Religion and loyalty, the second part, or, The history of the concurrence of the imperial and ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the government of the church from the beginning of the reign of Jovian to the end of the reign of Justinian / by Samuel Parker ...

§. IX. Having represented in one view the Laws of this great and wise Prince in Ecclesiastical Matters; we may now proceed to the remainder of the Histo∣ry of the Church under his Reign in the several Parts of the Empire. And the most remarkable transaction next af∣ter the great Council of Constantinople, in which the Arian Heresy with all its Branches and Of-sets were for ever lopt off from the Body of the Christian Church, was the Council of Aquileia summon'd the same year, viz. Anno Dom. 381. consisting of Italian, French, Afri∣can and Pannonian Bishops, that acted in the capacity of Legates from their seve∣ral

respective Provinces. This Council was convened by the Emperor Gratian in the West, as the Council of Constanti∣nople was by Theodosius in the East, two Months after its breaking up, which was at the end of July, and the meeting of this, at the beginning of September. The occasion of it was this, Some of the He∣reticks of the Arian spawn, presuming upon the favor and patronage of the Em∣press Justina, complain to the Emperor of their unjust condemnation for the A∣rian Heresy, and petition to purge them∣selves in a general Council. This was vehemently opposed by St. Ambrose, as an unreasonable thing, that all the Bi∣shops of Christendom should be perp••tu∣ally forced to leave their Churches only to satify the curiosity, or (as he calls it) the scabbedness of two or three Men. But the Queens importunity overcomes the Emperor so far, as to prevail with him for a Council, which yet he sum∣mons with that moderation, as to leave all the foreign Bishops at their own liber∣ty to come or not. Which civility all the Bishops of the Western Church use with that respect, as to send their Le∣gates and Representatives, and as for the Eastern Bishops, they inform his Majesty, that they had but just before assembled

about the same Matter, and given in their peremptory determination. The Council being met, Palladius and Secun∣dianus two Bishops that had been cen∣sured for the Heresy, together with At∣talus a Presbyter appear: and for clear∣ing their innocence, they are required to condemn the Position of Arius, that the Father alone is Eternal. This they refuse, but this alone will satisfy, they must either subscribe his condemnation or submit to it. But they refuse both, and appeal to a General Council, but they are answer'd, That it is needless that all the Bishops of the Christian World should be forced to such tedious Journeys, to censure Men that had been already so often condemn'd in so many Councils. And withal, that this was a General Council, all the Bishops being acquaint∣ed with it, who might have come if they pleased, that the Eastern Church had already given judgment against them in the Council of Constantinople, and that all the Western Bishops were present in this Council, either in Person or by their Legates. Then after a thousand other Tergiversations, they move for secular Judges and Moderators, the constant san∣ctuary of the Faction, and probably the Queen and the Eunuchs had packt an

Ignoramus Jury for them. But here St. Ambrose takes him up roundly, and throws off all farther patience. Et si in multis impietatibus deprehensus sit, eru∣bescimus tamen, ut videatur, qui sacerdo∣tium sibi vendicat, à Laicis esse damnatus. Ac per hoc, quoniam in hoc ipso damnandus est, qui Laicorum expectat sententiam, cum magis de Laicis Sacerdotes debeant judi∣care, juxta ea quae hodie audivimus Pal∣ladium profitentem, & juxta ea, quae con∣demnare nolvit, pronuncio illum sacerdotio indignum & carendum, & in loco ejus Ca∣tholicus ordinetur.

Although he be convicted of many Crimes, yet it puts us to confusion, that one who pretends to the Priestly Office, should choose to submit himself to the judgment of Laicks. For which alone he ought to be condemn'd, when as in such Matters as these, it is the peculiar Office of the Priest-hood to judg of Laymen, but these have no Authority to judg of them, and therefore according to this Profession of Palladius this day, and his refusal to condemn the Heresy, I pro∣nounce him unworthy of the Priest∣hood, to be deprived, and a Catholick Bishop to be placed in his stead.

Which sentence against him and his Accomplices being ratified by the Council, they broke

up, and acquaint the Emperor with the Result of their Proceedings. First thank∣ing him for the gentleness of his Sum∣mons. Vt nemo de esset volens, nemo co∣geretur invitus. Quâm grave autem si propter duos in side cariosos, toto in orbe essent Ecclesiae sacerdotibus destitutae? Qui etiamsi venire propter itineris prolix∣itatem nequiverunt, tamen omnes prope ex omnibus provinciis occidentalibus, missis adfuere legatis.

That no body might be absent but by his own Will, no body might be forced against his Will. What an hard thing is it, that all the Chur∣ches in the World should be deprived of their Priests for two or thre worm∣eaten Hereticks? who though they could not come by reason of the tediousness of the Journey, yet almost all the Bishops of the Western Provinces were present by their Legates.

And secondly they acquaint him with the reason of their be∣ginning with the Epistle of Arius. Eà videlicet gratiâ, ut quoniam Arianos se ne∣gare consueverant, Arii blasphemiam aut incusando damnarent, aut astruendo defen∣derent, aut certè non recusarent nomen e∣jus, cujus impietatem perfidiamque seque∣rentur.

For this reason, that seeing they denyed themselves to be Arians, they should be forced either to condemn

the Blasphemy or to own it, and not refuse to be call'd after his Name, whom they followed in his Impiety.

That was the state of things all along, that though they were Arians, they would not own it. Thirdly they petiti∣on that he would be pleased to give Or∣ders to his Officers to turn the Here∣ticks out of their Churches. And last∣ly, thank him for his (r) 1.1 late Law a∣gainst the Meetings of the Photinians, and inform him of one at Sirmium, with a request that he would break it up. Be∣side this, they write two other Letters to the Emperors to petition their assi∣stance towards quenching the Schisms on foot at that time at Rome, Alexandria and Antioch, that as Truth was, so Peace might be restored to the Church. Equi∣dem per occidentales partes duobus in An∣gulis tantùm, hoc est in latere Daciae Ri∣pensis ac Maesiae fidei obstrepi videbatur. In Orientalibus partibus cognovimus qui∣dem, summo gaudio atque laetitiâ ejectis Arianis, qui ecclesias violenter invaserant, sacra Dei Templa per solos Catholicos fre∣quentari.

In the Western Church we found not above two obscure Bishops in the remote Corners of the Empire that opposed the Faith, in the Eastern Church all the intruding Arians were

ejected, and the Churches fill'd with none but Catholicks.

And thus we see from reign to reign, that the Heresy could never lift up its Head after the Ni∣cene Council, and it was so far from over∣spreading the World at this time, that there were but two Bishops in all the Western Church that were tainted with it, and though there were some more in the East, yet they were Intruders, such as came in by Violence and Court-Power, as we have seen through the whole Series of the Story. But as for the Schisms in the three great Sees, that the Council Peti∣tions the Emperors to remove, they were at that time of a very fatal and perni∣cious influence over the whole Catholick Church, and therefore that I may satisfie the Reader with a compleat History of all passages in this remarkable Reign, I shall as briefly as I can, give a full and compre∣hensive Relation of them.

As for the Schism at Rome, it was kept up against Damasus by Vrsicinus, whose restless Spirit for a long time employed all the Power both of Church and State to suppress it. The Occasion of it was this, At the Death of Liberius, there were two Parties in the Church of Rome; his own, and the Party of Foelix, that had been substituted in his room by Constantius in

the time of his Banishment, and that was the bottom of this Schism, one Party choosing Damasus,* 1.2 and the other Vrsici∣nus; but Damasus having the Majority of Votes, carried the Election, though Vrsi∣cinus and his Party will not yield it, till the Emperor Valentinian the Elder writes to Praetextatus the Praefect of the City, to give Damasus possession of the Cathe∣dral; and for Security of the Peace for the future, to drive the Schismaticks out of the City with Liberty to reside any where but at Rome, and with leave too, to continue in it upon promise and secu∣rity of peaceable Behaviour. Upon this,* 1.3 they unanimously leave the City, and set∣tle in the Suburbs, and there keep their Meetings and Conventicles under Bishop Vrsicinus, which makes great Tumults and Disturbances both in City and Su∣burbs. Of which the Emperor being in∣form'd, he directs a Rescript to the Prae∣fect, strictly charging and requiring of him, that no such Assemblies be kept within Twenty miles of the City. But the Schismaticks continuing turbulent, they are banisht into France, though in the year 371, the Emperor is graciously pleased to release their Confinement, and give them Leave to reside in any Part of the Empire, but the City of Rome and the

Suburbicary Regions, with this Reserve, that if they transgress't their limits, they were to be punisht with all possible seve∣rity, not at all as Christians, but meerly as Subjects, that were Factious and Sedi∣tious in the Commonwealth. Qui si in∣gratâ pertinacià Statutum mansuetudinis nostrae egrediendum putaverit; eundem non jam ut Christianum, quippe quem à com∣munione Religionis mentis inquietudo dister∣minat, sed ut hominem factiosum, pertur∣batoremque publicae tranquillitatis, Legum & Religionis inimicum juris severitas per∣sequatur. And in the same Rescript the same Decree is made against his Followers, as Baronius gives it us out of his Vatican Manuscript.* 1.4 Upon this they are quiet all the Reign of Valentinian, but after this under Gratian and the young Valentinian, they raise greater Stirs and Tumults. So that in the year 378 they are again Con∣demn'd by a Council at Rome, though Baronius places it in the year 381, where∣as it is evident from the Inscription of the Letter of the Council to the Emperors, that it was in this year of 378, for it is di∣rected only to Gratian and Valentinian, and therefore it must have been written after the Death of Valens, and before the choice of Theodosius to the Empire. Now Valens was kill'd in August 378, and Theo∣dosius

chosen in the January following, and therefore it must have been transacted in that interval of time and no other. But they having done their part, they write to the Emperor Gratian to solicite him to do his, who as we find by this Letter had not been negligent in the Business, for that is the Contents of the first part of it, to return him thanks for his former Re∣script. When this former Rescript,* 1.5 that the Letter speaks of, was publisht, I know not, neither is it, that I can find, any where extant. Baronius, that first brought the former Rescripts of Valentinian the Elder out of the Vatican Manuscript, is altogether silent about it. Labbé says it was in the year 374, upon what Ground or Authority he says it, I know not, for that Law, that he refers to, in the Theo∣dosian Code,* 1.6 is only a general Law against the Concealers of all sorts of Criminals, to make them liable to the same sort of Punishment, that is due to the Offender himself. But whenever it was Publisht, the Contents of it are evident from this Epistle, viz. to drive Vrsicinus into Banish∣ment upon the Ecclesiastical Sentence against him. But for all that, Vrsicinus and his Faction grow stubborn, and are suffer'd through the negligence of the Go∣vernors, to spread their Schism, and in

some places (as the Council here inform the Emperor) to over-awe his Judges with Tumults, threatning them with no less than Death it self; and for that Reason they request his Majesty to renew his for∣mer Rescript against them. Upon this the Emperor writes a very chiding and threatning Letter to Aquilinus, Vicarius of the City, complaining of the Negligence and Dishonesty of his Officers, qui priva∣tae gratiae imperialia praecepta condonant, who sacrificed the Emperor's Commands to their own private concerns, and as he afterwards expresses it, Hactenus stertit iners dissimulatio Judicum, Notwithstan∣ding all our Commands hitherto, the Judges snore and counterfeit inadvertency. And therefore he requires him under high and unusual Threatnings, to put his Law in execution against them for their Banish∣ment an Hundred miles from the City, and gives him this general Rule, Vt con∣demnati Judicio rectè sentientium Sa••er∣dotum, reditum postea vel ad Ecclesias, quas contaminaverant, non haberent, vel re∣dintegrationem Judicii frustrà à nobis im∣pudenti pervicacià precarentur. That when they were condemn'd by the regular Sen∣tence of the Priestly Order, they should not be permitted to return to their Chur∣ches, that they had defiled, or to move

for a re-hearing in the Civil Courts. And after this we hear no more of them till the Council of Aquileia in the year 381, who sent a Letter to the Emperor Gratian, first Publisht by Sirmond, † 1.7 lest whil'st he was involved in Wars he should be pre∣vailed upon to abate of his Severity against them. And to their former Crimes of Faction and Sedition, they now inform him that they had joyn'd Communion with the Arians, to strengthen their Par∣ty, and enable them more effectually to disturb the Peace of the Catholick Church; what was done upon it, I find not, for we hear no more of them till the Death of Damasus, and the Election of Siricius in the year 385. who was violently op∣posed by Vrsicinus, but Vrsicinus was ut∣terly rejected by the People, and con∣demn'd by a Rescript of Valentinian the younger, extant only in (a) 1.8 Baronius out of his Vatican Manuscript▪ and after this we never hear any more either of him or his Schism.

The second Schism was that of Alexan∣dria, that began immediately upon the Death of St. Athanasius, by whom upon his Death-bed Peter an ancient Presbyter of that Church, and the inseparable Com∣panion of all his Troubles, was recom∣mended for his Successor, and was accor∣dingly

accepted with the unanimous Suf∣frage both of the Clergy, the Magistrates, and the People. But he was scarce warm in his Episcopal Throne, before he is for∣ced by the Governor of the Province to quit it to save his life, and so takes San∣ctuary at Rome. He was scarce gone, but Euzoius, that had been at the beginning of the Heresie with Arius, that was the only Man that stuck to him in his Banish∣ment, and had now at last by the help of his good Masters the Eunuchs thrust him∣self into the great See of Antioch, and with him one Magnus, a great Officer at Court, and an eminent Instrument at that time in all the Persecutions against the Catholicks, (b) 1.9 bring Lucius to Alexan∣dria with a strong Guard and an Imperial Mandate to put him in Possession of that See. This Lucius had been often catching at the Prize, but could never seize it till now. Upon the Death of George in the Reign of Julian, he put in for it against Athanasius; and in the Reign of Jovian he and his Friend Euzoius in vain preferr'd Articles against him for his Ejectment, but now (c) 1.10 by the help of his Money, as Peter up∣braids him, and the Pro∣curement of the Eunuchs under Valens, he takes violent Possession of

it. And being an Usurper, he is forced to govern as all hated Usurpers do, and outdoes his bloody Predecessor George in Cruelty and Barbarity; a large Description of the unparallel'd outrage against the Catholicks by Magnus may be seen in Pe∣ter's (d) 1.11 Letter extant in Theodoret. And so things continued in the same Posture till the year 377, when Valens was terri∣fied with the Invasion of the Goths, that were come up to the very Walls of the City of Constantinople, at which time say the Historians he call'd home the banisht Bishops, or rather, as others say, he and his Courtiers being otherwise employed, they take that Opportunity to return home. And so Peter comes to Alexan∣dria with the Recommendation of Dama∣sus the great Bishop of Rome, and is re∣stor'd with universal joy of the People, and Lucius forced to fly for help to the Emperor and his Court-Patrons then at Constantinople, that was at that time little better than Besieged, and before the Em∣peror had any leisure to mind his Com∣plaints, he by his own rashness came to his Unfortunate end, of being Burnt by the Enemy in a Cottage, where he had taken shelter in his Flight. And so from this time Lucius continued in Exile at Con∣stantinople, till Demophilus the Arian Bi∣shop

that succeeded Eudoxius in that See, and all his Party, among whom (e) 1.12 Lu∣cius is particularly named, were turn'd out of the City by Theodosius the Great in the year 380. At which time Peter dies, and Timotheus succeeds him, for Lu∣cius now having but small hopes left of re∣covering his Bishoprick under such an Or∣thodox Emperor, made no attempt for it. And now comes the great Council of Con∣stantinople, where the Nicene Faith is esta∣blisht for ever, and in pursuance of it (f) 1.13 an Imperial Law made to take away all Churches through the Empire from the Hereticks of all Denominations. For which the Council of Aquileia soon after sitting in the West, send him the fore∣mention'd Letter of thanks, farther im∣ploring his assistance for the Settlement of the Church, and this of Alexandria in particular, where the present Bishop was overwhelm'd with inveterate Schisms and Dissentions. In order to which they move his Majesty, that he would be pleased to call a Council at Alexandria, particularly to determine who of the He∣reticks should be received to the Commu∣nion of the Church, and upon what terms, which they thought in such a vast number of Offenders, too invidious a work for the Bishop to undertake by his

own Authority. What followed upon it I know not. For (g) 1.14 the Rescript of this Emperor to the Praefect Optatus to give Timotheus full Power of Judicature in Ec∣clesiastical Causes, and to be assistant to him is apparently forged (for there was no such Praefect as Optatus at that time) as well as all the other Laws under the Subdititious Title De Episcopali Judicio, the unanswerable proofs of it may be seen in Gothofred's Extravagans. But proba∣bly without any farther care, things set∣tled of themselves under so wise a Reign, for Timotheus sat peaceably in his See to his dying day, without any disturbance that we read of from his Enemies. When they saw the Church defended by such an Emperor, they were content to sit still, for Men are not wont to make their At∣tempts, where they have no hope of Suc∣cess. But still we see by the whole pro∣gress of this Alexandrian Schism, that the Disorders of the Church proceeded not from it self, but the Dishonesty of the Court Eunuchs.

The last great Schism of that Age, that the Council of Aquileia mentions in their Letter to the Emperor, was that at An∣tioch, which began sooner, and lasted longer than either of the other. How the matter was composed between Paulinus

and Meletius, we have seen above, that upon the Death of one of them, the Sur∣viver should have the Government of the whole Church. But upon the Death of Meletius, Flavianus sets up against Pauli∣nus, and his own Oath too, for he had abjured the Bishoprick as long as either of them should live. And he makes so ma∣ny Friends as to keep it till the great Council of Constantinople, and have it con∣firm'd to him by the Authority of the Council, where the Business was transa∣cted by a Seditious Party with such dis∣orderly Heats and Tumults, as almost put the great Gregory Nazianzen out of love with Councils, whose angry words upon a particular occasion against the abuse of some in his time, are peevishly and ab∣surdly applied by our Innovators against the use of Councils in general. The Ec∣clesiastical Abridger almost runs mad for joy of his Satyrical Expressions, and though as an Orator the good Father re∣presented his Complaints and Invectives bigger than the life (for that is the use of that sort of Eloquence) R. B. has pretty well improved it with a scurvy Transla∣tion, and made it look more like railing than handsom Satyr. But what would you have of a meer Abridger of Binius, poor Man, he never looks into the secret

of the Story, and the connexion of things, but he finds in Binius that such a Council was held such a year, and out of him he gives a crude Epitome season'd with some malicious Reflections against the Bishops, and so has done. But alas, if he had but had any insight into the Series of the Story, and understood the Mystery of the Eusebian Faction, by whom all these Disturbances were raised in the Church, it would have spoil'd the Malice of all the Abridgment. For whereas his whole de∣sign is to load the whole Body of Bishops with the Miscarriages of the Church in all Ages, it is evident all along, that the Bo∣dy of the Bishops labour'd against all those Miscarriages that he has ignorantly and maliciously charged upon them, and that all those Disorders committed in the Church from the time of Constantine to the time of this present Council, were the Acts and Contrivances of some wicked men that crept into the Church by Si∣mony and Court-favour, and were ena∣bled to do all that mischief that they did in it, in spite of the Opposition of the Good Bishops, by the Power of the Eu∣nuchs. So that all these Disorders were so far from being the Acts of the Ecclesia∣stical Power, that they were the meer effects of its Oppression. And such were

these very Men that labour'd to raise this Tumult in the Council, as is evident from Nazianzen's own account of them, and that in short is this. He at first earnestly en∣deavour'd to perswade them to acquiesce in the former Agreement, and to have but a little-Patience, in that Paulinus was a very old Man, had one foot in the Grave, and could not long stand in their way upon the other. But he is hiss't down by the factious Party, as a Betrayer of the Supreme Prerogative of the Eastern Church, that (they said) ought to be preferr'd above the Western, because our Saviour was Born in that part of the Em∣pire. For that was the pretence of their Zeal in this foul Matter, that Paulinus had been ordain'd by Lucifer Calaritanus a Western Bishop, which they will needs have to be a dishonourable Intrusion upon the Eastern Church, and therefore in de∣spite to that Usurpation, they will set up Flavianus, and by their noise and clamour tire the old Bishops into a complyance, but Gregory Nazianzen quits the Council through meer indignation, and seeing how things were like to go, and what troubles he was like to encounter in that great See, he soon after resigns his Bishop∣rick of Constantinople. Of which the Fa∣ction make their advantage of playing

over their old Game for creating a Divi∣sion between the Eastern and Western Church. An Artifice, as we have seen, first started by Eusebius of Nicomedia, and ever after kept on foot by the Fa∣ction. For the Western Church had been all along true and faithful to the Orthodox Faith, and happy in a succes∣sion of Orthodox Emperors, and there∣fore the Easterling Merchants that hi∣therto made a trade of their Religion, and changed their Faith with their Inte∣rest, greedily seized all Opportunities of breaking with the West, where the Faith was fixt and settled, because such a set∣tlement would break the Court-Exchange for Preferments upon every Turn of Af∣fairs. And such Eceboliuses were the Bi∣shops that raised and promoted this dis∣order. They had ever changed their Faith with the Times, and as they had bought their Bishopricks of the Courtiers under Constantius and Valens, so were they resolved to keep them under Theo∣dosius. And therefore finding his Reso∣lution to stand by the Nicene Faith, they readily vote with the Council for its esta∣blishment, but to prevent the establish∣ment of the Church, they start this new and unseasonable Controversie about the Ordination of Paulinus, to keep up the

division between the East and West. Their wrigling and changing of Faith, and their buying and selling of Prefer∣ments, is admirably described by Grego∣ry himself in the Poem of his own Life, upon his resignation, from whence I have chiefly collected this whole Story.

* 1.15 You are wel∣come Chap-Men, how often soever you may have bar∣ter'd your Faith, now 'tis high Fair-time, let no Man de∣part without a good penny-worth.

And now let R. B. here set his Presby∣terian hand, as his custom is, to point out this Character of this prophane Fa∣ction against all the good Catholick Bi∣shops, with his cold Exclamation. Are not these lamentable descriptions of the Bishops of those happy Times and excel∣lent Councils? But no multiplying-Glass like Malice, unless, perhaps Ignorance. Upon this Hinge all along turn'd this Controversy, it was not kept up by any zeal for the Arian Heresie, but the Here∣sie it self was only pretended to keep up divisions in the Church, and by that means a good Exchange was kept up at Court for the sale of Church-Preferments upon every turn of Times. And so here

upon Gregory's Resignation, every Man hoped for a good penny-worth, but the Courtiers were grown too cunning, and it being so valuable a prize, instead of sharing with the Church-men by Simony, seize the Bishoprick for themselves, Ne∣ctarius an unlearned Man, but a great Courtier, I know not by what art, but I am sure by too much interposition of the Emperor, being against all the Canons of the Church hoisted into it. And it is the great blemish of that Princes reign, though it may perhaps be some excuse that he stretcht a point to serve a Friend. But the Western Church is startled at these irregular Proceedings, and upon them Pope Damasus a resolute Man, and one of the first that valued himself upon the great Authority of the Apostolick See, moves the Emperors Gratian and Theodosius to grant a Gene∣ral Council at Rome for the better settle∣ment of things. But the Eastern Bishops baulk their appearance upon pretence that they cannot be so long absent from their Flocks, having been assembled the year before at Constantinople, and therefore send only their Legates with a Copy of the Acts of the Council. With which the Council at Rome were so 〈◊〉〈◊〉 satis∣fied, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 with very little 〈…〉〈…〉

adjudged the See of Antioch to Paulinus alone, and yet forbore to denounce the sentence of Deposition against Flavianus, for fear the Faction should take the ad∣vantage that they watcht for, to break off Communion with them. In order to which it is probable that they raised the Bishop of Constantinople to so great an height of dignity, as to take place and precedency next to the Bishop of Rome, who upon the account of the Grandeur of the Imperial City had all along held the greatest esteem in the Christian Church. And by vertue of this Decree of the Council at Rome, Paulinus takes and keeps possession of his Bishoprick to his dying day, and is succeeded in it by Evagrius. Of the legality of his Succes∣sion against the claim of Flavianus, see St. Ambrose his 78th Epistle, that runs parallel so luckily with (l) 1.16 Theodoret's partial story, as to discover all its parti∣cular flaws and dawbings: For says The∣odoret, after this they would never let Flavianus be at quiet, but tired the Em∣peror with Complaints against him, till he undertook his defence himself, and by it so satisfied the Western Bishops, that they promised reconciliation to him, upon which he sent his Legates to treat the Peace, which was at last agreed on

in the time of Innocent the first. But ac∣cording to St. Ambrose his account, who was an Actor in the business, the Story runs thus. The Emperor upon the Com∣plaint of Siricius, that succeeded Dama∣sus, against Flavianus, refers the Cause to a Council at Capua, but Flavianus refuses to appear, and moves for an Eastern Sy∣nod. But the Bishops at the Council be∣ing aware of this old device of dividing between East and West, immediately vote Communion with all Bishops of the Eastern Church, that own'd the Ni∣cene Faith, of whatsoever side in this Controversy, to cut off that old pretence of Schism, upon which Flavianus relyed. Upon it he peremptorily refuses all ap∣pearance, and upon that they refer it to Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria and the Egyptian Bishops, but he shuns the refe∣rence and takes shelter at Court. Upon which the good Father thus expostulates. Frustra ergo tantorum sacerdotum fusus la∣bor. Iterum ad hujus seculi Judicia re∣vertendum? Iterum ad Rescripta? Ite∣rum vexabuntur Sacerdotes senes, trans∣fretabunt maria? Iterum invalidi corpore patriam peregrino mutabunt solo? Iterum sacrosancta Altaria deserentur, ut in longinquum proficiscamur? Iterum paupe∣rum turbae Episcoporum, quibus ante one∣rosum

paupertas non erat, externae opis e∣gentes compellentur inopiam gemere, aut certè victum inopum itineris usurpare? Interea solus exlex Flavianus, (ut illi videtur) non venit, quando omnes conveni∣mus. But soon after this (i) 1.17 Evagrius dyes, and Flavianus bestirs himself that no Successor should be chosen, but yet for all that the People would not be re∣conciled to him. And St. Chrysostom coming at this time to the Throne of Constantinople, (l) 1.18 he prevails with Theo∣philus of Alexandria to join with him in an Ambassy to Rome, to reconcile Flavi∣anus to the Western Church, and by that means to remove those heart-burnings, that were kept up between the Eastern and Western Bishops upon that account. Which was done with some success, for it abates the Schism, though it does not end it. And so things stood till the death of Flavianus in the year 404, who is succeeded by Porphyrius, (l) 1.19 a Bishop of the Court-mould, of as bad a Chara∣cter, and as true an Huckster, as ever was bred up in the shop of the Nicome∣dian Eusebius. He procured both the banishment of his Competitor and his own Ordination by money, and when he had once got into his See, he govern'd by force of Arms, and gets

(m) 1.20 an Imperial Rescript from the young Emperor Arcadius, commanding the Bi∣shops to communicate with him upon pain of deposition. And this became a profitable Fair at Court, many of the Eastern Bishops rather choosing to be de∣posed, than to defile their Consciences by allowing Communion with so vile a Man. But at length the Wretch dyes in the 408. And Alexander is unani∣mously chosen, who put an end to the Schism, that had lasted 45 years. And thus we see from whence almost all the Schisms and Disorders of the Church pro∣ceeded, meerly from the Ambition of ill Church-men, supported against the Churches Authority by the Power of the Court. This was the great Plague of the Church after the Emperors became Chri∣stian, and we shall find all along that the Church was either opprest or protected, according as the Emperor himself watch∣ed against this abuse of his Courtiers. And to defend the Church from it, was in all Ages the highest Act of the Imperial Protection. And this we have here seen at large by the example of this great Princes reign, who was himself careful of the Churc•••••• Li••erties, and as far as he could 〈…〉〈…〉 s••ffer'd no Court-mer∣chandise in it. And yet many Enormities

were committed, and that even in the great Council of Constantinople it self, in the case of Flavianus, but that was by reason of ill Men, that were got into the Church by this ill practice, under his Pre∣decessors Valens and Constantius.

Notes

• (r) 1.1

  De Hae∣ret. l. 6.
• * 1.2

  Anno 368.
• * 1.3

  Anno 369.
• * 1.4

  Anno 371. N. 1, 2, 3, 4.
• * 1.5

  V. Labbé, Vol. 2. An∣no 381. p. 1001.
• * 1.6

  Lib. 9. Tit. 29. c. 1.
• † 1.7

  Ne inter bellicas ne∣cessit••tes obreptio im∣portuna te••∣t••tur.
• (a) 1.8

  Ad an∣num 385. M. 6.
• (b) 1.9

  Soc. l. 3. c. 4.
• (c) 1.10

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Theod. l. 4. c. 22.
• (d) 1.11

  Lib. 4. c. 21, 22.
• (e) 1.12

  Sozom. l. 7. c. 5.
• (f) 1.13

  De Hae∣ret. l. 6.
• (g) 1.14

  Ex∣trav. de Episcopali Judicio, l. 3.
• * 1.15

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c.
• (l) 1.16

  l. 5. c. 23▪
• (i) 1.17

  Soz. l. 7. c. 15.
• (l) 1.18

  Soz. l. 8. c. 3.
• (l) 1.19

  Pallad. dial.
• (m) 1.20

  de his qui super Religione contendunt. l. 6.