 The Byzantine Empire considered Constantine its founder and the Holy Roman Empire reckoned him among the venerable figures of its tradition . In the later Byzantine state , it had become a great honor for an emperor to be hailed as a " new Constantine " . Ten emperors , including the last emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire , carried the name . Monumental Constantinian forms were used at the court of Charlemagne to suggest that he was Constantine 's successor and equal . Constantine acquired a mythic role as a warrior against " heathens " . The motif of the Romanesque equestrian , the mounted figure in the posture of a triumphant Roman emperor , became a visual metaphor in statuary in praise of local benefactors . The name " Constantine " itself enjoyed renewed popularity in western France in the eleventh and twelfth centuries . Most Nicene churches consider Constantine a saint ( <unk> Κωνσταντίνος , Saint Constantine ) . In the Orthodox Church he is called <unk> ( <unk> Κωνσταντίνος ) — an equal of the Apostles . 
