XX. Theodosian code represents, under a variety of CHAP. titles, the authority which they assumed in the government of the catholic church. of the spi powers. But the distinction of the spiritual and temporal Distinction powers, which had never been imposed on the free ritual and spirit of Greece and Rome, was introduced and con- temporal firmed by the legal establishment of christianity. The office of supreme pontiff, which, from the time of Numa to that of Augustus, had always been exercised by one of the most eminent of the senators, was at length united to the imperial dignity. The first magistrate of the state, as often as he was prompted by superstition or policy, performed with his own hands the sacerdotal functions; nor was there any order of priests, either at Rome or in the provinces, who claimed a more sacred character among men, or a more intimate communication with the gods. But in the christian church, which entrusts the service of the altar to a perpetual succession of consecrated ministers, the monarch, whose spiritual rank is less honourable than that of the meanest deacon, was seated below the rails of the sanctuary, and confounded with the rest of the faithful multitude." m See the epistle of Osius, ap. Athanasium, vol. i, p. 840. The public remonstrance which Osius was forced to address to the son, contained the same principles of ecclesiastical and civil government which he had secretly instilled into the mind of the father. n M. de la Bastie (Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xv, p. 38-61) has evidently proved, that Augustus and his successors exercised in person all the sacred functions of pontifex maximus, or high-priest of the Roman empire. • Something of a contrary practice had insensibly prevailed in the church of Constantinople; but the rigid Ambrose commanded Theo❤ dosius XX. CHAP. The emperor might be saluted as the father of his people, but he owed a filial duty and reverence to the fathers of the church; and the same marks of respect, which Constantine had paid to the persons of saints and confessors, were soon exacted by the pride of the episcopal order. A secret conflict between the civil and ecclesiastical jurisdictions, embarrassed the operations of the Roman government; and a pious emperor was alarmed by the guilt and danger of touching with a profane hand the ark of the covenant. The separation of men into the two orders of the clergy and of the laity was, indeed, familiar to many nations of antiquity; and the priests of India, of Persia, of Assyria, of Judea, of Æthiopia, of Egypt, and of Gaul, derived from a celestial origin the temporal power and possessions which they had acquired. These venerable institutions had gradually assimilated themselves to the manners and government of their respective countries; but the opposition or dosius to retire below the rails, and taught him to know the difference between a king and a priest. See Theodoret, l. v, c. 18. At the table of the emperor Maximus, Martin, bishop of Tours, received the cup from an attendant, and gave it to the presbyter, his companion, before he allowed the emperor to drink; the empress waited on Martin at table. Sulpicius Severus, in Vit. Sti Martin. c. 23, and Dialogue ii, 7. Yet it may be doubted, whether these extraordinary compliments were paid to the bishop or the saint. The honours usually granted to the former character may be seen in Bingham's Antiquities, 1. ii, c. 9, and Vales. ad Theodoret, 1. iv, c. 6. See the haughty ceremonial which Leontius, bishop of Tripoli, imposed on the empress. Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv, p. 754. Patres Apostol. tom. ii, p. 179. 9 Plutarch, in his treatise of Isis and Osiris, informs us, that the kings of Egypt, who were not already priests, were initiated, after their election, into the sacerdotal order. XX. contempt of the civil power served to cement the CHAP. discipline of the primitive church. The christians had been obliged to elect their own magistrates, to raise and distribute a peculiar revenue, and to regulate the internal policy of their republic by a code of laws, which were ratified by the consent of the people, and the practice of three hundred years. When Constantine embraced the faith of the christians, he seemed to contract a perpetual alliance with a distinct and independent society; and the privileges granted or confirmed by that emperor, or by his successors, were accepted, not as the precarious favours of the court, but as the just and inalienable rights of the ecclesiastical order. under the emperors. The catholic church was administered by the State of spiritual and legal jurisdiction of eighteen hundred the bishops bishops; of whom one thousand were seated in christian the Greek, and eight hundred in the Latin, provinces of the empire. The extent and boundaries of their respective dioceses had been variously and accidentally decided by the zeal and success of the first missionaries, by the wishes of the people, and by the propagation of the gospel. Episcopal churches were closely planted along the banks of the Nile, on the sea-coast of Africa, in the pro The numbers are not ascertained by any ancient writer, or original catalogue; for the partial lists of the eastern churches are comparatively modern. The patient diligence of Charles a Sto Paolo, of Luke Holstenius, and of Bingham, has laboriously investigated all the episcopal sees of the catholic church, which was almost commensurate with the Roman empire. The ninth book of the christian Antiquities is a very accurate map of ecclesiastical' geography. CHAP. Consular Asia, and through the southern provinces XX. of Italy. The bishops of Gaul and Spain, of 1, Election of bishops. Thrace and Pontus, reigned over an ample territory, and delegated their rural suffragans to execute the subordinate duties of the pastoral office. A christian diocese might be spread over a province, or reduced to a village; but all the bishops possessed an equal and indelible character: they all derived the same powers and privileges from the apostles, from the people, and from the laws. While the civil and military professions were separated by the policy of Constantine, a new and perpetual order of ecclesiastical ministers, always respectable, sometimes dangerous, was established in the church and state. The important review of their station and attributes may be distributed under the following heads: 1, Popular election; 11, Ordination of the clergy; 111, Property; IV, Civil jurisdiction; v, Spiritual censures; VI, Exercise of public oratory; VII, Privilege of legislative assemblies. 1. The freedom of elections subsisted long after the legal establishment of christianity; and the On the subject of the rural bishops, or Chorepiscopi, who voted in synods, and conferred the minor orders, see Thomassin, Discipline de l'Eglise, tom, i, p. 447, &c. and Chardon, Hist. des Sacremens, tom. v, p. 595, &c. They do not appear till the fourth century; and this equivocal character, which had excited the jealousy of the prelates, was abolished before the end of the tenth, both in the East and the West. Thomassin (Discipline de l'Eglise, tom. ii, 1. ii, c. 1-8, p. 673-721) has copiously treated of the election of bishops during the five first centuries, both in the East and in the West; but he shews a very partial bias in favour of the episcopal aristocracy. Bingham (1. iv, c. 2) is moderate; and Chardon (Hist des Sacremens, tom. v, p. 108-128) is very clear and concise. subjects of Rome enjoyed in the church the pri- CHAP. vilege which they had lost in the republic, of XX. choosing the magistrates whom they were bound to obey. As soon as a bishop had closed his eyes, the metropolitan issued a commission to one of his suffragans to administer the vacant see, and prepare, within a limited time, the future election. The right of voting was vested in the inferior clergy, who were best qualified to judge of the merit of the candidates; in the senators or nobles of the city, all those who were distinguished by their rank or property; and finally in the whole body of the people, who, on the appointed day, flocked in multitudes from the most remote parts of the diocese,” and sometimes silenced, by their tumultuous acclamations, the voice of reason and the laws of discipline. These acclamations might accidentally fix on the head of the most deserving competitor, of some ancient presbyter, some holy monk, or some layman, conspicuous for his zeal and piety. But the episcopal chair was solicited, especially in the great and opulent cities of the empire, as a temporal, rather than as a spiritual dignity. The interested views, the selfish and angry passions, the arts of perfidy and dissimulation, the secret corruption, the open and even bloody violence which had formerly disgraced the freedom of election in the common Incredibilis multitudo, non solum ex eo oppido (Tours), sed etiam ex vicinis urbibus ad suffragia ferenda convenerat, &c. Sulpi cius Severus, in Vit. Martin. c. 7. The council of Laodicea (canon xiii) prohibits mobs and tumults; and Justinian confines the right of election to the nobility. Navell. cxxiii, 1. |