27 February 380 A.D. Theodosius’ Edict
27 February 380 A.D. Theodosius’ Edict
Bibliography:
Aland, Kurt. Saints and Sinners; men and ideas in the early church. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1970.
Graves, Dan. “Theodosius Issued an Edict.” Christianity.com. May 2007.
http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/301-600/theodosius-issued-an-edict-11629680.html. Accessed 19 Jul 2014.
There are many turning points in church history.
One of the most significant is little known by most Christians.
After Constantine's conversion he
legitimized Christianity.
Soon thereafter Christians in the Roman empire divided between Arianism (which
denies the divinity of Christ) and Trinitarianism (which sees God as three
persons in one being). The first universal church council, held at Nicea in
325, resisted Arianism; all but three of its Bishops voted for a trinitarian
creed.*
Shortly after he came to the
Imperial throne, Theodosius ended the Arian dispute by the simple expedient of
issuing an edict. On this day February 27, 380 (some historians say 381) this edict commanded everyone
to be a Christian--but not just any kind of Christian. A Catholic Christian, it
said, was one who held that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one Godhead and
equal in majesty. This, of course, was the position of the Nicene Creed.
Theodosius' decision was the result of his upbringing: he was reared in a
Christian home, perhaps the first emperor to enjoy that distinction. (His
behavior wasn't always Christian, however, as the premeditated massacre of
thousands of civilians at Thessalonica showed in 390).
The following year, Theodosius
issued another edict specifically requiring worship of the one God according to
the Nicene Creed. Theodosius deposed Demophilus of Constantinople an Arian bishop
and replaced him with a trinitarian.
These laws (Theodosian Codes
16.1.2 and 16.5.6) are significant for many reasons. They mark the first time
the legal code coerced people to become Christians. They made orthodox catholic
Christianity the official dogma of the church and suppressed the Arian
factions. The laws established a pattern which would become more pronounced as
Theodosius' reign progressed of using the apparatus of the state to suppress
diversity of religious opinion. The church can only regret that before all was
done, people calling themselves Christians persecuted pagans, Arians,
Manichees, and Jews. Many of the persecutors did not hold the name Christian
out of zeal for Christ, but because it was politically correct.
*Although the trinity is hard to
understand, the basis of the doctrine is found repeatedly in scripture, and
some maintain that it makes more sense now than when it was first acceptedh,
for we now have mathematics which describe multidimensionality. If God is
infinite, as Christians teach, he must inhabit dimensions beyond the space-time
we know. A trinity is consistent with this.
Bibliography:
Aland, Kurt. Saints and Sinners; men and ideas in the early church. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1970.
Durant, Will and Ariel. The Age of Faith. New
York: Simon and Schuster, 1950.
Fortescue, Adrian. "Theodosius I." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
Greenslade, S. L. (Stanley Lawrence). Church &
state from Constantine to Theodosius. Westport, Connecticut:
Greenwood Press, 1981.
Ross, Hugh. Beyond the Cosmos, 2nd edition.
Navpress, 1999.
"Theodosius I." The Oxford
Dictionary of the Christian Church. Edited by F. L. Cross and E. A.
Livingstone. Oxford, 1997.
"Theodosius I., Flavius." New
Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. Grand Rapids:
Baker Book House, 1954.
Various encyclopedia and internet articles.
Last updated May,
2007.
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