Faithful Rulers and Theological Deviance: Ephrem the Syrian and Jacob of Serugh on the Roman Emperor

Abstract

The involvement of Roman Emperors in theological controversies brought both praise and resentment. The sudden entry of Constantine I (r. 306 – 337) and his successors into ecclesiastical affairs inspired starkly different responses.1 The efforts of Emperor Justinian I (r. 527 – 565) and Empress Theodora (c. 497 – 548) to reconcile proand anti-Chalcedonian parties proved similarly divisive.2 The complex development of Christian political thought in late antiquity has become a major area of scholarly interest,3 and the perspectives of Syriac authors on this topic have recently