January 24 - Whew!

January 24 - Whew!

313 AD. Edict of Milan.

Constantine and Vilinius as emperors of the western and eastern Roman Empires met in Milan. They saw the insanity of attempting to build a better empire while fighting against the Christians. At their meeting, the first order of business was religious freedom ... for everyone.

Churches were restored to their congregations, priests were released from prison, property that had been stripped from Christians was returned to them and present owners were allowed to apply to the Empire for compensation. These two men recognized that prosperity for Christians would bring prosperity to the Empire.

In 323 AD, Constantine reunited the entire Roman Empire under his rule and Christianity became the religion of the state by the end of the century.

Now, the tale of Constantine and Christianity began in 311 AD. As he was preparing to meet Maxentius in battle, he saw a cross in the sky that afternoon with the words, "By this sign conquer." He heard Christ Himself tell him in a dream to take the sign of the cross into battle.

Before long, every shield in his army had the Chi-Rho marked on it. Constantine rode forth to meet Maxentius, who fled with his army. He tried to cross a small bridge over the Tiber river, but his army in its haste to run from Constantine pushed him into the river. He ended up drowning because his armor was so heavy. Constantine, as victor, entered Rome as its ruler.

In 314 AD, Constantine wrote to the Council of Arles (bishops of the church) and spoke of how God doesn't allow people to walk in shadow but reveals salvation, a fact which Constantine said he had experienced for himself.

During these years, he didn't force Christianity on others, but he did stay away from the traditional Roman gods - his famous Arch of Constantine shows none of the traditional etchings of gods, though it also doesn't show any Christian symbols.

When he took the East from Licinius in 323, he moved the seat of power to Byzantium from Rome. He openly called himself a Christian, but it wasn't until just before his death that he was baptized. His sons were raised as Christians.

In 325 AD, Constantine called for the Council of Nicaea, a great turning point for the church.