medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> "H." refers to Helen.
>
> her deathbed conversion --if indeed it did happen-- seems more than a bit
> curious, given her Invention of the True Cross and, i beleive, some other
> activities (church building?), the details of which i can't recall.
It is my understanding that the legends relating St Helena to the Invention of the
True Cross and other sites in the Holy Land can only be traced back to the very late
4th century. There is also a whole string of later Empresses, such as Pulcheria,
with such exemplary Christian interests, as well.
> >...the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church...does talk a lot about his
> activities as Emperor and it certainly sounds like he was a Christian, if not,
> then acting on behalf of Christian interests. Also, what about the Nicean
> Creed and all that?
Constantine may only have been baptized on his death bed, but his patronage of
the Christian church was substantial from shortly after his victory at the Milvian
Bridge in 312, beginning with his donation of the imperial Lateran Palace to the
bishop of Rome in the following year and the building of the Lateran Basilica, which
he decorated, according to the Liber Pontificalis, with staggering amounts of silver
and gold. He also built the Golden Octagon in Antioch as a Christian chapel at one
of his palaces (it is not clear whether he also founded the Hagia Sophia as the
Christian palace chapel of his new palace at Constantinople, or whether this was
done by his son, Constantius). The churches he patronized in the Holy Land -- the
Holy Sepulchre, the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, etc. -- also considerably
raised the presence of Christianity in his empire, and it seems as if this was
intentional, whatever kind of religious Realpolitik Constantine was playing in relation
to the former established imperial cults.
Cheers,
Jim Bugslag
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