No Christian to Be a Jew’s Slave, and the Councils’ Decisions Upheld

He also passed a law that no Christian should remain a slave to a Jewish master, on the ground that it could not be right for those whom the Savior had ransomed to be put under the yoke of slavery by a people who had killed the prophets and the Lord himself. If anyone was found in this situation from then on, the slave was to be set free and the master punished with a fine. He also added the weight of his authority to the decisions the bishops made at their synods, and forbade the provincial governors to overturn any of their rulings, for he valued the priests of God above any judge whatever. These and a thousand similar measures he enacted for the good of his subjects. But there is no time now to describe them one by one in a way that would give an accurate idea of his imperial wisdom in these matters. Nor need I now tell at length how, as a devoted servant of the Supreme God, he spent his time from morning until night looking for people to do good to, and how equally and universally kind he was to all.