Theodosius 1, emperor

Great masses of information were indiscriminately destroyed as well as what remained of The Great Library. In 325 C.E., Rome officially became Christian and in 391 the Emperor Theodosius made heresy punishable by death and ordered the destruction of pagan temples. In the Roman world, which at the time covered quite a large area, you were either a Christian or you were exiled or killed. 

Pines has identified the cave in which Qallqulas spends his long fast as part of the temple of the Greco-Egyptian god Serapis, which was destroyed at the end of the fourth century c.e. by the Christian emperor Theodosius. Pines believes that the story predates the destruction of the Serapeion, and that the names of the characters, Salaman and Absal, are derived from the Sanskrit Sramana, which means ascetic, and Apsara, which was a type of succubus specifically sent to seduce ascetics. The story, then, is a product of late Hellenism characteristically infused with elements drawn from Eastern culture. In essence, the tale of Salaman and Absal is a Platonically inspired parable of the rejection of the physical world in favor of the immaterial world of forms. 

Gregory s admiration for the Macedonians is remarkable when one considers that the group had bitterly attacked him when the emperor Theodosius I made Gregory bishop of Constantinople in 380. ... 

Whatever Constantine s motivation, his legislation did not have the desired effect. According to the orator Themistios, the emperor Theodosius (379-395) had to intervene personally to restore property unlawfully taken from orphans by their callous guardians. In addition to individual acts of philanthropy to protect orphans, Theodosius also issued several general laws to assist them, laws that were designed in part to correct problems Constantine s laws had introduced. 

It is also difficult to find specific cases of the tutela Atiliana with regard to tutores, but two extant sources describe the magisterial appointment of curatores. At the end of the fourth century, Olympias, who later became a supporter of John Chrysostom, lost her parents before she reached adulthood. She then married the urban prefect Ne-bridius, who died one year later and left Olympias a widow. The emperor Theodosius, her relative, assumed her curatorship and subsequently delegated this power to the new urban prefect Clementinus. He in turn tried to force Olympias to marry, most likely in an attempt to find her a new curator. "... 

Subsequent emperors renewed Constantine s law with a few minor changes. In 374 Valentinian I and Valens rephrased Constantine s original decree in such a way as to leave no doubt that they intended the law to discourage parents or masters of slaves from abandoning infants born in their power. In 412 the emperor Theodosius II added a requirement that the people who took in abandoned babies should register this action with the local bishops to ensure their rights over the children. "... 

We have evidence for elaborate choirs at the Church of the Anastasia, the headquarters of the Nicaean party in Constantinople when Theodosius became emperor in 379. Moreover, Gregory of Nazianzos described these choirs together with a group of orphans and widows, although he did not state explicitly that the children were also singing. If the Nicaeans were using elaborate choirs before 379, we... 

When did the practice of instructing non-Christians begin at the Orphanotropheion There are no references prior to the Kktorologum, which associate either the orphanotrophos or his institution with catechizing barbarians. The famous orator Themistios, however, indicated in a speech he made before the emperor Theodosius I sometime in the 380s that, as early as the fourth century, Roman (that is, Byzantine) philanthropy formed a part of the empire s strategy to assimilate the barbarians. In his speech, Themistios claimed that the Goths had conquered Roman armies of the East and West, but when they crossed... 

Athenais presented her case so effectively and so impressed PuT cheria both with her beauty and her intelligence that the empress decided that the girl would make an excellent wife for the emperor. Athenais agreed to become a Christian, married Theodosius, and... 

In the light of all this, why should you be surprised by the sons of Theodosius, as if on this issue they ought to follow anything other than the judgement that Constantine made, which has been steadfastly protected during the reigns of so many Christian emperors ... 

The emperor Theodosius I issues an edict making Catholic Christianity the religion of the empire C.Th. 16.1.2). 

The emperors Honorius and Theodosius II issue an edict recognising the inviolable right of asylum in churches (Sirm. 13) (21 November). 

---