Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

826 27. the definition and enforcement of orthodoxy
these churches were in fact dedicated to the Theotokos, whose title had
been ratified by the definition of Chalcedon.
Justinian’s designs for religious conformity throughout the empire also
encompassed the Jews and Samaritans, who became the subject of regulation
and legislation to an extent not seen previously during the reign of
Christian emperors. Although the Jews fared better than the Samaritans,
they too were subject to legal and financial limitations, enumerated in Novel
45 from the year 531. Just as he regulated the internal affairs of the churches,
so too the emperor intervened in Jewish matters, in Novel 146 (a.d. 532)
going so far as to legislate for the Bible to be read in synagogues not in
Hebrew, but in Latin or Greek, the two official languages of the empire. A
body of Jewish dogma was also condemned in the same Novel. The
Samaritans, for their part, having revolted frequently against the empire in
the past, were brought to heel early in Justinian’s reign after a revolt in 529,
during which they appointed their own emperor. 55 In the legislation of 530 56
they are grouped with Manichaeans and the worst kinds of heretics, and
subjected to similar penalties; their synagogues were ordered to be burnt.
The relaxation of these stringent measures in Novel 120 of 551, as a result
of the intercession of bishop Sergius of Caesarea with the emperor, was
followed by another bloody revolt four years later, which Justinian sent no
less a dignitary than the magister militum per Orientem to quell. For their continued
resistance to Christianity the Samaritans later had punitive legislation
imposed on them by Justinian’s successor, Justin II. 57
In his enforcement of Chalcedonian orthodoxy Justinian had also to
deal with the disruption caused by Origenist monks in Palestinian monasteries.
In 543 the emperor himself wrote a tract against the controversial
third-century theologian Origen and against Origenists, including ten anathemata
on Origenistic doctrine. 58 This writing was ratified by a synod in
the same year, but in 553 at the Second Council of Constantinople Origen
and his works were condemned, together with those of his followers,
Evagrius of Pontus and Didymus the Blind. Nevertheless, the emperor’s
abiding effort was directed towards making Chalcedon acceptable to its
opponents. A possibility presented itself, suggested by one of the leaders
of the condemned Origenists, Theodore Askidas, whereby suspicion from
the Monophysite side concerning the Nestorianism of Chalcedon could be
allayed. 59 The plan, which had first emerged among Cyrillians after 431,was
a condemnation, on three counts or heads, of the Antiochene Theodore of
Mopsuestia and his works, the works of Theodoret against Cyril’s Twelve
55 John Malalas, Chron. 18; Procop. Buildings v.7. 56 CJ i.5.18–19.
57 Mich. Syr. Chron. ed. Chabot ii.262. 58 ACO iii.189–214.
59 Unlike e.g. Frend, Monophysite Movement 279–80 and Grillmeier, Christ in Christian Tradition ii.2
419–23, Meyendorff, Imperial Unity 236–7 argues against the involvement of Theodore Askidas in this
episode.
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