When did Rome allow Christianity openly?

Answer 1

Christianity was allowed to be openly worshiped from day one. The Romans were tolerant of other religions for the most part. However there were ten "persecutions" which were times when the Christians were considered members of a treasonous cult and were arrested. There were alternations between periods of toleration and periods of persecutions.

The mild persecutions were ignored for the most part both by the Roman authorities and the Christians who continued to practice their religion and make converts. However, two persecutions, the Decian Persecution which was decreed in 205 by emperor Decius (this was ended by an Edict of Toleration by (emperor) Gallienus in 260) and the Great Persecution decreed by emperor Diocletian in 303 were very harsh. Many prominent Christians and Christians who held positions in the imperial administration were executed. Christian property was confiscated.

The Edict of Toleration by (emperor) Galerius of 311 decreed the end of the Great Persecution, established the toleration of Christianity and provided for the freedom of worship and the right to be safe for the Christians. The Edict of Milan of 313 by co-emperors Constantine i and Licinius reiterated the toleration of Christianity, extended toleration to all religions, provided for the restitution of confiscated Christian property and compensation by the state to those who returned this property. After this there were not any prosecutions and all the following emperors but one (Jovian) were Christian as Christianity had become the main religion of the empire.

Answer 2

Christianity was always allowed to be worshiped openly, except for a seven-year period (303-311) period during the Diolcetianic or Great Persecution. There were alternations between tolerance and short lived periods of persecution. In the 1st and 2nd centuries AD a number of emperors carried out persecutions which were aimed at the top Christian clergy and were brief, not systematic and localised. None of them banned the worship of Christianity, whether open or not. The Decian Persecution (250 AD) was the first legally sanctioned persecution. It was not aimed specifically at the Christians. It involved ordering that those who were not a follower of Roman religion had to perform sacrifices to the Roman gods to prove their loyalty to the Roman state and the emperor. Refusal to do so would lead to execution. Only the Jews were exempt. The only ones who refused to comply were among the Christians (some of them did comply). This persecution lasted only one year because the emperor died. The worship of Christianity was not banned. His successor, Tribonianus Gallus, who reigned for only three years, may have also ordered a localized and uncoordinated persecution. The emperor Valerian (reigned 253-260) was the first to target specifically the Christians by decree. In 257 the punishment for refusing to perform sacrifices was banishment (exile). In 258 it was changed to execution and measures against Christian senators, nobles, matrons and civil servants were also introduced. The persecution lasted three years and ended in 259 when the co-emperor Gallienus issued a decree of toleration of Christianity. Again, the worship of Christianity was not banned.

It was with Diocletian (reigned 284-305) Christians were prohibited from assembling for worship in 303 (this lasted for seven years). His persecution also included the destruction of Christian scriptures, liturgical books, and places of worship. A second edict ordered the arrest and imprisonment of all bishops and priests. However, the inadequate prison system was overwhelmed by the number of inmates. A third edict provided few an amnesty for the imprisoned clergymen who agreed to make a sacrifice to the gods. In 304 a fourth edict ordered all men, women, and children, to gather in a public space and offer a collective sacrifice or face execution. Many of the courts followed the recommendation of Galerius (one of Diocletian's co-emperors) to use burning alive as a form of execution. The persecution was executed vigorously in the eastern part of the empire, but was mild in the western part. It caused upset and this lead to the Edict of Toleration by Galerius of 311. It allowed freedom of worship for the Christians and stated that they had the right to be safe. In 313 the co-emperors Constantine the Great and Galerius issued the Edict of Milan, which reiterated the toleration, extended to all religions and provided for the return to confiscated Christian property. The main object of the edict was to finalise the end of the persecution and was aimed at the Roman territories in Asia and at Egypt, where a co-emperor, Maximunus Dia, had ignored Galerius' edict and continued the persecution.

All but one of the emperors after Constantine were Christians and introduced laws which favoured Christianity and tried to curb paganism by introducing laws which banned aspects of pagan practices. In 380 the Co-emperors Gratian and Theodosius issued the Edict of Thessalonica which made mainstream Christianity (the Latin or Western Church and the Greek or Eastern Church, which later came to be called Catholic and Orthodox respectively) the sole legitimate religion of the empire. The object of the edict was to ban the dissident Christian doctrines (which rejected the creed of the trinity), which were branded as heretic. Theodosius persecuted them, particularly Arian Christianity, which was popular around the empire. He also introduced further bans which made open pagan practices impossible, and then issued law which prohibited any public non-Christian religious customs. He also ordered or condoned the destruction of pagan temples and shrines.