Edict of Milan

The Edict of Milan (Latin: Edictum Mediolanense; Greek: Διάταγμα τῶν Μεδιολάνων, Diatagma tōn Mediolanōn) was the February 313 AD agreement to treat Christians benevolently within the Roman Empire.^[1] Western Roman Emperor Constantine I and Emperor Licinius, who controlled the Balkans, met in Mediolanum (modern-day Milan) and, among other things, agreed to change policies towards Christians^[1] following the edict of toleration issued by Emperor Galerius two years earlier in Serdica. The Edict of Milan gave Christianity legal status and a reprieve from persecution but did not make it the state church of the Roman Empire, which occurred in AD 380 with the Edict of Thessalonica.^{[citation needed]}

The document is found in Lactantius's De mortibus persecutorum and in Eusebius of Caesarea's History of the Church with marked divergences between the two.^[2]^[3] Whether or not there was a formal 'Edict of Milan' is no longer really debated among scholars, who generally reject the story as it has come down in church history.^[4]^[1]

The version found in Lactantius is not in the form of an edict.^[3] It is a letter from Licinius to the governors of the provinces in the Eastern Empire that he had just conquered by defeating Maximinus^[5] later that same year and issued in Nicomedia.^[1]^[6]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Frend, W. H. C. (1965). The Early Church. SPCK, p. 137.
^ Lenski, Noel (2017). "The Significance of the Edict of Milan". In Siecienski, Edward (ed.). Constantine: Religious Faith and Imperial Policy. London: Routledge. pp. 27–56. Retrieved 21 May 2021. Differences tabulated on pp. 39–40
^ ^a ^b Cross and Livingstone. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church 1974 art. "Milan, Edict of."
^ Potter, D. Constantine the Emperor 2013 p. 148. He refers to the "Edict of Milan" as the so-called Edict of Milan in note 10 at the top of p. 329.
^ Stevenson, J. A New Eusebius SPCK 1965, p. 302
^ As David Potter states in his 2013 book Constantine the Emperor, "What is significant is that the document, once wrongly known as the Edict of Milan (there was never such a thing) and attributed to Constantine, is the product of a pagan emperor who had decided that Constantine's approach to the "Christian question" was correct. Although the 'Edict of Milan' is really a letter of Licinius to the governors of the eastern provinces, it still represents an important sea change in the direction of imperial policy." Potter p. 149

[Frend-1] Frend, W. H. C. (1965). The Early Church. SPCK, p. 137.

[Lenski2017-2] Lenski, Noel (2017). "The Significance of the Edict of Milan". In Siecienski, Edward (ed.). Constantine: Religious Faith and Imperial Policy. London: Routledge. pp. 27–56. Retrieved 21 May 2021. Differences tabulated on pp. 39–40

[ODCC_EoM-3] Cross and Livingstone. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church 1974 art. "Milan, Edict of."

[4] Potter, D. Constantine the Emperor 2013 p. 148. He refers to the "Edict of Milan" as the so-called Edict of Milan in note 10 at the top of p. 329.

[NE-5] Stevenson, J. A New Eusebius SPCK 1965, p. 302

[6] As David Potter states in his 2013 book Constantine the Emperor, "What is significant is that the document, once wrongly known as the Edict of Milan (there was never such a thing) and attributed to Constantine, is the product of a pagan emperor who had decided that Constantine's approach to the "Christian question" was correct. Although the 'Edict of Milan' is really a letter of Licinius to the governors of the eastern provinces, it still represents an important sea change in the direction of imperial policy." Potter p. 149

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