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ID
ER 2280
The Emperors Gratian, Valentinian and Theodosius issue a law forbidding Apollinarians and other heretics to ordain clerics and have churches either public or private. Heretical bishops should be demoted and exiled. The law issued on 10 March 388, included in the Theodosian Code (16.5.14) published in 438.
16.5.14
 
IDEM AAA. CYNEGIO P(RAEFECTO) P(RAETORI)O.
Apollinarianos ceterosque diversarum haeresum sectatores ab omnibus locis iubemus inhiberi, a moenibus urbium, a congressu honestorum, a communione sanctorum; instituendorum clericorum non habeant potestatem colligendarum congregationum vel in publicis vel in privatis ecclesiis careant facultate. Nulla his episcoporum faciendorum praebeatur auctoritas; ipsi quoque episcopi nomine destituti appellationem dignitatis huius amittant. Adeant loca, quae eos potissimum quasi vallo quodam ab humana communione secludant. His etiam illud adnectimus, ut supra memoratis omnibus adeundi atque interpellandi serenitatem nostram aditus denegetur.
DAT. VI ID. MART. THESSALONICA THEODOSIO A. II ET CYNEGIO CONSS. (= 10 March 388)
 
(ed. Mommsen 1905: 860)
16.5.14
 
THE SAME AUGUSTI TO CYNEGIUS, PRAETORIAN PREFECT.
We command that the Apollinarians and all other followers of diverse heresies shall be prohibited from all places, from the walls of the cities, from the congregation of honorable men, from the communion of the saints. They shall not have the right to ordain clerics, they shall forfeit the privilege of assembling congregations either in public or private churches. No authority shall be granted to them for creating bishops; moreover, persons so appointed shall be deprived of the name of bishop and shall forfeit the appellation of this dignity. They shall go to places which will seclude them most effectively, as though by a wall, from human association. Moreover, We subjoin to the foregoing provisions that to all the aforesaid persons the opportunity to approach and address Our Serenity shall be denied.
GIVEN ON THE SIXTH DAY BEFORE THE IDES OF MARCH AT THESSALONICA IN THE YEAR OF THE SECOND CONSULSHIP OF THEODOSIUS AUGUSTUS AND THE CONSULSHIP OF CYNEGIUS (= 10 March 388)
 
(trans. Pharr 1952: 453)

Discussion:

Apollinarianism is a Christological thought 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.

Place of event:

Region
  • East
City
  • Constantinople
  • Thessalonica

About the source:

Title: Codex Theodosianus, Code of Theodosius, Theodosian Code
Origin: Constantinople (East)Thessalonica (East),
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), posttheodosian novels and several other juristic texts.
 
A new compilation was undertaken during the reign of the emperor Justinian. The 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.

Categories:

Described by a title - Clericus
    Public law - Secular
      Religious grouping (other than Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian) - Religious grouping
        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, ER2280, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2280
          Record by: Marta Szada
          last edited: 2020-04-08 19:15:43
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