Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 2287
The Emperors Arcadius, and Honorius issue a law forbidding heretics to gather for worship and to ordain clergy. The law issued on 30 March 395, included in the Theodosian Code (16.5.26) published in 438.
16.5.26
 
IDEM AA. RUFINO P(RAEFECTO) P(RAETORI)O.
Ne quis haereticorum, quos iam leges innumerae divi genitoris nostri continent, audeat coetus illicitos congregare profanaque mente omnipotentis dei contaminare mysterium, nec publice nec privatim, nec in secreto nec palam. Nemo audeat episcopi sibi nomen adsciscere vel ecclesiasticum ordinem eorumque sanctissima nomina pollutis mentibus usurpare.
DAT. III KAL. APR. CONST(ANTINO)P(OLI) OLYBRIO ET PROBINO CONSS. (= 30 March 395)
 
(ed. Mommsen 1905: 864)
16.5.26
 
THE SAME AUGUSTI TO RUFINUS, PRAETORIAN PREFECT.
None of the heretics, who are now restrained by innumberable laws of Our sainted father, shall dare to assemble unlawful gatherings and to contaminate with profane mind the mystery of Almighty God, either publicly or privately, secretly or openy. None shall dare to appropriate the title of bishop or, with polluted mind, to arrogate to himself the ecclesiastical order and their most sacred titles.
GIVEN ON THETHIRD DAY BEFORE THE KALENDS OF APRIL AT CONSTANTINOPLE IN THE YEAR OF THE CONSULSHIP OF OLYBRIUS AND PROBINUS (= 30 March 395)
 
(trans. Pharr 1952: 455)

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

Categories:

Usurping presbyterial power
    Ritual activity - Eucharist
      Public law - Secular
        Reverenced by
          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, ER2287, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2287