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This Second Article is also very conformable to the Antient Discipline, according to which, the Affairs of each Province were administred by the Provincial Sy∣nods, it is partly the Subject of the Second Cannon of the First Oecumenical Council of Constantinople, That the Synod of the Province administer all things which concern the Province, as it hath been agreed on at Nice. That
is to say, in the VI. Canon of the Great Council which was held in that City under the Emperor Constantine, and which ordained to preserve to each Province their Pri∣viledges: According to which, if there hapned dispute about any point of Doctrine or Discipline which regard∣ed Christians in general, it would not be decided, but by a general Universal Council, that is to say, by a Council compos'd of Bishops of the Five Patriarchs, within the compass whereof were inclosed the Chri∣stians of the Roman Empire. * 1.1
Thence it is that the Frier Maximus in Barronius, ac∣knowledged no Legitimate Council, unless it has a Cir∣cular Letter made by consent of the Patriarchs. John Damacen writes, * 1.2 That ought to be esteem'd an Oecumenical Council which the five Patriarchs have once appointed, and made Declaration of: But if there wants any one Patriarch, or that he refuses to submit thereunto, it shall not be a Council, but a perverse Congregation, an Assembly of Pride, and Vanity: * 1.3 It is also for the same reason Pope Pelagius the I. wrote in the VI. Century, That if there arises doubt in any ones mind by occasion of a Ʋniversal Synod, those which are desirous of their Salvation, must consult the Apostolical See, to know the reason of what they do not un∣derstand. In the Preliminaries of the Second Council of Nice, it is observed there were read some Writings of Synods which prohibited the assembling of Universal Councils, or at least of holding them without the con∣sent of all the Patriarchs. To. V. Con. p. 518.
In Append. T••. 8.
To. 2. Auct. Court f. p. 696.
In Collect. Rom. Part 1. p. 227.