In what Sense the
Pope above other
Bishops.
From these Pieces, which are still extant, it is manifest beyond all Dispute, as the Reader must have observed, that, in the Year 378. when this Council was held, no Prerogative was yet discovered in the Pope, peculiar to him, and not common to all Bishops, besides that of Rank, which arose from the Dignity of his See, that is, from his being Bishop of the Metropolis of the Empire; for, in that respect alone, the Bishops, who composed the Council, acknowleged him to be above them; nay, by declaring themselves, in express Terms, equal to him as to the Ministry, they seem to have taken particular Care, that no Room or Pretence should be left for his claiming a Superiority in any other respect. And how great would their Surprize have been, had Damasus, in hearing that Part of their Address to the Emperor, started up, and, protesting against it, as derogatory to his Prerogative, declared, that, to him all Power was given in Heaven and on Earth; that, so far from being equal to him, they, and all other Bishops, were but his Deputies and Delegates; that the Power, Authority, and Jurisdiction, which they enjoyed, were derived to them from the Plenitude of his! Had he talked in this Strain, the whole Council would have concluded him delirious. And yet these are the Sentiments of his Successors; these the very Words, with which they and their Divines have expressed them[[1126]]; so that it is now reckoned Heresy not to believe what in the Fourth Century it had been deemed Madness to have gravely uttered. |The Power he now
claims unknown in the
Time of Damasus.| It would perhaps have seemed still more strange and surprising to the Fathers of the Council, however prejudiced in his Favour, if Damasus, instead of gratefully acknowleging their Regard for him in petitioning the Emperor, that he might not be judged by the Civil Magistrate, but either by a Council, or the Emperor himself, had severely rebuked them as Strangers to, or Betrayers of, his inherent Right, acquainting them, that, in virtue thereof, all Men were to be judged by him, but himself by no Man[[1127]]; that the greatest Monarchs were his Slaves and Vassals, and he King of Kings, Monarch of the World, sole Lord and Governor both in Spirituals and Temporals[[1128]]; that he was appointed Prince over all Nations and Kingdoms[[1129]]; that his Power excelled all Powers[[1130]]; that it was necessary to Salvation for every human Creature to be subject to him[[1131]]. And yet these are the Notions, that have been uttered by his Successors, and the very Terms in which they were uttered. In the Age I am now writing of, they had been looked upon no otherwise than the Ravings of a distempered Brain; but they are now held by the Church of Rome, and her Divines, as Oracles, and inserted as such into her Canons. Bellarmine owns, that, in the Fourth Century, the Pope was still subject to the Emperors, nay, and to the Civil Magistrate, without the least Distinction between him and other Vassals. But this Subjection, says he, in his Apology against King James[[1132]], the Emperors exacted by Force, because the Power of the Pope was not known to them. Nor to any body else, he might have added, since the Writers of those Times seem to have been no better acquainted with the Power of the Pope than the Emperors; at least, they take no Notice of it, even in describing, as some of them have done, the State of the Church at the time they writ, and relating the Customs, Laws, and Practices, that then obtained. Besides, how could the Power of the Pope be unknown to the Christian Emperors, if it was one of the chief Tenets of the Christian Doctrine? Neither Damasus, nor any of his Predecessors, can be justly charged with Bashfulness, in acquainting the World with the Power they had or claimed. We may further observe here, that the Emperor requires the Bishop of Rome, in judging according to the Power granted him, to act with the Advice of Five or Seven other Bishops: a plain Proof, that he was as little acquainted with the Pope’s Infallibility, as with his Power.
A new Accusation
brought against
Damasus.
The Council of the Italian Bishops, assembled at Rome, no sooner broke up, than the Emissaries and Partisans of Ursinus began to raise new Disturbances in that City, by stirring up the Pagans against Damasus, and, at the same time, charging him with things, to use the Expression of the Council of Aquileia, not fit to be uttered by a Bishop, nor heard by such an Emperor as Gratian[[1133]]. Anastasius writes, that he was accused of Adultery by the Two Deacons Concordus and Callistus[[1134]]. And truly, that some Crime of that Nature was laid to his Charge, is pretty plain, from the Terms in which it was expressed by the Council. Valerian, then Governor of Rome, immediately acquainted the Emperor with the Accusation[[1135]]; but what Part Gratian acted on this Occasion, we are not told by any antient Writer. We read in the Pontificals, and most of the modern Writers, that the Cause was referred by the Emperor to the Council then sitting at Aquileia; and that Damasus was declared innocent by all the Bishops who composed it. |The Council of
Aquileia writes to the
Emperor in his
Behalf.| But, as neither is related by any credible Author, I am inclined to believe, that Gratian took no Notice of the Charge, in Compliance with the Request of the Bishops assembled at Aquileia; for, by a Letter, they earnestly intreated him not to hearken to Ursinus, because his giving ear to him would occasion endless Disturbances in Rome; and, besides, they could by no means communicate with a Man who thus wickedly aspired to a Dignity, to which he had no Claim or Title; who, by his scandalous Behaviour, had incurred the Hatred of all good Christians; who had impiously joined the Arians, and, together with them, attempted to disturb the Quiet of the Catholic Church of Milan[[1136]].
A great Council as-
sembled at Con-
stantinople, by the
Emperor Theodosius.
Towards the Latter end of the Pontificate of Damasus, Two great Councils were held, the one at Constantinople in 381. and the other at Rome in 382. The former was assembled by the Emperor Theodosius, who, after having put the Orthodox in Possession of the Churches, which till his Time had been held by the Arians in the East, where he reigned, summoned all the Bishops within his Dominions to meet at Constantinople, in order to deliberate about the most proper Means of restoring an intire Tranquillity to the Church, rent and disturbed not only by several Sects of Heretics, but by the Divisions that reigned among the Orthodox themselves, by that especially of Antioch, the most antient of all, which, from that Church, had spread all over the Empire, and occasioned rather an intire Separation, than a Misunderstanding between the East and the West, the former communicating with Meletius, and the latter with Paulinus, as I have related above. In this Council many weighty Matters were transacted, and several Canons established, some of which, namely, the Second and Third, deserve to be taken Notice of here. For, by the Second, the Council renewed and confirmed the antient Law of the Church, authorized by the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Canons of the Council of Nice, commanding the Bishops of each Province to be ordained by those of the same Province, and such of the neighbouring Provinces, as they should think fit to call in; directing all Ecclesiastical Matters to be settled, all Disputes to be finally decided by a Council composed of the Bishops of the Province, or at least of the Diocese, that is, of all the Provinces under the same Vicar; and strictly forbidding the Bishops of one Diocese to concern themselves, under any Colour or Pretence whatsoever, with what happens in another[[1137]]. |which revokes the
Privilege granted to
the See of Rome
by the Council of
Sardica.| By this Canon the Privilege, formerly granted to the See of Rome by the Council of Sardica, was revoked, and all Appeals from the Council of the Diocese forbidden. By the Third Canon the See of Constantinople[Constantinople] is declared first in Rank and Dignity after that of Rome[[1138]]. Some Greek Writers have pretended, that, by this Canon, the Two Sees were declared in every respect equal; but that Zonaras himself owns to be false and groundless[[1139]]. It is to be observed, that the Council of Constantinople gave Rank and Honour to that See, but no Jurisdiction. It was to the Council of Chalcedon that the Bishops of Constantinople owed their Authority and Jurisdiction; for by that Council they were impowered to ordain the Metropolitans of the Dioceses of Pontus, Asia, and Thrace[[1140]]. The Reasons alleged by Baronius to prove the Third Canon of the Council of Constantinople supposititious[[1141]], are quite frivolous; and it is certain beyond all Dispute, that the Bishops of that City maintained ever after the Rank, which the above-mentioned Canon had given them. In a short time the Bishop of Constantinople, taking Advantage of that Canon, and of the Deference that is naturally paid to the Bishop of the Imperial City, extended his Jurisdiction over all the neighbouring Provinces, nay, and over the whole Eastern Empire, as we shall observe in the Sequel of this History.
The Council writes to
the Western Bishops.
The Canons of this Council were, without all doubt, sent, according to Custom, to the Western Bishops for their Approbation, probably with the Letter which the Council writ to them concerning the Heresy of Apollinaris[[1142]]. And yet Pope Leo the Great writes, that the Third Canon was never notified to the Church of Rome[[1143]]; and Gregory the Great, that the Canon condemning the Eudoxians, which was the first, had never been received at Rome[[1144]]: but Gregory perhaps meant nothing else, than that the Canon he mentions was of no Authority at Rome. As for Leo, it is hard to conceive what he meant by saying, that the Third Canon was not known to the Church of Rome; for he could not but know, that the Bishop of Constantinople held the Second Rank in the Church, and the First in the East, since his own Legates, whose Conduct he intirely approved of, owned him to have an indisputable Right to that Rank; nay, Eusebius Bishop of Dorylæum in Phrygia maintained, that it was with the Consent and Approbation of Leo himself that the See of Constantinople enjoyed that Honour.
The Authority of this
Council among the
Greeks,
The Authority of this Council has ever been great among the Greeks, who style it an Oecumenical Council, and had often recourse to it as such in the Council of Chalcedon[[1145]]. The Bishops of the Hellespont speak of it with the greatest Respect and Reverence, in a Letter they writ to the Emperor Leo[[1146]]. |and the Latins.| As for the Latins, I find a great Disagreement among the Popes themselves concerning the Authority of this Council; nay, the greatest of them all disagrees even with himself about it. The Legates of Pope Leo rejected its Canons, alleging that they had never been inserted in the Book of the Canons[[1147]]. In like manner the Popes Simplicius and Felix II. speaking of the Councils which they received, name those only of Nice, Ephesus, and Chalcedon[[1148]]. Gregory the Great writes, that the Church of Rome had neither the Acts nor the Canons of the Council of Constantinople; that the Condemnation of the Macedonians was the only thing done by that Council which they admitted; and that as to other Heresies condemned there, they rejected them, as having been condemned before by other Councils[[1149]]. But he declares elsewhere, and often repeats it, that he received the Four Oecumenical Councils, as he did the Four Gospels[[1150]], naming the Council of Constantinople in the Second Place. |The Popes at Var-
iance among and with
themselves about it.| In the same Manner, and with the same Words, were the Four Oecumenical Councils received by Gelasius, and several Popes before him, as well as by Martin I. and several others after him: so that the Council of Constantinople is, according to some Popes, of equal Authority with the Gospel; according to others, of no Authority at all: nay, it is thus by the same Pope at one time extolled, at another undervalued. Let Baronius and Bellarmine reconcile these Contradictions, if they can.