Constantine and the Edict of Milan
The emperor Constantine adopts Christianity and grants it legal freedom, and within seventy years it becomes the official religion of the Roman Empire.
- The Early Church — Henry Chadwick, Penguin (1993)
- A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years — Diarmaid MacCulloch, Allen Lane (2009)
- The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3rd revised edition) — F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.), Oxford University Press (2005)
- Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes — Eamon Duffy, Yale University Press (2014)
Before the battle of the Milvian Bridge outside Rome in 312, Constantine is said to have seen a sign in the sky, the Chi-Rho symbol of Christ, with the words “In this sign, conquer”. He won, and in 313 he and his co-emperor Licinius agreed in Milan to grant freedom of worship to Christians and all others and to return confiscated church property. This agreement is remembered as the “Edict of Milan”.
- The Early Church — Henry Chadwick, Penguin (1993)
- The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3rd revised edition) — F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.), Oxford University Press (2005)
Constantine showered the church with wealth, built great basilicas, including the first St Peter’s in Rome and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and founded a new capital, Constantinople. He was baptised only on his deathbed in 337.
- A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years — Diarmaid MacCulloch, Allen Lane (2009)
- The Early Church — Henry Chadwick, Penguin (1993)
- A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years — Diarmaid MacCulloch, Allen Lane (2009)
- Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes — Eamon Duffy, Yale University Press (2014)
A providential turning point: the persecuted church was freed, could build basilicas, hold councils and bring the gospel to the whole empire. Constantine is venerated as a saint in the Eastern churches.
- The Early Church — Henry Chadwick, Penguin (1993)
- The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3rd revised edition) — F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.), Oxford University Press (2005)
Historians debate how sincere or complete Constantine's conversion was, and many Christians, then and since, argue that union with imperial power compromised the church, bringing wealth, coercion and the persecution of pagans and heretics.
- A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years — Diarmaid MacCulloch, Allen Lane (2009)
Why it matters today
Constantine began the long partnership of church and state that shaped Europe for 1,500 years, from Christian emperors to Catholic kingdoms. Many Catholics see it as a providential opening; others think the church lost something of its early simplicity when it gained power, a debate that still runs through Catholic thought.