The Constantin and Helen Church from Moțăței is a place of worship built in the year 1915, being founded by the aristocrat Corcoveanu.
The Orthodox Church celebrates on the 21st of May the Saint Emperors Constantin and his mother, Helen. Constantin the Great was born in the city Naissus (Nis, Serbia) around the year 274. He became the sovereign of the entire Roman Empire after the defeat of Maxențiu and of Liciniu. According to the testimonies of Eusebiu and Lactanțiu, in the eve of the fight with Maxențiu, Constantin saw on the sky during the day, in the middle of the day, a luminous cross above the sun with the inscriptions: “in hoc signo vinces” (through this sign you will defeat).
In the night, during the sleep, Christ appears before him, asking him to put the sign of the holy cross on the flags of the soldiers. Listening to the advice received in the dream, he defeats in the fight against Maxențiu. On the Arch of Triumph of Constantin, which is kept at Rome, it is found the inscription: “instinctu divinitatis” –“ through divine inspiration, which discovers the method through which it was, achieved the victory against Maxențiu.
The most significant accomplishment of the Emperor Constantin was the Edict from Milan (313), through which the Christianity gets to be known in the state. However, it will become a state religion during the times of Teodosie the Great (379 – 395).
After the edict from 313, the emperor exempts the Church from the payment of the taxes, gives it the right of receiving donations and gives the bishops the right to judge the one who didn’t want to be judged according to the laws of the state. He will remove from the criminal laws the punishments contrary to the spirit of Christianity, such as: the crucifixions, the smashing of the legs, the stigmatizing (burning with the red iron).
The Emperor Constantin convoked the first Ecumenical assembly from Niceea (325), where after long debates, the teaching of Arie was condemned and it was adopted the formula according to whom the Son of God is the same entity with the Father and, therefore, from eternity with Him. At the assembly there were also formed the first 7 articles of the Symbol of Faith (the Confession), it was fixed the date of Easter (the first Sunday after the fool moon, after the spring equinox) and there were given 20 canons concerning the church discipline.
Saint Constantin the Great was baptized on the death bed by the bishop Eusebiu from Nicomidia. He died after a short time (337) in Nicomidia and he was buried in the church of the Holy Apostles from Constantinople, founded by him.
Flavia Iulia Helena was born in the province Bitinia. In the year 293, the Roman general Constantiu Chlorus, at the commands of the emperor Diocletian, divorces of the Empress Helena. He doesn’t get re-marries, but lives far away from the attention of the public, but close to his son. He managed to discover on the hill of Golgotha the cross on which Christ was crucified. According to the traditions, following the diggings there were found three crosses. In order to be identified the cross on which Christ was crucified, they touched the three crosses of a dead men. He resurrected in the moment in which he was touched by the Cross of God. On the 14th of September 326, the bishop Macarie I of Jerusalem took the cross and lifted it up in front of the people. The day of the 14th of September became the celebration of the Rise of the Holy Cross in the Christian calendar.
The Empress Helena built of the Church of the Holy Tomb, the Church from Bethlehem, the one from Nazareth and many other holy places of worship.
