Editing Theodosius I (section)

===Arianism and orthodoxy===
{{Coatrack section|date=April 2025|details=the first five paragraphs are dedicated to theology and little about Theodosius}}
[[File:Homilies of Gregory the Theologian gr. 510, f 491.jpg|thumb|Theodosius appointing [[Gregory of Nazianzus]] as [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople|Patriarch]] in 380. Scene from the 9th-century [[Paris Gregory]].]]
It is traditionally stated that the Arian Controversy, a dispute concerning the nature of the divine trinity, and its accompanying struggles for political influence, started in Alexandria during the reign of [[Constantine the Great]] between a presbyter, [[Arius]] of Alexandria, and his bishop, Alexander of Alexandria. However, “many of the issues raised by the controversy were under lively discussion ''before'' Arius and Alexander publicly clashed.”<ref>Hanson, Richard Patrick Crosland (1988). ''The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy'', 318–381. T. & T. Clark. p. 52 {{ISBN?}}</ref> “The views of Arius were such as … to bring into unavoidable prominence a doctrinal crisis which had gradually been gathering. … He was the spark that started the explosion. But in himself he was of ''no great significance''.”<ref>Hanson, Richard Patrick Crosland (1988). ''The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy'', 318–381. T. & T. Clark. p. xvii</ref>

It is also traditionally stated that Alexander represented orthodoxy and that, when he died, his successor, Athanasius, became the representative of orthodoxy. In reality, “Nicene apologists … turn ‘Arianism' into a self-conscious sect – as if the boundaries of Catholic identity were firmly and clearly drawn in advance. But the whole history of Arius and of Arianism reminds us that this was not so.”<ref>Williams, Rowan, ''Arius: Heresy and Tradition'' (Revised ed.). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. (2002), p. 83 {{ISBN?}}</ref> (RW, 83) The Arian Controversy "is not the story of a defence of orthodoxy, but of a ''search'' for orthodoxy."<ref>Hanson, Richard Patrick Crosland (1988). ''The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy'', 318–381. T. & T. Clark. pp. xix–xx {{ISBN?}}</ref>

Arius asserted that God the Father created the Son. This meant the Son, though still seen as divine, was not equal to the Father, because he had a beginning, and was not eternal. "The controversy had spread from Alexandria into almost all the African regions and was considered a disturbance of the public order by the Roman Empire." (Eusebius of Caesarea in [[Life of Constantine|The Life of Constantine]])

Constantine had tried to settle the issues at the [[First Council of Nicaea|Council of Nicaea]], but as [[Arnold Hugh Martin Jones]] states: "The rules laid down at Nicaea were not universally accepted".<ref name="Arnold Hugh Martin Jones">{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Arnold Hugh Martin |title=The Later Roman Empire, 284–602: A Social Economic and Administrative Survey|volume=2 |date=1986 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-8018-3354-0 |page=880 |edition=Reprint}}</ref> After the [[Nicene Creed]] was formulated in 325, many in the church reacted strongly against the word "[[Homoousion|''homoousios'']]" in the Creed, and therefore Councils at Ariminum (Rimini), Nike (southeast of Adrianople), and Constantinople, held in 359–60 by Emperor Constantius II, formulated creeds that were intended to replace or revise the Nicene Creed; in particular, to find alternatives for "homoousios." These councils are no longer regarded as Ecumenical Councils in the tradition of the Church; their creeds, which are at odds with the Nicene Creed, are known as [[Arian creeds|Arian Creeds]].

During this time, [[Athanasius of Alexandria|Athanasius]] was at the center of the controversy and became the "champion of orthodoxy" after Alexander died.<ref name="Ray">{{cite journal|last=Ray|first=J. David|title=Nicea and its aftermath: A Historical Survey of the First Ecumenical Council and the Ensuing Conflicts|journal=Ashland Theological Journal| year=2007| url=https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/ashland_theological_journal/39-1_019.pdf}}</ref>{{rp|28–29, 31}} To Athanasius, Arius's interpretation of Jesus's nature ([[Homoiousian]]), that the Father and Son are similar but not identical in substance, could not explain how Jesus could accomplish the redemption of humankind which is the foundational principle of Christianity. "According to Athanasius, God had to become human so that humans could become divin&nbsp; ... That led him to conclude that the divine nature in Jesus was identical to that of the Father, and that Father and Son have the same substance" (''[[Homoousian|homoousios]]'').<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=The Arian controversy|author1-last=Stefon|author1-first=Matt|author2-last=Hillerbrand|author2-first= Hans|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christology/The-Arian-controversy|access-date=16 May 2021|encyclopedia= Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref> Athanasius's teaching was a major influence in the West, especially on Theodosius I.<ref name="Olson">{{cite book|last=Olson|first=Roger E.|title=The Story of Christian Theology: Twenty Centuries of Tradition and Reform |publisher=InterVarsity Press |location=Downer's Grove, IN|year=1999|page=172|isbn=978-0-8308-1505-0}}</ref>{{rp|20}}

On 28 February 380, Theodosius issued the [[Edict of Thessalonica]], a decree addressed to the city of [[Constantinople]], determining that only Christians who believed in the [[consubstantiality]] of [[God the Father]], [[God the Son|Son]] and [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]] could style themselves "[[Catholicity|catholic]]" and have their own places of worship officially recognized as "churches"; deviants were labeled heretics and described as "out of their minds and insane".{{sfn|Errington|2006|p=217}}{{sfn|Sáry|2019| p=70}}{{efn-lr|This text has been translated to English by Clyde Pharr in the following way: Emperors Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius Augustuses An Edict to the People of the City of Constantinople. It is Our will that all the peoples who are ruled by the administration of Our Clemency shall practice that religion which the divine Peter the Apostle transmitted to the Romans, as the religion which he introduced makes clear even unto this day. It is evident that this is the religion that is followed by the Pontiff Damasus and by Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, a man of apostolic sanctity; that is, according to the apostolic discipline and the evangelic doctrine, we shall believe in the single Deity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, under the concept of equal majesty and of the Holy Trinity. We command that those persons who follow this rule shall embrace the name of Catholic Christians. The rest, however, whom We adjudge demented and insane, shall sustain the infamy of heretical dogmas, their meeting places shall not receive the name of churches, and they shall be smitten first by divine vengeance and secondly by the retribution of Our own initiative, which We shall assume in accordance with the divine judgment. Given on the third day before the kalends of March at Thessalonica in the year of the fifth consulship of Gratian Augustus and the first consulship of Theodosius Augustus. – 28 February 380.<ref>C. Pharr (tr.), ''The Theodosian Code and Novels and the Sirmondian Constitutions'', (Princeton, 1952), 440.</ref>}}

Recent scholarship has tended to reject former views that the edict was a key step in establishing Christianity as the official religion of the Empire, since it was aimed exclusively at Constantinople and seems to have gone largely unnoticed by contemporaries outside the capital.{{sfn|Errington|1997|pp=410–415}}{{sfn|Hebblewhite|p=82}} For example, German ancient historian {{ill|Karl Leo Noethlichs|de}} writes that the Edict of Thessalonica was neither anti-pagan nor [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]]; it did not declare Christianity to be the official religion of the empire; and it gave no advantage to Christians over other faiths.{{sfn|Sáry|2019|pp=72–74; fn. 32, 33, 34; 77}} It is clear from mandates issued in the years after 380 that Theodosius had made no requirement for pagans or Jews to convert to Christianity.{{sfn|Sáry|2019|p=73}}{{efn-lr| Hungarian legal scholar Pál Sáry explains that, "In 393, the emperor was gravely disturbed that the Jewish assemblies had been forbidden in certain places. For this reason, he stated with emphasis that the sect of the Jews was forbidden by no law. It is also important to note that during the reign of Theodosius pagans were continuously appointed to prominent positions and pagan aristocrats remained in high offices."{{sfn|Sáry|2019| p=73}} The Edict applied only to Christians, and within that group, only to Arians.{{sfn|Sáry|2019|pp=73, 77}} It declared those Christians who refused the Nicene faith to be ''infames'', and prohibited them from using Christian churches. Sáry uses this example: "After his arrival in Constantinople, Theodosius offered to confirm the Arian bishop Demophilus in his see, if he would accept the Nicene Creed. After Demophilus refused the offer, the emperor immediately directed him to surrender all his churches to the Catholics."{{sfn|Sáry|2019| p=79}} Christianity became the religion of the Late Empire through a long evolutionary process, of which the Edict of Thessalonica was only a small part.{{sfn|Sáry|2019|pp=77, 78–79}}}} Nonetheless, the edict is the first known secular Roman law to positively define a religious orthodoxy.{{sfn|Errington|2006|p=217}}

According to [[Robinson Thornton]], Theodosius began taking steps to repress Arianism immediately after his baptism in 380.<ref name="Robinson Thornton">{{cite book |last1=Thornton |first1=Robinson |title=St. Ambrose: His Life, Times, and Teaching |date=1879 |publisher=Harvard University}}</ref>{{rp|39}} On 26 November 380, two days after he had arrived in Constantinople, Theodosius expelled the Homoian bishop, [[Demophilus of Constantinople]], and appointed [[Meletius of Antioch|Meletius]] patriarch of Antioch, and [[Gregory of Nazianzus]], one of the [[Cappadocian Fathers]] from [[Cappadocia]] (today in Turkey), patriarch of Constantinople. Theodosius had just been baptized, by bishop [[Ascholius|Ascholius of Thessalonica]], during a severe illness.{{sfn|Glenn|1995|p=164}}

In May 381, Theodosius summoned [[First Council of Constantinople|a new ecumenical council at Constantinople]] to repair the schism between East and West on the basis of Nicene orthodoxy.{{sfn|Williams|Friell|1995|p=54}} The council went on to define orthodoxy, including the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, as equal to the Father and 'proceeding' from Him.{{sfn|Williams|Friell|1995|p=55}} The council also "condemned the Apollonarian and Macedonian heresies, clarified jurisdictions of the bishops according to the civil boundaries of dioceses. and ruled that Constantinople was second in precedence to Rome."{{sfn|Williams|Friell|1995|p=55}}