Constantine’s Laws for the Christians

As soon as the sole government of the Roman Empire was in Constantine’s hands, he issued a public decree ordering all his subjects in the East to honor the Christian religion, to worship the Divine Being with care, and to recognize as divine only what is truly divine in its very being and has the power that endures forever and ever. For God delights to give every good thing without stint to those who eagerly embrace the truth, and he meets their undertakings with the best of hopes, while misfortunes, in peace or in war, in public or in private life, fall on those who transgress. Constantine then added, though without empty boasting, that since God had judged him a fit servant and worthy to reign, he had been led from the British sea to the eastern provinces, so that the Christian religion might spread, and so that those who for the sake of the worship of God had stood firm in confessing their faith or in martyrdom might be raised to public honors. After saying this, he went on to countless other measures by which he thought his subjects might be drawn to religion. He decreed that all the acts and sentences passed by the persecutors of the church against Christianity should be canceled. He ordered that everyone who had been sent into exile, against their will, for confessing Christ, whether to the islands or elsewhere, and all who had been condemned to labor in the mines, the public works, the women’s workshops, or the linen factories, or who had been enrolled as public officials, should be set free. He removed the mark of disgrace from those on whom it had been placed. Those who had been stripped of high rank in the army he allowed either to take back their former place or, with an honorable discharge, to enjoy a comfortable leisure, as they themselves chose. And when he had restored everyone to their former freedom and accustomed honors, he gave them back their property as well. As for those who had been put to death and whose property had been confiscated, he decreed that the inheritance should go to the next of kin, or, if there were no heirs, to the church of the place where the estate lay. Where the inheritance had passed into other hands and had become either private or public property, he ordered it to be given back. He also promised to make the fairest and best possible arrangements where the property had been bought from the treasury or received from it as a gift. [a]

These measures, as has been said, were decreed by the emperor, confirmed by law, and carried out at once. So Christians were placed in almost all the chief posts of the Roman government. The worship of false gods was forbidden everywhere, and the arts of divination, the dedication of statues, and the celebration of pagan festivals were banned. Many of the most ancient customs kept in the cities fell out of use. Among the Egyptians, the measure used to show the rise of the waters of the Nile was no longer carried into pagan temples, but into churches. The gladiatorial shows were then forbidden among the Romans. And the custom among the Phoenicians of Lebanon and Heliopolis of prostituting virgins before marriage, who were then accustomed to live in lawful marriage after their first experience of an unlawful union, was abolished. As for the houses of prayer, the emperor repaired some that were large enough; others he splendidly rebuilt, making them longer and wider; and he put up new buildings in places where there had been none before. He supplied what was needed from the imperial treasury, and wrote to the bishops of the cities and the governors of the provinces, asking them to contribute whatever might be wanted, and calling for submission and eager obedience to the priests.

The prosperity of religion kept pace with the growing prosperity of the empire. After the war with Licinius, the emperor was successful in battle against foreign nations. He conquered the Sarmatians and the people called Goths, and made a treaty with them on favorable terms. These peoples lived along the Danube. Since they were very warlike, and always ready for battle because of their great numbers and their great size, they held the other barbarian tribes in fear and met their only opponents in the Romans. It is said that during this war Constantine saw clearly, through signs and dreams, that the special protection of divine providence had been granted to him. So when he had defeated all who rose up against him in battle, he showed his gratitude to Christ by eager attention to the affairs of religion, and urged the governors to recognize the one true faith and way of salvation. He decreed that part of the revenues raised from the tributary countries should be sent by the various cities to the bishops and clergy, wherever they lived, and he ordered that the law granting this gift should stand forever. [d]

To accustom the soldiers to worship God as he did, he had their weapons marked with the sign of the cross, and he built a house of prayer in the palace. When he went to war, he had a tent carried before him, built in the shape of a church, so that if he or his army were led into the desert, they would have a sacred building in which to praise and worship God and to take part in the mysteries. Priests and deacons accompanied the tent and carried out the services according to the law of the church. From that time on, each of the Roman legions, which were now called by their numbers, provided its own tent, with priests and deacons to serve it. He also ordered that the day called the Lord’s day, which the Jews call the first day of the week and the pagans dedicate to the sun, should be kept, and likewise the day before the seventh. He commanded that no court cases or other business should be carried on on those days, but that God should be served with prayers and supplications. He honored the Lord’s day because on it Christ rose from the dead, and the other day because on it he was crucified.

He regarded the cross with special reverence, both because of the power it had given him in his battles against his enemies and because of the divine way in which the sign had appeared to him. He abolished by law the crucifixion that had been customary among the Romans as a punishment in the courts. He ordered that this divine sign should always be engraved and stamped on the coins and images that were struck, and his images, which still exist in this very form, bear witness to that order. Indeed, he strove in everything, and above all in making laws, to serve God. It seems too that he forbade many shameful and immoral unions that had not been forbidden until then. Anyone who is interested can see at a glance from a few examples what laws he made on these matters, and I think it pointless to go through them all now. I do think it necessary, however, to mention the laws made for the honor and strengthening of religion, since they make up a large part of church history. So I will go on to tell of them.