(4) Supr. ch. 4.

८

fius Archbishop of Theffalonica, reproves him for that he had required a Paper containing a promife of Obedience from Atticus a Bishop whom he had ordained. Whence we may • Collect that this Custom was introduced after those times; that is after the year 440. And ifI be not mistaken (fays Bishop Beveridge) it was С never confirmed by more ancient Councils. But forafmuch as all Bishops are obliged to • obferve the Canons, and in the Canons it is commanded that they should be obedient to their Metropolitan, and do nothing of great • moment without his Confent; altho' at the time of their Confecration they do not take the Oath (as it is called) of Fidelity to them, yet ought they to keep inviolable all the Privileges granted to him by the Canons, and to yield all due Reverence and Canonical Obedience to him as to their Head. For as the Primacy, the Rights and Dignities Ilgesia of every Metropolitan ought not to be infringed by any other, fo neither by his own Bifhops: And this is Established by the Authority of this fixth Canon of the • Council of Nice; wherein it is ordained that the Rights, Privileges or Dignities the ПesCea of the Metropolitical Churches fhall be preferved. What thefe Rights and Privileges are, and how they have been confirmed particularly by Councils appears from what has been already faid.

.

(a) I have already obferved that upon the first Plantation of Chriftianity the Apostles fettled a Bishop with a College of Presbyters in every City, I have alfo here fhewed that in every Province which confifted of many Cities and

their

their Territories, there was one chief City called the Metropolis, now in this Metropolis the Prefident or Proconful commonly had his Refidence, and the People reforted thither from all parts upon weighty Bufinefs, here alfo, as I have obferved, the Bishops ufed commonly to meet, to confult and determine concerning the weighty Affairs of the Church; and thereforea Precedency or Presidentship was granted to the Bishop of this City who was called the Metropolitan. Then, as I am to fhew, in every Diocefe or Region which was a Government of many Provinces, there was a Vicarius or Lieutenant, who kept his Refidence in the principal City, from whence he dispatcht the Imperial Edicts, and there heard and decided those Causes that were not finally determined in Inferiour Courts. And concurrent with him in Ecclefiaftical matters was the Primate, or (as fome of them were more eminently Stiled) the Patriarch, who prefided over the feveral Metropolitans within that Diocese or Region, and ordained them, appointed Councils or Synods of the whole Region, umpired the differences that arofe between the feveral Metropolitans, and gave the last determination to all Appeals brought before him.

Such a Primate (for I use that word in its later fignification, tho' I conceive it to have been originally the fame with Metropolitan) who had a Jurifdiction over several Provinces, there was in most Diocefes of the Empire. These were anciently called Exarchs, as ap pears from the Council of Chalcedon, Can. 17. where it is ordered that if any one be injured by his own Metropolitan, he may try the Caufe with him before the Exarch of the Diocefe. It would λ 2

b:

276

be tedious to give a particular Account of the number of thefe Exarch's. It is fufficient to obferve that as there was fuch a Governour in the Empire called Vicarius who prefided over feveral Provinces, fo there was the like Governour in the Church, who had a jurisdiction over feveral Metropolitans. (b) Therefore Concil. Chalced. when the Emperour Summoned Diofcorus Bishop

(b) A&t. 1.

Col. 99.

of Ephefus to the Council, he ordered him to bring with him the ten moft Reverend Metropolitans of his Diocese.

Amongst these Exarch's or Primates, there were three especially that made the most confiderable Figure above the reft, who affumed the name of Patriarchs; Thefe were the Bifhops of Rome, Alexandria and Antioch. The Bishop of Byzantium, afterwards when that City came to be made the Imperial Seat and received the name of Conftantinople, tho' before he was but a private Bishop and subject to the Metropolitan of Heraclea, yet upon the advancement of his City to the fecond place of the Empire, to the Honour of new Rome, was advanced alfo to the privilege of Honour and Respect (The Пeeseα TMs Tiμns) next to the Bifhop of Rome. Hereupon he also took the Title of Patriarch, and exercifed an Authority over the Churches in thofe Countries that lay next him, especially the Dioceses of Afiana, Pontica and Thrace, which power was confirmed to belong to him by the 28th Canon of the Council of Chalcedon. The Bishop of Jerufalem alfo, tho' for a long time no more than a private Prelate fubject to the Metropolitan of Cafarea, yet at laft obtained a Patriarchal Power over the three Palestines, which was alfo conA. Concil. firmed to him by (f) the Council of Chalcedon.

Chalced. 7.

3.614

And

And these five are all that had the name of Patriarchs in the ancient Church, I mean that were generally fo called, and continued to hold that name, tho' indeed all the Primates or Exarch's of the Primitive Church were fometimes called fo, as having the fame Power, tho' they were not otherwife fo eminent. (d) () Lib. 5. c. 8; Thus Socrates where he explains the fecond Canon of the firft Council of Conftantinople, which treats of the Divifion of the Diocefes, fays, Having made a Divifion of the Provinces they appointed Patriarchs. A little after he tells us, That Nectarius obtained the Royal City (that is Conftantinople) and the Provinces of Thrace, and Helladius, who fucceeded Bafilius in the Bishoprick of Cæfarea in Cappadocia, obtained the Patriarchate of the Pontick Diocese, and together with him Gregory Bishop of Nylla the Brother of Bafil, which City of Nyfla is in Cappadocia, and Otreius Bishop of Melitina in Armenia, Amphilochius Bishop of Iconium got the Patriarchate of Afiana, and together with him Antiochus the Bishop of Antioch in Pifidia. The Adminiftration of the Egyptian Churches was committed to Timotheus Bishop of Alexandria. The Regimen of the Eaft they committed to the Bishops of that Region, that is to fay to Pelagius Bishop of Laodicea and Diodorus Bishop of Tarfus, but with a Salvo to the Prerogatives (Ta Пg:ceiα) of the Bishop of Antioch: Which prerogative they allowed to Miletius then prefent. Moreover they decreed that if neceffity required the Provincial Synod, fhould judge the Affairs of every Province. All which the Emperour approved by his Confent. And in the (e)(e) Conc Chal. Acts of the Council of Chalcedon we read of the Act. 11. Col. moft Holy Patriarchs of every Diocefe. And (f) Evagrius fays that The Patriarchal Right which T 3

had

338. Tom. 4.

Lib. 3. c. 6.

(a) Difcourfe of Anc. Ch. Gov. p.130.

b) Ibid. p. 256.

had been taken from the Church of Ephefus by the Council of Chalcedon was again restored to it by Timotheus. However after this time I do not find that any were ufually called Patriarchs,· but thefe five who are mentioned in the 36th Canon of the Council in Trullus, viz. The Patriarchs of Rome, Conftantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerufalem. The Patriarch of Rome has now affumed the name of Papa, once a Title of every Bishop, and of Pontifex Maximus, the Title of the chief Prieft of Heathen Rome : But the other four ftill retain the Title of Patriarch, tho' they are now all of them under a miserable subjection and flavery to the Turk. There are fome other later Patriarchates fet up in the Western Church, as the Patriarch of St. Mark at Venice, and the Patriarchs of Aquileia, Grado and Mofco. Alfo in the Eaftern Church, the feveral Heretical Sects, as the Maronites, Jacobites, Copthites, &c. have every one their Patriarchs, but of thefe I need not speak.

(a) Dr. Cave has plainly proved there neither were or could be any Patriarch's before the Roman Emperours became Chriftian, Conftantine not having yet made the Division of the Empire, nor Dioceses come up in a Civil, much lefs in an Ecclefiaftical Senfe. However these Patriarchates were soon after Established, and the Roman Patriarch was allowed the Precedency for the Honour of his City. Notwithftanding his Patriarchate was not large, (b) extending not further than the Jurifdiction of the Vicarius Urbicus or the Lieutenant of Rome, comprehending no more than fome fmall Provinces adjoyning to the Urbican Province, and the little adjacent Iflands of Sicily, Sardinia and Corfica