Constantine’s Law against the Heresies

Although the teaching of Arius was eagerly championed by many people in debates, no party had yet been formed to which the name of Arians could be given as a separate label. For all met together as one church and held communion with one another, except the Novatians, those called Phrygians, the Valentinians, the Marcionites, the Paulianians, and a few others who held to heresies already invented. The emperor, however, passed a law that their own houses of prayer should be done away with, and that they should meet in the churches and not hold church in private houses or in public places. He judged it better for them to be in fellowship with the catholic church, and he urged them to gather within her walls. By means of this law, I believe, almost all the heresies disappeared. [a]

Under the earlier emperors, all who worshiped Christ, however much they differed from one another in opinion, were treated the same way by the pagans and persecuted with equal cruelty. These shared disasters, to which they were all equally exposed, kept them from looking closely into the differences of opinion among themselves. So it was easy for the members of each party to hold church on their own, and by constantly meeting with one another, however few they were, they held together. But once this law was passed, they could not meet in public, because it was forbidden; nor could they hold their meetings in secret, for they were watched by the bishops and clergy of their city. So most of these sectarians were led by fear of the consequences to join the catholic church. Those who kept to their original views left no disciples at their death to carry on their heresy, for they could neither come together in one place nor teach those of the same opinions in safety. Whether because of the absurdity of the heretical teachings or because of the utter ignorance of those who devised and taught them, the followers of each heresy were very few from the beginning.

The Novatians alone, who had found good leaders and who held the same opinions about the Godhead as the catholic church, were numerous from the beginning and remained so. They were not much harmed by this law. The emperor, I believe, willingly relaxed the severity of the law in their favor, for he only wanted to put fear into his subjects and had no intention of persecuting them. Acesius, who was then the bishop of this heresy in Constantinople, was much respected by the emperor because of his virtuous life, and probably it was for his sake that the church he governed was protected. The Phrygians suffered the same treatment as the other heretics in all the Roman provinces except Phrygia and the neighboring regions. There they had existed in great numbers since the time of Montanus, and they still do to this day.

About this time the supporters of Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia, and of Theognis, bishop of Nicaea, began to make changes in writing to the confession of faith set out by the Council of Nicaea. They did not dare to reject openly the statement that the Son is of one substance with the Father, because the emperor upheld it. But they put forward another document and let the Eastern bishops know that they accepted the terms of the Nicene teaching with interpretations of the words. From this declaration and the reflection on it, the old dispute broke out into fresh argument, and what had seemed settled was stirred up again. [d]