Saint Constantine - Wooden icon in canvas with gold background on carved wood - Mount Athos

Seriograph icon crafted in canvas with gold background on carved wood.

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Saint Constantine

Saint Constantine’s father was Constantios Chloros holding the title of Augustus, and his mother Saint Eleni; he was raised in the aristocratic courtyard of the Roman Empire and was associated with many different religions. After his father’s death, Constantine the Great was proclaimed Augustus in the West, when at the same time Galerios was Augustus in the East. Galerios and later Maxentius, son of Maximilian, did not accept the status of Constantine the Great, so having become weakened invoked God’s power without really knowing to which God to address. As he was praying he visualized up in the sky the Cross with the inscription "in hoc signo vinces,"en touto nika", "in this you win" and that same night he had a vision of the symbol of the Cross inducing him to produce imitations as amulets and go to war. With the power of God he marched in Rome without any impediment. He immediately turned his attention towards the Christians, wherever they may be, and in 313 A.D. he succeeded the historical decree of religious tolerance. For years he defended the Trinity of God and the unity of the church with successive Synods.

During the last period of his life, being seriously ill, Constantine the Great went to Elenopolis of Bithynia, his mother’s birthplace, where feeling repentant, he decided to be baptized Christian. For this reason he went to Nicomedia where he assembled all the Bishops and was baptized. Following his baptism he never wore again the imperial tunic but only the white gown of his baptism. When he died, his military officers placed his relics in a golden reliquary and carried them to Constantinople where he was buried in the temple of Saint Apostles.