Grand Cross of Saint Constantine the Martyr
The Grand Cross of Saint Constantine the Martyr is Pantocratoria's highest military award for valour, awarded to soldiers and officers alike who rise above and beyond the call of duty on the field of battle. In a majority of cases, the Grand Cross of Saint Constantine the Martyr is awarded posthumously - two thirds of its recipients were killed in the process of performing the heroic action for which they were awarded the medal, or shortly thereafter as a result of wounds sustained in the action. Living recipients of the medal receive a lifetime pension.
The medal was created in 1574 by the Emperor Constantine XIII Comnenus to reward particularly heroic common soldiers who fought in his armies against the various rebellions of the late 16th Century. At the time, the Knights of the Order of the Pantocrator formed the backbone of the Pantocratorian military, but necessity had seen the creation of a standing professional army whose soldiers were not drawn from the nobility or gentry. The Grand Master of the Order of the Pantocrator was insistent that such soldiers not be inducted into the Order as rewards for bravery or particularly gallant service, worried about maintaining the Order as the exclusive domain of "a certain quality of person". The Emperor therefore created the Grand Cross of Saint Constantine the Martyr to reward outstanding service amongst the common soldiery instead. Shortly after its creation, the medal was soon used to reward not just common soliders but knights as well, and thus became held in high esteem across the whole breadth of Pantocratorian society.
The medal is made of gold and bronze in the shape of a large cross with a Pantobyzantine icon in the centre depicting the Emperor Constantine XI. Around the icon is written the phrase "I turn now and look to God alone", which was a phrase in a letter the Emperor sent to Mehmet II declaring his will to resist the Turkish army which took Constantinople. The phrase was originally written in Greek. From 1720 to 2004 the quote was given in French. It is now produced in both languages.
