The Western part of the Roman Empire adopted the Theodosian code on this day in 438. After the death of Emperor Theodosios I (379–395), the Empire was divided between his sons. Honorios ruled the East and Arcadios ruled the West. Theodosios II was Honorios’ son. He was a man of learning surrounded by the dominant figures of his wife Eudokia and sister Pulcheria. He also invited Nestorios to take the see of the Archbishop of Constantinople. Emperor Theodosios is known for erecting the walls around Constantinople that would last until 1453 (but did not survive the artillery of Mehmet II). The Theodosian legislation encompassed all Christian laws of the empire issued since Emperor Constantine the Great’s Edict of Milan (313). The collection, which came out almost one hundred years before Emperor Justinian’s Institutes, became an important milestone in the formation of Byzantine law. There is no contemporary notion of separation of church and state found in the codex. The legislators proceeded from the perception that these laws were for a Christian Empire and the clergy enjoyed a special status, while the rights of heretics, pagans, and Jews were limited. The new laws thus became a marker of the irreversible Christianization of the empire. Source: A Chronology of Byzantine Empire, Timothy Venning ed. (New York, 2006) - Sil’vestrova, “Kodeks Feodosiia,” Pravoslavnaia entsiklopedia
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