Edict of Thessalonica

Background

The Edict of Milan in 313 permitted the practice of the Christian faith within the Roman Empire. Throughout the rest of the fourth century, the church engaged in a prolonged debate over whether the Son is God, of the same essence as the Father. In 325 the Council of Nicaea condemned the teaching of Arius, who held that the Son was a created being. Even afterward, however, positions close to Arianism continued to receive support from certain emperors. A well-known example is Valens, who ruled the East.

Valens was killed at the Battle of Adrianople in 378. In 379 the Western emperor Gratian appointed Theodosius as emperor of the East.

Course of Events

On February 27, 380, an edict was issued at Thessalonica in the names of the three emperors Gratian, Valentinian II, and Theodosius I. An edict is a command issued by an emperor. This edict is also known by its opening Latin words, Cunctos populos ("all peoples"). It took the form of a letter addressed to the citizens of Constantinople.

The principal provisions of the edict were as follows:

• All peoples were to follow the faith that the apostle Peter delivered to the Romans. This faith was specified as the one held by Damasus, bishop of Rome, and Peter, bishop of Alexandria.
• Only those who believed that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit share one Godhead and equal majesty were to be called "Catholic Christians." Here "Catholic" did not denote a particular denomination but meant "the universal church."
• All others were declared heretics. Their meeting places could not be called churches, and they were to suffer divine punishment as well as penalties imposed by the emperor.

The edict was later included in Book 16 of the Theodosian Code. Theodosius is reported to have been baptized at Thessalonica that same year during an illness. In November 380 he entered Constantinople, removed the Arian bishop Demophilus, and entrusted the church to Gregory of Nazianzus. The Council of Constantinople followed in 381. This council reaffirmed the Nicene faith and expanded its confession concerning the Holy Spirit.

Consequences and Influence

• The Nicene faith in the Trinity became the official standard of the empire. Arianism subsequently declined within the empire, although it persisted for some time among certain Germanic peoples, such as the Goths.
• In 391–392 a series of laws prohibiting pagan sacrifice was enacted. These measures solidified the trend by which Christianity became, in effect, the sole officially recognized religion of the empire.
• The edict set a precedent for the state to define correct belief by law and to punish heresy. This precedent led to the medieval system in which church and state were closely united.

Assessment

The edict is commonly presented as the starting point at which Christianity became the state religion (a religion officially established by the state) of Rome. Scholars, however, hold differing views. Some take a narrower view of its significance, noting that the edict did not directly prohibit paganism but rather defined a standard of orthodoxy among Christians, and that it was initially directed at Constantinople.

Different church traditions emphasize different aspects of this event:

• In the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, it is treated as one stage in the process by which the Nicene faith became established as the public faith of the church.
• Mainline Protestantism likewise shares the Trinitarian faith affirmed by the edict. After the Reformation, Lutheran, Reformed, and other churches maintained state-church systems for a long period.
• By contrast, the Anabaptists and the free church tradition descended from them criticize the edict as the first instance of state power compelling faith and punishing dissent. Within this tradition, the edict is sometimes cited as historical grounds for the separation of church and state.

In Korean churches, the edict is frequently mentioned alongside the Edict of Milan in discussions of the relationship between church and politics and of religious freedom.