Emperor Constantine (from C. & the Bishops by H.A. Drake)

Constantine died May 22, 337 (Whitsuntide),

with his place in history already secure.  Eusebius

of Caesarea, who records the emperor's last days in 

his Vita Constantinii, is circumspect about the nature

of the illness and his symptoms, reporting 

only that it began as a "slight bodily 

indisposition" and around Easter took a turn 

for the worse.  Despairing a cure around 

Constantinople, Constantine crossed the 

Hellespont and went first to 

Drepanum. . .famous for its hot springs 

and the site for the powerful bones of the

martyr Lucian of Antioch.  There he exhausted 

himself in prayer and supplication.  With the end 

fast approaching, he began a progress to the 

sea but had to stop at Nicomedia,

where he summoned the Bishops and 

begged for the solemn rite of baptism. . .

Typically, Constantine died with a message 

on his lips.  Leaving little to the imagination,

Constantine arranged for his body to be 

placed in the middle of relics and memorials 

for each of the Apostles.

A dutiful church responded with 

the honorific title of 

ISAPOSTOLOS ( the equal of the Apostles).

Constantine & the Bishops, by H.A. Drake, Johns

Hopkins Press, 2002 paperback edition, pages 307-8.