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ER 2284
The Emperors Gratian, Valentinian and Theodosius issue a law introducing financial penalties for heretical clerics. The law issued on 15 June 392, included in the Theodosian Code (16.5.21) published in 438.
16.5.21
 
IDEM AAA. TATIANO P(RAEFECTO) P(RAETORI)O.
In haereticis erroribus quoscumque constiterit vel ordinasse clericos vel suscepisse officium clericorum, denis libris auri viritim multandos esse censemus, locum sane, in quo vetita temptantur, si coniventia domini patuerit, fisci nostri viribus adgregari. Quod si id possessorem, quippe clanculum gestum, ignorasse constiterit, conductorem eius fundi, si ingenuus est, decem libras fisco nostro inferre praecipimus, si servili faece descendens paupertate sui poenam damni ac vilitate contemnit, caesus fustibus deportatione damnabitur. Tum illud specialiter praecavemus, ut, si villa dominica fuerit seu cuiuslibet publici iuris et conductor et procurator licentiam dederint colligendi, denis libris auri proposita condemnatione multentur. Verum si quos talibus repertos obsecundare mysteriis ac sibi usurpare nomina clericorum iam nunc proditum fuerit, denas libras auri exigi singulos et inferre praecipimus.
DAT. XVII KAL. IUL. CONSTANTINOPOLI ARCADIO A. II ET RUFINO CONSS. (= 19 May 391)
 
(ed. Mommsen 1905: 862)
16.5.21
 
THE SAME AUGUSTI TO TATIANUS, PRAETORIAN PREFECT.
In the case of heretical false doctrines, We decree that if it should appear that any persons have ordained clerics or have accepted the office of cleric, they shall be fined ten pounds of gold each. The place in which forbidden practices are attempted shall by all means be added to the resources of Our fisc, if it should become clear that the offense was committed with the connivance of the owner. But if it should appear that the landholder was unaware of such misdeed, inasmuch as it was done secretly, We direct that the chief tenant of such estate, if he should be freeborn, shall pay ten pounds to Our fisc, if he should be descended from servile dregs and should despise the penalty of monetary loss because of his poverty and low degree, he shall be beaten with clubs and condemned to deportation. Furthermore, We especially provide that if such place should be an imperial villa or a villa subject to any public right, and if the chief tenant and the procurator should give permission for the assembly, each of them shall be fined ten pounds of gold in accordance with the penalty as herein set forth. But if those persons who have been found to perform such mysteries should at the same time be revealed to usurp for themselves the title of cleric, We command that each of them shall be fined ten pounds of gold and such fine shall be paid.
GIVEN ON THE SEVENTEENTH DAY BEFORE THE KALENDS OF JULY AT CONSTANTINOPLE IN THE YEAR OF THE SECOND CONSULSHIP OF ARCADIUS AUGUSTUS AND THE CONSULSHIP OF RUFINUS (= 15 June 392)
 
(trans. Pharr 1952: 454)

Discussion:

Valentinian II died on 15 May 392 so his name in this law is either a mistake or his death was not yet known in Constantinople in mid-June.

Place of event:

Region
  • East
City
  • Constantinople

About the source:

Title: Codex Theodosianus, Code of Theodosius, Theodosian Code
Origin: Constantinople (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)

Categories:

Described by a title - Clericus
    Impediments or requisits for the office - Heresy/Schism
      Public law - Secular
        Administration of justice - Financial punishment
          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, ER2284, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2284
            Record by: Marta Szada
            last edited: 2019-08-22 09:39:48
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