Quidditas Volume 25 2004 Article 5 2004 Helena, Heraclius, and the True Cross Hans A. Pohlsander SUNY, Albany: Emeritus Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/rmmra Part of the Comparative Literature Commons, History Commons, Philosophy Commons, and the Renaissance Studies Commons Recommended Citation Pohlsander, Hans A. (2004) "Helena, Heraclius, and the True Cross," Quidditas: Vol. 25 , Article 5. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/rmmra/vol25/iss1/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Quidditas by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. Qui ddi t as 25 (2004) 15 HELENA, HERACLIUS, AND THE TRUE CROSS Hans A. Pohlsander SUNY, Albany: Emeritus More than three hundred years stand between the empress Helena, or St. Helena, and the Byzantine emperor Heraclius. This chronological distance has not been a hindrance to a very close association of the two personalities with each other. The link is not dynastic but thematic; it is provided by the Holy Cross, or the True Cross, i. e. the very cross of Christ's passion. It is the purpose of this article to show the manifestation of this link in the religious literature and ecclesiastical art of the Middle Ages and in the liturgy to this day.1 Helena was born c. 248-249 to parents of humble circumstances. The place of her birth most likely was Drepanum in Bithynia, later called Helenopolis by her son Constantine; claims of other cities, such as Trier or Colchester, must be rejected.