marked the beginning of the gradual Christianization of the entire Empire.

The glorious church historian Eusebius Pamphilus tells us in detail how all this happened in his “first book about the life of the blessed King Constantine.” First of all, he tells us about the father of Emperor Constantine Constantius Chlorus, who was disposed towards Christianity and did not want to persecute Christians, as was the case under his predecessors Diocletian, Maximian and Maxentius.

After the death of his father, the troops proclaimed Constantine Augustus. “Having established himself in the kingdom, Constantine immediately began to take care of his father’s heritage, surveyed all the regions that had previously been under the authority of his father and ruled them with great philanthropy. Moreover, he subjugated the barbarian tribes along the Rhine and the western shore of the ocean, who dared to be indignant, and made meek from wild ones, and pacified others, who resembled fierce beasts, and seeing that they were not capable of accepting the rules of a peaceful life, drove them out of borders of his empire. Then he imagined the entire composition of the universe as one great body and, seeing that the head of this body, the royal city of the Roman Empire, was suffering slavish oppression from a tyrant, he first provided its protection to the rulers over other parts of the state, as senior persons (Gallery Maxemian and Maximinus, between whom the Roman Empire was then divided into 4 parts). But when none of them was able to provide assistance to Rome, so that those who wanted to try shamefully ended their enterprise, Constantine said that he could not live while the royal city remained under the burden of disasters - and began to prepare for the destruction of tyranny "(Chapters 22, 25 and 26).

Meanwhile, the tyrant himself, seeing in Constantine a dangerous rival for himself, Maxentius, who was sitting in Rome, declared war on him. “Constantine’s forces were weaker than the enemy’s. He felt that he needed help from above and looked for it. He began to think about what kind of God he would call upon to help him. At the same time, it occurred to him that not a small number of former sovereigns, having placed their hope in many gods, were deceived and ended their work unhappily, and that his father Constantius, who throughout his life revered the one Most High God, had signs of His protection, and was convinced that what should honor the God of the fathers” (Chapter 27).

“And he began to call on Him, asking and begging that He would appear, instruct him about Himself, and stretch out His right hand to him in the task ahead. Diligently offering his prayers and petitions about this, the Tsar received a most amazing sign sent from God, so that it would not have been easy to believe if someone else had spoken. But the victorious Tsar himself assured us of this with an oath, when, long after that, we wrote this essay and were honored with his acquaintance and conversation; Therefore, who will doubt the truth of this legend, especially since subsequent times witnessed its truth?

“Once, at midday, when the sun began to lean towards the west,” said the King, “with my own eyes I saw something made of light and lying in the sun sign of the cross, with the inscription " Sim win!»

This sight filled with horror both himself and the entire army, which, without knowing where, followed him and continued to contemplate the miracle that had appeared” (Chapter 28).

It was on the 28th day of October 312, when Constantine and his army marched against Maxentius, who was imprisoned in Rome. This miraculous appearance of the cross in broad daylight is also attested by many modern writers, according to eyewitnesses.

Particularly important is the testimony of the confessor Artemy before Julian the Apostate, to whom, during interrogation, Artemy said: “Christ called Constantine from above when he was waging war against Maxentius, showing him at noon the sign of the cross, radiantly shining above the sun and star-shaped Roman letters predicting his victory in the war. Having been there ourselves, we saw his sign and read the letters, and the whole army saw it: there are many witnesses to this in your army, if only you want to ask them” (See History of Philostorgius, 45).

“Konstantin, however, was at a loss and said to himself: “What would such a phenomenon mean?” But while he was thinking and reflecting on it for a long time, night came. Then Christ of God appeared to him in a dream with a sign seen in heaven and commanded, having made a banner similar to this one seen in heaven, to use it for protection from the attacks of enemies” (Chapter 29).

“Rising with the onset of day, Constantine told his friends the secret and then, having called craftsmen who knew how to handle gold and precious stones, he sat down between them and, having described to them the image of the banner, ordered, in imitation of him, to make the same from gold and precious stones . “This banner,” says Eusebius, “happened to be seen by us with our own eyes” (Chapter 30).

“It had the following appearance: on a long spear covered with gold there was a transverse yard, which formed the sign of a cross with the spear. At the top, at the end of the spear, a wreath of precious stones and gold lay motionless, and on it a symbol of the saving name: two letters showed the name of Christ, indicated by the first lines, from the middle of which the letter r emerged. The Tsar subsequently had the custom of wearing these letters on his helmet. Then, on a transverse yard nailed to the spear, hung a thin, white cloth - royal fabric, covered with various precious stones and sparkling with rays of light. Often embroidered with gold, this board seemed inexpressibly beautiful to the spectators and, hanging on the yardarm, had the same latitude and longitude. On a straight spear, the lower end of which was very long, under the sign of the cross, at the very top of the described fabric, hung a chest image made of gold of the God-loving King and his children.

The Tsar always used this saving banner, as a defensive weapon, to overcome opposing and hostile forces, and he ordered all his troops to wear similar ones” (Chapter 31).

“Struck by the wondrous vision and deciding not to honor any other God except the one seen, Constantine called to himself the mysteries of His word and asked them, Who is this God, and what is the meaning of the sign that he saw? - They answered that that God is the Only Begotten Son of the One and Only God, and the sign that appeared was a symbol of immortality and a solemn sign of the victory over death that He won when He came to earth. Then, having revealed in detail the doctrine of the incarnation, they explained to Constantine the reasons for His coming” (Chapter 32). Thus began the revelation of the Emperor, a former pagan, by the light of the Christian faith, into which he began to deepen more and more from then on, as Eusebius further narrates.

“Constantine, although he was enlightened by their words, nevertheless, nevertheless had before his eyes the miracle of the Epiphany given to him and, comparing the heavenly vision with a verbal explanation, he was confirmed in his thoughts. He was convinced that knowledge of these subjects was sent to him from above, and he even began to read the Divine Scriptures himself. Moreover, he commanded God’s priests to be with him - in the thought that the visible God should be honored in all ways of service.

Having thus secured himself with good hopes for Him, he hastened to finally extinguish the flame of the tyrant’s fire” (Chapter 32).

Having called on the God of all and calling on Christ as Savior and Helper, Constantine with a victorious banner marched with an army against Maxentius, who had fortified himself in Rome. By the power of God, Emperor Constantine won a brilliant victory over the tyrant Maxentius, who committed wicked and villainous acts in Rome. Fleeing, the tyrant was thrown from the Milvian Bridge into the Tiber River, 15 miles from Rome, and drowned.

Having thanked God, the winner triumphantly entered the royal city, where he was greeted “with cheerful faces and hearts, with blessings and inexpressible joy. Husbands with wives, children and countless slaves loudly and irresistibly proclaimed him as their deliverer, savior and benefactor. However, possessing, as it were, innate piety, he was not at all vain with these exclamations and was not proud of the praises, but, conscious of God’s Help, he immediately offered a prayer of gratitude to the Author of the victory” (Chapter 39).

National monuments and signatures of the Imp. Constantine told all people the power of the saving sign of Christ. “In the midst of the royal city he erected this sacred banner and inscribed definitely and indelibly that this saving banner is the guardian of the Roman Empire and the entire kingdom. When a statue of him was erected in the most crowded place in Rome, he immediately ordered that high spear in the form of a cross to be established in the hand of his image and the following inscription to be inscribed in Latin word for word: “With this saving sign, a true testimony of courage, I saved and freed your city from the yoke of the tyrant, and upon its liberation, returned freedom, former splendor and celebrity to the Roman Senate and people” (Chapter 40).

Subsequently Imp. Constantine and his soldiers repeatedly experienced the help and power of the Cross of the Lord. As Eusebius testifies, “where the sign of the cross was shown, the enemies fled, and the victors pursued them. When the Tsar found out about this, the saving banner, as the most effective means of victory, ordered to be moved to where he saw any of his regiments weakened. Victory with him was immediately restored, because those who fought with him were strengthened by cheerfulness and strength sent from above” (Book Two - Chapter 7).

“Therefore, Constantine ordered those of his shield-bearers who were distinguished by strength of body, strength of soul and pious disposition to serve solely in the service of this banner. These men numbered no less than fifty, and they had no other duty than either to stand around the banner or to follow it as a guard, each of them alternately carrying it on his shoulders. The writer of this story, long after these events, was told about this at his leisure by the Tsar himself, and added the following memorable incident to his story” (Book 2, Chapter 8):

“Once upon a time, in the heat of the battle, there was a noise in the army and great confusion spread. At this time, someone who was carrying a banner on his shoulders suffered greatly from timidity and then handed over his burden to another in order to escape from the battlefield. When one accepted the banner, and the other left, and was no longer guarding the banner, an arrow shot at the latter pierced his belly and took his life. Accepting punishment for his timidity and unbelief, he fell and died. On the contrary, for the one who took the saving banner, it became the protection of life, so that no matter how much arrows were fired at him, he remained unharmed; all their blows were taken by the spear of the banner” (Book two, chapter 9).

By the power of the Cross of the Lord Imp. Constantine later defeated Licinius, the Scythians and the Sarmatovs, who took up arms against Christianity (Book II, chapters 12, 16 and 17; Book IV, chapters 5 and 6).

Thus, the cross, which was formerly an instrument of shameful execution among the pagans, became under the Emperor. Constantine as a sign of victory - the triumph of Christianity over paganism and the subject of the deepest veneration.

Edict of Milan in 312 Imp. Constantine allowed everyone to accept Christianity without hesitation.

The Edict of 313 ordered the return to Christians of places of worship and all real estate taken away during the persecution.

In 314 Imp. Constantine banned pagan games, then freed the clergy from civil positions and church lands from general duties; abolished execution by crucifixion and issued a strict law against Jews who rebelled against the Christian Church (313-315); allowed the liberation of slaves in churches without special formalities, which were very difficult in civil courts (316), forbade private individuals to make sacrifices to idols and resort to fortune telling in their own homes, leaving this right only to societies (319); issued a command throughout the Roman Empire to celebrate Sunday (321); abolished the Roman laws against celibacy, to protect Christians and Christian women who took vows of virginity; granted the Church the right to receive property under wills; allowed Christians to occupy the highest government positions; ordered the creation of free Christian churches and forbade the introduction into them, according to the custom that existed in pagan temples, of imperial statues and images (325).

Behold, how powerful and invincible the power of the Cross of Christ showed itself, transforming the vast pagan world into a Christian empire, and its kings into faithful guardians of the Church and Christian piety. And all attempts after Emperor Constantine, canonized by the Church and called “equal to the apostles,” to revive paganism and in one way or another undermine true Christianity, invariably ended in failure. The power of the Cross of Christ was victorious, and true Christianity triumphed over all its enemies. That is why it is frivolous and criminal to neglect this wondrous Divine power!