The Cross of Empress Helen Dragas-Palaiologos, who later was known as Saint Ypomoni, dates to 1417 and is made of wood and silver with low and high relief, height 36.2 cm, length of large horizontal beam 18.8 cm, length of small horizontal beam 11.2 cm. The front depicts Christ Crucified, while the back depicts Christ Baptized. It has a resemblance to the so-called Cross of Constantine the Great at Vatopaidi Monastery, which probably also dates back to the Palaiologan Period. Artistically, the larger figures have a Western influence, while the smaller images are more Byzantine. It is stored in the Monastery of Dionysiou on Mount Athos.
This Cross, according to an inscription imprinted on a rectangular silver plate at the lower end of its vertical beam, was an offering of Helen, daughter of the Serbian ruler Constantine Dragas, wife of the Emperor Manuel Palaiologos and mother of the last Roman Emperor, Constantine XI. In 1448 she became a nun with the name Ypomoni and died two years later. The inscription in thirteen lines reads: "+ Offering of the Roman Lady Helen Palaiologina, wife of Emperor Manuel Palaiologos, daughter of Dragas, ruler of Serbia."
This Cross, according to an inscription imprinted on a rectangular silver plate at the lower end of its vertical beam, was an offering of Helen, daughter of the Serbian ruler Constantine Dragas, wife of the Emperor Manuel Palaiologos and mother of the last Roman Emperor, Constantine XI. In 1448 she became a nun with the name Ypomoni and died two years later. The inscription in thirteen lines reads: "+ Offering of the Roman Lady Helen Palaiologina, wife of Emperor Manuel Palaiologos, daughter of Dragas, ruler of Serbia."
