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ID
ER 2277
The Emperors Gratian, Valentinian and Theodosius issue a law forbidding Eunomians, Arians, Macedonians, and Apollinarians to establish churches and have priests and ministers in Constantinople. The law issued on 21 January 384, included in the Theodosian Code (16.5.13) published in 438.
16.5.13
 
IDEM AAA. CYNEGIO P(RAEFECTO) P(RAETORI)O.
Eunomiani, macedoniani, arriani nec non apollinariani inter sacrae religionis officia pro suis erroribus famosa sunt nomina. Omnes itaque, qui harum professionum vel pontificium sibi vel ministerium vindicarunt, qui se fugati nominis adserunt sacerdotes quique in criminosa religione ministrorum sibi nomen imponunt, qui docere se dicunt, quod aut nescire aut dediscere sit decorosum, omnibus huius urbis latebris indagine curiosiore perspectis sine ulla gratiae interventione pellantur; in aliis locis vivant ac penitus a bonorum congressibus separentur.
DAT. XII KAL. FEB. CONSTANT(INO)P(OLI) RICHOMERE ET CLEARCHO VV> CC. CONSS. (= 21 January 384)
 
(ed. Mommsen 1905: 860)
16.5.13
 
THE SAME AUGUSTI TO CYNEGIUS, PRAETORIAN PREFECT.
The Eumomians, the Macedonians, the Arians, and likewise the Apollinarians are names infamous for their false doctrines among the offices of the holy religion. All men, therefore, who vindicate for themselves the pontificate or the ministry of such professions, who assert that they are priests of a name that has been outlawed, and who confer upon themselves the name of ministers of a criminal religion, who say that they teach those doctrines which it would be seemly either not to know or to unlearn, shall be driven from all the hiding places of this City without the intervention of any favoritism, and the hiding places shall be spied out with a diligent search. They shall live in other places and shall be completely separated from the congregations of the good.
GIVEN ON THE TWELFTH DAY BEFORE THE KALENDS OF FEBRUARY AT CONSTANTINOPLE IN THE YEAR OF THE CONSULSHIP OF THE MOST NOBLE RICHOMER AND CLEARCHUS (= 21 January 384)
 
(trans. Pharr 1952: 453)

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. See also Sozomen 8.4. Apollinarianism is a Christological doctrine stemming from Apollinaris of Laodicea (died 392) according to which Christ had a human body but purely divine mind. See Kannengiesser 2014: 1.182-83.
 
The law was directed to the diocese of Orient and concerns Cnstantinople but because it was indcluded in the Theodosian Code, it also has some relevancy to the West.

Place of event:

Region
  • East
City
  • Constantinople

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)
 
Ch. Kannengieser, "Apollinaris of Laodicea (d. 392) - Apollinarianism", ed A. Di Berardino, trans. J.T. Papa et al., Downers Grove 2014, p. 1:182-83.
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
    Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς
      Public law - Secular
        Described by a title - Minister/λειτουργός/ὑπηρέτης
          Administration of justice - Exile
            Religious grouping (other than Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian) - Religious grouping
              Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2277, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2277
              Record by: Marta Szada
              last edited: 2020-09-03 11:03:40
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