rome made christianity the religion of the empire in 380.
rome made christianity the religion of the empire in 380.
when did rome make christianity the religion of the empire?
380
the edict is popularly thought to concern only christianity, and even to make christianity the official religion of the empire (which recognition did not actually occur until the edict of thessalonica in 380). indeed, the edict expressly grants religious liberty not only to christians, who had been the object of special persecution, but goes even further and grants liberty to all religions:
edict of milan
constantine i after his death was succeeded by two arian emperors constantius ii (son of constantine i) and valens. the eastern empire also saw its last pagan emperor in julian the apostate after the death of constantine i. even after constantine i, in the eastern mediterranean and middle east christians remained persecuted. though to a much lesser degree than when christianity was an illegal community (see persecution of early christians by the romans, shapur ii and basil of ancyra). constantine i by making christianity legal, did not make christianity the official religion of the empire. it was not until emperor gratian (west) and spaniard emperor theodosius i (east), as orthodox emperors both east and west, that christianity was made so. it was not until the co-reigns of gratian and theodosius that arianism was effectively wiped out among the ruling class and elite of the eastern empire. theodosius' wife st flacilla was instrumental in his campaign to end arianism. this later culminated into the killing of some 300,000 orthodox christians at the hands of arians in milan in 538.
history of eastern orthodox theology