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

Theodosius and Heretics.
As has already been noted, some of Theodosius' legislation may be classified as
affecting primarily one particular group, but it might also affect another group as well.
One good example of this is his Episcopis tradi (CTh. 16.1.3 of 30 July 381) which
benefits the orthodox to the direct detriment of other Churches. Similarly CTh.
16.5.6 of 10 January 381 was addressed to Eutropius, Praetorian Prefect of the East,
and was Theodosius' first law that was focused on heretics, but also contained a
provision which benefited the orthodox. 168 It should be noted that this law, sometimes
termed the n ullus haereticis, was passed before the Council of Constantinople met in
May 381.
The law is divided into three main parts, prefaced by an introductory
paragraph. The introduction was in bombastic terms and began: “No place for
celebrating their mysteries, no opportunity for exercising the madness of their
excessively obstinate minds shall be available to the heretics.” The law then appears to
make the obvious statement that any apparent concession “impetrated by that kind of
men through any special rescript” was invalid if “fraudulently elicited.” Possibly this
clause was designed to impose upon any heretics who had rescripts, an obligation to
prove that they were genuine; it may also have been designed to encourage the
orthodox to bring cases against heretics to force them to prove that their rescripts were
valid. 169
The first paragraph dealt with two issues, practical and doctrinal: the practical
was an order that “crowds shall be kept away from the unlawful congregations of all
the heretics” which tends to give the impression that heretical spectacles were almost
168 Eutropius 2 PLRE 1.317 who also received Sirm. Const. 7 of Easter 381. Honoré (1998) 45-47
attributes this law to his quaestor E2 whom he believes was a Christian and may have been a lawyer.
169 Nullus haereticis m ysteriorum locus, nulla ad exercendam an im i obstinatioris dem entiam pateat occasio.
sciant om n es etiam si quid speciali quolibet rescripto per fraudem elicito ab huiusm odi hom inum genere
im petratum est, non v alere
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