September 24, 416 Emperors Theodosius II (408 – 450) and Honorius (393 – 423)

Prohibition of Jewish Conversion to Christianity to Avoid Crimes

“It had been ordained, in the old laws as well as in ours, that, since we have learned that converts of the Jewish religion want to join the community of the Church in order to escape their crimes and out of various necessities, this is done not from devotion to the Faith, but as a false simulation. Let the judges of the provinces in which such crimes are said to have been committed know, therefore, that our laws are to be obeyed in such a way that those people whom they shall observe as not adhering to this cult in the constancy of their religious profession, nor to be imbued with the faith and mysteries of the venerable baptism, are to be allowed to return to their own law, for it is of greater benefit to Christianity.”

Source: Council for Centers of Jewish-Christian Relations