Religious Intolerance in the Later Roman Empire - Bad request ...

holy places” from demands and such “holy places” could quite plausibly have referred
to synagogues and temples as well as to churches.
Another tendency is exactness; in particular Episcopis tradi (CTh. 16.1.3) of 30
July 381 and to a less extent Cun ctos populos, are both precise as to whom (and
therefore by implication what) in the Church should be regarded as Orthodox; indeed
the comprehensiveness of Episcopis tradi is as much an indicator of intolerance as any
other criteria since it ensured that there was room only for Nicene churches (at least in
this diocese). At the same time however it avoided making martyrs, it did not
condemn any particular cleric and indeed did not even provide some punishments of
which aspiring martyrs could have availed themselves.
Thoroughness could also work against the interests of the Church. Tatianus’
CTh. 16.2.27 of 21 June 390 was, like many of Tatianus’ laws, contrary to the interests
of the Church and of clerics. It was also long and detailed, and to such a degree that
the only way in which the Church could circumvent its provisions was with the
complete repeal of the law. The legislation which is addressed to Tatianus on the
Church and Christianity deserves special attention. It could be argued that much of
the legislation which is addressed to him was actually inspired, proposed and then
issued to others, i.e. the provincial governors under his jurisdiction in the eastern
prefecture, and that it is only by chance that the copies sent to Tatianus were the
versions that the commissioners decided to include in the Code. But there are also
indications to suggest that a single hand lay behind many of the laws addressed to him.
They are often markedly longer than other laws, length is problematic when dealing
with edited texts, but it may reasonably be proposed that if edited texts are longer than
other edited texts, then in their original states they would also have been longer.
Similarly, they are often more detailed than laws on similar subjects (e.g. CTh.
11.16.18 and 12.1.123). Also, they are sometimes concerned with unusual subject
matter; shaven headed women and deaconesses in CTh. 16.2.27 for instance and all of
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