Edict of Thessalonica — Christianity Becomes the State Religion
The Edict of Thessalonica, issued on 27 February 380 CE, opens with legal directness: 'We desire all peoples to follow that religion which divine Peter the Apostle transmitted to the Romans.' All subjects of the empire were ordered to 'profess the faith which Pope Damasus and Peter, bishop of Alexandria, a man of apostolic sanctity, follow.' Those who did not were branded as heretics, subject to divine punishment and imperial measures. Theodosius went further than any previous emperor. In 381 CE he convened the Council of Constantinople, which reaffirmed the Nicene Creed and condemned Arianism definitively. He then began the systematic closure of pagan temples, banned sacrifice, and confiscated temple treasuries. The Olympic Games — held every four years since 776 BCE, a cornerstone of Greek identity for over a millennium — were abolished, probably in 393 CE, as a pagan ceremony. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, forced Theodosius to do public penance after Theodosius ordered a massacre at Thessalonica in 390 CE — the first time a church leader disciplined an emperor. The precedent was as significant as Nicaea: the church could judge the emperor's soul. From this moment the tension between temporal and spiritual authority would define European history.
- Year: 380 CE
- Category: Political
