May 22: [Helena of Constantinople, Protector of the Holy Places, 330]

The Collect of the Day

Helena of Constantinople

Most Merciful God, who blessed your servant Helena with such grace and devotion to you that she venerated the very footsteps of our Savior; Grant unto us the same grace that, aided by her prayers and example, we also may always behold your glory in the cross of your Son. Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Helena of Constantinople

Most Merciful God, who didst vouchsafe to bless thy servant Helena with such grace and devotion to thee that she didst venerate the very footsteps of our Savior; Grant unto us the same grace that, aided by her prayers and example, we too may evermore behold thy glory in the cross of thy Son. Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Micah 4:1–4
Psalm 2
Luke 23:26–32

Helena was the mother of the Emperor Constantine of Rome and a devout Christian, but she is perhaps most renowned for her discoveries of holy sites related to the life of Jesus.

Helena was born into a lower class family in the middle of the 3rd century, though we are unsure about where. Many believe she was born in Drepana (now Helenopolis) in northern Asia Minor but this is uncertain. There are also later legends that place her birth in England, and for that she is honored with numerous holy wells across the country. Regardless of birthplace she would eventually become the wife, or at least consort, of Constantius I, who was co-emperor and ruled over Gaul (France) and Britannia (Britain). During this time Helena would give birth to a son, Constantine, in the year 272, but she would soon be divorced and live in the East in the palace of Diocletian.

Once her son gained the Western Empire in the year 312, she returned to Rome and was granted the title Augusta, or Empress, in 325. It was during this time that she made her famous journey to the Holy Land to find the places mentioned in the Gospels, with the most important finds being the Cross of the Crucifixion and the site of the Resurrection.

Long after the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70, the Emperor Hadrian had the area rebuilt. As part of this restoration a pagan temple was built on the very site of the Resurrection. Helena ordered this temple destroyed, had the area excavated, and discovered three crosses along with the epitaph that said, “Jesus, King of the Jews”. To ensure it was truly the cross of Christ, a woman near death was carried to the site and touched each cross in turn. On the third one she was cured and Helena declared this to be the one. She ordered that a church be built which would be called the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Regardless of the truth of the legend itself, it is certain that she claimed to have found this and many other holy sites and relics on her journey, and that many of these remain prominent sites of Christian pilgrimage to this day. Unfortunately, she would not live to see the completion of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, as she died in 330, five years before its completion.

Helena also had a reputation as a faithful Christian who cared for the poor. After her death several towns would be named in her honor and she would also eventually be given the title of “Equal to the Apostles” in the Orthodox Church. Helena’s faith in her Lord was not a detached spirituality, but an embodied and historical one, such that she eagerly sought to find the very places where the Son of God had walked, taught, died, and rose again.

Lessons and Psalm

First Lesson

Micah 4:1–4

¹In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised up above the hills. Peoples shall stream to it, ²and many nations shall come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. ³He shall judge between many peoples, and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; ⁴but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

Psalm

¹Why are the nations in an uproar? *Why do the peoples mutter empty threats?

²Why do the kings of the earth rise up in revolt, and the princes plot together, *against the Lord and against his Anointed?

³“Let us break their yoke,” they say; *“let us cast off their bonds from us.”

⁴He whose throne is in heaven is laughing; *the Lord has them in derision.

⁵Then he speaks to them in his wrath, *and his rage fills them with terror.

⁶“I myself have set my king *upon my holy hill of Zion.”

⁷Let me announce the decree of the Lord: *he said to me, “You are my Son; this day have I begotten you.

⁸Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance *and the ends of the earth for your possession.

⁹You shall crush them with an iron rod *and shatter them like a piece of pottery.”

¹⁰And now, you kings, be wise; *be warned, you rulers of the earth.

¹¹Submit to the Lord with fear, *and with trembling bow before him;

¹²Lest he be angry and you perish; *for his wrath is quickly kindled.

¹³Happy are they all *who take refuge in him!

Gospel

Luke 23:26–32

²⁶As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus. ²⁷A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. ²⁸But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. ²⁹For the days are surely coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ ³⁰Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ ³¹For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” ³²Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him.