The Edict of Milan Ends Christianity's Legal Persecution
Constantine and Licinius grant every person, Christian or not, the freedom to follow whatever religion they choose
Quick facts
- Date
- February 313 CE
- Issued by
- Constantine (west) and Licinius (east)
- Built on
- Galerius's toleration edict of 311 CE
- Also ordered
- Restoration of confiscated church property
What happened
Meeting in Milan in February 313 CE, the western emperor Constantine and the eastern emperor Licinius agreed on a policy of religious toleration across the Roman Empire, building on an earlier toleration edict issued by Galerius in 311 CE. The agreement, recorded in a letter Licinius sent to provincial governors, stated that Christians and everyone else should have full authority to observe whatever religion each preferred, so that no one should be denied the chance to devote himself to the religion he judged best suited to himself. The edict also ordered the restoration of property confiscated from Christians during the recent persecution, including places of worship, at public expense.
Why it matters
The Edict of Milan did not make Christianity the state religion, that step was still nearly seventy years away, but it ended the legal jeopardy Christians had lived under intermittently for two and a half centuries and opened the door to the imperial patronage that would remake the church's fortunes within a single generation.
How we know
The edict survives quoted in full within Lactantius's contemporary work On the Deaths of the Persecutors and in Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History, two independent Christian sources writing close to the event.
Sources
- Internet History Sourcebooks Project, Fordham University. The Edict of Milan · Primary source (author-declared)sourcebooks.fordham.edu · Cited as a "primary" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- Christian History Institute. 313 The Edict of Milan · Reputable sourcechristianhistoryinstitute.org · The domain "christianhistoryinstitute.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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Part of a timelineHistory of Christianity28 events · A crucified Jewish teacher, a persecuted sect that became an empire's official religion, and two thousand years of councils, schisms, and missions that carried it to every continentView all →