Religious truths may change but executed heretics are still as dead as they were before.

In 318 CE, a Christian teacher named Arius accused Bishop Alexander of Alexandria, Egypt of teaching a false doctrine – “God and Christ were of the same essence.” Arius regarded himself as a devout Christian who believed the church had strayed from the original message of Jesus and advocated for the return to the teachings of the early church. Arius said:

“God was the Father – one, infinite, and indivisible. He was uncreated, existed forever, and ruled as sole sovereign and judge. No other God existed but He. Given His nature, He could not impart it to any other being. He had no equals.”

Bishop Alexander responded: “Arius had drained the dregs of impiety by his unscriptural blasphemy against Christ.” A council of bishops was called by Bishop Alexander, which condemned Arius for apostasy, schism, heresy, and blasphemy. It also declared Arius’ teachings as those of the Antichrist.

Now let’s look at what took place between the years of 325 and 360 CE.  The Council of Nicea ruled that Bishop Alexander’s position was God’s truth and Arius’ beliefs were heresy. In 337 the Roman Church reversed its position and ruled that Arius’ position was God’s truth and Bishop Alexander’s beliefs were heresy. In 360 the Roman Church reversed it position once again and ruled Bishop Alexander’s position was God’s truth and Arius’ beliefs were heresy again.

Hershel Shanks, publisher of Biblical Archaeology Review, made the same observation when he wrote:

Before the 4^th century it is misleading to refer to Christian "heresy" because there was no dominant orthodoxy before this time.  It is also misleading to use the terms apocryphal and canonical because the New Testament canon was not closed until the 4^th century at the earliest.

Emperor Theodosius passed laws that made Roman Church the exclusive religion of the Empire. Religious intolerance quickly became a Christian reality. The imperial edicts of Theodosius deprived all, who were judged to be heretics and pagans, of the right of worship, banned them from civil offices, and exposed them to heavy fines, confiscation of property, banishment, and in certain cases death. By 435 CE, there were sixty-six laws against Christian heretics plus many others against pagans.

Blasphemy and heresy became anything that was contrary to current council rulings of the Roman Church. With the support of the Roman Emperor behind one form of Christianity, church authorities were able to legally turn offenders over to the secular authorities for punishment; which obviously required the cooperation of the state. The Roman Church was the official form of Christianity of the empire, thus any offender against the Roman Church was also an enemy of the state. Since the state was required to protect itself and society, it was bound by law to use its authority and force against any offender against the Roman Church. The history of the deadly consequences of uniting of church and state is a matter of record – regardless of the religion.

Religious truth may become heresies, then truths & then heresies again, but the people that were executed when a truth was a heresy stay dead -- they don't get to reverse what the church & state did to them.