Edict of Milan

The Edict of Milan (Latin: Edictum Mediolanense; Greek: Διάταγμα τῶν Μεδιολάνων, Diatagma tōn Mediolanōn) was the February, AD 313 agreement to treat Christians benevolently within the Roman Empire.

[1][10] The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious and attributed their success as a world power to their collective piety (pietas) in maintaining good relations with the gods.

According to legends, most of Rome's religious institutions could be traced to its founders; this archaic religion was the foundation of the mos maiorum, "the way of the ancestors" or simply "tradition", viewed as central to Roman identity.

[15] Wherefore, for this our indulgence, they ought to pray to their God for our safety, for that of the republic, and for their own, that the commonwealth may continue uninjured on every side, and that they may be able to live securely in their homes.The actual letters have never been retrieved.

[16] The latter states:[17] When we, Constantine Augustus and Licinius Augustus, met so happily at Milan, and considered together all that concerned the interest and security of the State, we decided ... to grant to Christians and to everybody the free power to follow the religion of their choice, in order that all that is divine in the heavens may be favorable and propitious towards all who are placed under our authority.Eusebius of Caesarea translated both documents into Greek in his History of the Church (Historia Ecclesiastica).

[18] After Galerius's death, Maximinus was no longer constrained and enthusiastically took up renewed persecutions in the eastern territories under his control, encouraging petitions against Christians.

One of those petitions, addressed not only to Maximinus but also to Constantine and Licinius, is preserved in a stone inscription at Arycanda in Lycia, and is a "request that the Christians, who have long been disloyal and still persist in the same mischievous intent, should at last be put down and not be suffered by any absurd novelty to offend against the honour due to the gods.

Indeed, the edict expressly grants religious liberty to Christians, who had been the object of special persecution, but also goes even further and grants liberty to all other religions: When you see that this has been granted to [Christians] by us, your Worship will know that we have also conceded to other religions the right of open and free observance of their worship for the sake of the peace of our times, that each one may have the free opportunity to worship as he pleases; this regulation is made that we may not seem to detract from any dignity of any religion.Since Licinius composed the edict with the intent of publishing it in the east[20] upon his hoped-for victory over Maximinus, it expresses the religious policy accepted by Licinius, a pagan, rather than that of Constantine,[20] who was already a Christian.

[21] At that time, he was concerned about social stability and the protection of the empire from the wrath of the Christian God: in this view, the edict could be a pragmatic political decision rather than a religious shift.

Instructions were given for Christians' meeting places and other properties to be returned and compensation to be paid by the state to the current owners:[23] the same shall be restored to the Christians without payment or any claim of recompense and without any kind of fraud or deception.It directed the provincial magistrates to execute the order at once with all energy so that public order may be restored and the continuance of divine favour may "preserve and prosper our successes together with the good of the state."

[citation needed] The term "Peace of the Church" has sometimes been applied in Great Britain and Ireland to the ending of persecution that followed Catholic emancipation between 1778 and 1926.