Christ is one in substance with God.'"-St. Athanasius de Synod. n. 44.

ST. ANATOLIUS, G. C. 270.-" (The Asiatic Churches) did not yield acquiescence to the authority of certain persons, to wit, the successors of Peter and Paul, who instructed all the Churches in which they sowed the spiritual seeds of the Gospel, that the solemnity of the Lord's Resurrection could be celebrated on the Lord's day only. Hence also a certain contention arose among the successors of these, Victor, that is, who was at that time Bishop of the city of Rome, and Polycrates, who seemed to bear the primacy amongst the bishops of Asia, a contention which was, with great propriety, brought to a peaceful issue by Irenæus, a bishop (præsule) of a part of Gaul; both parties continuing in their own rule, nor deviating from the practice derived from antiquity."-Canon. Pasch. n. 10, Galland. iii. p. 548.*

COUNCIL OF ARLES, L. C. 314.-"Bound and adhering together by a common tie of charity, and in the unity of the mother the Catholic Church, we

*Paul of Samosata. The following fact deserves recording. Paul had been condemned and excommunicated by a synod held at Antioch about the year 270, and Domnus appointed bishop in his place. But Paul refused to give np the bishop's court-house, of which, as Tillemont says (iv. 302), the church may have formed a part; and as he was supported by Zenobia, it was not till after her defeat by Valerian that he could be extruded. Then, 66 as Paul was not willing to withdraw from the house belonging the church, the Emperor Aurelian, being appealed to, decided most equitably on the matter, ordering the house to be given up to those to whom the Bishops of Italy and of the city of Rome, of the Christian religion, should send letters." Euseb. H. E. vii. 80, cf. Theodoret. Hæret. Fabul. ii. 8.

have, by the will of the most pious Emperor, been gathered together in the city of Arles,* whence we, with well-merited reverence, salute you, most glorious Pope (Sylvester). There we have had to bear with men troublesome and pernicious to our law and tradition, men of unbridled minds; whom both the present authority of our God, and the tradition and rule of truth have in such wise repudiated, as that there neither remained anything to be said by them, nor any ground of accusation, nor suitable proof; wherefore, God and our Mother the Church being the judge-she who hath known and approved her own-they were either condemned or repulsed. And would, most beloved brother, that you would have done us so much honour as to be present at this so great a spectacle; because we assuredly believe that a more severe sentence would have been pronounced against them; and you, judging together with us, our assembly would have exulted with greater joy. But, as it was not in your power to leave those places, in which the apostles daily sit,

Early in the Donatist schism, but after Majorinus had been elected in the place of Cæcilianus, the Donatists, irritated, probably at the seeming slight put on their party by Anulinus, who omitted to communicate to them the privileges and ecclesiastical immunities granted by Constantine to the Church, (Tillemont, vi. Art. xi. Donatistes), proceeded to lay before that officer, various accusations against Cæcilianus, and appealed to the emperor to judge and condemn that prelate. Though they applied for Gaulish bishops exclusively, Constantine ordered a council to be held at Rome, where Miltiades was then bishop. (See Constantine's letter in Euseb. H. E. x. 5.) But when that council had condemned their proceedings, they appealed to a more numerous synod, and the emperor, yielding to their im portunity, (Euseb. ubi supr.), a council was assembled at Arles, to which the Pope sent his legates. The extract given in the text is from the Synodical Epistle of that assembly.

and their blood without ceasing witnesses to the glory of God...it was resolved that by you who hold the greater dioceses, by you especially, our sentence should be made known to all men."-Epist. Synod. Silvestro. Labbe. i. 1425-6.

EUSEBIUS OF CESAREA, G. C. 325.-"Linus, of whom in his second Epistle to Timothy, he (St. Paul) makes mention as being with him at Rome, was the first after Peter to whom was allotted the episcopate of the Church of the Romans, as I have already said (H. E. iii. 2). Clement also, who was constituted the third Bishop of that Church, is testified to by the same Paul as having been his fellowlabourer and wrestler. But in the progress of this work, in its proper place, according to the order of time, the succession from the apostles to us will be noticed."-H. E. iii. iv. See also the extracts given in Part I., from H. E. ii. 14; and the Chronicon. cf. H. E. iv. 13, 15, 24; and v. 1.*

"But Peter, who was judged worthy to receive a revelation from the Father, and to see Him whom he saw not, and to know Him who was hidden; he

*For the testimony, as regards the same facts, of St. Peter of Alexandria, see Part I. p. 33. See also Arnobius, Disp. adv. Gentes. 1. 2, n. 7, p. 150, Galland. iv.; Lactantius, l. iv. Institut. c. 21, Galland. iv. p. 303; and de Mort. Persecutor. c. 2, p. 421. Ib.

Eusebius, in his Commentary on Isaias, ix. 6, says, "What rulers does he mean, but those appointed by him to rule the Church? I mean His disciples and apostles, and those who throughout the whole world have received their succession from them; to whom He granted healthfulness of soul and peace with each other, in those words which He addressed to them, 'My peace I give unto you; great is His principality, and of His power there shall be no end.'" Comm. in Hes. c. ix. T. 6, p. 151, Migne.

herd, to guard the flock; the same will be said to us if we be found negligent, as was said to our predecessors, who were so negligent when

tus, the currier, the leader and father of this God-denying apostacy, he being the first to say that Christ was a mere man. For if Victor held the sentiments which their blasphemous doctrine teaches, how then did he cast off Theodotus, the inventor of this heresy ?"-Ex Euseb. H. E. v. 28.

"I shall remind many of the brethren of an affair that took place in our time,-an affair which had it taken place in Sodom, might, I think, have been a warning even to them. There was a certain confessor, who lived not in distant times, but in our own day. He was deluded by Asclepiodotus, and another Theodotus, a banker. And these were both disciples of Theodotus the currier, who was cut off from communion on account of this sentiment, or senselessness, by Victor, as I said, the bishop of the time. Now Natalius was persuaded by them to let himself be chosen bishop of this heresy, on the understanding that he should receive from them a salary of fifteen denarii a month. Being associated, therefore, with them, he was on many occasions admonished by the Lord in visions. For our merciful God and Lord Jesus Christ was not willing that a witness (martyr) of His own sufferings should perish, being without the Church. But as He gave little heed to the visions, being both ensnared by the dignity of presiding among them, and also by that sordid lust of gain which ruins very many, he was at last scourged by holy angels and severely beaten, through a whole night, so that he rose early in the morning, and threw himself, clothed with sackcloth and covered with ashes, before Zephirinus the bishop, with great haste and many tears, rolling beneath the feet not only of the clergy, but even of the laity, and moving the pity of the compassionate Church of the merciful Christ by his weeping. And after saying many a prayer, and showing the weals left by the blows which he had received, he was at length with difficulty admitted to communion.”—Ib. l. c.

This letter written during a vacancy in the Papal See, after the martyrdom of Pope Fabian, being regarded by Baronius, Binius, Pamelius, Papebroke, and others, as containing an assertion of Papal authority, by those who acted for the Pope, and in his name, vice Pastoris, is given here.