the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Bible Encyclopedias
Helem
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or the name of one or two men, variously written in the Hebrew.
1. HE'LEM (הֵלֶם, a stroke; Sept. Ε᾿λάμ, Vulg. Helem), a brother of Shamer (or Shomer) and great-grandson of Asher, several of whose sons are enumerated in 1 Chronicles 7:35.; perhaps the same with HIOTHAM, 1 Chronicles 7:32. B.C. prob. cir. 1658.
2. CHE'LEM. (חֵלֶם, in Chaldee a dream, as often in Dan.; or robust; Sept. οί ὑπομένοντες αὐτόν,Vulg. Helesm), one of those associated with Zechariah in the typical crowning of the high-priest, or, as it appears, himself also crowned (Zechariah 6:14, "Heled," prob. by erroneous transcription for Heled or HELDAI, Zechariah 6:10). Helena, ST., mother of Constantine the Great. She was born about 274; Gloucester, Triers, and Bithynia dispute the honor of being her birthplace. Some consider her as of noble family, while the older authorities state that she was daughter of a shepherd or innkeeper. Constantius Chlorus is said to have married her for her beauty. She is also said to have at first been only his concubine, but this, perhaps, is a mistake, arising from the fact that the Roman law applied to women marrying above their station a name which had also this meaning. When Constantius became emperor he repudiated her, and she resided, perhaps, in the neighborhood of Triers until her son Constantine called her back with the title of Augusta. She did much towards softening the naturally tyrannical disposition of her son. She undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land about 325, where, by so-called miraculous agencies, she is said to have discovered, under the ruins of a heathen temple, the sepulcher and cross of Christ, the latter of which was "proved genuine by the miracles it wrought!" She built a church on the site, which remains to this day in part. All this gave a great impulse to pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and indirectly to the Crusades. She left Palestine in 327, returned to her son, and died probably soon after. The Romans claim to have her remains in the church of Ara Caeli. The monks of Hautvilliers, near Rheims (France), claim, on the other hand, that one of their order, as early as in the 9th century, brought the body of the saint from thence to their convent. Unfortunately, the Venetians state, on the other side that the saint was buried at Constantinople, and that her remains were thence transferred to their city. So devotees kneel in three different places, on the 18th of August, before the remains of the daughter of a shepherd or innkeeper, who subsequently became a sainted empress. — Monographs on St. Helena and her history are enumerated in Volbeding, Index Programmatum, p. 125. See Eusebius, Life of Constantine; Herzog, Real- Encyklop. and the articles Cross; (See JERUSALEM).
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Helem'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/h/helem.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
