Helena Augusta

“The queen of the world and the mother of the empire”[1]

Figure 1. Saint Helena. Iconostasis of the Uspenski Cathedral on the northern side, second row.

Virtually every religious building that professes Christian values commonly has an identifiable relic in a shape of a cross, something often seen on a church in almost every European city. Most people consider it a part of the religious or cultural background of their country yet, I wonder how many people are aware that ’the legend of the discovery of the cross’ is closely associated with Empress Helena from late antiquity. The Uspenski Cathedral in Helsinki, Finland displays a good example of the influence of Helena. It is the largest Orthodox church in Western Europe and its iconostasis holds an icon of Saint Helena (Figure 1.) holding a cross while below stands her son Constantine the Great, (Figure 2). Helena’s power and influence continues to live on in post-modern times as can be seen from the grandeur iconostasis in the Uspenski Cathedral which receives approximately half a million visitors every year (Figure 3, Helena and Constantine are positioned on the left side of the iconostasis).[2] Nonetheless, Helena was not only famous for the legend of the discovery of the cross, but she also left her mark of influence in other domains such as her pilgrimage to the Holy Land and sacred geography. Continue reading “Helena”