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The Edict Of Milan Analysis

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One of the most widespread religions known today started to spread throughout the Roman Empire. That religion is Christianity. Many different people had many different opinions of it. One person who had a very strongly negative opinion of Christianity was Pliny the Younger. Pliny was the governor of Pontus/Bithynia from the years 111-113 AD (Tristano). In contrast to that, Licinius and Constantine helped the Christians gain more freedom and they were not opposed to Christianity. Finally, Eusebius, the Bishop of Caesarea had an opinion on this matter, and on Constantine (Tristano). All of them had different opinions and different reasons for believing what they did about Christianity at the time. As previously mentioned, Pliny did not have …show more content…

The Edict of Milan did a few things, but most importantly being establishing freedom of worship (Tristano). Because of the Edict of Milan, Christians were now able to practice their religion freely. The Edict of Milan states, “so that we might grant to the Christians and others full authority to observe that religion which each preferred” (Edict of Milan). It also states, “we thought to arrange that no one whatsoever should be denied the opportunity to give his heart to the observance of the Christian religion, of that religion which he thinks should be best for himself” (Edict of Milan). This is starking contrast to the thoughts of previous Romans, especially Pliny and having Christians persecuted. A motivation behind the Edict of Milan can be to gain more followers, because now they would also have the Christians on their side. The Edict states, “We thought fit to commend these things most fully to your care that you may know that we have given…” (Edict of Milan). I think that the beginning of that quote shows that it was made so people would know that they wrote it and they are trying to show that they care, which is why I thought it was made to gain more followers. Another quote goes on to say, “the right of open and free observance of their worship for the sake of the peace of our times” (Edict of Milan). I think that is another hint of why it was made, so the Romans would be …show more content…

During Pliny’s time, Christians were being persecuted and heavily looked down upon. Fast forward to Eusebius’s time, the ruler at the time, Constantine, was Christian, and fought for Christians to have religious freedom, and won. All of the documents referred to in this paper had different perspectives. The first two, Pliny and the Edict of Milan were both Roman documents. Although they were both Roman, they both had different perspectives. Pliny was not for Christianity and wanted to get rid of Christians, while the Edict of Milan was made to save the Christians and help keep them safe. Finally, Eusebius was Christian, so of course he was pro-Christian. But he was also pro-Constantine. In my opinion, I think that Constantine did create the Edict of Milan as a way to get the Christians on his side. Me being a Catholic Christian, I think that he did have a very important role in history freeing the Christians, whether it was just for political gains or it was actually what he believed in, he was a crucial part in history. That being said, I think he was another Roman general, not just “another” Roman general though, a very important Roman

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