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Religion, Practice and Science of Non-Violence
won the battle against heavy odds.
By a decree called the Edict of Milan in AD 313, the Christians were granted complete religious liberty, and persecutions were held illegal. Constantine and his mother Helena built beautiful churches in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Constantinople. Grants of land and money were given by the emperor for the support and promotion of the Christian Church. Pastors and teachers were paid their salary by the government and were exempt from paying taxes. If accused of any crime, they could only be tried by Church tribunals. Bishops and members of Christian congregations were accorded positions of leadership in local and state governments and in the court of the emperor.
When such privileges were accorded to Christianity and the Christians, the governing classes, the rich and the worldly, all came into the fold in numbers, bringing with them their usual ways of conduct. Influx of such people into the Church blurring the line between the Church and the world, corrupting influence of sudden prosperity and wealth, and the subordination of religion to policy and politics--lowered the morals of the Christians and the Church. The speed of degeneration was as astonishing as the magnitude of corruption. Before a century had passed, there were quite a few who declared that the Church had more reason to deplore its prosperity than the adversity and persecution which it had suffered in the third century.
From this point on, a great change came over the Christian Church. The emperor himself being a Christian soldier, it was natural that soon there would be many Christians in the army. In the course of time, the Church gave up its non-resistant position. The sign of the cross of Jesus was now an imperial military emblem, bringing good fortune and victory. The supposed nails of the cross, which the emperor's mother found and sent to him, were made into bridle-bits and a helmet, which he used in his military expeditions.
Other changes took place at a rapid pace. In AD 314, the Council of Arles announced a decision that “they who throw . away their weapons in time of peace shall be excommunicate."
1Cadoux C. J., The Early Church and the World, p. 256.
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