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AS soon as the sole government of the Roman empire was vested in
Constantine, he issued a public decree commanding all his subjects in
the East to honor the Christian religion, carefully to worship the
Divine Being, and to recognize that only as Divine which is also
essentially so, and which has the power that endures for ever and
ever: for he delights to give all good things ungrudgingly to those who
zealously embrace the truth; he meets their undertakings with the best
hopes, while misfortunes, whether in peace or in war, whether in
public or in private life, befall transgressors. Constantine then
added, but without vain boasting, that, God having accounted him as
a fitting servant, worthy to reign, he had been led from the British
sea to the Eastern provinces in order that the Christian religion
might be extended, and that those who, on account of the worship of
God had remained steadfast in confessions or martyrdoms, might be
advanced to public honors. After making these statements, he entered
upon a myriad other details by which he thought his subjects might be
drawn to religion. He decreed that all acts and judgments passed by
the persecutors of the church against Christianity should be revoked;
and commanded that all those who, on account of their confession of
Christ, had been sent to banishment, either to the isles or
elsewhere, contrary to their own inclination, and all those who had
been condemned to labor in the mines, the public works, the harems,
the linen factories, or had been enrolled as public functionaries,
should be restored to liberty. He removed the stigma of dishonor from
those upon whom it had been cast, and permitted those who had been
deprived of high appointments in the army, either to reassume their
former place, or with an honorable discharge, to enjoy a liberal ease
according to their own choice; and when he had recalled all to the
enjoyment of their former liberties and customary honors, he likewise
restored their possessions. In the case of those who had been slain,
and whose property had been confiscated, he enacted that the
inheritance should be transferred to the next of kin, or, in default
of heirs, to the church belonging to the locality where the estate was
situated; and when the inheritance had passed into other hands, and
had become either private or national property, he commanded it to be
restored. He likewise promised to resort to the fittest and best
possible arrangements when the property had been purchased by the
exchequer, or had been received therefrom by gift. These measures,
as it had been said, having been enacted by the emperor, and ratified
by law, were forthwith carried into execution. Christians were thus
placed in almost all the principal posts of the Roman government; the
worship of false gods was universally prohibited; and the arts of
divination, the dedication of statues, and the celebration of pagan
festivals were interdicted. Many of the most ancient customs observed
in the cities fell into disuse: and among the Egyptians the measure
used to indicate the increase of the waters of the Nile was no longer
borne into pagan temples, but into churches. The spectacle of
gladiators was then prohibited among the Romans; and the custom which
prevailed among the Phoenicians of Lebanon and Heliopolis of
prostituting virgins before marriage, who were accustomed to cohabit in
lawful marriage after the first trial of an illicit intercourse, was
abolished. Of the houses of prayer, the emperor repaired some which
were of sufficient magnitude; others were brilliantly restored by
additional length and breadth, and he erected new edifices in places
where no building of the kind had existed previously. He furnished the
requisite supplies from the imperial treasury, and wrote to the bishops
of the cities and the governors of the provinces, desiring them to
contribute whatever might be wished, and enjoining submission and
zealous obedience to the priests.
The prosperity of religion kept pace with the increased prosperity of
the empire. After the war with Licinius, the emperor was successful
in battle against foreign nations; he conquered the Sarmatians and the
people called Goths, and concluded an advantageous treaty with them.
These people dwelt upon the Ister; and as they were very warlike,
and always ready in arms both by the multitude and magnitude of their
bodies, they kept the other tribes of barbarians in awe, and found
antagonists in the Romans alone. It is said that, during this war,
Constantine perceived clearly, by means of signs and dreams, that the
special protection of Divine Providence had been extended to him.
Hence when he had vanquished all those who rose up in battle against
him he evinced his thankfulness to Christ by zealous attention to the
concerns of religion, and exhorted the governors to recognize the one
true faith and way of salvation. He enacted that part of the funds
levied from tributary countries should be forwarded by the various
cities to the bishops and clergy, wherever they might be domiciled,
and commanded that the law enjoining this gift should be a statute
forever. In order to accustom the soldiers to worship God as he did,
he had their weapons marked with the symbol of the cross, and he
erected a house of prayer in the palace. When he engaged in war, he
caused a tent to be borne before him, constructed in the shape of a
church, so that in case he or his army might be led into the desert,
they might have a sacred edifice in which to praise and worship God,
and participate in the mysteries. Priests and deacons followed the
tent, who fulfilled the orders about these matters, according to the
law of the church. From that period the Roman legions, which now
were called by their number, provided each its own tent, with
attendant priests and deacons. He also enjoined the observance of the
day termed the Lord's day," which the Jews call the first day of
the week, and which the pagans dedicate to the sun, as likewise the
day before the seventh, and commanded that no judicial or other
business should be transacted on those days, but that God should be
served with prayers and supplications. He honored the Lord's day,
because on it Christ arose from the dead, and the day above
mentioned, because on it he was crucified. He regarded the cross with
peculiar reverence, on account both of the power which it conveyed to
him in the battles against his enemies, and also of the divine manner
in which the symbol had appeared to him. He took away by law the
crucifixion customary among the Romans, from the usage of the courts.
He commanded that this divine symbol should always be inscribed and
stamped whenever coins and images should be struck, and his images,
which exist in this very form, still testify to this order. And
indeed he strove in everything, particularly in the enactment of laws,
to serve God. It appears, too, that he prohibited many flagitious
and licentious connections, which till that period had not been
forbidden; as one, who cares about it, may see at a glance from these
few instances what the laws were, which he established about these
points; it appears to me unreasonable now to treat them exhaustively.
I consider it necessary, however, to mention the laws enacted for the
honor and consolidation of religion, as they constitute a considerable
portion of ecclesiastical history. I shall therefore proceed to the
recital.
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