Before Constantine’s Edict of Toleration in 314 A.D., confessing the Christian faith was nothing less than social, cultural, religious and literal suicide. You certainly did not “get ahead in life” by becoming a Christian. On the contrary, you pretty much guaranteed that your property and goods would be confiscated, and that you would meet a painful end through a variety of gruesome means. With the conversion to Christianity of the highest authority in the known world, the situation took an abrupt about-face. Now, conversion to Christianity was fashionable, the thing to do if you wanted to rise in the social and political ranks of the Empire.