Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 2271
The Emperors Gratian, Valentinian and Theodosius issue a law against heretics even if they seem like the Church having bishops, presbyters, and deacons. The law issued on 3 August 379, included in the Theodosian Code (16.5.5) published in 438.
16.5.5
 
IMPPP. GRATIANUS, VAL(ENTINI)ANVS ET THEOD(OSIVS) AAA. AD HESPERIVM P(RAEFECTVM) P(RAETORI)O.
Omnes vetitae legibus et divinis et imperialibus haereses perpetuo conquiescant. Quisquis opinionem plectibili ausu dei profanus inminuit, sibi tantummodo nocitura sentiat, aliis obfutura non pandat. Quisquis redempta venerabili lavacro corpora reparata morte tabificat, id auferendo quod geminat, sibi solus talia noverit, alios nefaria institutione non perdat. Omnesque perversae istius superstitionis magistri pariter et ministri, seu illi sacerdotali adsumptione episcoporum nomen infamant seu, quod proximum est, presbyterorum vocabulo religionem mentiuntur, seu etiam se diaconos, cum nec christiani quidem habeantur, appellant, hi conciliabulis damnatae dudum opinionis abstineant. Denique antiquato rescripto, quod apud Sirmium nuper emersit, ea tantum super catholica observatione permaneant, quae perennis recordationis pater noster et nos ipsi victura in aeternum aeque numerosa iussione mandavimus.
DAT. III NON. AUG. MEDIOL(ANO), ACC. XIII KAL. SEPT. AUXONIO ET OLYBRIO CONSS. (= 3 August and 20 August 379)
 
(ed. Mommsen 1905: 856)
16.5.5
 
EMPERORS GRATIAN, VALENTINIAN, AND THEODOSIUS AUGUSTI TO HESPERIUS, PRAETORIAN PREFECT.
All heresies are forbidden by both divine and imperial laws and shall forever cease. If any profane man by his punishable teachings should weaken the concept of God, he shall have the right to know such noxious doctrines only for himself but shall not reveal them to others to their hurt. If any person by a renewed death should corrupt bodies that have been redeemed by the venerable baptismal font, by taking away the effect of that ceremony which he repeats, he shall know such doctrines for himself alone, and he shall not ruin others by his nefarious teaching. All teachers and ministers alike of this perverse superstition shall abstain from the gathering places of a doctrine already condemned, whether they defame the name of bishop by the assumption of such priestly office, or, that which is almost the same, they belie religion with the appellation of presbyters, or also if they call themselves deacons, although they may not even be considered Christians. Finally, the rescript that was recently issued at Sirmium shall be anulled, and there shall remain only those enactments pertaining to Catholic doctrine which were decreed by Our father of eternal memory and which We ourselves commanded by an equally manifold order, which will survive forever.
GIVEN ON THE THIRD DAY BEFORE THE NONES OF AUGUST AT MILAN RECEIVED ON THE THIRTEENTH DAY BEFORE THE KALENDS OF SEPTEMBER IN THE YEAR OF THE CONSULSHIP OF AUXONIUS AND OLYBRIUS (= 3 August and 20 August 379)
 
(trans. Pharr 1952: 450-51)

Discussion:

The rescript of Sirmium anulled by the law is the rescript issued by the emperor Gratian in 378 which allowed to open churches to all except Eunomians, Photinians, and Manichaeans (see Socrates 5.2; Sozomen 7.1.3; Theodoret of Cyrrhus 5.2.1).
 
The forceful condemnation of the repetition of baptism is directed agains the Donatists, and possibly also against the Homoians.

Place of event:

Region
  • East
  • Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia
City
  • Constantinople
  • Milan

About the source:

Title: Codex Theodosianus, Code of Theodosius, Theodosian Code
Origin: Constantinople (East), Milan (Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
The Theodosian Code is a compilation of the Roman legislation from the times of the Emperor Constantine to the times of Theodosius II. The work was begun in 427 and finished in autumn 437 when it was accepted for publication. It was promulgated in February 438 and came into effect from the beginning of the year 439.
 
The compilation consist of sixteen books in which all imperial constitutions are gathered beginning with the year 312. Books 1-5 did not survive and are reconstructed from the manuscripts of the Lex Romana Visigothorum, i.e. the Breviary of Alaric, the legal corpus published in 506 by the Visigothic king, Alaric, containing excerpts from the Theodosian Code equipped with explanatory notes (interpretationes), post-Theodosian novels and several other juristic texts.
 
A new compilation was undertaken during the reign of the emperor Justinian. A committee of ten persons prepared and promulgated the Codex in 529. It was quickly outdated because of the legislative activities of the emperor and therefore its revised version had to be published in 534. The Codex together with the novels, the Pandecta, a digest of juristic writings, and the Institutes, an introductory handbook are known under the medieval name "Corpus Iuris Civilis".
Edition:
Theodor Mommsen and Paul Martin Meyer (eds.), Theodosiani libri XVI cum constitutionibus Sirmondianis et leges novellae ad Theodosianum pertinentes, 2 vols., Berlin 1905
 
Translations:
The Theodosian Code and Novels and the Sirmondian Constitutions, a translation with commentary, glossary, and bibliography by C. Pharr, Princeton 1952
Les lois religieuses des empereurs romains de Constantin à Théodose (312-438), v. 1, Code Théodosien livre XVI, text latin Th. Mommsen, trad. J. Rougé, introduction et notes R. Delmaire avec collab. F. Richard, Paris 2005

Categories:

Religious grouping (other than Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian) - Arian
    Religious grouping (other than Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian) - Donatist
      Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
        Ritual activity - Baptism and instructing catechumens
          Public law - Secular
            Religious grouping (other than Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian) - Unspecified 'heretic'
              Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2271, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2271