Part 64 (1/2)
(_e_) Justinian, _Codex_, I, 11.
Law against paganism.
The following laws of Justinian, though of uncertain date, mark the termination of the contest between Christianity and paganism.
In the second of these laws there is a reference to the prohibition of pagan teachers. It is in line with the closing of the schools of the heathen teachers at Athens. The decree closing the schools has not been preserved.
Ch. 9. We command that our magistrates in this royal city and in the provinces take care with the greatest zeal that, having been informed by themselves or the most religious bishops of this matter, they make inquiry according to law into all impurities of pagan(208) superst.i.tions, that they be not committed, and if committed that they be punished; but if their repression exceed provincial power, these things are to be referred to us, that the responsibility for, and incitement of, these crimes may not rest upon them.
(1) It is permitted no one, either in testament or by gift, to leave or give anything to persons or places for the maintenance of pagan impiety, even if it is not expressly contained in the words of the will, testament, or donation, but can be truly perceived in some other way by the judges.
(2) But those things which are so left or given shall be taken from the persons and places to whom they have been given or left, and shall belong to the cities in which such persons dwell or in which such places are situated, so that they may be paid as a form of revenue. (3) All penalties which have been introduced by previous emperors against the errors of pagans or in favor of the orthodox faith are to remain in force and effect forever and guarded by this present pious legislation.
Ch. 10. Because some are found who are imbued with the error of the impious and detestable pagans, and do those things which move a merciful G.o.d to just wrath, and that we may not suffer ourselves to leave uncorrected matters which concern these things, but, knowing that they have abandoned the wors.h.i.+p of the true and only G.o.d, and have in insane error offered sacrifices, and, filled with all impiety, have celebrated solemnities, we subject those who have committed these things, after they have been held worthy of holy baptism, to the punishment appropriate to the crimes of which they have been convicted; but for the future we decree to all by this present law that they who have been made Christians and at any time have been deemed worthy of the holy and saving baptism, if it appear that they have remained still in the error of the pagans, shall suffer capital punishment.
(1) Those who have not yet been worthy of the venerable rite of baptism shall report themselves, if they dwell in this royal city or in the provinces, and go to the holy churches with their wives and children and all the household subject to them, and be taught the true faith of Christians, so that having been taught their former error henceforth to be rejected, they may receive saving baptism, or know, if they regard these things of small value, that they are to have no part in all those things which belong to our commonwealth, neither is it permitted them to become owners of anything movable or immovable, but, deprived of everything, they are to be left in poverty, and besides are subject to appropriate penalties.
(2) We forbid also that any branch of learning be taught by those who labor under the insanity of the impious pagans, so that they may not for this reason pretend that they instruct those who unfortunately resort to them, but in reality corrupt the minds of their pupils; and let them not receive any support from the public treasury, since they are not permitted by the Holy Scriptures or by pragmatic forms [public decrees] to claim anything of the sort for themselves.
(3) For if any one here or in the provinces shall have been convicted of not having hastened to the holy churches with his wife and children, as said, he shall suffer the aforesaid penalties, and the fisc shall claim his property, and they shall be sent into exile.
(4) If any one in our commonwealth, hiding himself, shall be discovered to have celebrated sacrifices or the wors.h.i.+p of idols, let him suffer the same capital punishment as the Manichans and, what is the same, the Borborani [certain Ophitic Gnostics; _cf._ DCB], for we judge them to be similar to these.
(5) Also we decree that their children of tender years shall at once and without delay receive saving baptism; but they who have pa.s.sed beyond their earliest age shall attend the holy churches and be instructed in the Holy Scriptures, and so give themselves to sincere penitence that, having rejected their early error, they may receive the venerable rite of baptism, for in this way let them steadfastly receive the true faith of the orthodox and not again fall back into their former error.
(6) But those who, for the sake of retaining their military rank or their dignity or their goods, shall in pretence accept saving baptism, but have left their wives and children and others who are in their households in the error of pagans, we command that they be deprived of their goods and have no part in our commonwealth, since it is manifest that they have not received holy baptism in good faith.
(7) These things, therefore, we decree against the abominable pagans and the Manichans, of which Manichans the Borborani are a part.
95. The Definitive Type of Religion in the East: Dionysius the Areopagite
The works of Dionysius the Areopagite first appear in the controversies in the reign of Justinian, when they are quoted in the Conference with the Severians, 531 or 533. There are citations from the works of the Areopagite fifteen or twenty years earlier in the works of Severus, the Monophysite patriarch of Antioch. In this is given the latest date to which they may be a.s.signed. They cannot be earlier than 476, because the author is acquainted with the works of Proclus (411-485) and uses them; also he refers to the practice of singing the Credo in divine service, which was first introduced by the Monophysites at Antioch in 476. No closer determination of the date is possible. The author is wholly unknown.
That he was Dionysius the Areopagite (Acts 17:34) is maintained by no scholar to-day. His standpoint is that of the later Eastern religious feeling and practice, with its strong desire for mysteries and sacramental system. But he brings to it Neo-Platonic thought to such a degree as to color completely his presentation of Christian truth. The effect of the book was only gradual, but eventually very great. In the East it gave authority, which seemed to be that of the apostolic age, for its highly developed system of mysteries, which had grown up in the Church. In the West it served as a philosophical basis for scholastic mysticism. On account of the connection between Dionysius and the later Greek philosophy and the medival philosophy, Dionysius the Areopagite occupies a place in the histories of philosophy quite out of proportion to the intrinsic merit of the writer.
Additional source material: English translations of Dionysius the Areopagite, Dean Colet, ed. by J. H. Lupton, London, 1869, and J.
Parker, Oxford, 1897 (not complete); a new translation into German appeared in the new edition of the _Kempten Bibliothek der Kirchenvter_, 1912.
(_a_) Dionysius Areopagita, _De Clesti Hierarchia_, III, 2. (MSG, 3:165.)
Dionysius thus defines Hierarchy: