Teodor Tabus: The Orthodoxy of Emperor Justinian´s Christian Faith as a Matter of Roman Law

Emperor Justinian (527-567) is less known in his active and unique role in defining and delimiting the orthodoxy of the Christian faith in the sixth century, which he decreed mostly in the form of imperial Edicts as normative faith for the entire Roman Empire, thus causing the loss of many civil rights. The Roman law and hence, Justinian´s ecclesiastical law, acquired a new functionality which served the juridical protection of the orthodoxy of the Christian faith and his adherents. However, not all forms of Christianity enjoyed imperial juridical protection, rather, only that form of orthodoxy of the Christian doctrine which, beginning with the Council of Nicea in 325, had been officially defined and fixed by the Church Fathers and became normative due to imperial support, a fact which can be clearly demonstrated by Justinian´s Edicts of faith, too. My contribution focuses on why, in which manner and to what extent Justinian could define and delimit the orthodoxy of ”his Christian faith”, departing from the texts of his imperial Edicts of faith in Codex Justinianus (I,1,5-8). I also look into the Sitz im Leben, but also into the role played by ”his orthodoxy” in the context of the christological doctrinal debates of the sixth century. As a conclusion, I woud like to suggest that we cannot affirm with precision a very discretionary power of the Christian emperors in Late Antiquity in matters of faith, or of Justinian´s imperial Edicts of faith as keynote of Caesaropapism, as the byzatinologist John Burry suggested.
Emperor Justinian (527-567) is less known in his active and unique role in defining and delimiting the orthodoxy of the Christian faith in the sixth century, which he decreed mostly in the form of imperial Edicts as normative faith for the entire Roman Empire, thus causing the loss of many civil rights. The Roman law and hence, Justinian´s ecclesiastical law, acquired a new functionality which served the juridical protection of the orthodoxy of the Christian faith and his adherents. However, not all forms of Christianity enjoyed imperial juridical protection, rather, only that form of orthodoxy of the Christian doctrine which, beginning with the Council of Nicea in 325, had been officially defined and fixed by the Church Fathers and became normative due to imperial support, a fact which can be clearly demonstrated by Justinian´s Edicts of faith, too. My contribution focuses on why, in which manner and to what extent Justinian could define and delimit the orthodoxy of ”his Christian faith”, departing from the texts of his imperial Edicts of faith in Codex Justinianus (I,1,5-8). I also look into the Sitz im Leben, but also into the role played by ”his orthodoxy” in the context of the christological doctrinal debates of the sixth century. As a conclusion, I woud like to suggest that we cannot affirm with precision a very discretionary power of the Christian emperors in Late Antiquity in matters of faith, or of Justinian´s imperial Edicts of faith as keynote of Caesaropapism, as the byzatinologist John Burry suggested.