https://doi.org/10.31648/hip.841
Lactantius and Eusebius of Caesarea described the vision that Constantine the Great had before the decisive battle with Maxentius on the Milvian Bridge: in his dream he saw the cross, all in light and the words: “Conquer by this sign” underneath it. Constantine took the cross to the battle and that brought him the victory. Since the times of Constantine the cross has become not only the most important symbol of Christianity but also the symbol of Christian power, the arms of its victory. In the literature, the cross related to the earthly authority is referred to as the cross of Constantine. The aim of the paper is to analyse the functioning of the cross of Constantine for the southern Slavic nations and in Ruthenia. An attempt was undertaken at proving the thesis that the importance of the cross of Constantine for Bulgarians and Serbians was large and close to the Byzantine one while in Ruthenia, despite undertaken efforts at popularising it, the cross did not play any major role. The political-religious conditions, and first of all the deep cult of the Virgin Mary icons that had no equivalent in any other country of Eastern Christian ecumene, were the causes of that situation. In the common conscience of the Ruthenians, the Virgin Mary icons influenced the fates of the country and of the individual; they decided the victory and contributed to establishment of the earthly order. Consequently, they fulfilled the same role as the cross of Constantine fulfilled for the southern Slavs.
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