Conversion and Monastic Life
The accounts of Constantine's life emphasize his movement from the Judaism of his upbringing to the Christian faith. By tradition he had been educated in Jewish learning, and his interest in Christianity is said to have begun with the imitation of the sign of the Cross before maturing into a settled conviction. Having left his family, he is reported by the hagiographical tradition to have been shown the way to an Orthodox monastery called Fouvoution, where many ascetics lived; there he was baptized and tonsured a monk.
As a monk Constantine is described as a strict ascetic. The tradition associates with him various wonders, including the lasting impression of the Cross upon his forehead received at his baptism, and relates that he foreknew the time of his death and met his repose in peace. The details of these accounts are recorded by the synaxarion and later hagiographical sources rather than by contemporary documentation.