Emperor Justinian

One of the most prominent legislators in human history, Justinian the Great was Eastern Roman emperor from August 1, 527 to his death on November 14, 565 in Constantinople. Flavius Iustinianus was born around 482 ce at Tauresium (in the current Republic of Macedonia).

In 527, Justinian became co-regent, and later that year, after Justin’s death, he succeeded his uncle as sole emperor. A vigorous, hard-working, and energetic man, talented but unattractive in character, Justinian planned to restore and unify the old glory of the Roman Empire under one emperor, one religion, and one law. According to his ambitious project, he continued the wars with

Justinian and the Corpus Juris 79 the Persians, and, in the West, he regained North Africa, Italy, and a part of southern Spain from the control of the barbarian invaders. Warfare occupied much of Justinian’s efforts and attention. His military success was, however, ephemeral. His successors lost most of the West, and the empire was reduced to the East, both in territory and in culture. During the lengthy reign of Heraclius (610-41), the official language of the empire became Greek.

Justinian’s ecclesiastical policy was based on the Eastern idea that church and state were inseparably linked as inherent elements of a single Christian empire. Justinian felt he had the duty of improving the governance of the church, of defending orthodox religious doctrine, and of fighting to end dog­matic divisions.

The most complex doctrinal religious issue during his reign was the struggle between the orthodox Christological doctrine accepted at the Council of Chalcedon (451 ce) and the Monophysite doctrine. According to the Council of Chalcedon, both divine and human natures coexist in the person of Christ. On the contrary, the Monophysite doctrine affirmed that Christ has only a divine nature. Monophysitism was strongly supported in Syria and Egypt. Moreover, Theodora, Justinian’s wife, was also a strong supporter of Mono- physitism. With little success, Justinian tried to resolve dogmatic divisions by subordinating the church to the emperor (caesaropapism). He was not able to develop a categorical distinction between church and state as it was later cultivated in Western Christianity. Justinian was a solid Chalcedonian, but at the end of his life, he came closer to the doctrine of Aphthartodocetism, deeply related to Monophysitism, which affirmed that the body of Christ was naturally incorruptible. His new approach led to the expulsion of some leading Chalcedonian bishops.