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The Council of Rome under Boniface the Second. * 1.1
THe Acts of this Council were publish'd by H••••steni•••• from a Manuscript of the Vatican Libra∣ry. This was an Assembly of four Bishop's and forty Priests of that City, held at Rome in the Month of December in the year 531. to receive and judge of the Complaints of Stephen Bishop of Larissa, Metropolitan of Thessaly, who pretending that he was unjustly depriv'd and turn'd out of his Bishoprick by Epiphanius Patriarch of Constantinople, implor'd the aid of the Holy See. In the first Session, which was held the seventh day of December, he presented two Libels address'd to Pope Boniface, wherein 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ••••clares, That he was chosen Bishop of Larissa, after the death of Pro∣clus his Predecessor, by the Election of the People and Clergy, and ordain'd by the Metropolitan, and by those whose Presence was necessary; that he had the best Testimony of the three whom the People chose; that Probianus Bishop of D••metrias, and all the Bishops of the Province had com∣mended and approved this Choice; that his Clergy and Church had testified themselves to be well∣satisfied with his Government; that notwithstanding this the same Probianus Bishop of Demetrias, for what Reasons he cannot tell, together with Anthony the Steward of his Church, and some o∣ther Bishops who had sign'd the Instrument of his Ordination, thought fit to go to Constantinople there to wait upon the Patriarch Epiphanius, whom they had perswaded that his Ordination was contrary to the Canons; That Epiphanius without hearing him, and without any proof of what was alledg'd against him, had by his Letters suspended him from his Sacerdotal Function, and for∣bidden the Bishops and Clergy of Thessaly to communicate with him; that these Orders were ad∣dress'd to the Governor Andrew, who had read and executed them in his absence; that he came al∣so to Thessalonica, where he was to signifie them to him; that he had desir'd to be referr'd to the Judgment of the Holy Apostolick See, but without any regard to this desire he had been carried by force to Constantinople, where he should have been made Prisoner, if he had not found some Persons to be his Su••eties; that Epiphanius having assembled a Synod of Bishops who were at Con∣stantinople, had oblig'd him to appear there; that he had again desir'd to be remitted to the Judg∣ment of the Holy See, according to the Custom of his Province; that he had remonstrated, That it was unjust to violate the Authority which Jesus Christ and the Canons had given to the Holy See, and which Custom had authoriz'd; but that these Remonstrances had only irritated Epiphanius, who endeavour'd by this means to establish his Jurisdiction over Thessaly; that he had continued the Process against him, and Condemn'd him, tho there was no proof against him; that he had desir'd that this Sentence might not be executed, until he had acquainted the Holy See with it, but this Remonstrance was very ill receiv'd; that his Sentence had been read to him, and after that the Wardens of the Church were appointed for a Guard to him, but some Persons being Sure∣ties for him, they were bound to pay a great Sum of Money if he should go out of Constantinople; that he had fled away, and was come to implore the aid of the Holy See. These two Libels were read in the first Session. Abondantius Bishop of Demetrias, complain'd that this Probianus the Accuser of Stephen, had usurp'd his Church.
In the second Session, December the ninth, Theodosius Bishop of Echinus in Thessaly, presented a Libel sign'd by three other Bishops of the same Province, who desir'd Justice of the Pope, as to the Affair of Stephen their Metropolitan. After it was read he remonstrated, That although the Holy Apostolick See, had the Primacy over all Churches, and Appeals might be made from all Parts to its Jurisdiction, yet he had a particular Jurisdiction over Illyria, which he pro∣ved by reading the Letters address'd by the Popes to the Bishop of Thessalonica. There were re∣cited two of Damasus to Ascolius, one of Syricius to Anysius, and another to Rufus, three Letters of Boniface the first to Rufus, two others from the same to the Bishops of Thessaly, a Law of Theo∣dosius, which ordains, That the Bishops of Illyria shall be govern'd according to the ancient Dis∣cipline, a Letter of Celestine to the Bishops of Illyria, four Letters of Sixtus, and many Letters of St. Leo. This is all that remains of the Acts of this Council, and there is no Decision given in this Affair.