The Edict of Milan and Other Laws

Come, then, let us finally add the translations, made from the Latin, of the imperial decrees of Constantine and Licinius. [a]

“We have long held that freedom of worship ought not to be denied, but that each person’s mind and will should be given authority to tend to divine things according to his own choice. So we had ordered that the Christians, as well as everyone else, should keep the faith of their own sect and worship. [b] But in that rescript, in which this authority was granted to them, many different conditions appeared to have been plainly added, and perhaps for that reason some of them were soon driven back from that observance. [c]

When I, Constantine Augustus, and I, Licinius Augustus, came together under happy auspices at Milan and took up everything that concerned the public good and benefit, we decided, among the other things that seemed likely to profit everyone in many ways, or rather first of all, to make decrees to secure reverence and respect toward the divine. That is, we decided to grant both to the Christians and to all people free choice to follow whatever religion they wish, so that whatever divinity and heavenly reality there is may be favorable to us and to all who live under our authority. [e] We have therefore decided, by sound and most upright reasoning, that this is our will: that no one at all is to be refused permission to follow and choose the observance or religion of the Christians, and that each person is to be given authority to devote his mind to whatever religion he thinks suits him, so that the Divinity may show us in all things its accustomed care and generosity. [f]

It was fitting for us to write back that this is our pleasure. The conditions contained in our earlier letter about the Christians, sent to Your Devotion, are to be removed entirely, and whatever seemed very harsh and foreign to our gentleness is to be withdrawn; and now each one who has made the same choice, to keep the religion of the Christians, may observe it freely and without conditions, without any harassment. [g] We have decided to make this known most fully to your care, so that you may know that we have given these same Christians free and unrestricted authority to practice their own religion. And since you see that we have granted this to them without restriction, Your Devotion understands that authority has also been given to others who wish to follow their own observance and religion. This plainly suits the quiet of our times: that each person should have authority to choose and to worship whatever divinity he pleases. We have done this so that we may not seem to have slighted any rank or any religion in any way.

Further, in regard to the Christians, we decree this in addition. As for their places, where it was formerly their custom to assemble, and about which a different rule had been laid down at an earlier time in the letters already sent to Your Devotion: if any people appear to have bought them, whether from our treasury or from anyone else, they are to restore them to these same Christians without payment and without any demand for the price, without any postponement, neglect or hesitation. [h] If any happen to have received these places as a gift, they are to restore them to these same Christians as quickly as possible. If either those who bought the places or those who received them as a gift ask anything of our generosity, let them apply to the prefect who judges in the district, so that provision may be made for them too through our kindness. All these things must be handed over at once, through your diligence and without any delay, to the body of the Christians. [i]

And since these same Christians are known to have owned not only the places where they used to assemble but other places as well, belonging not to individuals among them but to the legal right of their body, that is, of the Christians, you will order all these, under the law we have stated above, to be restored without any dispute to these same Christians, that is, to their body and assembly in each place. The rule stated above is of course to be kept: those who restore them without payment, as we have said, may hope to be compensated by our generosity. [j] In all these matters you must show the utmost zeal on behalf of the body of the Christians named above, so that our command may be carried out as quickly as possible, and so that in this too, through our kindness, provision may be made for the common and public quiet. For in this way, as has been said already, the divine care for us, which we have already experienced in many matters, will remain secure for all time. And so that the terms of this law and generosity of ours may come to the knowledge of all, it is fitting that what we have written be set at the head of your own proclamation, posted everywhere and brought to the knowledge of all, so that the law of this generosity of ours may escape no one’s notice.” [k]

“Greetings, our most honored Anulinus. It is the way of our love of goodness, most honored Anulinus, to wish that what belongs by right to another should not only be left undisturbed but also be restored. [l] So it is our will that, as soon as you receive this letter, if any of the things that belonged to the catholic church of the Christians in any city or other place are now held by citizens or by anyone else, you have them restored at once to these same churches. For we have already decided that what these churches formerly owned is to be restored to them by right. Since, then, Your Devotion sees that the order of this command of ours is perfectly clear, make haste to have everything that belonged by right to these churches, whether gardens or houses or anything else, restored to them as quickly as possible, so that we may learn that you have obeyed this order of ours with the greatest care. Farewell, our most honored and dear Anulinus.” [m]

“Constantine Augustus to Miltiades, bishop of Rome, and to Marcus. Many papers of this kind have been sent to me by Anulinus, the most distinguished proconsul of Africa, in which it is stated that Caecilian, bishop of the city of Carthage, is being called to account on many counts by some of his colleagues in Africa. And it seems a very grave thing to me that in those provinces which divine Providence has freely entrusted to my Devotion, where there is a great population, the people should be found persisting in the worse course and splitting, as it were, into two parties, and the bishops at odds among themselves— [n] it has therefore seemed good to me that Caecilian himself, with ten of the bishops who appear to be accusing him and ten others whom he himself considers necessary for his case, should sail to Rome. There, in the presence of yourselves, and also of Reticius, Maternus and Marinus, your colleagues, whom I have ordered to hurry to Rome for this purpose, he may be heard, as you may understand to be in keeping with the most sacred law. [o] And so that you may have the fullest knowledge of all these matters, I have attached to my letter copies of the documents sent to me by Anulinus, and have sent them to your colleagues named above. When Your Firmness has read them, you will judge how this case may be most carefully examined and justly decided. For it does not escape your diligence that I have such respect for the lawful catholic church that I do not want you to leave any schism or division anywhere at all. May the divinity of the great God keep you safe for many years, most honored one.” [p]

“Constantine Augustus to Chrestus, bishop of Syracuse. Some time ago, when certain people began wickedly and perversely to split apart over the holy worship, the heavenly power and the catholic sect, I wished to cut short their quarrels. So I arranged that certain bishops should be sent from Gaul, and that those of the opposing sides in Africa, who were contending stubbornly and persistently with each other, should be summoned, so that in their presence, and in the presence of the bishop of Rome, the matter that seemed to have caused the disturbance might be examined with all care and set right. [q] But, as it happens, some have forgotten both their own salvation and the reverence owed to the most holy sect, and even now they do not stop prolonging their private hostilities. They refuse to accept the judgment already given, and they insist that only a few gave their opinions and decisions, or else that the judges hurried to a verdict too quickly and too sharply, before everything that needed investigating had been carefully examined. The result of all this is that the very people who ought to be of one brotherly and harmonious mind are shamefully, or rather detestably, divided from one another, and give those whose souls are strangers to this most holy religion an occasion for mockery. That is why I have had to see to it that this dispute, which should have ended by their own free consent once the judgment was given, may now at last, if possible, be brought to an end in the presence of many.

We have therefore ordered a great many bishops from various and countless places to meet in the city of Arles before the first of August, and we thought it right to write to you as well. Obtain a public carriage from the most distinguished Latronianus, the corrector of Sicily; take with you two of those of the second seat, whom you yourself choose, and three servants who can attend you on the way; and be at that place by the same day. Then, through your firmness and through the united and like-minded understanding of the others who meet there, this quarrel, which has dragged on disgracefully until now because of certain shameful disputes, may be called back to the faith and worship that are owed and to brotherly harmony, even if only slowly, once everything has been heard that those now at odds with one another have to say; for we have ordered them to be present too. [s] May God Almighty keep you in good health for many years.”