Church History 10.5.4 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: Meeting at Milan, Constantine and Licinius decided to give Christians and everyone freedom to follow the religion of their choice.

Greek text · Dindorf 4:473

ὁπότε εὐτυχῶς ἐγὼ Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ Αὔγουστος κἀγὼ Λικίννιος ὁ Αὔγουστος ἐν τῇ Μεδιολάνῳ ἐληλύθειμεν, καὶ πάντα ὅσα πρὸς τὸ λυσιτελὲς καὶ τὸ χρήσιμον τῷ κοινῷ διέφερεν, ἐν ζητήσει ἔσχομεν, ταῦτα μεταξὺ τῶν λοιπῶν, ἅτινα ἐδόκει ἐν πολλοῖς ἅπασιν ἐπωφελῆ εἶναι, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐν πρώτοις διατάξαι ἐδογματίσαμεν, οἷς ἡ πρὸς τὸ θεῖον αἰδώς τε καὶ τὸ σέβας ἐνείχετο, τοῦτʼ ἔστιν, ὅπως δῶμεν καὶ τοῖς Χριστιανοῖς καὶ πᾶσιν ἐλευθέραν αἵρεσιν τοῦ ἀκολουθεῖν τῇ θρησκείᾳ, ᾗ δʼ ἂν βουληθῶσιν· ὅπως, ὅ τί ποτέ ἐστι θειότης καὶ οὐρανίου πράγματος, ἡμῖν καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ὑπὸ τὴν ἡμετέραν ἐξουσίαν διάγουσιν εὐμενὲς εἶναι δυνηθῇ.

English · Claude translation

When I, Constantine Augustus, and I, Licinius Augustus, happily met at Milan and considered everything that concerned the advantage and benefit of the public, among the other things that seemed beneficial to all in many respects, we resolved first of all to decree those things by which reverence and worship of the divine were secured: that is, to grant both to the Christians and to all free choice to follow whatever religion they wish, so that whatever divinity and heavenly power there is may be favorable to us and to all who live under our authority.

About this passage

Source

Dindorf 4:473 · Wilhelm Dindorf, ed., Eusebii Caesariensis Opera, vol. 4: Historiae ecclesiasticae libri I–X (Leipzig: Teubner, 1871) · Greek text: W. Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 4 (Leipzig: Teubner, 1871), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Dindorf, Eusebii Opera 4. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Dindorf, Eusebii Caesariensis Opera 4 (Teubner, 1871); made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 1 (1890) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Extrabiblical texts

Lactantius, Mort. 48.2 (On the Deaths of the Persecutors) · echo, high confidence

Topics

Persecution

Cite this passage

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 10.5.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/10/5/4/).

Plain text

Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 10.5.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/eusebius-historia/10/5/4/).