Stamenka Antonova
2025
Gaius Galerius was born circa 250 in Serdica (modern-day Sofia), located in the Roman province of Dacia, which was subsequently the capital of the province Dacia Mediterranea. Although he came from a humble background, born to a Thracian father and to a Dacian mother, he was able to rise rapidly through the ranks of the Roman army. Due to his successful military career, he was declared to be a ceasar in 293 in the established structure of the tetrarchy of emperor Diocletian, who ruled in the easter part of the empire. Galerius married Diocletian’s daughter Valeria and, after the abdication of Diocletian in 305, he was assumed the title of augustus, ruling over territories in the east, including Anatolia and the Balkans. Galerius is known for his strong allegiance to traditional Roman religion and his participation in the persecutions of Christians starting in 303 and continuing until 310. There were imperial edicts that were issued in 303 and 304 regarding the persecutions of Christians and, after the retirement of Diocletian in 305, Galerius intensified the persecutions in the next five years. However, in the winter of 310-311, he contracted a serious disease and, on April 30, 311, emperor Galerius issued the Edict of Serdica, also known as the Edict of Toleration, in which he for the first time officially acknowledged the freedom for Christians to worship their God and to pray for his health and wellbeing, as well as for the safety and prosperity of the Roman state. The content of the imperial edict of Galerius, which was penned in Serdica and promulgated in Nicomedia is, as follows:
EDICT OF TOLERATION (311 C.E.)
“Among other arrangements which we are always accustomed to make for the prosperity and welfare of the republic, we had desired formerly to bring all things into harmony with the ancient laws and public order of the Romans, and to provide that even the Christians who had left the religion of their fathers should come back to reason; since, indeed, the Christians themselves, for some reason, had followed such a caprice and had fallen into such a folly that they would not obey the institutes of antiquity, which perchance their own ancestors had first established; but at their own will and pleasure, they would thus make laws unto themselves which they should observe and would collect various peoples in diverse places in congregations. Finally, when our law had been promulgated to the effect that they should conform to the institutes of antiquity, many were subdued by the fear of danger, many even suffered death. And yet since most of them persevered in their determination, and we saw that they neither paid the reverence and awe due to the gods nor worshipped the God of the Christians, in view of our most mild clemency and the constant habit by which we are accustomed to grant indulgence to all, we thought that we ought to grant our most prompt indulgence also to these, so that they may again be Christians and may hold their conventicles, provided they do nothing contrary to good order. But we shall tell the magistrates in another letter what they ought to do.
Wherefore, for this our indulgence, they ought to pray to their God for our safety, for that of the republic, and for their own, that the republic may continue uninjured on every side, and that they may be able to live securely in their homes.
This edict is published at Nicomedia on the day before the Kalends of May, in our eighth consulship and the second of Maximinus.”
The English translation of the Edict of Toleration by Galerius is taken from Munro and Bramhall, Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European history, Vol. 4 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1898), pp. 28-29.
[34] “Inter cetera quae pro rei publicae semper commodis atque utilitate disponimus, nos quidem volueramus antehac iuxta leges veteres et publicam disciplinam Romanorum cuncta corrigere atque id providere, ut etiam Christiani, qui parentum suorum reliquerant sectam, ad bonas mentes redirent, 2 siquidem quadam ratione tanta eosdem Christianos voluntas invasisset et tanta stultitia occupasset, ut non illa veterum instituta sequerentur, quae forsitan primum parentas eorundem constituerant, sed pro arbitrio suo atque ut isdem erat libitum, ita sibimet leges facerent quas observarent, et per diversa varios populos congregarent. 3 Denique cum eiusmodi nostra iussio extitisset, ut ad veterum se instituta conferrent, multi periculo subiugati, multi etiam deturbati sunt. 4 Atque cum plurimi in proposito perseverarent ac videremus nec diis eosdem cultum ac religionem debitam exhibere nec Christianorum deum observare, contemplatione mitissimae nostrae clementiae intuentes et consuetudinem sempiternam, qua solemus cunctis hominibus veniam indulgere, promptissimam in his quoque indulgentiam nostram credidimus porrigendam. Ut denuo sint Chrsitiani et conventicula sua componant, ita ut ne quid contra disciplinam agant. 5 <Per> aliam autem epistolam iudicibus significaturi sumus quid debeant observare. Unde iuxta hanc indulgentiam nostram debebunt deum suum orare pro salute nostra et rei publicae ac sua, ut undique versum res publica praestetur incolumis et securi vivere in sedibus suis possint.”
[35] Hoc edictum proponitur Nicomediae pridie Kalendas Maias ipso octies et Maximino iterum consulibus.
The original Latin text is found in the work of Lactantius, De Mortibus Persecutorum, Chapters 34, 35. Cf. Opera, ed. O. F. Fritzsche, II, P. 273. (Bibl. Patt. Ecc. Lat. XI, Leipzig, 1844).
Portrait of Galerius on his Arch at Thessaloniki, Greece © Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
The Edict of Toleration by Galerius was issued in Serdica under highly unusual circumstances towards the end of his life, when the emperor was suffering from a very painful and incurable disease, which is described in great detail by Lactantius (De Mort. Pers. 33). It remains unclear why at the end of his life Galerius had a sudden change of attitude towards Christians. This radical change of viewpoint would seem incongruous with his previous actions and decisions. It is perhaps because of his personal fear of dying and desire to gain the favor of all the gods or maybe because of pangs of doubt regarding his harsh treatment of the Christian population, he unilaterally issued the Edict of Toleration in April of 311, only a few days before his death in May of 311.
Notwithstanding the unclear and inconsistent reasons for the staunch proponent of traditional Roman religion to grant liberty to the Christian population in the empire to worship openly, this imperial edict is an important historical moment, which prepares the way for the Edict of Milan, which was issued two years later by Constantine I and Licinius in 313. For this reason, there was an international conference convened in Sofia, which was dedicated to commemorating the anniversary of the issuance of Galerius’ Edict of Toleration in Serdica. The papers that were presented at the conference, which analyzed and evaluated this document, were published in a scholarly volume (Vatchkova, Dimitrov 2014). They demonstrate that Galerius’ Edict of Toleration from 311 has been largely ignored or understudied by scholars, for a number of different reasons, in spite of its centrality and importance for history of Christianity and of Roman religions in antiquity (Digeser 2014: 15-27).
The text of the edict itself indicates that the main concern of emperor Galerius is primarily with the religious observance and the practice of ancestral traditions by the Roman population, when he refers explicitly to “public order of the Romans” (publicam disciplinam Romanorum) and the fact that Christians had abandoned the religious practices of their ancestors (parentum suorum reliquerant sectam). Although Galerius clearly states in the edict that the relinquishing of the ancient laws and religious practices of their ancestors constitutes “folly” (stultitia) and irrationality on part of Christians, he also expresses his willingness to tolerate this religious deviance from the customary religious practice of Rome. In the edict, Galerius stresses the central importance of the antiquity of the laws (leges) and practices (instituta) of Rome in contrast to the novelty of the Christian religion (Ando 2014: 49-60). Instead of following the long-established customs of Rome, Christians had chosen to create new laws for themselves (leges facerent) and to gather at various locations for the purpose of religious observance and worship. This deviation from the rest of Roman society not only undermined the cohesion of the civic and religious community at the time, but also questioned the assumptions of the authority and the veracity of the ancient ancestors. Normally, Roman citizens would be expected to demonstrate their allegiance to the emperor and the Roman state by worshipping the traditional gods of Rome, such as the Capitoline Triad, Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, as well as partaking in the imperial cult, all of which posed a problem for the early Christians. In spite of his vehement disagreement and strong disapproval of Christians, referring to both their “folly” (stultitia) and their “self-will” (voluntas) in opposition to the majority of society and to their forefathers, Galerius also expresses his decision to show clemency and to allow them to freely worship their deity without any fear of punishment or any negative consequences.
The rationale that is provided by Galerius for the toleration of religious difference is the particular predicament that Christians neither paid proper respect and worship the gods of the ancestors nor the Christian god. Hence, the solution that he offers to the problem of Christians not conforming to the ancient laws and customs of Rome is the demonstration of imperial clemency and the allowance for their free worship of the Christian god, provided that they remain orderly in their conduct and continue to pray for the safety and the protection of the Roman emperor and the state. This edict is an important document, which grants religious freedom to the Christian minority in the empire, who had previously been subjected to various legal measures and had been forced to practice their religion in secret, which further raised the suspicion of Roman officials and citizens. This document was an important step in the direction of allowing religious pluralism the freedom of conscience and faith for religious minorities, such as Christians, who were growing in number over time. In the period before 311, the Christian minority remained largely dependent on the mercy and the personal predilections of the local rulers and public officials in different parts of the Roman Empire. The creation of this edict is an important and necessary step towards the issuing of the Edict of Milan in 313 by Constantine I and Licinius that fully legitimated the religious freedom and the status of Christians as Roman citizens with equal rights.
REFERENCES
Ando, C. The Edict of Serdica in religious-historical perspective – In: Vatchkova, V., D. Dimitrov (eds.), The Edict of Serdica (AD 311): Concepts and Realization of the Idea of Religious Toleration (Sofia: Tangra Publishing House, 2014), 49-60.
Digeser, E. Why has the Edict of 311 AD been ignored – In Vatchkova, V., D. Dmitrov (eds.), The Edict of Serdica (AD 311): Concepts and Realization of the Idea of Religious Toleration, Sofia: Tangra Publishing House, 2014, 15-27.
Vatchkova, V., D. Dmitrov (eds.), The Edict of Serdica (AD 311): Concepts and Realization of the Idea of Religious Toleration (Sofia: Tangra Publishing House, 2014).