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Re: Helen and the True Cross
2006.06.27 17:02
Borgehammar and Drijvers will only get you so far. Otherwise, there's lots more "legend" within [Quondam's] archives.
I'm now at the point where I believe there are two possibilities as to how the legend of the True Cross originated:
1. The event actually did occur 14 September 325, with Helena and Eutropia present at the destruction of the Temple of Venus at Calvary. Subsequent to Helena's death at/near Naples 24/25 July 326, however, an imperially decreed law of silence regarding Helena and the Cross was proclaimed. Ambrose broke the silence 25 February 395 with his obituary of Theodosius.
2. The event was fabricated and put into effect by Helena and Eutropia 14 September 325. Subsequent to the death of Crispus spring 326 and then the death of Helena 24/25 July 326 and the suicide of Fausta 25 July 326, chaos and threat to the imperial position ensued, thus a law of silence regarding the fabricated legend of the True Cross was quickly proclaimed by Constantine at Eutropia's suggestion. Ambrose then broke the silence 25 February 395 and the fabricated discovery of the True Cross became an article of the Christian faith.
[There's a great line in Mapp and Lucia: "It is ridiculous that we must break ourselves of the habit of something that we cannot even do."]
Anyway, that's where the latest legend of Helena and the True Cross presently ends.
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