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ID
ER 2283
The Emperors Gratian, Valentinian and Theodosius issue a law ordering heretics to be exiled from urban and suburban areas. The law issued on 26 November 389, included in the Theodosian Code (16.5.19) published in 438.
16.5.19
 
IDEM AAA. TATIANO P(RAEFECTO) P(RAETORI)O.
Ii, qui scaevi dogmatis retinent principatum, hoc est episcopi presbyteri diacones adque lectores et si qui clericatus velamine religioni maculam conantur infligere, sub cuiuslibet haeresis sive erroris nomine constituti ex funestis conciliabulis, seu intra urbem seu in suburbanis esse videantur, omni modo propellantur.
DAT. VI KAL. DECEMB. MEDIOLANO TIMASIO ET PROMOTO CONSS. (= 26 November 389)
 
(ed. Mommsen 1905: 862)
16.5.19
 
THE SAME AUGUSTI TO TATIANUS, PRAETORIAN PREFECT.
If any persons retain the leadership of perverse dogma, that is, bishops, priests, deacons, and lectors, and if any under the pretense of the clergy attempt to impose a blot upon religion, or if any are established under the name of any heresy or false doctrine whatsoever, they shall by all means be driven from their funereal meeting places, whether they appear to be within the city or in suburban districts.
GIVEN ON THESIXTH DAY BEFORE THE KALENDS OF DECEMBER AT MILAN IN THE YEAR OF THE CONSULSHIP OF TIMASIUS AND PROMOTUS (= 26 November 389)
 
(trans. Pharr 1952: 454)

Discussion:

"Urbs" mentioned in the law is Constantinople because Tatianus to whom the law is addressed was the praefect of the Orient.

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), 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)

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
    Public law - Secular
      Administration of justice - Exile
        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, ER2283, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2283
          Record by: Marta Szada
          last edited: 2020-06-19 20:53:20
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