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ID
ER 2272
The Emperors Gratian, Valentinian and Theodosius issue a law banning Eunomians, Arians, and Aetians from building churches. The churches they already have and the dwellings of their ministers should be confiscated. The law issued on 19 July 381, included in the Theodosian Code (16.5.8) published in 438.
16.5.8
 
IDEM AAA. AD CLICHERIVM COM(ITEM) ORIENTIS>
Nullum eunomianorum atque arrianorum uel ex dogmate Aeti in ciuitate uel agris fabricandum ecclesiarum copiam habere praecipimus. Quod si temere ab aliquo id praesumptum sit, domus eadem, ubi haec constructa fuerint, quae construi prohibentur, fundus etiam uel priuata possesio protinus fisci nostri uiribus uindicetur atque omnia loca fiscalia statim fiant, quae sacrilegi huius dogmatis uel sedem receperint uel ministros.
DAT. XIIII KAL. AUG. CONSTANT(INO)P(OLI) EVCHERIO ET SYAGRIO CONSS. (= 19 July 381)
 
(ed. Mommsen 1905: 856)
16.5.8
 
THE SAME AUGUSTI TO CLICHERIUS, COUNT OF THE ORIENT.
We direct that none of the Eunomians and the Arians or the adherents of the dogma of Aetius shall have the right to build churches in the municiplaities or in the country. But if this right should be rashly presumed by any person, the aforesaid house, wherever such forbidden constructions have been made, and also the estate or private landholding shall immediately be vindicated to the resources of Our fisc. All places also which have received either the abode or the ministers of this sacrilegious doctrine shall immediately become fiscal property.
GIVEN ON THE FOURTEENTH DAY BEFORE THE KALENDS OF AUGUST AT CONSTANTINOPLE IN THE YEAR OF THE CONSULSHIP OF EUCHERIUS AND SYAGRIUS (= 19 July 381)
 
(trans. Pharr 1952: 452)

Discussion:

Eunomius, native of Cappadocia, together with his disciple Aetius, was the exponent of the version of Arianism called "anomoianism". They held and taught the doctrine that the Son is unlike ("anomoios") the Father. Eunomius was ordained in 360 bishop of Cyzicus in Mysia (north-western Asia Minor). He was condemned in 383; he died in 394. See Simonetti 2014: 1.867.
 
The law was directed to the diocese of Orient but because it was indcluded in the Theodosian Code, it also has some relevancy to the West.

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
Bibliography:
(all those entries with extenstive, recent bibliography)
 
M. Simonetti, "Eunomius of Cyzicus", Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity, ed A. Di Berardino, trans. J.T. Papa et al., Downers Grove 2014, p. 1:867.

Categories:

Religious grouping (other than Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian) - Arian
    Private law - Secular
      Described by a title - Minister/λειτουργός/ὑπηρέτης
        Administration of justice - Secular
          Administration of justice - Financial punishment
            Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2272, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2272
            Record by: Marta Szada
            last edited: 2019-08-12 10:27:22
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