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ER 2220
The Emperors Arcadius and Honorius issue a law according to which violence against priests, clerics and churches should be punished with capital sentence.The law issued on 15 January 409, included in the Theodosian Code (16.2.31) published in 438 and repeated in in the Justinian Code, promulgated in 529 and then again 534 (1.3.10).
16.2.31 = cf. Sirm. 14 = cf. C.J. 1.3.10
 
IDEM AA. THEODORO PRAEFECTO PRAETORIO.
Si quis in hoc genus sacrilegii proruperit, ut in ecclesias catholicas irruens sacerdotibus et ministris vel ipsi cultui locoque aliquid importet iniuriae, quod geritur litteris ordinum, magistratuum et curatorum et notoriis apparitorum, quos stationarios appellant, deferatur in notitiam potestatum, ita ut vocabula eorum, qui agnosci potuerint, declarentur. Et si per multitudinem commissum dicetur, si non omnes, possunt tamen aliquanti cognosci, quorum confessione sociorum nomina publicentur. Adque ita provinciae moderator sacerdotum et catholicae ecclesiae ministrorum, loci quoque ipsius et divini cultus iniuriam capitali in convictos sive confessos reos sententia noverit vindicandam nec expectet, ut episcopus iniuriae propriae ultionem deposcat, cui sanctitas ignoscendi solam gloriam dereliquit. Sitque cunctis non solum liberum, sed et laudabile factas atroces sacerdotibus aut ministris iniurias veluti publicum crimen persequi ac de talibus reis ultionem mereri. Quod si multitudo violenta civilis apparitionis executione et adminiculo ordinum possessorumve non potuerit praesentari, quod se armis aut locorum difficultate tueatur, iudices Africani armatae apparitionis praesidium, datis ad virum spectabilem comitem Africae litteris, praelato legis istius tenore deposcant, ut rei talium criminum non evadant.
DAT. VII KAL. MAI. MEDIOLANO HONORIO A. IIII ET EVTYCHIANO CONSS. [=25 April 398; it should be 15 January 409, see discussion]
 
(ed. Mommsen 1905: 845-46)
16.2.31 = cf. Sirm. 14 = cf. C.J. 1.3.10
 
THE SAME AUGUSTI TO THEODORUS, PRAETORIAN PRAEFECT.
If any person should break forth into such sacrilege that he should invade Catholic churches and should inflict any outrage of the priests and ministers, or on the worship itself and on the place of worship, whatever occurs shall be brought to the notice of the authorities by letters of the municipal senates, magistrates, and curators, and by official reports of the apparitors who are called stationarii, so that the names of those who could be recognized may be revealed. Moreover, if the offense is said to have been perpetrated by a multitude, some, if not all, can nevertheless be recognized, and by their confession the names of their accomplices may be disclosed. Thus the governor of the province shall know that the outrage to the priests and ministers of the Catholic Church, to the divine worship, and to the place of worship itself must be punished with a capital sentence against the aforesaid convicted or confessed criminals. The governor shall not wait until the bishop shall demand the avenging of his own injury, since the bishop's sanctity leaves nothing to him except the glory of forgiving. It shall be not only permissible but even laudable for all persons to prosecute as a public crime the atrocious outrages committed against priests and ministers and to exact punishment from such criminals. But if it should be impossible to bring to court a violent multitude by the operation of civil apparitors and by the help of the municipal senates and landholders, in case the multitude protects itself by arms or by the difficulty of the places, the African judges shall prefix the contents of this law to letters which they shall send to the Respectable Count of Africa, and they shall demand the aid of the armed apparitors, in order that the perpetrators of such crimes may not escape.
GIVEN ON THE SEVENTH DAY BEFORE THE KALENDS OF MAY AT MILAN IN THE YEAR OF THE FOURTH CONSULSHIP OF HONORIUS AUGUSTUS AND THE CONSULSHIP OF EUTYCHIANUS  [=25 April 398; it should be 15 January 409, see discussion]
 
(trans. Pharr 1952: 445-46; lightly adapted)

Discussion:

The date 25 April 398 given by the law is false. The law is an excerpt from the law Sirm. 14 dated to 15 January 409 (see also another excerpt from this law, 16.5.46 properly dated to 15 January 409). The law is addressed to Theodorus, the pretorian prefect of Italy, Illyricum and Africa from 13 September 408 to 15 January 409 (the son of Flavius Mallius Theodorus, see PLRE Theodorus 9). See Delmaire 2005: 182-83.

Place of event:

Region
  • East
  • Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia
  • Latin North Africa
City
  • Constantinople
  • Milan

About the source:

Title: Codex Theodosianus, Code of Theodosius, Theodosian Code, Codex Iustianianus, Code of Justinian, Justinianic Code
Origin: Constantinople (East), Milan (Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
The Theodosian Code is a compilation of the Roman legislation from the times of the Emperor Constantine to the times of Theodosius II. The work was begun in 427 and finished in autumn 437 when it was accepted for publication. It was promulgated in February 438 and came into effect from the beginning of the year 439.
 
The compilation consist of sixteen books in which all imperial constitutions are gathered beginning with the year 312. Books 1-5 did not survive and are reconstructed from the manuscripts of the Lex Romana Visigothorum, i.e. the Breviary of Alaric, the legal corpus published in 506 by the Visigothic king, Alaric, containing excerpts from the Theodosian Code equipped with explanatory notes (interpretationes), post-Theodosian novels and several other juristic texts.
 
A new compilation was undertaken during the reign of the emperor Justinian. A committee of ten persons prepared and promulgated the Codex in 529. It was quickly outdated because of the legislative activities of the emperor and therefore its revised version had to be published in 534. The Codex together with the novels, the Pandecta, a digest of juristic writings, and the Institutes, an introductory handbook are known under the medieval name "Corpus Iuris Civilis".
Edition:
Theodor Mommsen and Paul Martin Meyer (eds.), Theodosiani libri XVI cum constitutionibus Sirmondianis et leges novellae ad Theodosianum pertinentes, 2 vols., Berlin 1905
 
Translations:
The Theodosian Code and Novels and the Sirmondian Constitutions, a translation with commentary, glossary, and bibliography by C. Pharr, Princeton 1952
Les lois religieuses des empereurs romains de Constantin à Théodose (312-438), v. 1, Code Théodosien livre XVI, text latin Th. Mommsen, trad. J. Rougé, introduction et notes R. Delmaire avec collab. F. Richard, Paris 2005
Bibliography:
(all those entries with extenstive, recent bibliography)
 
G. Savagnone, "Le origini del sinodo diocesano, e l'interpretatio alla c. 23, C. Th. XVI, 2", Studi in onore di Biagio Brugi, Palermo 1910

Categories:

Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς
    Public law - Secular
      Administration of justice - Secular
        Administration of justice - Capital punishment
          Conflict - Violence
            Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2220, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2220
            Record by: Marta Szada
            last edited: 2019-08-12 10:26:16
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