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The persecution of pagans under Theodosius I began in 381, after the first couple of years of his reign as co-emperor in the eastern part of the Roman Empire.In the 380s, Theodosius I reiterated the ban of Constantine the Great on animal sacrifices, prohibited haruspicy on animal sacrifice, pioneered the criminalization of magistrates who did not enforce anti-pagan laws, broke up some pagan ...
[38] [4] [5] [6] According to historian R. Malcolm Errington, in Book 2 of Eusebius' De vita Constantini, chapter 44, Eusebius explicitly states that Constantine wrote a new law "appointing mainly Christian governors and also a law forbidding any remaining pagan officials from sacrificing in their official capacity".
Theodosius II enacted two anti-pagan laws in the year 425. The first of these stipulated that all pagan superstition was to be rooted out. [9] The second law barred pagans from pleading a case in court and also disqualified them from serving as soldiers. [10] Theodosius II then left Valentinian III to rule the west and returned to Constantinople.
The pagans who attributed the misfortunes of Rome and its wider Empire to the rise of Christianity, and who could only see a restoration by a return to the old ways, [19] [26] were faced by the Christian Church that had set itself apart from that faith and was unwilling to dilute what it held to be the religion of the "one true God". [27]
The Edict of Thessalonica was jointly issued by Theodosius I, emperor of the East, Gratian, emperor of the West, and Gratian's junior co-ruler Valentinian II, on 27 February 380. [4] The edict came after Theodosius had been baptized by the bishop Ascholius of Thessalonica upon suffering a severe illness in that city. [7] IMPPP.
Bans on pagan sacrifices were regularly repeated in the 5th century, indicating that they were ineffectual. [147] Festivities were the most lasting elements of pagan cults. Augustine of Hippo writes of pagan dancers marching by Christian churches and stoning them as a reprisal for the Christian clergy's attempt to hinder the pagan celebration.
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Theodosius I demands the destruction of pagan temples, holy sites, and ancient objects throughout the Roman Empire. Theodosius I abolishes the Greek Olympic Games , ending a thousand years of festivals, as part of the general Christian policy to establish universal Christian worship in accordance with the doctrines set forth in the Nicene Creed ...