The Edict of Thessalonica, on the Catholic Faith, February 27, 380

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On February 27, 380, Emperor Theodosius I and co-emperors Gratian and Valentinian II declared their desire for all Roman citizens to embrace Trinitarian Christianity.

The Edict of Thessalonica (also known as Cunctos populos) was a decree issued on February 27, 380 AD, by three Roman emperors, establishing Nicene Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Background

In 313, Emperor Constantine I, along with his eastern counterpart Licinius, issued the Edict of Milan, granting religious tolerance and freedom to persecuted Christians.

By 325, Arianism, a form of Christology that asserted Christ was created and thus a subordinate entity to God the Father, had become so popular and controversial that Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea in an attempt to end the dispute by establishing an "orthodoxy" throughout the empire. The Council formulated the original Nicene Creed, rejecting Arianism and affirming that Christ is "true God" and "consubstantial with the Father."

However, the controversy within the Church did not end with Nicaea. Constantine, while advocating tolerance, began to question whether he had sided with the wrong faction, as the Nicene Christians, through their fervent persecution of Arians, seemed to perpetuate division within the Church. Constantine was not baptized until he was near death in 337, choosing an Arian bishop, Eusebius of Nicomedia, to perform the sacrament.

Constantine's son and successor in the East, Constantius, was pro-Arian and even went so far as to exile Nicene bishops. His successor, Julian, was the only emperor after Constantine’s conversion to reject Christianity entirely, attempting to revive religious diversity. Calling himself a "Hellene," he supported various forms of Hellenistic religion, the traditional Roman religious practices, and Judaism while promoting tolerance for all Christian sects. Julian’s successor, Jovian, who was a Christian, ruled for only eight months and never entered Constantinople. He was succeeded in the East by Valens, an Arian.

By 379, when Valens was succeeded by Theodosius I, Arianism had spread throughout the eastern empire, while the western empire remained staunchly committed to the Nicene faith. Theodosius, born in Spain, was himself a devout Nicene Christian. In August, his western counterpart, Gratian, began persecuting heretics.

The Edict

The Edict of Thessalonica was jointly issued by Theodosius I, Gratian, and Valentinian II on February 27, 380.

Contrary to popular belief, the Edict was issued before Theodosius’ baptism by Bishop Acholius of Thessalonica, which took place while Theodosius was suffering from a severe illness in the city.

Latin Text (Codex Theodosianus, xvi.1.2)

IMPPP. GR(ATI)IANUS, VAL(ENTINI)ANUS ET THE(O)D(OSIUS) AAA. EDICTUM AD POPULUM VRB(IS) CONSTANTINOP(OLITANAE).

Cunctos populos, quos clementiae nostrae regit temperamentum, in tali volumus religione versari, quam divinum Petrum apostolum tradidisse Romanis religio usque ad nunc ab ipso insinuata declarat quamque pontificem Damasum sequi claret et Petrum Aleksandriae episcopum virum apostolicae sanctitatis, hoc est, ut secundum apostolicam disciplinam evangelicamque doctrinam patris et filii et spiritus sancti unam deitatem sub pari maiestate et sub pia trinitate credamus. Hanc legem sequentes Christianorum catholicorum nomen iubemus amplecti, reliquos vero dementes vesanosque iudicantes haeretici dogmatis infamiam sustinere ‘nec conciliabula eorum ecclesiarum nomen accipere’, divina primum vindicta, post etiam motus nostri, quem ex caelesti arbitro sumpserimus, ultione plectendos.

DAT. III Kal. Mar. THESSAL(ONICAE) GR(ATI)ANO A. V ET THEOD(OSIO) A. I CONSS.

English Translation:

Emperors Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius Augusti. Edict to the People of Constantinople.

It is our desire that all the various nations subject to our clemency and moderation should continue to profess that religion which was delivered to the Romans by the divine Apostle Peter and has been preserved by faithful tradition, and which is now professed by the Pontiff Damasus and by Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, a man of apostolic holiness. According to the apostolic teaching and the doctrine of the Gospel, we should believe in the one deity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, of equal majesty and in a holy Trinity. We authorize the followers of this law to assume the title of Catholic Christians. But as for others, since, in our judgment, they are foolish madmen, we decree that they shall be branded with the ignominious name of heretics and shall not presume to give their conventicles the name of churches. They will suffer in the first place the punishment of divine condemnation and, in the second, the punishment of our authority, which we will impose in accordance with the will of Heaven.

Issued in Thessalonica on the third day before the Kalends of March, during the fifth consulship of Gratian Augustus and the first of Theodosius Augustus.

Significance

The Edict was issued under the influence of Acholius, and thus of Pope Damasus I, who had appointed him. It reaffirmed a singular expression of the Apostolic Faith as legally valid in the Roman Empire, "catholic" (meaning universal) and "orthodox" (meaning correct belief). Following the edict, Theodosius dedicated much of his efforts to suppressing all forms of Christianity that did not conform to Nicaea, particularly Arianism, and to establishing Orthodoxy throughout his domain.

The edict was followed in 381 by the Second Ecumenical Council, which reaffirmed the Nicene Creed and finalized the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. In 383, the emperor ordered various sects (Arians, Anomoeans, Pneumatomachi, and Novatianists) to submit written statements of their doctrines, which he personally reviewed before burning all except those of the Novatianists. Other sects lost the right to assemble, ordain clergy, or promote their beliefs. Theodosius forbade heretics from residing within Constantinople, and in 392 and 394, he confiscated their places of worship.