Edict of milan definition world history
[note: This is an excerpt from A.T. Jones' essay, Appeal from the U. S. Supreme Court Decision Making this "A Christian Nation". It was written in 1893 in response to a Supreme Court Decision in 1891 which declared that the U.S. was a Christian nation. It is worth reading in full, but here I have excerpted some history regarding the Edict of Milan - the decree by Constantine allowing freedom to Christians - that is hugely important and I have no seen articulated anywhere else]
HOW THE PAPACY WAS MADE
It will be helpful at this point to take a glance at the making and establishment of that old order of things.
In the beginning of the fourth century there was in the Roman empire a powerful ecclesiastical organization, the leaders and managers of which were “only anxious to assert the government as a kind of sovereignty for themselves.”—Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, book VIII, chapter I. While “it was the hope of every bishop in the empire to make politics a branch of theology,” “it was the aim of Constantine to make theology a branch of politics.” In an intrigue therefore with Constantine the
What was the Edict of Milan?
Answer
The Edict of Milan was an important step in securing the civil rights of Christians throughout the Roman Empire. For nearly three hundred years, Christianity was functionally illegal in the Roman Empire. Christians were subject to various levels of persecution, up to and including arrest or execution, depending on the whims of the ruling politicians. In AD 311, the Roman Emperor Galerius issued a decree that Christians be treated with “toleration.” In practice, this simply cancelled the official persecution of Christianitybegun by Diocletianin 303. Return of confiscated property and the restoration of rights were not, however, part of Galerius’s decree.
In 313, the Western emperor, Constantine, met with his rival and counterpart, the Eastern emperor, Licinius, in the city of Milan, Italy. As part of their discussions, they issued a joint statement, later known as the Edict of Milan. This proclamation protected full rights for Christian citizens of the Empire, restoring their property, releasing them from prisons, and effectively banning government persecution of their faith. It also declared a general state of religious tolerance, allowi
The Edict of Milan, and the Modern Understanding of Justice
Unfortunately, modern Europe meaningfully denies its Christian inheritance. There is no mention of Christianity in the constitution of the European Union, due to a false concept of political correctness. In a number of German regions and Italian municipalities decisions are being made to forbid Christian symbolism in the schools. As a result of this false tolerance, Christianity is being pushed further and further to the fringe of social life, and antichristian views and morals are not only being legalized, they are being encouraged. The
In this series we are proof checking the oft repeated, yet rarely researched claims of “Easter is pagan!” which make their rounds each and every year without fail. In the first installment, So You Think Easter is Pagan Part 1: Ishtar, Eostre, Eggs, and Bunnies, we addressed the claims that Easter (both the name and the observance) originate from either the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, or the Germanic goddess Eostre.
The arguments are summed up well in the meme below:
In part 2 of this series we are addressing the following claim: “After Constantine decided to Christianize the Empire, Easter was changed to represent Jesus.”
We’ve already established in Part 1 that there was no such thing as a pagan observance in honor of either Ishtar (who definitely did exist in mythology) or Eostre (whose existence cannot even be confirmed) by the call of “Easter” that involved eggs and bunnies. If a pagan observance called “Easter” featuring eggs and bunnies did not occur, it logically follows that Constantine could not have “changed it to represent Jesus.”
So, on what grounds are these charges against Constantine levied? They are entirely based on an preliminary church disagreement ca
| Edict of Milan |
Emperor Diocletian pursued a comprehensive program against Christianity from 302 c.e. until his retirement in 305 c.e. His successors continued hostilities toward the church, especially in the eastern empire for several years, until it became clear that such programs were futile.
Sometime around 311 Galerius, one of the ruling Caesars, grudgingly and condescendingly issued the Edict of Toleration for all religious subjects, understood to apply mainly to the benefit of the persecuted Christians.
Shortly thereafter Galerius died. The western empire’s Caesar, Constantine the Great, immediately seized initiative and forged a similar agreement at Milan in 313 with his eastern counterpart Licinius.
This edict was more sympathetic to the Christian cause, reflecting Constantine’s sympathies for the faith. In time Christian causes even started to receive funds from the imperial treasury.
Ten years later Licinius unsuccessfully broke from Constantine’s religious revolution and renounced the accord of Milan; some 40 years later Constantine’s nephew Julian the Apostate also went this route and tried to reinstate conventional Greco-Ro