Selected Decrees of Theodosius the Great Concerning Religion

The Emperors Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius, Augusti, to Syagrius, Praetorian Prefect. We command that the diligent palatine officers assigned to each region apply such care in all matters, that not only shall no one be permitted to depart from the province who cannot prove by the most certain documents that the account of his own administration has been fully rendered, but also that, upon the informed judgment of our mildness, he be judged deserving of correction by a graver penalty. Given on the 3rd day before the Nones of July, at Viminacium, in the consulship of Syagrius and Eucherius.

2. The Emperors Valentinian, Theodosius, and Arcadius, Augusti, to Trifolius, Count of the Sacred Largesses.

Let the most frequent palatine monitors always assist the ordinary judges in the collection of the largess-taxes; then, if the negligence of anyone's care in this matter shall have been detected, let each judge, though his term of office be already completed, be held within the province he administered by the palatine officers, for as long as that which is owed shall be exacted through him. Given on the 7th day before the Ides of April, at Constantinople, in the consulship of Arcadius Augustus (I) and Bauto.

3. The same Augusti to Florianus, Count of the Sacred Largesses. In all causes you shall so devote your effort to the hearing of disputes that, examining them outside the ordinary order and without regard to fixed times, you shall know that a definitive sentence is to be issued promptly, when reason so requires, and again more severely, if justice so persuades. Given on the 5th day before the Kalends of December, in the consulship of Arcadius Augustus (I) and Bauto.

4. The same Augusti to Severinus, Count of the Sacred Largesses. We have learned that, without consultation with the Prefect of the City and with him entirely unaware, merchants have been seized for punishment, afflicted with bodily injuries, and stripped moreover by the harshness of a heavy fine. Since therefore you know that all classes of corporations residing in the city of Constantinople, and indeed all the citizens and common people as well, are governed under the authority of the urban prefecture: if the case of any such person should perchance require examination by the treasury, or if similar odium should hereafter fall upon any of them, let that matter be prepared for cognizance not through the palatine office, but through the officers of the urban seat, and let it be brought before that judge under whom the whole city is subject, so that it may be heard by him, or, if necessity demands, brought—at your instance—to your judgment. 8. The Emperors Theodosius and Valentinian, Augusti, to Volusianus, Praetorian Prefect.

Let a palatine officer exercise any public function within the same province no more than once, but let the suggestion of the assistant, expressed in the official record, be kept, which shall clearly state both the name of the palatine officer and that nothing has previously been entrusted to him who is to be sent into that same province. But if, either through neglect of this formality, or through repetition of the act, a palatine officer shall have been sent to a province, let the assistant of the office and the primicerius and secundicerius be struck with a penalty of thirty pounds of gold; nor shall it be permitted to make use of such subterfuges, whereby the same matters, though not called by the same name, might be entrusted to be carried out: for it is not permitted for the same palatine officer to administer any public function a second time within the same province. Let the palatine officers know that they have nothing in common with the provincials.

Judges indeed must insist upon this, and if between the accounts which they bring to the province and those produced by the provincial record-keepers there should be found any discrepancy, let the governor, having called to his council five men of rank from the province, examine the matter between the palatine officer and the provincial record-keeper, and, once the accuracy of the accounts has been discussed, he shall order the collection to be hastened, or else he himself shall be subject to the censure of the old laws. Let the governors of the provinces know that no part whatsoever of the collection belongs to the palatine office, nor is any assistance ever to be given to them in this regard; nor shall a palatine officer even attend upon the receiver or record-keeper of the province, nor shall he demand from the receiver the sum of the amounts brought in, nor request the nominal accounts from the record-keeper, since all this concern belongs to the judge.

We command likewise that, if ever the reason of necessity requires that the Counts of the fiscal accounts (comites titulorum) be sent to a province, no assistance be given them from the palatine office, but only the provincial staff shall attend upon them, under penalty of twenty pounds of gold striking both the Count of accounts and the palatine office, if any palatine officer shall have been attached to any Count of accounts. Given on the 3rd day before the Kalends of March, at Ravenna, in the consulship of Felix and Taurus.

The Emperors Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius, Augusti, to Principius, Praetorian Prefect. On the day of the Sun, which our forefathers rightly called the Lord's Day, let all pursuit of lawsuits, business, and disputes entirely rest; let no one demand payment of public or private debt; nor let there be, even before arbiters either summoned by the courts or freely chosen, any hearing of disputes. And let him be judged not only deserving of censure, but even sacrilegious, who shall have turned aside from the impulse and rite of holy religion. Issued on the 3rd day before the Nones of November, at Aquileia. Received on the 8th day before the Kalends of December, at Rome, in the consulship of Honorius, Noble Youth, and Evodius.

19. The Emperors Valentinian, Theodosius, and Arcadius, Augusti, to Albinus, Prefect of the City. We command that all days be judicial days.

Only those days of holiday shall remain lawful which the more indulgent year has allotted, in the space of two months, for rest from labor, so that the summer heat may be tempered and the autumn fruits gathered. We also assign to leisure the customary days of the Kalends of January. To these we add the birthdays of the greatest cities, Rome and Constantinople, on which the laws ought to yield, since from these very cities the laws themselves were born. We also number among this same observance the sacred days of Easter, both those seven which precede and those which follow, as well as the days of the Sun, which recur in a repeated cycle upon themselves. It is fitting that equal reverence be held also for our own days, which have brought forth either the dawn of light or the rise of empire. Given on the 7th day before the Ides of August, at Rome, in the consulship of Timasius and Promotus.

INTERPRETATION. We direct that lawsuits be heard on all days throughout the year according to the laws. And although the law allowed four months for the gathering of the harvest, yet we have thought it right, according to the character of the provinces and the presence of the landowners, to grant harvest holidays from the 8th day before the Kalends of July until the Kalends of August, and to grant permission for the conduct of lawsuits from the Kalends of August until the 10th day before the Kalends of September. But from the 10th day before the Kalends of September until the Ides of October, let vintage holidays be granted. We also exempt from the hearing of business or the exaction of debts the days of the Lord which are festal. Likewise the holy days of Easter, that is, the seven which precede and the seven which follow. And we wish also the birthday of our Lord and the Epiphany to be celebrated without the noise of the courts.

It is likewise fitting that the birthday of the prince, or the beginning of his reign, be observed with equal reverence.

20. The same Augusti to Proculus, Prefect of the City. On the festal days of the Sun, the contests of the Circus are to be forbidden, lest any concourse of spectacles turn people away from the venerable mysteries of the Christian law, except the birthdays of our clemency. Given on the 15th day before the Kalends of May, at Constantinople, in the consulship of Arcadius Augustus (II) and Rufinus.

21. The same Augusti to Tatian, Praetorian Prefect. Let all actions, whether public or private, be suspended during the fifteen days of Easter. Given on the 6th day before the Kalends of June, at Constantinople, in the consulship of Arcadius Augustus (II) and Rufinus. 25. The Emperors Honorius and Theodosius, Augusti, to Jovius, Praetorian Prefect.

After other matters: We permit no entertainments whatsoever to be given on the Lord's Day, which is commonly called the day of the Sun, even if by chance upon it, as the year's cycle returns, either the rise of our reign shines forth, or the due solemnities of a birthday are to be paid. Given on the Kalends of April, at Ravenna, in the consulship of Honorius (VIII) and Theodosius (III), Augusti. 26. The same Augusti to John, Praetorian Prefect. After other matters: On the Sabbath day and on the remaining days during which the Jews observe the reverence of their worship, we command that no one be compelled to do anything, or be summoned in any respect: since it is agreed that the remaining days can suffice for both the interests of the treasury and the lawsuits of private persons. Given on the 7th day before the Kalends of August, at Ravenna, in the consulship of our Lords Honorius (VIII) and Theodosius (III), Augusti.

INTERPRETATION. On the Sabbath day we wish no Jew to be summoned either for the benefit of the treasury or for any business whatsoever, because their religious day ought not to be disturbed by any legal action.

The Emperors Valentinian, Theodosius, and Arcadius, Augusti, to Cynegius, Praetorian Prefect. Let no Jew take a Christian woman in marriage, nor let a Christian man obtain a Jewish woman in wedlock. For if anyone shall have committed anything of this kind, he shall incur the guilt of the crime as though he had committed adultery, freedom being granted to accuse him even by public voices. Given on the day before the Ides of March, at Thessalonica, in the consulship of Theodosius Augustus (II) and Cynegius, vir clarissimus.

INTERPRETATION. By the severity of this law it is forbidden that either a Jew make use of marriage with a Christian woman, or that a Christian man take a Jewish wife. But if any, contrary to this prohibition, shall have entered into such a union, let them know that they are to be prosecuted with the same penalty by which adulterers are condemned, and that the accusation of this crime is permitted not only to relatives, but to all persons for the sake of prosecution.

The Emperors Theodosius and Valentinian, Augusti, to Taurus, Praetorian Prefect, and Patricius. If any bishop, or presbyter, or deacon, or deaconess, or subdeacon, or a cleric of any other rank, or a monk, or a woman devoted to the solitary life, shall have died without having made any will, and shall have left neither parents of either sex, nor children, nor any who are joined to him by right of agnation or cognation, nor a wife, then his goods, whatever they may be, shall in every way be united to the most holy church or monastery to which he had been dedicated

(excepting those properties which clerics or monks of whatever sex, if perchance registered for the census, or subject to the right of patronage, or bound to curial status, may leave behind them. For it is not just that goods or possessions which either are owed by law to a patron, or belong to the lord of the estate to whom one of them had been registered, or which, according to the tenor of a constitution formerly issued, are known to belong to the town councils under a fixed form, should be withheld by the churches; the appropriate actions, however, being reserved to the most holy churches, if perchance one bound by the aforesaid conditions shall have died obligated either from business he had transacted or from any other ecclesiastical acts):

so that, if any disputes concerning such competing claims are pending in the courts, they shall be entirely quashed, nor shall it be lawful for a claimant, after the publication of this law, to enter upon a lawsuit, or to bring any trouble upon the stewards or monks or procurators, the claim itself being annulled, and the goods that were left being consecrated to the most devout churches or monasteries to which the deceased had been dedicated. Given on the 18th day before the Kalends of January, in the consulship of Ariovindus and Aspar. INTERPRETATION. If any bishop, or any of those whom the law itself mentions, or any religious man or woman, shall die intestate, without children, relatives, or a wife—provided, however, that they owed nothing to the town council or to a patron—whatever they leave behind shall belong to the churches or monasteries which they had followed. But if they wish to make a will, they shall have full freedom to do so.

The Emperors Honorius and Theodosius, Augusti, to Theodore, Praetorian Prefect. Let no one hold against their will persons of any sex, condition, or age from various provinces whom barbarian savagery had led away by the necessity of captivity, but let those who wish to return to their own homes have free liberty to do so. If anything has been spent upon them for clothing or sustenance, let it be reckoned as a gift of humanity, and let there remain no claim for repayment of the cost of their keep: except in the case of those who shall be shown to have been bought from barbarians selling them, from whom it is fair, for the sake of the public good, that the price of their status be restored to the purchasers.

For lest the consideration of loss should, in such cases of necessity, cause purchase to be refused, it is fitting that those redeemed either restore to their purchasers the price paid for them, or, by labor, service, or work of five years, render the equivalent of the benefit received, thereafter to enjoy unimpaired freedom, if they were born free. Let them therefore be restored to their own homes under the regulation which we have ordained, to whom, by the right of postliminium, all things unimpaired are preserved even according to the responses of the ancients. If, then, any agent, lessee, or procurator shall have attempted to resist this command, let him have no doubt that he is to be condemned to the mines along with the penalty of deportation; but if it is the owner of the estate himself, let him know that his property is to be claimed for the treasury and that he himself is to be deported.

And in order that this may be readily carried out, we wish the Christians of the neighboring places to take up the concern of this matter. It has also been decided that the town councillors of the nearby cities be admonished, that when such cases arise, they may know that the aid of our law is to be extended; so that all governors shall know that ten pounds of gold are to be exacted from themselves, and as much from their own officers, if they neglect this command. Given on the 4th day before the Ides of December, at Ravenna, in the consulship of Honorius (VIII) and Theodosius (III), Augusti.

INTERPRETATION. Those who were led away by enemies at the time of captivity, if they received anything from anyone either for food or for clothing, when they wish to return to their own homes, let nothing whatsoever be demanded of them for these expenses. Yet if the captor received a price for his captive, which the buyer shall prove he gave, let him receive it back without doubt. But if he had no price, let the captive serve the buyer for five years, and after five years let him be restored to freedom without price, so that, when he returns to his own home, he may recover all his goods whole and intact. If therefore anyone shall attempt to resist this so just command, let him know that he is to be sentenced to exile; but if he be a man of property, that his estate is to be forfeited to the power of the treasury. Indeed we wish Christians, who ought to be zealous for redemption, to be solicitous for captives.

Let this concern belong also to the curiales, so that all judges may know that they will owe ten pounds of gold to the treasury if they neglect the precepts of this law.

The Emperors Valentinian, Theodosius and Arcadius, Augusti, to Cynegius, Praetorian Prefect. Let no Jew take a Christian woman in marriage, nor let a Christian obtain marriage with a Jewess. For if anyone shall commit anything of this kind, he shall be held liable to the crime in the manner of adultery committed, freedom to accuse being granted also to public voices. Given the 3rd day before the Ides of March at Thessalonica, in the consulship of Theodosius Augustus (II) and Cynegius.

INTERPRETATION. Neither let a Jew take a Christian wife, nor a Christian a Jewish wife. But if he shall do so, let him be prosecuted by the accusation of anyone whatsoever, as if against adulterers.

The Emperors Honorius and Theodosius, Augusti, to Palladius, Praetorian Prefect. Among other things: If anyone, reckless of himself, shall as an abductor pursue a virgin dedicated to God, let him, his goods having been confiscated, be punished with deportation; license to bring this accusation being granted to all without fear of being reported as an informer. For it is not fitting that one be required to prove himself an informer, whom humanity invites for the sake of the chastity of religion. Given the 8th day before the Ides of May at Ravenna, in the consulship of Theodosius Augustus (IX) and Constantius (III), Vir Clarissimus.

The Emperors Gratian, Valentinian and Theodosius, Augusti, to Albucianus, Vicar of Macedonia. For the forty days which, under the auspices of the sacred ceremonies, precede the paschal season, let all inquiry into criminal proceedings be forbidden. Given the 6th day before the Kalends of April at Thessalonica, in the consulship of Gratian Augustus (V) and Theodosius Augustus (I).

INTERPRETATION. During the days of the forty days, out of reverence for religion, let every criminal action be suspended. 5. The Emperors Valentinian, Theodosius and Arcadius, Augusti, to Tatian, Praetorian Prefect. On the sacred days of the forty days let there be no bodily punishments, for on these the absolution of souls is awaited. Given the 8th day before the Ides of September at Forum Flaminii, in the consulship of Timasius and Promotus.

The Emperors Gratian, Valentinian and Theodosius, Augusti, to Antidius, Vir Clarissimus, Vicar. The day of paschal joy does not permit even those natures to be held bound which have committed offenses; let the grim prison, unaccustomed to it, at some time lie open to the light. But we judge it to be alien from indulgence for him who has proudly conceived a nefarious consciousness of crimes against majesty, who, seized by parricidal fury, has stained his hand with his own blood, who besides has been defiled by the slaughter of any man, who has been an invader of another's marriage bed and couch, who has stood forth as a ravisher of virginal modesty, who blindly, in profane incest, has violated the venerable bond of kindred blood, or who has compounded poisons sought out from noxious herbs and murmured over with dire secrets for mind and body, or who, imitating the sacred countenance and aspiring to the divine features, has, instructed in sacrilege, stamped venerable forms.

These, therefore, being condemned even under such an absolution, we conclude the indulgence of our serenity with this limit of the precept: that crimes may not have remission of pardon unless committed but once, lest the humanity of imperial liberality be extended to those who have attributed the impunity of an old offense not to amendment but rather to habit. Read out on the 12th day before the Kalends of August at Rome, in the consulship of Syagrius and Eucherius.

7. The same Augusti to Marcianus, Vicar. The observance of the yearly supplication exhorts that we should order that all be entirely freed from the peril of prison and fear of punishments, who are accused of a lighter crime. Whence it appears that those are excepted whom a fierce cupidity has driven into more savage crimes: among which the first and greatest crime is that of majesty, then that of homicide and poisoning and sorceries, of debauchery and adultery, and with equal enormity that of sacrilege, the violation of a tomb, abduction, and the counterfeiting of coinage.

Given the 11th day before the Kalends of April at Milan, in the consulship of Richomer and Clearchus.

8. The same Augusti to Neoterius, Praetorian Prefect. Let no one henceforth await perhaps the slower utterances of our perpetuity: let the judges carry out what we have been accustomed to grant. As soon as the paschal day shall have arrived, let prison hold no one enclosed, let the bonds of all be loosed. But from these we set apart those whom we observe would rather contaminate the common joys and gladness, if they were released. For who would pardon a sacrilegious man on holy days? Who would forgive an adulterer or one accused of incest in a time of chastity? Who would not the more insistently pursue a ravisher amid the utmost quiet and common joy?

Let him receive no rest from his bonds who, by a certain enormity of crime, did not know how to let the buried rest in peace; let the poisoner, the sorcerer, and the counterfeiter of coin suffer torments; let the murderer forever await what he has done; let the man accused even of treason against his lord, against whom he has contrived such things, not dare to hope for pardon. Given the 5th day before the Kalends of March at Milan, in the consulship of Arcadius Augustus (I) and Bauto.

INTERPRETATION. The sacrilegious man, the adulterer, the one accused of incest, the ravisher, the violator of tombs, the poisoner, the sorcerer, the counterfeiter of coin, the murderer—let these in no way be absolved on the days of Easter. Let all the rest, who are bound by the guilt of lesser causes, be specially absolved on the venerable days of Easter.

The Emperors Theodosius, Arcadius and Honorius, Augusti, to Romulus, Count of the Sacred Largesses. Public debtors, if they think they should take refuge at churches, must either be at once drawn out from their hiding places, or the bishops themselves, who are proved to be concealing them, must be required to pay on their behalf. Let your excellent authority therefore know that henceforth no debtor is to be defended by the clergy, nor is his debt to be paid by them on behalf of him whom they thought should be defended. Given the 15th day before the Kalends of November at Constantinople, in the consulship of Arcadius Augustus (II) and Rufinus.

The Emperors Gratian, Valentinian and Theodosius, Augusti, to Paulinus, Prefect of the City. Women who, born of a more base condition, are bound to the services of public spectacles, if they have declined theatrical duties, are to be assigned to sportive ministries—those, that is, whom the consideration of most sacred religion and the reverence of the Christian law have not yet claimed for its faith; for we forbid those to be dragged back whom a better manner of life has released from the bond of their natural condition. We also order those free women to remain free from the fellowship of theatrical stigma who, by the benefit of our clemency, have deserved to be exempt from so base a duty. Given the 5th day before the Kalends of May at Milan, in the consulship of Gratian (V) and Theodosius (I), Augusti.

5. The same Augusti to Paulinus, Prefect of the City.

Whoever, forgetful of decency, shall have taken away a stage-dancer from the venerable city and carried her off to distant parts, or even shall have kept her within his own house so that she does not serve public entertainments, shall be fined by the payment of five pounds of gold.

6. The same Augusti to Valerian, Prefect of the City. As for the horses which either the bounty of our clemency supplies for the solemn contest, or which are supplied by the various magistrates of the most distinguished order—our serenity has hitherto decreed that these be provided for abundance, so that whatever is gathered together as glorious in the number of palms and renowned by victories celebrated on both sides, may rather serve the spectacles of the city populace than be assigned to plunder and private gain.

Whoever, therefore, out of that which either our serenity or the ordinary consuls or praetors bestow for pleasures of this kind, shall have thought fit to divert any loss thereof to private profit or gain, shall be condemned to pay one pound of gold, and shall be compelled to be generous toward our largesses. Given the 8th day before the Kalends of May at Trier, in the consulship of Eucherius and Syagrius.

7. The same Augusti to Valerian, Prefect of the City. Let your illustrious authority know that those who perform the duty of charioteering ought to be subjected to no punishments except in connection with the circus contest itself. Given the 8th day before the Ides of May, in the consulship of Eucherius and Syagrius.

8. The same Augusti to Valerian, Prefect of the City.

If a woman of the stage shall request exemption in the name of religion, let the pretext of her petition not lack pardon; but if afterward, having wallowed in base embraces, she is discovered in mind still to be an actress, both having betrayed the religion she had sought and doing again what she had ceased to perform by office, let her be dragged back to the stage, and there remain without hope of any release, until she become a ridiculous old woman, deformed by age; nor even then let her obtain release, since she can be nothing other than unchaste. Given the 8th day before the Ides of May at Aquileia, in the consulship of Syagrius and Eucherius.

9. The same Augusti to Herasius, Proconsul of Africa. Whatever women, born of this kind of dregs, shall decline theatrical duties, let them be assigned to sportive ministries—those, that is, whom the reverence of the most holy religion and of the secrets of the Christian law, to be preserved forever, has not yet claimed for its faith.

We also order those women, freed from the fellowship of theatrical stigma, to remain free, who by the benefit of our clemency have deserved to be exempt from so base a duty. Posted at Carthage, the 5th day before the Kalends of September, in the consulship of Eucherius and Syagrius.

10. The same Augusti to Cynegius, Praetorian Prefect. Let no one be permitted either to buy, or to train, or to sell, or to employ at banquets or spectacles, a female lute-player. Nor let anyone be permitted to have as slaves women trained in the art of music, for the desire of delight. Given the 8th day before the Kalends of July at Constantinople, in the consulship of Arcadius Augustus (I) and Bauto.

11. The Emperors Theodosius, Arcadius and Honorius, Augusti, to Rufinus, Praetorian Prefect. Let no actress use jewels, nor sealed silks, nor cloth of gold. They shall know also that they must abstain from those garments which by a Greek name Latin speakers call "crustae," in which, mixed with another color, the pure blush of purple glows.

We do not, however, forbid the use of the same checkered and varicolored silks, and gold without gems on the neck, arms, or girdle. Given the 11th day before the Kalends of October at Constantinople, in the consulship of Theodosius Augustus (III) and Abundantius.

12. The same Augusti to Rufinus, Praetorian Prefect. If any painting in the public porticoes, or in those places of the cities where our images are customarily consecrated, presents a pantomime in humble garb and with wrinkled folds, a charioteer, or a base actor, let it at once be torn down, nor let it ever hereafter be permitted to depict dishonorable figures in an honorable place. But we do not forbid them to be placed at the entrance of the circus, or on the stages of the theatre.

To this we add, that actresses, and those who make gain by the mockery of their own bodies, shall not publicly use the dress of those virgins who are dedicated to God, and that no woman, nor boy, shall be initiated into the fellowship of the stage-dancers, if known to be of the Christian religion. Given the 3rd day before the Kalends of July at Heraclea, in the consulship of Arcadius Augustus (III) and Honorius Augustus (II).

The Emperors Gratian, Valentinian and Theodosius, Augusti. Edict to the People of the City of Constantinople. We desire that all the peoples ruled by the moderation of our clemency should adhere to that religion which the religion, handed down from him even until now, declares was transmitted by the divine apostle Peter to the Romans, and which the pontiff Damasus is clearly seen to follow, and Peter, bishop of Alexandria, a man of apostolic holiness; that is, that according to the apostolic discipline and the evangelical doctrine we should believe in the one deity of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, of equal majesty and in a holy Trinity.

Those who follow this law we command to assume the name of Catholic Christians; but the rest, whom we judge demented and insane, we order to bear the infamy of heretical dogma, and their assemblies shall not receive the name of churches, they being destined to be smitten first by divine vengeance, and then also by the punishment of our own initiative, which we shall assume by heavenly judgment. Given the 3rd day before the Kalends of March at Thessalonica, in the consulship of Gratian Augustus (V) and Theodosius Augustus (I). 3. The same Augusti to Auxonius, Proconsul of Asia.

We order that all churches be forthwith handed over to those bishops who confess the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit to be of one majesty and power, of the same glory, of one splendor, making no dissonant division by profane distinction, but maintaining the order of the Trinity, the distinction of the Persons, and the unity of the Godhead; whom it shall be established to be in communion with Nectarius, bishop of the Church of Constantinople, and with Timothy, likewise within Egypt, of the city of Alexandria: those also, in the parts of the East, with Pelagius, bishop of Laodicea, and Diodore, bishop of Tarsus; in Asia, moreover, in the proconsular and Asian diocese, with Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium, and Optimus, bishop of Antioch; in the Pontic diocese, with Helladius, bishop of Caesarea, and Otreius of Melitene, and Gregory, bishop of Nyssa, Terentius, bishop of Scythia, Marmarius, bishop of Marcianopolis—it shall be established that they hold communion.

These are to be admitted to obtain the Catholic churches, from the communion and fellowship of approved priests: but all who dissent from the communion of faith of those whom this special mention has expressed are, as manifest heretics, to be expelled from the churches, nor is the pontificate and faculty of obtaining churches to be permitted to them henceforth at all, so that the priesthoods of the true and Nicene faith may remain chaste, and that after the clear form of our precept no place may be given to malicious cunning. Given the 3rd day before the Kalends of August at Heraclea, in the consulship of Eucherius and Syagrius.

The Emperors Gratian, Valentinian and Theodosius, Augusti [lacuna] Those who, either by ignorance confound or by negligence violate and offend the sanctity of the divine law, commit sacrilege. Given the third day before the Kalends of March, at Thessalonica, in the consulship of Gratian Augustus (for the fifth time) and Theodosius Augustus (for the first time).

26. The same Augusti to Tuscianus, Count of the East. We decree that all those who shall be found to be guardians of churches or of holy places, and to be devoted to religious duties, shall sustain the annoyance of no attachment. For who would suffer those to be bound as registered under the poll-tax, whom he necessarily understands to be pledged to the aforementioned duty? Given the day before the Kalends of April, at Constantinople, in the consulship of Eucherius and Syagrius.

27. The Emperors Valentinian, Theodosius and Arcadius, Augusti, to Tatianus, Praetorian Prefect.

Let no woman be transferred into the fellowship of deaconesses unless she has completed sixty years, in accordance with the apostle's precept, and has offspring desired at home. Then, having sought a curator for her children, if their age requires it, let her commit her goods to be diligently administered with religious care by suitable persons; let her herself receive only the income of her estates, concerning which—whether to preserve, alienate, give away, dispose of, or bequeath, both while she yet lives and when she departs to her fate, her will being free—let full power be hers. Let her consume nothing under the pretext of religion out of her jewels and household furnishings, nothing of gold, silver, and the other insignia of an illustrious house, but let her transfer the whole entire to her children, kinsmen, or to whomsoever else, according to her own judgment. And if ever she comes to her last day, let her write down no church, no cleric, no poor person as heir.

For it is necessary that whatever shall have been drawn up by the dying woman contrary to the prohibition, concerning the persons specifically named, shall lack force. Indeed, if anything shall have been extorted from her by these persons while dying, let nothing be conveyed to the clergy by a silent trust in fraud of this venerable sanction, whether by crafty artifice or by the shameful connivance of anyone; let them be banished from all the goods after which they had gaped.

And if perchance anything is discovered to have been written by letter, codicil, donation, testament, or by whatsoever manner, in favor of those whom we exclude by this sanction, let it not even be brought into judgment, but let him who understands that it belongs to him by right succeed by the terms of this statute, as though from intestacy; if anyone recognizes himself as a son, if anyone proves kinship, if anyone finally, whether by chance or by judgment, is found in open codicils as heir in whole or in part, legatee, or trustee, let him enjoy the gift of fortune and the fruit of his own conscience, and, these others being removed and cast out, let him use the power of an heir over the inherited property. Women who, persuaded by the instigation of their profession, shall have cut off their hair contrary to divine and human laws, are to be barred from the doors of the church.

It shall not be lawful for them to approach the sacred mysteries, nor shall they deserve, by any supplications, to frequent the altars venerated by all; to such a degree indeed, that if a bishop shall have permitted a woman with shorn head to enter, he himself, cast down from his place, shall be excluded along with such companies. And not only if he shall have persuaded it to be done, but even if he shall have learned that this was demanded by some, or in fact done by any means whatsoever, let him understand that nothing shall avail to help him. This shall without doubt stand as a law for those to be corrected, and as a custom for those already corrected, so that the latter may have testimony, and the former may begin to fear judgment. Given the eleventh day before the Kalends of July, at Milan, in the consulship of Valentinian Augustus (for the fourth time) and Neoterius, vir clarissimus.

28. The same Augusti to Tatianus, Praetorian Prefect.

We wish it understood that the law recently promulgated concerning deaconesses or widows—namely, that no cleric, under the name of the church, should seize slaves, household goods, or plunder, as though despoiling the weaker sex, and that, kinsfolk and relatives having been removed, he himself should, under the pretext of catholic discipline, act as heir of the living—is so far revoked, that it be removed from everyone's records, if it is already known, and let neither any litigant know it as something to be employed for himself, nor any judge as something to be enforced. Given the tenth day before the Kalends of September, at Verona, in the consulship of Valentinian Augustus (for the fourth time) and Neoterius.

The Emperors Valentinian, Theodosius and Arcadius, Augusti, to Tatianus, Praetorian Prefect. Whoever are found under the profession of monk shall be ordered to seek out and dwell in deserted places and vast solitudes. Given the third day before the Nones of September, at Verona, in the consulship of Valentinian Augustus (for the fourth time) and Neoterius. 2. The same Augusti to Tatianus, Praetorian Prefect. We order that monks to whom the cities had been forbidden, while they are being treated with judicial wrongs, be restored to their former condition, this law being removed: for by the command of our clemency this having been abrogated, we grant them free entry into towns. Given the fifteenth day before the Kalends of May, at Constantinople, in the consulship of Arcadius Augustus (for the second time) and Rufinus.

The Emperors Valentinian, Theodosius and Arcadius, Augusti, to Eusignius, Praetorian Prefect. For those who suppose that the capacity of assembling has been granted to them only, if they shall have attempted to do anything tumultuous against the command of our tranquility, let them be, as authors of sedition and of a disturbed peace of the Church, liable to undergo punishments of capital penalty and of blood, as guilty of treason. Given the tenth day before the Kalends of February, at Constantinople, in the consulship of Honorius, most noble child, and Evodius.

2. The same Augusti to Tatianus, Praetorian Prefect. Let no opportunity be open to anyone of going out in public either to dispute concerning religion, or to discuss it, or to bring forward any counsel about it. And if anyone hereafter, by grave and damnable presumption, shall believe he ought to act against a law of this sort, or shall dare to persist in the movement of a pestilent obstinacy, let him be restrained by fitting penalty and due punishment.

Given the sixteenth day before the Kalends of July, at Stobi, in the consulship of Theodosius Augustus (for the second time) and Cynegius.

3. The same Augusti to Potamius, Augustal Prefect. He is worthy of deportation who, neither admonished by the general law nor corrected by a fitting sentence, disturbs both the catholic faith and the people. Given the fifteenth day before the Kalends of August, at Constantinople, in the consulship of Arcadius Augustus (for the second time) and Rufinus.

The Emperors Gratian, Valentinian and Theodosius, Augusti, to Hesperius, Praetorian Prefect. Let all heresies forbidden by both divine and imperial laws forever be quieted. Whoever, being profane, diminishes an opinion by punishable errors concerning God, let him understand that he alone will suffer harm from it, and let him not spread abroad what will harm others. Whoever wastes away with a second death bodies redeemed and restored by the venerable washing, by taking away that which he doubles, let him alone know such things, and not destroy others by nefarious instruction. And let all the teachers alike and ministers of this perverse superstition—whether they falsely bear, by a priestly assumption, the name of bishops, or, what is next to it, feign religion under the title of presbyters, or even call themselves deacons, though they are not even reckoned Christians—abstain from the conventicles of an opinion long since condemned.

Finally, the rescript which recently arose at Sirmium being annulled, let only those things remain concerning catholic observance which our father of everlasting memory and we ourselves, in an equally numerous decree destined to endure forever, have commanded. Given the third day before the Nones of August, at Milan. Received the thirteenth day before the Kalends of September, in the consulship of Ausonius and Olybrius.

6. The same Augusti to Eutropius, Praetorian Prefect. Let there be no place for heretics' mysteries, no occasion open for exercising the madness of a more obstinate mind. Let all know that even if something has been obtained by any special rescript elicited by fraud from men of this kind, it shall not be valid. Let the crowds of all heretics be kept from unlawful assemblies.

Let the name of the one and highest God be celebrated everywhere; let the observance of the Nicene faith, handed down long ago by our forefathers and confirmed by the testimony and assertion of divine religion, be held as forever to remain; let the contamination of the Photinian taint, the poison of Arian sacrilege, the crime of Eunomian perfidy, and the abominable portents of sects, monstrous in the very names of their authors, be abolished even from being heard. But he is to be received as an upholder of the Nicene faith and a true worshipper of the catholic religion, who confesses almighty God and Christ the Son of God to be one in name, God of God, light of light: who does not violate, by denial, the Holy Spirit, which we hope for and receive from the highest parent of things: in whom, with the sense of an unblemished faith, the undivided substance of the uncorrupted Trinity flourishes, which by the assertion of the Greek word is rightly called by right believers οὐσία.

These things indeed are more approved and to be venerated by us. But those who do not serve these same things, let them cease, by contrived deceits, to assume the name of the true religion belonging to another, and let them be marked by their own open crimes. Removed utterly from the threshold of every church, let them be kept away, since we forbid all heretics to hold unlawful assemblies within towns, and, if any factious outbreak shall attempt anything, we order that, their madness having been driven out, they be expelled even from the very walls of the cities, so that to all orthodox bishops who hold the Nicene faith the catholic churches throughout the whole world may be restored. Given the fourth day before the Ides of January, at Constantinople, in the consulship of Eucherius and Syagrius.

7. The same Augusti to Eutropius, Praetorian Prefect.

If any Manichaean man or Manichaean woman, from the day of the law formerly enacted, and first by our forefathers, has transmitted his own property to any person whatsoever by a testament drawn up, or by any title of liberality and appearance of donation, or if anyone of them has been enriched by a contribution obtained through any form of succession whatsoever, since we take away from them entirely, under the perpetual mark of just infamy, the right of making a will and of living according to Roman law, and we do not permit them to have the power either of leaving or of receiving any inheritance, let the whole be joined by investigation to the resources of our impending treasury.

Whether it would have benefited a husband, or a relative, or anyone deserving well, or even children—provided, however, that the deeds of life and crime bind them together with him—or even through the intervention of any person whatsoever, whatever shall have accrued by unlawful liberality to one who is found to be of such a race and herd of men, let it be claimed under the title of a lapsed estate. Nor let the form of this law, issued through our clemency, prevail only for the future, but also for the past, let the claim of fiscal advantage pursue whatever the ownership of such persons left, or whatever succession possessed.

For although the order of heavenly statutes indicates that it applies to those following after the observance of the sacred constitution has begun, and is not accustomed to be prejudicial to acts already done, nevertheless, since we recognize what obstinacy, that persistent nature of custom, deserves—in this sanction alone, which we wish specially to be in force, with a sense of just instigation—we hold those, who, even after the law was first given, could in no wise be restrained from unlawful and profane assemblies even by divine warning, as it were guilty of sacrilege, as an injury to the very law thus set forth; we have established the severity of the present statutes not so much as an example for establishing, but for avenging, the law, so that not even the defense of time shall avail.

To these children alone shall the succession of paternal or maternal goods be granted, who, although born of Manichaeans, nevertheless, admonished by the sense and affection of their own salvation, shall have removed themselves, given wholly to pure religion, from the associations of that same life and profession—being thereby immune from such crime. We add this also to this sanction: that they shall not establish, in the assemblies of towns, nor in famous cities, the customary tombs of their deadly mysteries, and that they be utterly restrained from the sight of a crowded city. Nor let them defend themselves by malicious fraud under the pretense of deceit of those very names by which many, as we have learned, wish to be called and marked as of approved faith and a more chaste purpose; since especially some of these wish to be named Encratites, Apotactites, Hydroparastatae, or Saccophori, and by the variety of different names feign, as it were, the duties of a religious profession.

For it is fitting that all these be defended not by the profession of names, but be held notorious and execrable for the crime of their sects. Given the eighth day before the Ides of May, at Constantinople, in the consulship of Eucherius and Syagrius.

8. The same Augusti to Clicherius, Count of the East. We order that none of the Eunomians or Arians, or of the dogma of Ethi, have the capacity of building churches, either in cities or in the countryside. But if this shall have been rashly presumed by anyone, that same house, where such things shall have been built which are forbidden to be built, and the estate as well or private possession, shall forthwith be claimed for the resources of our treasury, and let all places at once become fiscal property which shall have received either the seat or the ministers of this sacrilegious dogma. Given the fourteenth day before the Kalends of August, at Constantinople, in the consulship of Eucherius and Syagrius.

9. The same Augusti to Florus, Praetorian Prefect.

Whoever of the Manichaeans, under the falsity of a solitary life, flees the assembly of good men, and chooses the secret cities of the wickedest, so that as a profaner and corrupter of the catholic discipline, which we all revere, let him be subjected to the law, that he live without testamentary capacity, that he bestow nothing while living upon those forbidden, that he leave nothing while dying to the unworthy, that he restore everything not to his own manner but to nature's, or to his kinsmen, if lawful succession be lacking, let him leave it to be better governed, or, kinship failing, let him understand it as bound, without deceit of contrivance, to the ownership of the treasury. These things concerning the solitaries.

But as for those whom they name, by a monstrous appellation, Encratites, together with the Saccophori or Hydroparastatae, refuted by judgment, betrayed by crime, or found even in the slightest trace of this offense, we order them to be afflicted with the utmost punishment and inexpiable penalty, the condition concerning goods remaining which we have imposed upon this whole workshop from the beginning of the law formerly enacted. Let your Sublimity, therefore, appoint investigators, open the forum, and receive informers and denouncers without the odium of delation. Let no one, by common prescription, cut off the beginning of an accusation of this kind. Let no one compel such hidden and lurking assemblies: let it be forbidden in the fields, prohibited within the walls, condemned in public and private dwelling alike. And let it be searched out with the utmost investigation, that whosoever shall have assembled, with unconforming religion, upon a single day of Easter, be held, without doubt, to be such as we have condemned by this law.

Given the day before the Kalends of April, at Constantinople, in the consulship of Antonius and Syagrius.

10. The same AAA. To Constantianus, Vicar of the diocese of Pontus. Let the Tascodrogitae not indeed be driven from their own dwellings, yet let no crowd of the heretical superstition assemble at any church, or if it should happen to assemble, let it without any delay be driven forth from their conventicles. Given the 11th day before the Kalends of July at Constantinople, in the consulship of Merobaudes for the second time and Saturninus.

11. The same AAA. To Postumianus, Praetorian Prefect. Let all, absolutely all, whom the error of various heresies agitates, that is, the Eunomians, Arians, Macedonians, Pneumatomachi, Manichaeans, Encratites, Apotactites, Saccophori, Hydroparastatae, gather in no assemblies, collect no multitude, draw no people to themselves, nor display private walls after the likeness of churches, nor practice anything, whether publicly or privately, which could be prejudicial to catholic holiness.

And if there should be found anyone who so evidently transgresses these prohibitions, let him, with full liberty granted to all whom the worship and beauty of right observance delights, be driven out by the common conspiracy of all good men. Given the 8th day before the Kalends of August at Constantinople, in the consulship of Merobaudes for the second time and Saturninus.

12. The same AAA. To Postumianus, Praetorian Prefect. Let the institution of vices, hateful to God and to men—namely the Eunomian, Arian, Macedonian, Apollinarian, and the rest of the sects which the sincere faith of catholic observance condemns by the venerable worship of true religion—presume no opportunity, whether by public or by private approach, within the places of cities and fields and villas, either of gathering assemblies or of establishing churches, nor let it practice the celebration of its perfidy or the solemnity of its dire communion, nor usurp or hold any ordinations for the creation of priests.

Let those very houses also, whether in cities or in whatever places, where crowds of such professors and ministers gather here and there, be made subject to the dominion and right of our treasury, so that those who have been accustomed to exercise either the doctrine or the mysteries of such assemblies, having been sought out from all cities and places, bound by the force of the proposed law, be expelled from their gatherings, and be ordered to return to their own lands, whence they arose, lest any of them have the power either of traveling to any other places or of wandering into cities. But if what our Serenity has established be fulfilled too negligently, let both the offices of the provincial judges and the leading men of the cities, in which the assembly of a forbidden congregation shall be shown to have been discovered, be subjected to sentence and condemnation. Given the 3rd day before the Nones of September at Constantinople, in the consulship of Merobaudes for the second time and Saturninus.

13. The same AAA.

To Cynegius, Praetorian Prefect. The Eunomians, Macedonians, Arians, and also the Apollinarians are, among the offices of sacred religion, names notorious for their errors. Therefore let all who have claimed for themselves either the pontificate or the ministry of these professions, who assert themselves to be priests of a name put to flight, and who impose upon themselves the name of ministers in a criminal religion, who say they teach what it is unseemly either to know or to learn—after all the hiding-places of this city have been examined with more curious search—be driven out without any intervention of favor; let them live in other places, and be utterly separated from the assemblies of good men. Given the 12th day before the Kalends of February at Constantinople, in the consulship of Richomeres and Clearchus.

14. The same AAA. To Cynegius, Praetorian Prefect.

We command that the Apollinarians and the other followers of various heresies be barred from all places, from the walls of cities, from the assembly of honest men, from the communion of the saints; let them have no power of instituting clergy; let them lack the faculty of gathering congregations either in public or in private churches. Let no authority be granted to them for making bishops; let even the bishops themselves, deprived of the name, lose the appellation of this dignity. Let them betake themselves to places which, as by a rampart, as it were, shut them off in particular from human intercourse. To these we further add this, that to all of them mentioned above access for approaching and petitioning our Serenity be denied. Given the 6th day before the Ides of March at Thessalonica, in the consulship of Theodosius Augustus for the second time and Cynegius.

15. The same AAA. To Trifolius, Praetorian Prefect.

Let all of the various and perfidious sects, whom a wretched madness of conspiracy against God drives on, be permitted nowhere to hold any assembly, not to enter into discourses, not to hold secret gatherings, not shamelessly to raise up with impious hands the altars of their nefarious prevarication, and to adapt a pretense of mysteries to the injury of true religion. That this may obtain its fitting effect, let your Highness appoint the most trustworthy men as watchmen, who can both restrain these persons and, once apprehended, bring them before the courts, that they may pay, according to the past sanctions, the most severe penalty both to God and to the laws. Given the 18th day before the Kalends of July at Stobi, in the consulship of our Lord Theodosius Augustus for the second time and Cynegius, most distinguished man. The same AAA. To Cynegius, Praetorian Prefect. We have learned that certain persons put forward such a form of our command, that they may be permitted to usurp whatever seems to them to suit their own advantage.

Let it be removed, and let them know that no such command has issued from our sacred council chamber. Whatever, therefore, shall have been put forward by them for their own convenience, let him who shall hereafter circulate it be held liable as guilty of forgery. Given the 5th day before the Ides of August at Constantinople, in the consulship of Theodosius Augustus for the second time and Cynegius. 17. The Emperors Valentinian, Theodosius and Arcadius, Augusti, to Tatianus, Praetorian Prefect. Let Eunomian eunuchs have neither the license of making nor of obtaining a testament.

This we wish to be observed with regard to all whom the law shall find alive, and let no one be defended by the privilege of any prior will, since, whether it be shown that testaments were made before or were left unmade, after this sanction of our oracle they shall not have the license of possessing, nor of petitioning, nor even of leaving an heir under the principal title, nor under fideicommissary title, nor as legatee, nor by tacit fideicommissum, nor by whatever other designation the order of law establishes in such matters: but let all things which shall be shown to belong or to be destined to belong to such persons be claimed as caducous for the powers of our treasury. Let them have, in short, nothing in common with the rest. Given the 3rd day before the Nones of May at Milan, in the consulship of Timasius and Promotus. 18. The same AAA. To Albinus, Prefect of the City.

Whosoever under the name of Manichaeans disturb the world, let them be driven, indeed, from the whole world, but most of all from this city, under threat of judgment. But let the wills of these same persons, nay rather even their very properties, once made public to the people, neither hold the force of testaments, nor let it be lawful for them to bequeath through them or to them anything. Let them have, in short, nothing in common with the world. Given the 15th day before the Kalends of July at Rome, in the consulship of Timasius and Promotus. 19. The same AAA. To Tatianus, Praetorian Prefect.

Those who hold the primacy of a wicked dogma, that is, bishops, presbyters, deacons and lectors, and those who under the veil of clerical office attempt to inflict a stain upon religion, established under the name of whatever heresy or error, whether they be found within the city or in the suburbs, coming from their deadly assemblies, let them by every means be driven out, and let access to our Serenity be denied to them.

Given the 6th day before the Kalends of December at Milan, in the consulship of Timasius and Promotus. 20. A Copy of the Sacred Letters. We command that the polluted contagion of heretics be driven from cities, be thrust out from villages, and be laid open to no assemblies whatsoever, lest anywhere a sacrilegious band of such men be gathered together. Let no public conventicles nor more hidden secrets be granted to their perversity of errors. Given the 13th day before the Kalends of June at Rome, in the consulship of Tatianus and Symmachus, most distinguished men. 21. The same AAA. To Tatianus, Praetorian Prefect. We decree that whoever it is established either to have ordained clerics or to have taken up the office of clerics among heretical errors shall be fined ten pounds of gold apiece: and that the place, indeed, in which forbidden things are attempted, if the connivance of its owner shall have become apparent, be joined to the powers of our treasury.

But if it shall be established that the owner was ignorant of it, it having been done secretly, we order the tenant of that estate, if he is freeborn, to pay ten pounds of gold to our treasury; if, descending from servile dregs, he despises the penalty of the loss by reason of his poverty and lowliness, having been beaten with clubs he shall be condemned to deportation. Then this we specially provide, that if it be a manor of the imperial domain or of any public right, and the tenant and the manager shall have given permission for the gathering, they shall be fined ten pounds of gold under the condemnation proposed. But indeed, if any shall now be found favoring such mysteries and usurping to themselves the names of clerics, we order that ten pounds of gold be exacted and paid by each. Given the 17th day before the Kalends of July at Constantinople, in the consulship of Arcadius Augustus for the second time and Rufinus.

22. The Emperors Theodosius, Arcadius and Honorius, Augusti, to Victorius, Proconsul of Asia. Let heretics have neither the power of making bishops, nor let the confirmations of bishops be lawful. Given the 17th day before the Kalends of May at Constantinople, in the consulship of Arcadius for the third time, and Honorius for the second time, Augusti. 23. The same AAA. To Rufinus, Praetorian Prefect. We had thought that a law should be promulgated some time ago, that the Eunomians should neither take nor leave anything by testament; which now, with fuller counsel, we revoke. Let them live under common law, let them write down heirs and be written down as heirs, likewise. Given the 12th day before the Kalends of July at Hadrianopolis, in the consulship of Arcadius for the third time, and Honorius for the second time, Augusti. 24. The same AAA. To Rufinus, Praetorian Prefect. Let not the madness of heretics attempt any further to perpetrate what it has found, nor to hold unlawful councils: let them nowhere teach or learn profane precepts.

Let not their own overseers dare to insinuate a faith which they do not have, and to create ministers of what they are not. Let not, through the connivance of judges and of all to whom by the paternal constitutions care has been entrusted concerning this matter, such audacity be neglected and allowed to grow. Given the 7th day before the Ides of July at Constantinople, in the consulship of Arcadius for the third time, and Honorius for the second time, Augusti.

The Emperors Gratian, Valentinian and Theodosius, Augusti, to Eutropius, Praetorian Prefect. From those who from Christians have become pagans, let the faculty and right of making a testament be taken away, and let every testament of the deceased, if there be any, be rescinded, all condition set aside. Given the 6th day before the Nones of May at Constantinople, in the consulship of Syagrius and Eucherius.

2. The same AAA. To Postumianus, Praetorian Prefect. To Christians and the faithful who have migrated to pagan rites and worship, we forbid all power of drawing up a testament in favor of any person whatsoever, so that they be without Roman right. But as for those who, being Christians and only catechumens, having neglected the venerable religion, have passed over to altars and temples, if they shall have sons or full brothers, that is, their own or legitimate succession, let the right of testating according to their own judgment in favor of any other persons be taken from them.

And an equal form is to be observed with regard to their persons in taking, that, apart from their own and legitimate successions which may come to them from the goods of parents or of full brothers, even by the judgment, if the matter so requires, of a will made—let them by no means claim for themselves any testamentary rights whatsoever in taking inheritances, and let them undoubtedly be excluded from all power not only of making testaments, but also, under the legal privilege of obtaining an inheritance, of usurping such rights. Given the 13th day before the Kalends of June at Constantinople, in the consulship of Merobaudes for the second time and Saturninus.

3. The same AAA. To Hypatius, Praetorian Prefect. We claim as forfeit the license of testating, denied to Christians migrating to altars and temples. Let the crimes also of those be punished who, having neglected the dignity of the Christian religion and name, pollute themselves with Jewish contagions.

But as for those who have grown accustomed at some time to follow the nefarious secrets and criminal retreats of the Manichaeans, let that penalty continually and perpetually accompany them which either Valentinian, father of divine judgment, prescribed, or which our own decrees have likewise more often ordered. But let the authors of this persuasion, who have turned aside slippery minds into fellowship with themselves, be accompanied by the same penalty as those guilty of this kind of error; nay, we decree that graver penalties, in most cases, according to the movements of the court and the quality of the crime, be pronounced extraordinarily against the nefarious contrivers of this crime.

But lest the injury of accusation vex even the dead perpetually, or hereditary questions, utterly extinguished by the variety of long ages, be forever stirred up again into revived conflicts, we prescribe a limit of time for questions of this kind, so that, if anyone accuses a deceased person of having violated and abandoned the Christian religion, and contends that he passed over into the sacrileges of temples or into Jewish rites or to the disgrace of the Manichaeans, and asserts that for this reason he was in no way able to make a testament, let him bring forward his own actions within the continuous five-year period which has been established for actions of undutifulness,

and let the beginning of such a suit be reckoned from that time, so that, while that light still endures in which the prevarication to be accused took place, it may be shown by public testimony that he himself was a partaker of this crime and wickedness, that he prove the accusation, and not, having tacitly acquiesced in the crimes, later accuse as though ignorant the perfidy which he himself in silence rendered to the Highest Name.

Given the 12th day before the Kalends of June at Padua, in the consulship of Merobaudes for the second time and Saturninus.

4. The Emperors Valentinian, Theodosius and Arcadius, Augusti, to Flavianus, Praetorian Prefect. Let those who have betrayed the holy faith and profaned holy baptism be segregated from the fellowship of all, be strangers to giving testimony, and, as we have already sanctioned before, have not the capacity of making a testament, let them succeed to no one's inheritance, let them be written down as heirs by no one. We would even have ordered them to be cast far off and removed to a greater distance, had it not seemed a greater punishment to dwell among men and yet be deprived of the suffrages of men.

But neither shall they ever return to their former state, nor shall the disgrace of their conduct be blotted out by penance, nor shall any shadow of elaborate defense or protection be thrown over it, since indeed those who have polluted the faith which they had dedicated to God, and, betraying the divine mystery, have passed over into profane things, cannot defend by contrived and fabricated pleas what they have done. For to the lapsed and the erring, aid is given; but to the lost, that is, to those who profane holy baptism, no remedy of penance, which is wont to benefit others in other crimes, comes to their assistance. Given the 5th day before the Ides of May at Concordia, in the consulship of Tatianus and Symmachus.

5. The same AAA. To Flavianus, Praetorian Prefect.

If any splendor has been bestowed upon or is inborn in those who, straying in faith and blinded in mind, have fallen away from the worship and reverence of the most sacred religion, and have surrendered themselves to sacrifices, let them lose it, so that, cast down from their place and status, they may be burned with perpetual infamy, and may not be numbered even among the lowest part of the ignoble common people. For what can these men have in common with those who, hating the grace of communion with unspeakable and savage minds, have withdrawn from mankind? Given on the 5th of the Ides of May at Concordia, in the consulship of Tatianus and Symmachus.

The Emperors Theodosius, Arcadius, and Honorius, AAA. To Tatianus, Praetorian Prefect. The complaints of the Jews assert that certain persons are received into their sect by the authority of judges, though the chief men of their own law protest against it, whom they themselves cast out by their own judgment and will. We command that this injury be altogether removed, and that the assembly zealous for that superstition should not obtain, either through the violence of judges or through the surreptitious procurement of a rescript, the benefit of reconciliation undeservedly, against the will of their own chief men, who, it is manifest, by the judgment of the most illustrious and distinguished patriarchs, hold their own opinion concerning religion. Given on the 15th of the Kalends of May at Constantinople, in the consulship of Arcadius Augustus (II) and Rufinus. 9. The same AAA. To Addeus, Count and Master of both Soldieries throughout the East. It is well established that the sect of the Jews is forbidden by no law.

Whence we are gravely disturbed that their assemblies have been forbidden in certain places. Therefore your sublime Greatness, upon receiving this command, shall restrain with fitting severity the excess of those who, under the name of the Christian religion, presume upon whatever is unlawful, and attempt to destroy and despoil synagogues. Given on the 3rd of the Kalends of October at Constantinople, in the consulship of Theodosius Augustus (III) and Abundantius.

The Emperors Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius, AAA. To Florus, Praetorian Prefect. If anyone, like a madman and sacrilegious person, shall have plunged himself into forbidden sacrifices, day or night, as one seeking uncertain counsels, and shall have believed that a shrine or temple must be resorted to, or thought that it should be approached, for the excuse of a crime of this sort, let him know that he is to be subjected to proscription, since we admonish by just institution that God is to be worshipped with chaste prayers, not profaned with dire incantations. Given on the 12th of the Kalends of January at Constantinople, in the consulship of Eucherius and Syagrius.

8. The same AAA. To Palladius, Duke of Osroene.

We decree, by the authority of public counsel, that a temple once dedicated to the concourse of people, and now common also to the assembly of the people, in which images are said to be placed, to be measured by the value of art rather than by divinity, shall remain continually open; nor do we allow any surreptitious oracle to hinder this matter, so that it may be seen by the gathering of the city and the frequent assembly. Let your Experience, with every celebration of vows preserved, permit the temple of the oracle to remain open by our authority in such a way that the use of forbidden sacrifices may not be believed to have been permitted access on this occasion. Given on the day before the Kalends of December at Constantinople, in the consulship of Antonius and Syagrius.

9. The same AAA. To Cynegius, Praetorian Prefect.

Let no mortal presume such audacity of performing sacrifice that he receives the hope of a vain promise by the inspection of the liver and the entrails, or, what is worse, learns future things by execrable consultation. For a harsher torment of punishment shall await those who, against the prohibition, shall have attempted to explore the truth of present or future things. Given on the 8th of the Kalends of June at Constantinople, in the consulship of Arcadius Augustus (I) and Bauto, Vir Clarissimus.

10. The same AAA. To Albinus, Praetorian Prefect. Let no one pollute himself with victims, let no one slay an innocent sacrifice, let no one approach shrines, roam through temples, and look up to images formed by mortal work, lest he become guilty before divine and human sanctions.

Let the judges also maintain this rule: that if anyone devoted to profane rite shall have entered a temple anywhere, either on a journey or in the city, to worship, he shall be compelled to pay immediately fifteen pounds of gold; and likewise his staff shall pay a like sum with equal promptness, if it has not both resisted him before the judge and immediately reported it by public attestation. Let consulars pay six, their staffs a like amount; correctors and governors four, their attendants a similar amount by equal lot. Given on the 6th of the Kalends of March at Milan, in the consulship of Tatianus and Symmachus.

11. The same AAA. To Evagrius, Augustal Prefect, and Romanus, Count of Egypt. Let no power of sacrificing be granted to anyone, let no one go about the temples, let no one look up to the shrines.

Let them recognize that profane approaches are closed to them by the barrier of our law, to such a degree that, if anyone shall attempt anything against the prohibition concerning the gods or sacred rites, let him know that he is to be stripped of all indulgences. And if any judge, during the time of his administration, relying on the privilege of his power, shall as a sacrilegious violator enter polluted places, he shall be compelled to pay fifteen pounds of gold, and his staff, unless it has opposed him with combined strength, shall be compelled to pay a like sum to our treasury. Given on the 16th of the Kalends of July at Aquileia, in the consulship of Tatianus and Symmachus.

12. The Emperors Theodosius, Arcadius, and Honorius, AAA. To Rufinus, Praetorian Prefect.

Let no one at all, of whatever kind, order of men, of dignities, whether placed in power or having discharged an honor, whether powerful by lot of birth or humble in lineage, condition, fortune, in absolutely no place, in no city, slay an innocent victim to senseless images, or, in a more secret expiation, venerating the hearth-spirit with fire, the genius with wine, the household gods with incense, light lamps, place incense, or hang garlands. But if anyone shall dare to sacrifice a victim for sacrificing, or to consult breathing entrails, let him, guilty after the manner of an offense against majesty, upon accusation permitted to all, once denounced, receive the fitting sentence, even if he has sought nothing against the safety of the princes or concerning the safety of another. For it suffices for the weight of the crime that he wishes to rescind the very laws of nature, to search into unlawful things, to disclose hidden things, to attempt forbidden things, to seek the end of another's welfare, to promise the hope of another's ruin.

But if anyone shall venerate with incense offered images made by mortal work and destined to endure through ages, and, by a ridiculous example, suddenly fearing what he himself has feigned, whether a tree wreathed with fillets, or an altar raised with turf dug up, shall attempt to honor vain images, even with a humbler offering as gift, yet with the full injury of religion, he, as guilty of violated religion, shall be fined that house or possession in which it shall be established that he was in service to the gentile superstition. For we decree that all places in which it shall be established that the vapor of incense has smoked, provided it be proved that they were in the right of those offering incense, shall be joined to our treasury.

But if in public temples or shrines, or in the houses or fields of others, anyone shall attempt to practice such a kind of sacrificing, if it is established that this was usurped without the owner's knowledge, he shall be compelled to pay twenty-five pounds of gold in the name of a fine; but one who connives at this crime shall be held by a penalty equal to that of the one sacrificing. And this indeed we wish to be observed through the judges and defenders and curial officials of individual cities, in such a way that matters discovered by these be immediately brought before judgment, and matters denounced be punished by those. But if they shall believe that anything ought to be concealed out of favor or overlooked through negligence, they shall be subject to judicial censure. And if those, having been warned, shall have deferred vengeance by dissembling, they shall be fined the loss of thirty pounds of gold, their staffs also being subjected to an equal loss.

Given on the 6th of the Ides of November at Constantinople, in the consulship of Arcadius Augustus (II) and Rufinus.