Peace of the Church

Background

In the public religion of ancient Rome, men and women of the social elite served as priests of the state cultus. Most priesthoods for men allowed the officeholder to lead an active political and military life as well; a few of the most archaic offices, such as that of the Flamen Dialis or high priest of Jupiter, served under strict religious prohibitions. Through interpretatio graeca and romana, the religions of other peoples incorporated into the Roman Empire coexisted within the Roman theological hierarchy. The cult of the Phrygian goddess Cybele, for instance, was imported from Galatia and integrated into Roman state religion as a result of the Second Punic War, at the end of the 3rd century BC. Six centuries later, as the Empire was becoming Christianized, the Calendar of Filocalus records the official observance of other international deities such as Isis. Individuals also might choose to undergo initiation into mystery religions such as the rites of Mithras, as a matter of private devotion. These forms of religious observance were not considered mutually incompatible.

But just as pharaoh Echnaton's monotheistic cult of Aton collided with the polytheistic traditions of Egypt, the Judeo-Christian instistence on Yahweh being the only God, believing all other gods were false gods, could not be fitted into the system. The spread of Christians, first looked on merely as Jewish schismatics, over most provinces and Rome itself, and most of all their scruples in refraining from the loyalty oaths directed at the emperor's divinity and their refusal to pay the Jewish tax, was perceived as a threat not just to the state cult, but to the state itself, leading to various forms of persecution.

In the third century, the Church as such was made the object of attack. The emperor Decius (249 - 251) issued edicts that imposed hard restrictions on Christians, a policy continued by his successor Valerian. The accession of Gallienus, however, ushered in a period of nearly 40 years with no official sanctions against Christians, which Eusebius described as the "little" peace of the Church. In 303, Diocletian (284-305) and the tetrarchy launched the last and bloodiest persecution, the enforcement of religious conformity being part of his program to restore stability and unity in the wake of the Crisis of the Third Century. In 311, his successor Galerius published an edict from Nicomedia officially ending the persecutions.

Constantine's Edict

Complete amnesty and freedom were attained two years later when Emperor Constantine, after defeating Maxentius, published early in 313 with his colleague Licinius the famous Edict of Milan by which Christians were guaranteed the fullest liberty in the practice of their religion.

In addition to removing the ban from the Christians, Constantine ordered that the property of which they had been deprived during the persecutions by seizure or confiscation should be returned to them at the expense of the State. For the Christians the immunities and guaranties contained in this act had most important results. Then for the first time it became possible to observe publicly the liturgy in its fullness, and seriously and earnestly to attempt to mould the life of the empire according to Christian ideals and standards. The joy of the Christians at this change in their public status is admirably expressed by Eusebius in his "Church History" (X, ii).