24size=4> Prohibition on Public Insult to the Patriarchs
Arcadius {with Honorius)
24 April 396
This law, given on 24 April 396 at Constantinople by Arcadius, in his name and in the name of Honorius, was addressed to Claudianus, Comes of the East, and preserved in Codex Theodosianus {CTh 16:8:11).
It forbade public insults to the patriarchs, and threatened that offenders were to be punished by the State. Both Jewish1 and Christian2 sources from the second half of the fourth century testify to the frequency of criticism directed at the patriarchs and their household. Several patriarchs exposed themselves to attacks through their involvement in political intrigues, e.g., the involvement of Patriarch Gamaliel in the downfall and the execution of Hesy chius,3 the consularis of Syria, but one should not exclude the possibility that this law was designed to strengthen the partriarch’s position against opposition from inside the Jewish community as well.4Codex Theodosianus, 16:8:11, ed. Mommsen, p. 889
IDEM AA* AD CLAUDIANUM COM(ITEM) ORIENTIS
Si quis audeat inlustrium patriarcharum contumeliosam per publicum facere mentionem, ultionis sententia subiugetur.
DAT. VIII KAL. MAI. CONSTANT(INO)P(OLI) ARCAD(IO) IIII ET HONOR(IO)
5 III AA. CONSS.·
THE SAME TWO AUGUSTI5 TO CLAUDIANUS, COMES OF THE EAST
If someone shall dare to make in public an insulting mention of the Illustrious Patriarchs, he shall be subjected to a vindicatory sentence.
GIVEN ON THE EIGHTH DAY BEFORE THE CALENDS OF MAY AT CONSTANTINOPLE, IN THE CONSULATE OF THE TWO AUGUSTI, ARCADIUS FOR THE FOURTH TIME AND HONORIUS FOR THE THIRD.6
NOTES
1. On this problem see M. Beer, The Babylonian Exilarchate in the Arsacid and Sassanian Period, Tel-Aviv 1970, pp.
179-184 (in Hebrew); idem, “Honour and Criticism; The Attitude of the Sages to the Exilarchs and Patriarchs,” Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, XXXVIII-XXXIX (19701971), Hebrew Section, pp. 45-57.2. See Juster, I, p. 398.
3. Jerome, Epistulae, 57:3, ed. D. Vallarsi, PL, XXII, Col. 570.
4. On the customary practices of respect towards the patriarchs see M. Beer, (above, n. 1), pp. 171-178; H. Mantel, Studies in the History of the Sanhedrin, Harvard 1961, pp. 242-244.
5. Augusti: Arcadius and Honorius.
6. Given... third: 24 April 396.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Godefroy, VI: 1, p. 492; Juster, I, p. 396; Seeck, Regesten, p. 289; Browe, p. 117; Ferrari dalle Spade, “Privilegi,” p. 106; Seaver, p. 65; Vogler, pp. 46-47, 66.