 One of its first bishops, Theodotus, was arrested and tortured between 307–324, under the reign of Licinius.The persecution of Christians officially ended in 313, when Constantine I and his co-emperor, Licinius, issued the Edict of Milan, which mandated toleration of Christians in the Roman Empire and freedom of worship.The martyrdom of Theodotus, however, occurred in 324 and it is this event that the Church annually commemorates on March 2.