# CTh 16.8.9 of 29 September 393 states that the Jewish sect is prohibited by no law and orders restraint of those who destroy synagogues

Date: 393

## The fact

The later-coded constitution 16.8.9, as carried in Book XVI selections and Grenoble’s text tradition, says the Jewish sect is prohibited by no law and instructs suppression of those who, in Christianity’s name, destroy and despoil synagogues.

It is one event.

## Context

Protecting synagogues while other laws constrain Jews is a limited minority-rights offset. It does not cancel Cunctos populos. Shared military addressee remains.

[Theodosius I](/people/theodosius-i)’s documented role is bounded by other offices and collaborators named in the sources below. Sharing a field with them is not a reason to drop a documented act, and it is not a reason to assign later consequences done in the name after death.

Issued at [Constantinople](/people/bartholomew-i-of-constantinople) to Addeus, comes et magister utriusque militiae per Orientem. This is not a general Jewish emancipation and sits beside hostile code rhetoric elsewhere. Callinicum 388, where Ambrose opposed rebuilding a synagogue, is a neighbouring contested episode not stored as this 393 text.

Named person as heading of the dated public instrument. Later editors, museums, printers, or offices share publication. Complex where later carriers are the surviving public file.

## Evidence and sources

Fordham — Codex Theodosianus, selections from Book XVI and Grenoble — Roman law texts including the Theodosian Code independently describe this instrument.

Official or archival record: Fordham — Codex Theodosianus, selections from Book XVI (https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/theodcodeXVI.asp; Fordham University / Internet History Sourcebooks).

## Significance

16.8.9 is a rights-offset path of high confidence on the compiled wording, medium on policing.

## What is established and what is not

Established as a sourced public record of this instrument at the date assigned here.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

Established here: a sourced, dated public instrument with a named contribution by Theodosius I.

They are not a public rating.

The driver `protection-of-minority-rights` is attached because the mechanism named in Significance follows from this instrument, not because a standing list of welfare headings needed another tick. Theodosius I did not file a later UNESCO form, a later Loeb colophon, or a later museum label as a personal act. A portrait or conventional bust is not this mechanism. Allegation, reconstruction, and established occurrence stay distinct. Do not treat 393 as Theodosius II. Do not invent a rebuilt-synagogue count. Keep the carrier date of later English distinct from the received historical year stored in the date field. Do not read a later English edition as a recovered autograph of Theodosius I.

## People

- Theodosius I: https://factrail.ai/people/theodosius-i

## Drivers

- Protection of Minority Rights: https://factrail.ai/drivers/protection-of-minority-rights

## Sources

- https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/theodcodeXVI.asp
- https://droitromain.univ-grenoble-alpes.fr/

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/theo-synagogues-393