diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index b9422491..e0fe56de 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 - bump to 2.4.16.2dev
 - add some resilience when both Forwarded and X-Forwarded-* are configured
 - fix disabled OIDCStateCookiePrefix command; closes #1254; thanks @damisanet
+- remove support for OIDCHTMLErrorTemplate, deprecated since 2.4.14
 
 08/26/2024
 - fix parsing OIDCXForwardedHeaders; closes #1250; thanks @maltesmann
diff --git a/src/cfg/cfg.c b/src/cfg/cfg.c
index 497f4683..1e504acb 100644
--- a/src/cfg/cfg.c
+++ b/src/cfg/cfg.c
@@ -495,25 +495,6 @@ const char *oidc_cmd_post_preserve_templates_set(cmd_parms *cmd, void *m, const
 OIDC_CFG_MEMBER_FUNC_GET(post_preserve_template, const char *)
 OIDC_CFG_MEMBER_FUNC_GET(post_restore_template, const char *)
 
-const char *oidc_cmd_html_error_template_set(cmd_parms *cmd, void *ptr, const char *arg) {
-	oidc_cfg_t *cfg = (oidc_cfg_t *)ap_get_module_config(cmd->server->module_config, &auth_openidc_module);
-	oidc_swarn(
-	    cmd->server, OIDCHTMLErrorTemplate
-	    " is deprecated; please use the standard Apache features to deal with the " OIDC_ERROR_ENVVAR
-	    " and " OIDC_ERROR_DESC_ENVVAR
-	    " environment variables set by this module, see: https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/custom-error.html");
-	const char *rv = NULL;
-	if (_oidc_strcmp(arg, OIDC_HTML_ERROR_TEMPLATE_DEPRECATED) == 0)
-		cfg->error_template = OIDC_HTML_ERROR_TEMPLATE_DEPRECATED;
-	else
-		rv = oidc_cfg_parse_filename(cmd->pool, arg, &cfg->error_template);
-	return OIDC_CONFIG_DIR_RV(cmd, rv);
-}
-
-const char *oidc_cfg_html_error_template_get(oidc_cfg_t *cfg) {
-	return cfg->error_template;
-}
-
 const char *oidc_cmd_ca_bundle_path_set(cmd_parms *cmd, void *ptr, const char *arg) {
 	oidc_cfg_t *cfg = (oidc_cfg_t *)ap_get_module_config(cmd->server->module_config, &auth_openidc_module);
 	const char *rv = oidc_cfg_parse_filename(cmd->pool, arg, &cfg->ca_bundle_path);
@@ -665,7 +646,6 @@ void *oidc_cfg_server_create(apr_pool_t *pool, server_rec *svr) {
 	c->crypto_passphrase.secret1 = NULL;
 	c->crypto_passphrase.secret2 = NULL;
 
-	c->error_template = NULL;
 	c->post_preserve_template = NULL;
 	c->post_restore_template = NULL;
 
@@ -802,7 +782,6 @@ void *oidc_cfg_server_merge(apr_pool_t *pool, void *BASE, void *ADD) {
 		c->crypto_passphrase.secret2 = base->crypto_passphrase.secret2;
 	}
 
-	c->error_template = add->error_template != NULL ? add->error_template : base->error_template;
 	c->post_preserve_template =
 	    add->post_preserve_template != NULL ? add->post_preserve_template : base->post_preserve_template;
 	c->post_restore_template =
diff --git a/src/cfg/cfg.h b/src/cfg/cfg.h
index 245cfd69..3ed0eec9 100644
--- a/src/cfg/cfg.h
+++ b/src/cfg/cfg.h
@@ -67,7 +67,6 @@
 #define OIDCMetadataDir "OIDCMetadataDir"
 #define OIDCSessionCacheFallbackToCookie "OIDCSessionCacheFallbackToCookie"
 #define OIDCSessionCookieChunkSize "OIDCSessionCookieChunkSize"
-#define OIDCHTMLErrorTemplate "OIDCHTMLErrorTemplate"
 #define OIDCPreservePostTemplates "OIDCPreservePostTemplates"
 #define OIDCProviderMetadataRefreshInterval "OIDCProviderMetadataRefreshInterval"
 #define OIDCBlackListedClaims "OIDCBlackListedClaims"
diff --git a/src/cfg/cfg_int.h b/src/cfg/cfg_int.h
index fa5f0810..2bf62d15 100644
--- a/src/cfg/cfg_int.h
+++ b/src/cfg/cfg_int.h
@@ -125,8 +125,6 @@ struct oidc_cfg_t {
 	/* (optional) default URL to go to after logout */
 	char *default_slo_url;
 
-	/* HTML to display error messages+description */
-	char *error_template;
 	/* Javascript template to preserve POST data */
 	char *post_preserve_template;
 	/* Javascript template to restore POST data */
diff --git a/src/cfg/cmds.c b/src/cfg/cmds.c
index 2dedae97..e6c32783 100644
--- a/src/cfg/cmds.c
+++ b/src/cfg/cmds.c
@@ -177,11 +177,6 @@ const command_rec oidc_cfg_cmds[] = {
 		OIDCSessionCookieChunkSize,
 		session_cookie_chunk_size,
 		"Chunk size for client-cookie session storage type in bytes. Defaults to 4k. Set 0 to suppress chunking."),
-	OIDC_CFG_CMD(
-		AP_INIT_TAKE1,
-		OIDCHTMLErrorTemplate,
-		html_error_template,
-		"Name of a HTML error template: needs to contain two \"%s\" characters, one for the error message, one for the description."),
 	OIDC_CFG_CMD(
 		AP_INIT_TAKE2,
 		OIDCPreservePostTemplates,
diff --git a/src/handle/authz.c b/src/handle/authz.c
index 966ec1f1..0e36ee4c 100644
--- a/src/handle/authz.c
+++ b/src/handle/authz.c
@@ -482,10 +482,7 @@ static authz_status oidc_authz_24_unauthorized_user(request_rec *r) {
 	case OIDC_UNAUTZ_RETURN403:
 	case OIDC_UNAUTZ_RETURN401:
 		OIDC_METRICS_COUNTER_INC(r, c, OM_AUTHZ_ACTION_401);
-		oidc_util_html_send_error(r, oidc_cfg_html_error_template_get(c), "Authorization Error",
-					  oidc_cfg_dir_unauthz_arg_get(r), HTTP_UNAUTHORIZED);
-		if (oidc_cfg_html_error_template_get(c))
-			r->header_only = 1;
+		oidc_util_html_send_error(r, "Authorization Error", oidc_cfg_dir_unauthz_arg_get(r), HTTP_UNAUTHORIZED);
 		return AUTHZ_DENIED;
 	case OIDC_UNAUTZ_RETURN302:
 		OIDC_METRICS_COUNTER_INC(r, c, OM_AUTHZ_ACTION_302);
diff --git a/src/handle/discovery.c b/src/handle/discovery.c
index 6ac171ce..83b26519 100644
--- a/src/handle/discovery.c
+++ b/src/handle/discovery.c
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ int oidc_discovery_request(request_rec *r, oidc_cfg_t *cfg) {
 	/* get a list of all providers configured in the metadata directory */
 	apr_array_header_t *arr = NULL;
 	if (oidc_metadata_list(r, cfg, &arr) == FALSE)
-		return oidc_util_html_send_error(r, oidc_cfg_html_error_template_get(cfg), "Configuration Error",
+		return oidc_util_html_send_error(r, "Configuration Error",
 						 "No configured providers found, contact your administrator",
 						 HTTP_UNAUTHORIZED);
 
@@ -324,7 +324,7 @@ int oidc_discovery_response(request_rec *r, oidc_cfg_t *c) {
 
 	if (target_link_uri == NULL) {
 		if (oidc_cfg_default_sso_url_get(c) == NULL) {
-			return oidc_util_html_send_error(r, oidc_cfg_html_error_template_get(c), "Invalid Request",
+			return oidc_util_html_send_error(r, "Invalid Request",
 							 "SSO to this module without specifying a \"target_link_uri\" "
 							 "parameter is not possible because " OIDCDefaultURL
 							 " is not set.",
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ int oidc_discovery_response(request_rec *r, oidc_cfg_t *c) {
 
 	/* do open redirect prevention, step 1 */
 	if (oidc_discovery_target_link_uri_match(r, c, target_link_uri) == FALSE) {
-		return oidc_util_html_send_error(r, oidc_cfg_html_error_template_get(c), "Invalid Request",
+		return oidc_util_html_send_error(r, "Invalid Request",
 						 "\"target_link_uri\" parameter does not match configuration settings, "
 						 "aborting to prevent an open redirect.",
 						 HTTP_UNAUTHORIZED);
@@ -343,8 +343,7 @@ int oidc_discovery_response(request_rec *r, oidc_cfg_t *c) {
 
 	/* do input validation on the target_link_uri parameter value, step 2 */
 	if (oidc_validate_redirect_url(r, c, target_link_uri, TRUE, &error_str, &error_description) == FALSE) {
-		return oidc_util_html_send_error(r, oidc_cfg_html_error_template_get(c), error_str, error_description,
-						 HTTP_UNAUTHORIZED);
+		return oidc_util_html_send_error(r, error_str, error_description, HTTP_UNAUTHORIZED);
 	}
 
 	/* see if this is a static setup */
@@ -352,7 +351,7 @@ int oidc_discovery_response(request_rec *r, oidc_cfg_t *c) {
 		if ((oidc_provider_static_config(r, c, &provider) == TRUE) && (issuer != NULL)) {
 			if (_oidc_strcmp(oidc_cfg_provider_issuer_get(provider), issuer) != 0) {
 				return oidc_util_html_send_error(
-				    r, oidc_cfg_html_error_template_get(c), "Invalid Request",
+				    r, "Invalid Request",
 				    apr_psprintf(
 					r->pool,
 					"The \"iss\" value must match the configured providers' one (%s != %s).",
@@ -378,7 +377,7 @@ int oidc_discovery_response(request_rec *r, oidc_cfg_t *c) {
 		if (oidc_proto_discovery_url_based(r, c, user, &issuer) == FALSE) {
 
 			/* something did not work out, show a user facing error */
-			return oidc_util_html_send_error(r, oidc_cfg_html_error_template_get(c), "Invalid Request",
+			return oidc_util_html_send_error(r, "Invalid Request",
 							 "Could not resolve the provided user identifier to an OpenID "
 							 "Connect provider; check your syntax.",
 							 HTTP_NOT_FOUND);
@@ -398,7 +397,7 @@ int oidc_discovery_response(request_rec *r, oidc_cfg_t *c) {
 		if (oidc_proto_discovery_account_based(r, c, issuer, &issuer) == FALSE) {
 
 			/* something did not work out, show a user facing error */
-			return oidc_util_html_send_error(r, oidc_cfg_html_error_template_get(c), "Invalid Request",
+			return oidc_util_html_send_error(r, "Invalid Request",
 							 "Could not resolve the provided account name to an OpenID "
 							 "Connect provider; check your syntax.",
 							 HTTP_NOT_FOUND);
@@ -439,7 +438,7 @@ int oidc_discovery_response(request_rec *r, oidc_cfg_t *c) {
 	}
 
 	/* something went wrong */
-	return oidc_util_html_send_error(r, oidc_cfg_html_error_template_get(c), "Invalid Request",
+	return oidc_util_html_send_error(r, "Invalid Request",
 					 "Could not find valid provider metadata for the selected OpenID Connect "
 					 "provider; contact the administrator",
 					 HTTP_NOT_FOUND);
diff --git a/src/handle/logout.c b/src/handle/logout.c
index 6bda68d3..9e2d023a 100644
--- a/src/handle/logout.c
+++ b/src/handle/logout.c
@@ -471,8 +471,7 @@ int oidc_logout(request_rec *r, oidc_cfg_t *c, oidc_session_t *session) {
 
 		/* do input validation on the logout parameter value */
 		if (oidc_validate_redirect_url(r, c, url, TRUE, &error_str, &error_description) == FALSE) {
-			return oidc_util_html_send_error(r, oidc_cfg_html_error_template_get(c), error_str,
-							 error_description, HTTP_BAD_REQUEST);
+			return oidc_util_html_send_error(r, error_str, error_description, HTTP_BAD_REQUEST);
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/handle/response.c b/src/handle/response.c
index dbc3d00c..7715f83a 100644
--- a/src/handle/response.c
+++ b/src/handle/response.c
@@ -75,9 +75,8 @@ static int oidc_response_authorization_error(request_rec *r, oidc_cfg_t *c, oidc
 	if ((prompt != NULL) && (_oidc_strcmp(prompt, OIDC_PROTO_PROMPT_NONE) == 0)) {
 		return oidc_response_redirect_parent_window_to_logout(r, c);
 	}
-	return oidc_util_html_send_error(
-	    r, oidc_cfg_html_error_template_get(c), apr_psprintf(r->pool, "OpenID Connect Provider error: %s", error),
-	    error_description, oidc_cfg_html_error_template_get(c) ? OK : HTTP_BAD_REQUEST);
+	return oidc_util_html_send_error(r, apr_psprintf(r->pool, "OpenID Connect Provider error: %s", error),
+					 error_description, HTTP_BAD_REQUEST);
 }
 
 /* handle the browser back on an authorization response */
@@ -380,7 +379,7 @@ static apr_byte_t oidc_response_proto_state_restore(request_rec *r, oidc_cfg_t *
 		if ((oidc_cfg_default_sso_url_get(c) == NULL) ||
 		    (apr_table_get(r->subprocess_env, "OIDC_NO_DEFAULT_URL_ON_STATE_TIMEOUT") != NULL)) {
 			oidc_util_html_send_error(
-			    r, oidc_cfg_html_error_template_get(c), "Invalid Authentication Response",
+			    r, "Invalid Authentication Response",
 			    apr_psprintf(r->pool,
 					 "This is due to a timeout; please restart your authentication session by "
 					 "re-entering the URL/bookmark you originally wanted to access: %s",
@@ -564,18 +563,6 @@ static int oidc_response_process(request_rec *r, oidc_cfg_t *c, oidc_session_t *
 		oidc_error(r,
 			   "invalid authorization response state and no default SSO URL is set, sending an error...");
 
-		if (oidc_cfg_html_error_template_get(c)) {
-			// retain backwards compatibility
-			int rc = HTTP_BAD_REQUEST;
-			if ((r->user) && (_oidc_strncmp(r->user, "", 1) == 0)) {
-				r->header_only = 1;
-				r->user = NULL;
-				rc = OK;
-			}
-			OIDC_METRICS_COUNTER_INC(r, c, OM_AUTHN_RESPONSE_ERROR_STATE_MISMATCH);
-			return rc;
-		}
-
 		// if error text was already produced (e.g. state timeout) then just return with a 400
 		if (apr_table_get(r->subprocess_env, OIDC_ERROR_ENVVAR) != NULL) {
 			OIDC_METRICS_COUNTER_INC(r, c, OM_AUTHN_RESPONSE_ERROR_STATE_EXPIRED);
@@ -584,8 +571,7 @@ static int oidc_response_process(request_rec *r, oidc_cfg_t *c, oidc_session_t *
 
 		OIDC_METRICS_COUNTER_INC(r, c, OM_AUTHN_RESPONSE_ERROR_STATE_MISMATCH);
 
-		return oidc_util_html_send_error(r, oidc_cfg_html_error_template_get(c),
-						 "Invalid Authorization Response",
+		return oidc_util_html_send_error(r, "Invalid Authorization Response",
 						 "Could not match the authorization response to an earlier request via "
 						 "the state parameter and corresponding state cookie",
 						 HTTP_BAD_REQUEST);
@@ -721,7 +707,7 @@ int oidc_response_authorization_post(request_rec *r, oidc_cfg_t *c, oidc_session
 	    ((apr_table_elts(params)->nelts == 1) && apr_table_get(params, OIDC_PROTO_RESPONSE_MODE) &&
 	     (_oidc_strcmp(apr_table_get(params, OIDC_PROTO_RESPONSE_MODE), OIDC_PROTO_RESPONSE_MODE_FRAGMENT) == 0))) {
 		return oidc_util_html_send_error(
-		    r, oidc_cfg_html_error_template_get(c), "Invalid Request",
+		    r, "Invalid Request",
 		    "You've hit an OpenID Connect Redirect URI with no parameters, this is an invalid request; you "
 		    "should not open this URL in your browser directly, or have the server administrator use a "
 		    "different " OIDCRedirectURI " setting.",
diff --git a/src/mod_auth_openidc.c b/src/mod_auth_openidc.c
index 27336348..6f4ac95f 100644
--- a/src/mod_auth_openidc.c
+++ b/src/mod_auth_openidc.c
@@ -1504,8 +1504,7 @@ int oidc_handle_redirect_uri_request(request_rec *r, oidc_cfg_t *c, oidc_session
 
 	/* something went wrong */
 	return oidc_util_html_send_error(
-	    r, oidc_cfg_html_error_template_get(c), "Invalid Request",
-	    apr_psprintf(r->pool, "The OpenID Connect callback URL received an invalid request"),
+	    r, "Invalid Request", apr_psprintf(r->pool, "The OpenID Connect callback URL received an invalid request"),
 	    HTTP_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR);
 }
 
diff --git a/src/util.c b/src/util.c
index 8b21bc9d..fee3c648 100644
--- a/src/util.c
+++ b/src/util.c
@@ -1102,8 +1102,6 @@ int oidc_util_html_send(request_rec *r, const char *title, const char *html_head
 	return oidc_util_http_send(r, html, _oidc_strlen(html), OIDC_HTTP_CONTENT_TYPE_TEXT_HTML, status_code);
 }
 
-static char *html_error_template_contents = NULL;
-
 /*
  * escape characters in an HTML/Javascript template
  */
@@ -1145,34 +1143,7 @@ apr_byte_t oidc_util_html_send_in_template(request_rec *r, const char *filename,
 /*
  * send a user-facing error to the browser
  */
-int oidc_util_html_send_error(request_rec *r, const char *html_template, const char *error, const char *description,
-			      int status_code) {
-
-	char *html = "";
-	int rc = status_code;
-
-	if (html_template != NULL) {
-
-		if (_oidc_strcmp(html_template, OIDC_HTML_ERROR_TEMPLATE_DEPRECATED) != 0) {
-
-			rc = oidc_util_html_send_in_template(r, html_template, &html_error_template_contents, error,
-							     OIDC_POST_PRESERVE_ESCAPE_HTML, description,
-							     OIDC_POST_PRESERVE_ESCAPE_HTML, status_code);
-
-		} else {
-
-			if (error != NULL) {
-				html = apr_psprintf(r->pool, "%s<p>Error: <pre>%s</pre></p>", html,
-						    oidc_util_html_escape(r->pool, error));
-			}
-			if (description != NULL) {
-				html = apr_psprintf(r->pool, "%s<p>Description: <pre>%s</pre></p>", html,
-						    oidc_util_html_escape(r->pool, description));
-			}
-
-			rc = oidc_util_html_send(r, "Error", NULL, NULL, html, status_code);
-		}
-	}
+int oidc_util_html_send_error(request_rec *r, const char *error, const char *description, int status_code) {
 
 	oidc_debug(r, "setting " OIDC_ERROR_ENVVAR " environment variable to: %s", error);
 	apr_table_set(r->subprocess_env, OIDC_ERROR_ENVVAR, error ? error : "");
@@ -1180,7 +1151,7 @@ int oidc_util_html_send_error(request_rec *r, const char *html_template, const c
 	oidc_debug(r, "setting " OIDC_ERROR_DESC_ENVVAR " environment variable to: %s", description);
 	apr_table_set(r->subprocess_env, OIDC_ERROR_DESC_ENVVAR, description ? description : "");
 
-	return rc;
+	return status_code;
 }
 
 /* the maximum size of data that we accept in a single POST value: 1MB */
diff --git a/src/util.h b/src/util.h
index a3565904..c4a62c79 100644
--- a/src/util.h
+++ b/src/util.h
@@ -81,8 +81,7 @@ int oidc_util_html_send(request_rec *r, const char *title, const char *html_head
 apr_byte_t oidc_util_file_read(request_rec *r, const char *path, apr_pool_t *pool, char **result);
 apr_byte_t oidc_util_file_write(request_rec *r, const char *path, const char *data);
 apr_byte_t oidc_util_issuer_match(const char *a, const char *b);
-int oidc_util_html_send_error(request_rec *r, const char *html_template, const char *error, const char *description,
-			      int status_code);
+int oidc_util_html_send_error(request_rec *r, const char *error, const char *description, int status_code);
 apr_byte_t oidc_util_json_array_has_value(request_rec *r, json_t *haystack, const char *needle);
 void oidc_util_set_app_info(request_rec *r, const char *s_key, const char *s_value, const char *claim_prefix,
 			    oidc_appinfo_pass_in_t pass_in, oidc_appinfo_encoding_t encoding);