The Spanish born emperor of the eastern Roman empire, Theodosius I (January 11, 347 – January 17, 395), also called Theodosius the Great, was the prime mover of imperial Christianity during its early period as a privileged religion and the last of the great Roman emperors.
The son of a military officer, Flavius Theodosius was raised in a Christian family and baptized in 380.
Where Theodosius was born is disputed. According to Hydatius and Zosimus, Theodosius was born in what is now Cauca, Gallaecia, Hispania (now Spain). However, Marcellinus Comes writes that he was from Italica, Baetica, Hispania.
After the disastrous Battle of Adrianople in 378 where the Eastern Roman Emperor Valens was killed by the Goths, co- ruler of the Western Roman Empire Gratian invited Theodosius to take command of the Illyrian army. As Valens had no successor, Gratian's appointment of Theodosius amounted to a de facto invitation for Theodosius to become emperor of the eastern half of the Empire. His reign began on January 19, 379 .
Arianism is the belief that the Son is not co-equal or co-eternal with the Father. Instead Christ is only the first and highest of all finite beings, created out of nothing by an act of God's free will. As Christ had a beginning he isn't eternal and because he isn't eternal he is inferior to God the Father.
Theodosius issued a series of decrees, which established Christianity as the official religion and oppressed both Arians and pagans. All sacrifices were prohibited, temples closed and private pagan worship was forbidden.
In 381 Theodisius called the First Council of Constantinople as part of his anti-heresy efforts. The council asserted the deity of the Holy Spirit and comprehensively rejected Arianism, thus marking the end of the heresy in the Roman Empire. However it continued to flourish in northern Europe where the Goths were following a more Arian form of Christianity. After the fall of Rome, the teachings spread and many 5th and 6th century European leaders adopted an Arian theology.
Theodosius subdued the Goths, allowing them autonomy as allies under the peace of 382.
Theodosius I blotted his reign by massacring 7,000 citizens of Thessalonica in 390 after a riot in the circus there. Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, bravely denied the Emperor admission to the cathedral there for eight months until Theodosius later recanted.
The new Christian teaching of the sinfulness of the body, and its abhorrence of heathen practice, dealt the deathblow to the Olympic Games, which were banned in 393 by Theodosius I, as he believed they encouraged "pagan idolatry."
Theodosius ruled as sole Emperor from 392 after the death of Gratian in a rebellion in 383 and Valentinian II nine years later.
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| Nummus of Theodosius I Photographed by: York Museums Trust Staff |
The son of a military officer, Flavius Theodosius was raised in a Christian family and baptized in 380.
Where Theodosius was born is disputed. According to Hydatius and Zosimus, Theodosius was born in what is now Cauca, Gallaecia, Hispania (now Spain). However, Marcellinus Comes writes that he was from Italica, Baetica, Hispania.
After the disastrous Battle of Adrianople in 378 where the Eastern Roman Emperor Valens was killed by the Goths, co- ruler of the Western Roman Empire Gratian invited Theodosius to take command of the Illyrian army. As Valens had no successor, Gratian's appointment of Theodosius amounted to a de facto invitation for Theodosius to become emperor of the eastern half of the Empire. His reign began on January 19, 379 .
Arianism is the belief that the Son is not co-equal or co-eternal with the Father. Instead Christ is only the first and highest of all finite beings, created out of nothing by an act of God's free will. As Christ had a beginning he isn't eternal and because he isn't eternal he is inferior to God the Father.
Theodosius issued a series of decrees, which established Christianity as the official religion and oppressed both Arians and pagans. All sacrifices were prohibited, temples closed and private pagan worship was forbidden.
In 381 Theodisius called the First Council of Constantinople as part of his anti-heresy efforts. The council asserted the deity of the Holy Spirit and comprehensively rejected Arianism, thus marking the end of the heresy in the Roman Empire. However it continued to flourish in northern Europe where the Goths were following a more Arian form of Christianity. After the fall of Rome, the teachings spread and many 5th and 6th century European leaders adopted an Arian theology.
Theodosius subdued the Goths, allowing them autonomy as allies under the peace of 382.
Theodosius I blotted his reign by massacring 7,000 citizens of Thessalonica in 390 after a riot in the circus there. Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, bravely denied the Emperor admission to the cathedral there for eight months until Theodosius later recanted.
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| Saint Ambrose barring Theodosius from Milan Cathedral, Anthony van Dyck, c. 1620 |
The new Christian teaching of the sinfulness of the body, and its abhorrence of heathen practice, dealt the deathblow to the Olympic Games, which were banned in 393 by Theodosius I, as he believed they encouraged "pagan idolatry."
Theodosius ruled as sole Emperor from 392 after the death of Gratian in a rebellion in 383 and Valentinian II nine years later.
By the mid 390s, the western part of the Roman Empire was facing a constant threat of invasion and economic collapse. When Theodosius I died from a disease involving severe edema in Milan on January 17 395, the Roman Empire was re-divided into an eastern and a western half. The Eastern Roman Empire was centered in Constantinople under Arcadius, son of Theodosius, and the Western Roman Empire in Mediolanum (the ancient Milan) under Honorius, his 10-year-old brother.
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