EDICT OF MILAN

EDICT OF MILAN. A decree issued in 313 by Constantine (q.v.) and his co-emperor, Licinius, which legalized Christianity for the first time in the history of the Roman Empire (q.v.), restored church property formerly confiscated or destroyed, and accorded Christianity equal privileges (soon to be expanded) with the other religions of the Empire. The Edict was one of toleration, and did not establish Christianity in the position it would later enjoy as the religion of the Empire. Its historicity has recently been called into question so far as its revolutionary character is concerned.