Edict of Milan

Milan's agreement is the modern name for a in 313 between the Roman Emperors Constantine I, Emperor of the West, and Licinius, the emperor of the East, the agreement reached granted that " both the Christians and even all men free proxy to attach the religion that everyone chooses for himself. " A common term for this agreement is also Edict of Milan (or Edict of Milan and the like), but this is factually incorrect.

Assessment in research

The research ( already starting with Otto Seeck ) has pointed out that the right- popular term " edict " is clearly factually wrong. There was never a rich wide edict, but only certain agreements concerning the policy of the Emperor, which is why instead the term " constitution ", " protocol " or " Milan's agreement " or " agreement " used today.

The agreement of Milan meant freedom of choice of faith for all religions and not only, as is often wrongly claimed that equality of Christianity next to the Roman religion. The Christian faith became the official state religion of the Roman Empire until the year 380 under Emperor Theodosius I, Christianity is, however, already emphasized in the Milan agreement especially:

" After we met both the Emperor Constantine and the Emperor Licinius, by happy coincidence, near Milan, to control for the benefit of all [ ... ] [... ] to grant both to the Christians and to all men free proxy [ ... ] to choose their religion [ ... ] so that the celestial deity us and all [ ... ] can remain gracious and weighed. [...] We have long been of the view that freedom of religion should not be denied. Rather, everyone 's thoughts and wishes should be granted so that he is able to see spiritual things the way he wants it. That is why we have ordered that it everyone is allowed to have his faith and practice, as he wants. "

Similarly, the Milan agreement is not the result of a sudden conversion of a single emperor, but the confirmation and extension of the Edict, the Emperor Galerius in 311 issued on his deathbed; this edict is not written very flattering for Christians, but it granted the Christians the free exercise of their faith, as long as public order is not disturbed. The Edict of Galerius had previously been accepted by both Constantine and his imperial opponent Maxentius - therefore was the battle of the Milvian Bridge 312 no struggle of Christianity against paganism, as it is often portrayed.

The Milanese agreement is considered by some researchers even so interpreted that Constantine wanted to meet any further -reaching agreements, but could not prevail and we therefore agreed to the lowest common denominator. Approximately 30 percent of the text deal with details such as the restitution of land, etc., which the refund of goods meant that had been taken from the Christians.