Polytheism Revival
Upon the death of Theodosius I 395, a political crisis ensued, which the barbarians were quick to take advantage of by invading the empire on an unprecedented scale. Since most of the Germanic tribes infiltrating, settling, or invading the Empire were Arian Christian, many nominal Orthodox Christians became less certain of their religion. Some in a sense of superstition or ancient Roman pagan patriotism, felt the invasions were the result of abandoning the old ways. Others believed the success of the Germans was because the Orthodox Church was corrupt. Consequently, many nominal Christians converted back to Paganism. Pagans, in their turn, became more aggressive and began to blame the Christians for the disasters affecting the empire.
Despite the pleas of many pagans for tolerance, Honorius and Arcadius continued the work of their father by enacting even more anti-Pagan laws in an attempt to stop this revival of Paganism. The fact that they had to keep repeating their threats by the enactment of numerous laws against the practice of Paganism indicates that their efforts did not succeed in stamping out the traditional Pagan rites, which continued to be practiced discreetly.
During the early part of the reign of Honorius, Stilicho was able to exercise unlimited power over the west. Stilicho exercised moderation in his religious policies and enacted laws that were favorable to the Pagans. Consequently, during the time in which Stilicho held power, the Pagans enjoyed a brief respite from persecution. In the year 395, Arcadius declared that the solemn days of the pagans were no longer to be included in the number of holidays. In the same year, another law was passed by Arcadius that prohibited anyone from going to a pagan sanctuary or temple or of celebrating any kind of pagan sacrifice. This law seems to have been targeted at those Christians who were converting back to paganism as it specifically mentions "those who are trying to stray from the dogma of the Catholic faith." In the year 396, the privileges of pagan priests and other clerics were officially revoked. In the same year, Arcadius ordered that pagan temples standing in the countryside were to be destroyed without disorder or riot. This law seems to indicate that the number of pagans in the countryside was still too large for the Christians to openly destroy the temples that were located there. As a result, Christians had to be content with destroying the pagan temples that were located in mostly municipal areas where they could easily outnumber the pagan inhabitants. The large number of pagans in the east also seems to have forced Arcadius into allowing the ancient festivals and public games to continue.
Meanwhile three laws were enacted in the west in the year 399, under the influence of Stilicho, which were relatively favorable to pagans. Due to the riots caused by Christians in their attempts to destroy the temples, the first of these laws protected pagan temples from the destruction of Christians who pretended that they had been authorized by the government to destroy them. The second of these laws acknowledged the right of the people to continue to participate in the traditional banquets, shows, gatherings and amusements associated with the old pagan religion; it did, however, forbid the public performance of any pagan rites or sacrifice. The third law forbade the destruction of pagan temples that had been cleared of forbidden things and ordered that they were to be kept in good repair. After the death of Stilicho, Honorius and his party in the state gained control and harsh laws against paganism were once again enacted. In the year 408, Honorius enacted a new law which ordered that all statues and altars in the temples were to be removed and that the temple buildings and their income were to be appropriated by the government. This law also forbade the holding of any pagan banquet or celebration in the vicinity of the temples. The execution of this law was placed in the hands of the bishops. Two other laws decreed that buildings belonging to known pagans and heretics were to be appropriated by the churches.
Arcadius died in 408 and his eight-year-old son, Theodosius, was thereupon proclaimed emperor in the East. In the same year, Honorius enacted a law that prohibited anyone who was not Catholic from performing imperial service within the palace. Zosimus reports that Honorius was forced to repeal this law after one of his best officers, who happened to be a pagan, resigned in protest. At the beginning of the year 409, Honorius enacted a law that punished judges and officials who did not enforce the laws against pagans. This law even punished men of rank who simply kept silent over any pagan rite performed in their own city or district. The hopes of pagans were revived with the elevation of Priscus Attalus, at Rome, in the year 409. Alaric, an Arian Christian, soon tired of his puppet, however, and Attalus was deposed in the summer of 410 when Honorius promised to negotiate a peace treaty. When these negotiations failed, Alaric took and sacked the city of Rome. This catastrophe shocked the entire Roman world. Both Christians and pagans quickly began to blame each other for something that had hitherto been thought impossible. In this heated atmosphere, Honorius once again reiterated his anti-pagan legislation.
There are numerous fragments extant of several Pagan historical works, such as the works of Eunapius and Olympiodorus, which indicate that pagans were now openly voicing their resentment in writing. Even after the sack of Rome, in the year 410, pagans believed that the recent decline of Rome had been caused by the neglect of the ancestral traditions.
In the year 415, Honorius enacted yet another law that appropriated the Pagan temples throughout the Roman Empire to the government and ordered that all objects that had been consecrated for Pagan sacrifices were to be removed from public places. A prominent example of the anti-pagan climate at the time is the case of the philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria, killed by a mob in 415.
In 416, Honorius and Theodosius II ordered that pagans would no longer be admitted to imperial service nor would they be allowed to receive the rank of administrator or judge. In 423, Theodosius II reiterated the previous laws against Pagans and declared that all Pagans who were caught performing the ancient rites would now have all their goods confiscated and be exiled. In August of the year 423, Honorius died and power was seized in the west by John, who had held the office of Primicerius Notariorum. John appears to have ushered in a period of religious toleration. John seems to have attempted to curb the power of ecclesiastics and the privileges of the church in an attempt to treat all people equally. In the year 423, Theodosius II published a law that demanded that Christians (whether they were really such or pretended to be so) were not to disturb Pagans who were living peaceably and doing nothing contrary to the law. In 425, Theodosius II sent an expedition to the west to depose John and establish Valentinian III as emperor of the west. After John was captured and executed, Valentinian III was proclaimed emperor in the city of Rome. While in the west, 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. The second law barred pagans from pleading a case in court and also disqualified them from serving as soldiers. Theodosius II then left Valentinian III to rule the west and returned to Constantinople.
The numerous laws against apostasy, that had been continuously promulgated since the time of Gratian and Theodosius, is evidence that the emperors were having a hard time even keeping Christians from going astray. In the year 426, Theodosius passed yet another law against Christian apostates, who converted to paganism, and those who pretended to become Christian but in reality continued to perform pagan sacrifices. All this legislation proved so ineffective that Theodosius II found it necessary to reiterate his prohibition against pagan rites and sacrifices in 435, this time increasing the penalty to death. This law also ordered that all pagan shrines, temples and sanctuaries that still existed were to be destroyed by the magistrates. Magistrates who failed to carry out this order were ordered to be punished with death. Even the threat of death, however, failed to eradicate paganism as we find Theodosius legislating again, in 438, against Paganism and forbidding Pagan sacrifice once more. Theodosius threatens those who fail to comply with death and the confiscation of their property. It will be of interest to quote some of this law, as the Emperor explicitly admits that Pagan sacrifices were still being openly celebrated. It reads as:
Hence our clemency perceives the need of keeping watch over the pagans and their heathen enormities, since by natural depravity and stubborn lawlessness, they forsake the path of true religion. They disdain in any way to perform the nefarious rites of sacrifice and the false errors of their baleful superstition by some means or other in the hidden solitudes, unless their crimes are made public by the profession of their crimes to insult divine majesty and to show scorn to our age. Not the thousand terrors of laws already promulgated nor the penalty of exile pronounced upon them deter these men, whereby, if they cannot reform, at least they might learn to abstain from their mass of their crimes and the multitude of their sacrifices. But their insane audacity transgresses continually; our patience is exhausted by their wicked behavior so that if we desired to forget them, we could not disregard them.
Read more about this topic: Decline Of Greco-Roman Polytheism
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