How did Constantine end persecution?

Answer 1

Emperor Galerius issued the Edict of Toleration that ended the period known as the Great Persecution of the Christians. Constantine and his fellow emperor at the time, Licinius, jointly issued the Edict of Milan, building on the Edict of Toleration but going a good deal further by granting positive advantages and privileges to the Christian community. By these actions, there was to be no further persecution of Christians other than by other Christians, as sometimes happened.

Having helped end one form of persecution, Constantine instituted another, longer lasting and eventually more total persecution of the pagans and Jews. There was a purge of prominent pagan individuals, including Constantine's former friend and mentor, Sopater, on a trumped-up charge. Constantine prohibited functionaries from performing the traditional pagan acts of sacrifice before the commencement of official business, and indeed forbade the performance of sacrifice to pagan gods at all. He plundered the pagan temples so as to enrich his treasury, while constructing magnificent churches and providing lavish stipends to the Christian clergy of the empire.