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

“profane holy baptism” they were not to be given any aid “through penitence, which
customarily avails in other crimes.” 286
The canons of the c306 Council of Elvira do not mention apostasy as such, but
they do include various offences that amounted to apostasy. The first canon ruled that
a baptized Christian who sacrificed to idols was never again allowed to receive
communion, even at the moment of death. The sense appears to be that such a
Christian had thrown himself out of the church and hence was apostate. However,
somewhat contradictorily, canon 59 stated that a Christian who went to observe pagan
sacrifices was guilty of the same sin and was not to commune until he had completed
ten years of penance. To explain this apparent contradiction, it may have been the
case that perhaps there was a tacit understanding that observing such spectacles was
not quite as sinful as actively supporting them.
If so, then this law corresponds quite well with the attitude towards apostates as
shown in the Elvira canons. The harshness of the first part of the law applied to those
who had “polluted the faith” which is almost certainly a reference to sacrifice, and who
could “never… return to their former status.” On heretics, the Elvira canons (22) ruled
that they could receive communion after ten years of penance and this is possibly
paralleled in the law’s statement that “help is extended to those persons who have gone
astray.” Or equally it could be a reference to those who had deliberately witnessed
pagan sacrifices, but not actively participated in them.
The addressee of the law, Flavianus, was, of course the famous pagan, and
therefore it is highly unlikely that he proposed this law which appears to be directed
against those who had deserted Christianity altogether, that is, become pagans. In the
286 Sed nec um quam in statum pristinum rev ertentur, non flagitium m orum oblitterabitur paen itentia neque
um bra aliqua exquisitae defensionis aut m unim inis obducetur, quoniam quidem eos, qui fidem quam deo
dicav erant polluerunt et prodentes div inum m ysterium in profana m igrarunt, tueri ea quae sunt com m enticia
et concinnata non possunt. lapsis etenim et errantibus subv enitur, perditis v ero, hoc est sanctum baptism a
profanantibus, nullo rem edio paenitentiae, quae solet aliis crim inibus prodesse succurritur.
262