The religious policies of Constantius II were a mixture of toleration for some pagan practices and repression for other pagan practices.[1][2] He also sought to advance the Arian or Semi-Arianian heresy within Christianity. These policies may be contrasted with the religious policies of his father, Constantine the Great, whose Catholic orthodoxy was espoused in the Nicene Creed and who largely tolerated paganism in the Roman Empire. Constantius also sought to repress Judaism.
Laws dating from the 350s prescribed the death penalty for those who performed or attended pagan sacrifices, and for the worshipping of idols.[1][3][4] Pagan temples were shut down,[2][5] and the Altar of Victory was removed from the Senate meeting house.[6] There were also frequent episodes of ordinary Christians destroying, pillaging and desecrating many ancient pagan temples, tombs and monuments.[7][8][9][10] Paganism was still popular among the population at the time. The emperor's policies were passively resisted by many governors and magistrates.[5][11][12]
Anti-paganism acts
Constantius II's legislation began with the banning of the pagan practice of sacrifice.[1][2][3] This was in keeping with his personal maxim was: "Cesset superstitio; sacrificiorum aboleatur insania" (Let superstition cease; let the folly of sacrifices be abolished).[13] According to Libanius, Constantius was effectively under the control of others who inspired him to end pagan sacrifices.[14][15]
With the collapse of official government sanctioned pagan rites, private cults attempted to infiltrate the temples. In the year 353 Constantius prohibited pagan sacrifice under the penalty of death. He also shut down some temples, forbade access to them, and ended their subsidies of public taxes.[2][5]
Consistent with Christian theology, Constantius carried out on an active campaign against magicians, astrologers and other diviners. This may also be due to his becoming fearful that others might use these means to make someone else emperor.[16]
In 357 Constantius removed the Altar of Victory in the Senate house because of the complaints of some Christian Senators. This altar had been installed by Augustus in 29 BC; each Senator had traditionally made a sacrifice upon the altar before entering the Senate house. This altar was later restored, either silently, soon after Constantius' departure, or by the emperor Julian.[6]
The pretender Magnentius killed Constans. Although he used Christian symbols on his coins, he revoked the anti-paganism legislation of Constans and even permitted the celebration of nocturnal sacrifices. Three years later, in the year 353, Constantius defeated Magnentius and once again forbade the performance of the rituals.[17] This law seems to have had little effect as we find Constantius once again legislating against paganism in 356. Constantius now declared that anyone found guilty of attending sacrifices or of worshipping idols would be executed.[4] It appears the magistrates were uncomfortable with carrying out this law; it was largely ignored.
Relative moderation
The government's policies could not be rigidly executed due to the strength of paganism among the population.[5][11] No matter what the imperial edicts declared in their fearful threats, the vast numbers of pagans, and the passive resistance of pagan governors and magistrates rendered them largely impotent in their application.[5][12] Consequently, the emperor never attempted to disband the various Roman priestly colleges or the Vestal Virgins,[18] He never acted against the various pagan schools. He even ordered the election of a priest for Africa.[18] Also, he remained as the pontifex maximus until his death, and was deified by the Roman Senate after his death. The effects of policy were enough to contribute to a widespread trend towards Christian conversion, though not enough to make paganism extinct. The relative moderation of Constantius' actions toward paganism is reflected by the fact that it was not until over 20 years after Constantius' death, during the reign of Gratian, that any pagan senators protested their religion's treatment.[19]
Actions of ordinary Christians
A cult statue of the deified Augustus, disfigured by a Christian cross carved into the emperor's forehead.
Some Christians encouraged the emperor to take even more extreme measures in their zeal to stamp out paganism, e.g. in the aftermath of the abolition of sacrifices.[5]Firmicus Maternus, a convert to Christianity, urged: "Paganism, most holy emperors, must be utterly destroyed and blotted out, and disciplined by the severest enactments of your edicts, lest the deadly delusion of the presumption continue to stain the Roman world" and "How fortunate you are that God, whose agents you are, has reserved for you the destruction of idolatry and the ruin of profane temples."[1]
Constantius enacted another law that exacted a fine from those who were guilty of vandalizing sites holy to pagans and placed the care of these monuments and tombs under the pagan priests.[10]
Policies concerning Christianity
Although often considered an Arian,[20] Constantius ultimately preferred a third, compromise version that lay somewhere in between Arianism and the Nicene Creed, retrospectively called Semi-Arianism.[21][22] During his reign he attempted to mold the Christian church to follow this compromise position, convening several Christian councils. The most notable of these were the Council of Rimini and its twin at Seleucia, which met in 359 and 360 respectively. "Unfortunately for his memory the theologians whose advice he took were ultimately discredited and the malcontents whom he pressed to conform emerged victorious," writes the historian A.H.M. Jones. "The great councils of 359–60 are therefore not reckoned ecumenical in the tradition of the church, and Constantius II is not remembered as a restorer of unity, but as a heretic who arbitrarily imposed his will on the church."[23]
Christian-related edicts issued by Constantius (by himself or with others) included:
Exemption from compulsory public service for the clergy[24]
Exemption from compulsory public service for the sons of clergy[25]
Bishops exempted from being tried in secular courts[31]
Christian prostitutes only able to be bought by members of the clergy or other state-approved Christians[32][33]
Policies concerning Judaism
Judaism faced some severe restrictions under Constantius, who seems to have followed an anti-Jewish policy in line with that of his father.[34] Early in his reign, Constantius issued a double edict in concert with his brothers limiting the ownership of slaves by Jewish people[35] and banning marriages between Jews and Christian women.[35] A later edict issued by Constantius after becoming sole emperor decreed that a person who was proven to have converted from Christianity to Judaism would have all of his property confiscated by the state.[36] However, Constantius' actions in this regard may not have been so much to do with Jewish religion as with Jewish business—apparently, privately owned Jewish businesses were often in competition with state-owned businesses. As a result, Constantius may have sought to provide an advantage to state-owned businesses by limiting the skilled workers and slaves available to Jewish businesses.[34]
Jew-related edicts issued by Constantius (by himself or with others) included:
Weaving women who moved from working for the government to working for Jews must be restored to the government[35]
1 2 Ammianus MarcellinusRes Gestae 9.10, 19.12. quote summary: Ammianus describes pagan sacrifices and worship taking place openly in Alexandria and Rome. The Roman Calendar of 354 cites many pagan festivals as though they were still being openly observed. See also the descriptions of pagan worship in the following works: Firmicius Maternus De Errore Profanorum Religionum; Vetus Orbis Descriptio Graeci Scriptoris sub Constantio.
1 2 Bowder, D. (1978) The Age of Constantine and Julian
↑ C. G. Herbermann & Georg Grupp, "Constantine the Great", Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911, New Advent web site.
↑ Pharr, Clyde (2001). The Theodosian Code and Novels, and the Sirmondian Constitutions. Princeton University Press. p.443. ISBN978-1-58477-146-3. taxable units of land that appear to belong to the Church should be relieved of any compulsory public service...As for those clerics who possess landed estates, however, Your Sublime Authority shall decree not only that by no means may they exempt other men's taxable units of land from the payment of taxes, but also that the aforesaid clerics must be compelled to make fiscal payments for the land which they themselves possess.
↑ Elliott, T.G. (1978). "The Tax Exemptions Granted to Clerics by Constantine and Constantius II". Phoenix. 32 (4): 333. doi:10.2307/1087959. JSTOR1087959. Constantius' dispositio exempted Church-owned lands from taxation. Constantius' later sanctio ordered the taxation of clergy-owned lands...
↑ Pharr, Clyde (2001). The Theodosian Code and Novels, and the Sirmondian Constitutions. Princeton University Press. p.435. ISBN978-1-58477-146-3. If any man should wish to subject to wantonness the women who are known to have dedicated themselves to the veneration of the holy Christian law and if he should provide that such women should be sold to brothels and compelled to perform the vile service of prostituted virtue, no other person shall have the right to buy such women except either those who are known to be ecclesiastics or those who are shown to be Christian men, upon the payment of the proper price.
1 2 Schäfer, P., The History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman World (2003), pp. 180–1
Constantius II was Roman emperor from 337 to 361. His reign saw constant warfare on the borders against the Sasanian Empire and Germanic peoples, while internally the Roman Empire went through repeated civil wars, court intrigues, and usurpations. His religious policies inflamed domestic conflicts that would continue after his death.
Julian was the Caesar of the West from 355 to 360 and Roman emperor from 361 to 363, as well as a notable philosopher and author in Greek. His rejection of Christianity, and his promotion of Neoplatonic Hellenism in its place, caused him to be remembered as Julian the Apostate in Christian tradition. He is sometimes referred to as Julian the Philosopher.
Theodosius I, also called Theodosius the Great, was a Roman emperor from 379 to 395. He won two civil wars, and was instrumental in establishing the Nicene Creed as the orthodox doctrine for Nicene Christianity. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule the entire Roman Empire before its administration was permanently split between the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire. He successfully ended the Gothic War (376–382) with terms advantageous to the empire, with the Goths remaining in Roman territory but as subject allies.
The Codex Theodosianus is a compilation of the laws of the Roman Empire under the Christian emperors since 312. A commission was established by Emperor Theodosius II and his co-emperor Valentinian III on 26 March 429 and the compilation was published by a constitution of 15 February 438. It went into force in the eastern and western parts of the empire on 1 January 439. The original text of the codex is also found in the Breviary of Alaric, promulgated on 2 February 506.
During the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great (306–337 AD), Christianity began to transition to the dominant religion of the Roman Empire. Historians remain uncertain about Constantine's reasons for favoring Christianity, and theologians and historians have often argued about which form of early Christianity he subscribed to. There is no consensus among scholars as to whether he adopted his mother Helena's Christianity in his youth, or, as claimed by Eusebius of Caesarea, encouraged her to convert to the faith he had adopted.
As the Roman Republic, and later the Roman Empire, expanded, it came to include people from a variety of cultures, and religions. The worship of an ever increasing number of deities was tolerated and accepted. The government, and the Romans in general, tended to be tolerant towards most religions and religious practices. Some religions were banned for political reasons rather than dogmatic zeal, and other rites which involved human sacrifice were banned.
Gamaliel VI was the last nasi of the ancient Sanhedrin.
Julian is a 1964 novel by Gore Vidal, a work of historical fiction written primarily in the first person dealing with the life of the Roman emperor Flavius Claudius Julianus, who reigned briefly from 360 to 363 A.D.
In historiography, the Late or Later Roman Empire traditionally spans the period from 284 to 641 in the history of the Roman Empire.
Paganism is commonly used to refer to various religions that existed during Antiquity and the Middle Ages, such as the Greco-Roman religions of the Roman Empire, including the Roman imperial cult, the various mystery religions, religious philosophies such as Neoplatonism and Gnosticism, and more localized ethnic religions practiced both inside and outside the empire. During the Middle Ages, the term was also adapted to refer to religions practiced outside the former Roman Empire, such as Germanic paganism, Egyptian paganism and Baltic paganism.
Vettius Agorius Praetextatus was a wealthy pagan aristocrat in the 4th-century Roman Empire, and a high priest in the cults of numerous gods. He served as the praetorian prefect at the court of Emperor Valentinian II in 384 until his death that same year.
Christianity in the 4th century was dominated in its early stage by Constantine the Great and the First Council of Nicaea of 325, which was the beginning of the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councils (325–787), and in its late stage by the Edict of Thessalonica of 380, which made Nicene Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire.
This article chronicles the attested movements of the fourth-century Roman emperors Constantine II, Constantius II, Constans, Gallus, and Julian the Apostate from 337 to 361 AD. It does not cover the imperial usurpers of the period, including Magnentius, Vetranio, Claudius Silvanus, and Poemenius. The chronology is principally derived from Timothy Barnes' Athanasius and Constantius. Substantial additions and further sources are based on recent research that seeks to go beyond Barnes' own chronology and slightly modifying his at a few places.
The Edict of Thessalonica, issued on 27 February AD 380 by Theodosius I, made Nicene Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire. It condemned other Christian creeds such as Arianism as heresies of "foolish madmen," and authorized their punishment.
Domitius Modestus was a politician of the Roman Empire. He held appointments under the emperors Constantius II, Julian, and Valens, and was consul in 372. Previously a pagan, he converted to Arianism under Valens, and was sent by Valens to mediate between the Arian and Nicene factions with Basil of Caesarea.
Persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire began during the reign of Constantine the Great in the military colony of Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem), when he destroyed a pagan temple for the purpose of constructing a Christian church. Rome had periodically confiscated church properties, and Constantine was vigorous in reclaiming them whenever these issues were brought to his attention. Christian historians alleged that Hadrian had constructed a temple to Venus on the site of the crucifixion of Jesus on Golgotha hill in order to suppress Christian veneration there. Constantine used that to justify the temple's destruction, saying he was simply reclaiming the property. Using the vocabulary of reclamation, Constantine acquired several more sites of Christian significance in the Holy Land.
The persecution of pagans under Theodosius I began in 381, after the first couple of years of his reign as co-emperor in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. In the 380s, Theodosius I reiterated the ban of Constantine the Great on animal sacrifices, prohibited haruspicy on animal sacrifice, pioneered the criminalization of magistrates who did not enforce anti-pagan laws, broke up some pagan associations and destroyed pagan temples.
The restoration of paganism from Julian until Valens was a brief period, from 361 until 375, of relative tolerance towards pagans in the Roman Empire. In the late Roman Empire, it was preceded by a period of persecutions under Emperor Constantius II and was followed by those of Emperor Gratian. The attempt of Emperor Julian the Apostate to restore pagan worship in the empire, while ultimately a policy failure, restored security to pagans. His immediate successors, under the reigns of Jovian, Valens and Valentinian I, had a policy of relative religious toleration towards paganism.
The anti-paganism policies of the early Byzantine Empire ranged from 395 till 567. Anti-paganism laws were enacted by the Byzantine Emperors Arcadius, Honorius, Theodosius II, Marcian and Leo I the Thracian. They reiterated previous legal bans, especially on pagan religious rites and sacrifices and increased the penalties for their practice. The pagan religions had still many followers but they were increasingly obliged to keep under cover to formally comply with the edicts. Significant support for paganism was present among Roman nobles, senators, magistrates, imperial palace officers, and other officials.
The Religious policies of Constantine the Great have been called "ambiguous and elusive." Born in 273 during the Crisis of the Third Century, Constantine the Great was thirty at the time of the Great Persecution. He saw his father become Augustus of the West and then shortly die. Constantine spent his life in the military warring with much of his extended family, and converted to Christianity sometime around 40 years of age. His religious policies, formed from these experiences, comprised increasing toleration of Christianity, limited regulations against Roman polytheism with toleration, participation in resolving religious disputes such as schism with the Donatists, and the calling of councils including the Council of Nicaea concerning Arianism. John Kaye characterizes the conversion of Constantine, and the Council of Nicea that Constantine called, as two of the most important things to ever happen to the Christian church.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
