Emperor Constantine the Great was the son of Constantius Chlorus, who ruled the western part of the Roman Empire (Britain and Gaul) and St. Helena, Equal-to-the-Apostles. At the age of 18, he was taken by Emperor Diocletian to Nicomedia, where he saw persecution and the firmness of Christians.

In 306, after the death of Emperor Constantius, Constantine returned to Gaul and was proclaimed emperor. One day, before the battle with the tyrant Maxentius, Constantine saw a sign: a shining cross with the inscription: "Win this" (in Greek, NIKA). At night, the Lord appeared to him in a dream and told him that with this sign Constantine would defeat the enemy. By order of Constantine, images of the cross were made on all the banners. Having won, Constantine solemnly entered Rome and ordered his statue to be erected on the square with a cross in his right hand and with the inscription: "With this saving banner I saved the city from the tyrant's yoke."

In 313, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan on religious tolerance, and in 323, when he became emperor over the entire Roman Empire, he extended the edict to the entire territory. After three hundred years of persecution, Christians for the first time had the opportunity to openly profess their faith. Constantine the Great moved the capital from Rome to Byzantium (Constantinople), supported the Church, built churches, and soon sent his mother, Equal-to-the-Apostles Elena, to Jerusalem in search of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord, and in 326 the cross was miraculously found. In 325, at the First Ecumenical Council, attended by Nicholas the Wonderworker, in Nicaea, Constantine condemned the heresy of Arius and proposed to include the definition of "Consubstantial with the Father" in the Creed, forever consolidating the truth about the Divinity of Jesus Christ.

The icon depicts Equal-to-the-Apostles Tsar Constantine in military armor, holding up a life-giving cross in his right hand, placing his left hand over his heart.