Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor Constantine the Great with his Mother Helen

Constantine, son of the Caesar Constantius Chlorus and Helena, was born about 272 and was proclaimed emperor by the army in 306. After defeating his rivals he and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan (313), which gave Christians freedom of worship, and from 324 he ruled the whole empire. In 325 he called the Council of Nicaea, and in 330 he dedicated a new capital on the Bosphorus, Constantinople. He was baptized shortly before his death at Nicomedia in 337.

His mother Helena travelled to Jerusalem as an elderly woman. Churches at Bethlehem and on the Mount of Olives were built at her wish, and tradition holds that she found the Cross at Golgotha. Both are called equal to the apostles.