Ecclesia, sed et in ipsius regimine, mirum omninò est quàm CHAP. illius formam imitata sit. Nam sicut in quatuordecim illis XII. Diocesibus erant in universum Provinciæ centum et octodecim ; ita et totidem Provincias numerabat Ecclesia. Ut in singulis Provinciis erant complures urbes, quibus singulis inferioris ordinis Judices civiles, quos Defensores civitatum ferè vocabant, præponebantur; ita in singulis civitatibus Episcopos suos, qui eas cum parociâ totâ circumjacente gubernabant, præficiebat Ecclesia. Ut Provinciæ singulæ suos hebebant Proconsules Consulares, aut Provinciarum presides, qui in Metropoli Provinciæ residentes, aliis in eâ Provinciâ authoritate præibant: itidem habuit et Ecclesia Episcopos suos Metropolitanos, seu Archiepiscopos, quibus ut Præsidi Provinciæ, cæteri illius Provinciæ Episcopi subjecti erant. Ut singulæ illæ quatuordecim Diocesis Vicarios Imperatoris Augustales, Præfectos Prætorio, aut alio nomine vocatos, in primariâ urbe, seu Metropoli totius Diocesis, velut generales illius_Rectores habuerint, quorum tanta autoritas, ut nulla post Imperatorem major: itidem et Ecclesia in singulis suis quatuordecim Diœcesibus, Primarios quosdam et præ omnibus eminentes suos habuit Episcopos, qui xar' ¿§oxηv Patriarchæ, vel Primates Patriarchales dicebantur, qui in primariâ sede et totius Diocesis Metropoli constituti, non Episcopis solùm qui Parœcias, sed et Metropolitanis qui Provincias regebant, præponebantur, quorum singulorum tanta est in Ecclesiá autoritas, ut non sit in Episcopo ullo post Imperatorem Jesum Christum ulla major.

Ut in toto Imperio antiquitùs tres inter omnes eminebant civitatis, "Prima urbes inter, divûm domus, aurea Roma:" secunda, Alexandria, quæ a Dione Chrysostomo per excellentiam Civitas, et secunda omnium quæ sub sole sunt, vocatur. Tertia, Antiochia, quæ teste Hegesippo tertium omnium in orbe civitatum locum obtinet; itidem in Ecclesiâ, tres illarum urbium Episcopi præ aliis omnibus insignes erant et spectabiles ideoque per excellentiam Patriarchæ dicti: cum reliqui undecim Diocesium Episcopi, licèt Patriarchali omni potestate illis pares, non Patriarchæ, sed Primates dicerentur: Primates, Patriarchales inquam, non solum Metropolitani : et Primate Diocesium suarum Patriarchalium, non unius Provincia Primates.

:

Hæc antiquitus et divisio et regimen in Ecclesiis instituta. Nec certè vel ad pacem in Ecclesiâ conservandam, vel ad jurisdictionem cuique Episcopo suam sartam tectam tuendam, aut facilior aut commodior ulla Paræciarum, Provinciarum, et Diœcesium distributio fieri potuit aut inveniri.

Q. 15. We have before seen what are the func

PART tions of a Bishop; what next is the office of a Metropolitan?

I.

A. To consecrate or confirm his suffragan Bishops, and no one could be ordained a Bishop in his province without his consent and approbation, and any such ordination was null and void; to receive appeals, and decide controversies among the Bishops of his province, either by himself, or by commission, or by reference to a Provincial Synod; to convoke and to preside in Provincial Synods, (generally summoned twice a year,) which all his Suffragans were bound to attend; to give to his Suffragans literæ formate when going into foreign parts,* , and to publish imperial decrees on ecclesiastical matters.

3

1 Concil. Nic. can. 4. rò xupos (confirmation of Bishop) διδόσθω καθ ̓ ἑκάστην ἐπαρχίαν τῶ μητροπολίτῃ.-Can. 6. χωρὶς γνώμης του μητροπολίτου μὴ δεῖν εἶναι ἐπίσκοπον.— Conc. Sardic. c. 6.-Conc. Ephes. Decret. de Episc. Cypr. -Conc. Chalc. Act. 16.

Antioch. 9. Laodic. 12. Chalced. 19. 25. Carth. 11, 12. Arelat. 5, 6.

2 Cod. Justin. I. v. 29. Conc. Const. 6.35. Conc. Nic. 5. Chalced. 19. Antioch. 9. 20. 38.

3 Conc. Nic. c. 5.

Arelat. 19.

Chalced. 19.

4 Conc. Carth. iii. 28.

Q. 16. What is the office of a Patriarch?

A. To ordain or confirm the Metropolitans of his Diocesis or Patriarchate;1 to convoke them to Synods, which they were obliged to attend ; to receive appeals from the Metropolitans and from the Synods in his jurisdiction; to communicate imperial decrees 5 to his Metropolitans.

4

1 Justin. Novell. 7. 131. c. 3.

3

2 Theodoret, Epist. 81. 3 Conc. Chalc. c. 9. c. 17. Justin. Novell. 123. 137. 5 Justinian. Epilog. Novell. 6.

4 Concil. Chalced. can. 9.

Q. 17. Were any of the cities, in which the fourteen Patriarchs resided, superior in civil dignity to the rest?

XII.

A. Yes, three: Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch. CHAP. Q. 18. And were the Patriarchs of these superior in ecclesiastical rank to the other eleven?

See above,

A. They were not higher in order, (for all Pa- ans. 13, 18. triarchs possess co-ordinate and independent authority,) but they had precedence of the others in place.

Q. 19. And was this precedence liable to change?

A. Yes: it was.1 If a city rose or declined in civil power and importance, then, after mature consideration of the circumstances of the case, its ecclesiastical precedence was modified. Thus, for instance, the Bishop of Constantinople, from not being a Patriarch at all, was raised, A. D. 381, under Theodosius the Great, to the dignity of the second among the fourteen Patriarchs.

2

By Concil. Constantinop. A. D. 381, can. 3, and Concil Chalcedon. A. D. 451, can. 28, the second place is assigned to Constantinople, διὰ τὸ εἶναι νέαν Ῥώμην ; and in Concil. Chalcedon. A. D. 451, can. 28, Constantinople is declared to be on a parity with Rome. (Tv iowv åñoravουσαν πρεσβείων τη πρεσβυτέρα βασιλίδι Ρώμῃ.) See Concil. Trull. or Quini-Sext. can. 36. On the same principle as the first place has been given to Rome, διὰ τὸ βασιλεύειν T'ỳ tónu êxεivqv. Cp. act. 16. Conc. Chalced. Constantinople is called the Head of all the Churches (Constantinopolitana Ecclesia omnium aliarum est caput) by Justinian, Cod. i. Tit. 3. c. 24.

Compare Concil. Trullan. A. D. 692. can. 38. Concil. Chalcedon. can. 17. εἴ τις ἐκ βασιλικῆς ἐξουσίας ἐκαινίσθη πόλις ἢ αὖθείς καινισθείη, τοῖς πολιτικοῖς καὶ δημοσίοις τύποις καὶ τῶν ἐκκλησιαστικῶν παροικιῶν ἡ τάξις ἀκολουθείτω.

BINGHAM, Antiq. IX. 1. 7.

2 Abp. BRAMHALL, i. 130. 177.

Q. 20. By what process were these variations effected?

A. It was unlawful1 for a Bishop to take any steps to obtain the elevation of his own see; but

I.

PART it was competent to a General Council, convoked by the Emperor, to deliberate, and decide, with the imperial sanction, on questions of this nature.

1 Concil. Chalced. 12. BINGHAM, XVII. v. 37.

Q. 21. It appears, then, that while the Episcopal Office is of Divine institution, and cannot, in its spiritual nature and ministrations, be affected by any human laws, the actual exercise of authority of Bishops, as Diocesans, Metropolitans, and Patriarchs, may depend, for its distribution and apportionment, upon secular circumstances, and be subject to modifications from civil authority after ecclesiastical consultation?

A. Certainly. The history of the Church affords many proofs and examples of this. By the order of God's Providence in the world, kingdoms are augmented and diminished, they are Dan. ii. 21.] transferred from one sceptre to another, as He wills in His supreme wisdom and power; and the bounds of ecclesiastical jurisdiction have been usually modelled accordingly."

v. 30, 31.

1 Concil. Constant. A. D. 381, can. 2. Concil. Ephes. A D. 431. tom. iii. p. 801, Labbe. Chalcedon. A. D. 451, can. 12. Justin. Novell. 11. case of Justiniana Prima.

2 BARROW, Treatise on the Pope's Supremacy, pp. 171, 172, London, 1683, thus states the law and practice of the Church on this subject. Patriarchs are an human institution. As they were erected by the power and prudence of men, so they may be dissolved by the same. They were erected by the leave and confirmation of Princes; and by the same they may be dejected, if great reason do appear. No ecclesiastical power can interpose in the management of any affairs within the territory of any Prince without his concession. By the laws of God, and according to ancient practice, Princes may model the bounds of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Wherefore, each Prince (having supreme power in his own dominion, and equal to what the Emperor had in his) may exclude any foreign Prelate from jurisdiction in his territories. It is expedient for peace and public good that he should do thus.

XIII.

Such Prelate, according to the rules of Christianity, ought CHAP. to be content with his doing so. Any Prelate exercising power in the dominion of any Prince, is eatenus his subject; as the Popes and all Bishops were to the Roman emperors. Abp. BRAMHALL, i. 177–8. ii. p. 185, 186, ed. Oxf.

In A. D. 1721, the Church of Russia, and in a. D. 1833, the Church of Greece, was detached from the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

CHAPTER XIII.

PRIVILEGES IN THE CHURCH.

Discipline. Power of the Keys.

Q. 1. WE have spoken of the Word of God, and of the ministration of the Word and Sacraments; what other privilege must we next notice as possessed by the Church?

A. That of Discipline.1

1 HOMILIES, Homily for Whitsunday, Part II. Oxon. 1822. p. 428. The true Church hath always three notes or marks whereby it is known: pure and sound doctrine, the sacraments ministered according to Christ's holy institution, and the right use of Ecclesiastical discipline. This description of the Church is agreeable both to the Scriptures of God, and also to the doctrine of the ancient Fathers, so that none may justly find fault therewith. See above, ch. ii. ans. 12.

Q. 2. What is this power of exercising Church Discipline usually called?

A. It is usually termed by divines the Power of the Keys, of which it is one main and primary part.

1 Abp. CRANMER'S Catechism, pp. 193-204, ed. Oxf. 1829. Q. 3. Whence did it receive this name?

Matt. xvi. 19.