[N37]. His Followers were known by the Name of Bonosiacs or Bonosians; and Mention is made of them by Pope Gregory, towards the Latter-end of the Sixth Century[[1]]. That Pope writes, as does likewise Gennadius[[2]], that the Church rejected their Baptism, because they did not baptize in the Name of the Three Divine Persons. But the Council of Arles, held in 452. by the Seventeenth Canon, commands the Bonosians to be received into the Church by the holy Unction, the Imposition of Hands, and a Confession of Faith, it being certain, that they baptize in the Name of the Trinity[[3]]. It is to be observed, that several Writers have confounded the Bonosians with the Photinians, who did not baptize in the Name of the Three Persons; and by them both Gregory and Gennadius were misled[[4]].
[1]. Greg. l. 9. ep. 61.
[2]. Id. ib. Genn. dog. c. 52.
[3]. Avit. frag. p. 188.
[4]. Vide Concil. t. 2. p. 1270. & t. 3 p. 663. & t. 4. p. 1013.
An End put to the Schism of Antioch.
Syricius had, in the last Year of his Life, the Satisfaction of seeing an End put at length to the Schism of Antioch, which I have had so frequent Occasion to speak of; and the East and West, after so long a Misunderstanding, or rather Separation, happily reunited. This great Work was accomplished in the following Manner: Evagrius, the Successor of Paulinus, dying not long after his Promotion, Flavianus employed all the Credit and Interest he had at Court, and with the Clergy of Antioch, to prevent the Election of a new Bishop in the room of the deceased: and so far his Endeavours proved successful. But he could by no means gain the Eustathians, who continued to assemble apart, or prevail either upon the Bishops of Egypt, or Syricius, and the other Western Bishops, to admit him to their Communion, though he had no Competitor, whose Cause they could espouse against him. Thus, through the inflexible Obstinacy of the Egyptian and Western Bishops, was Discord kept alive, and a kind of Schism fomented among the Prelates and Members of the Catholic Church, says Sozomen[[1321]]. In this Situation Affairs continued from the Year 392. in which Evagrius died, to the Year 398. when the famous John Chrysostom, Presbyter of the Church of Antioch, was, in regard of his extraordinary Merit, preferred to the See of Constantinople. No sooner was he placed in that high Station, than his generous Disposition, above all little Piques and Jealousies, his Zeal for the Welfare of the Church in general, and the tender Regard he had for that of Antioch in particular, prompted him to employ all the Credit and Authority, which his new Dignity gave him, in bringing about an intire Reconciliation between the East and the West, and restoring the Church of Antioch to the Communion of those Churches, from which it had been so long separated[[1322]]. | Chrysostom studies to reconcile the Eastern and Western Bishops.| Chrysostom had been consecrated by Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria, whom the Council of Capua had appointed to decide, with the other Bishops of Egypt, the Difference between Flavianus and Evagrius, as I have related above. To him therefore, before he left Constantinople to return to Egypt, the new Bishop of that City, impatient to see so great a Work brought to a happy Issue, imparted his Intention of attempting a Reconciliation between Flavianus and Syricius Bishop of Rome, earnestly intreating him to second and promote with his Endeavours an Undertaking truly worthy of the Two first Bishops of the East.
Flavianus and Theo-
philus reconciled.