In the Arabic acts of the council of Nice, which that worthy knight, Sir Thomas Roe, among other rare monuments, brought with him from the east, and bestowed upon the famous library of the University of Oxford, it is affirmed that "the patriarchship of Ephesus was translated unto the bishop of Constantinople, and that he was then made the second in order, and the patriarch of Alexandria the third;" and a constitution is therein recited, that "the patriarchal see should be translated from Ephesus to the imperial city; that so honour might be done both to the empire and priesthood together:" and, to the end the other "bishop might be honoured, and not lightly set by, because of the transferring of the patriarchal chair from him, that he should enjoy the eminent title of Catholicus;" for proof whereof, the testimony of one Dionysius is there alleged. But neither the authority of this obscure Dionysius, nor of the latter Arabians following him, is of sufficient weight to gain credit to this relation: especially seeing it is well known, that the title of Catholicus, taken in this sense, is of a very late original, and, for aught we can find, at no time attributed unto the bishop of Ephesus; and that the bishop of Constantinople had the second place among the patriarchs first assigned unto him, not in the council of Nice, but in the second general council held at Constantinople in the year CCCLXXXI. After which advancement, the first bishop of that see we read of, that extended his jurisdiction beyond the sea unto the Pontican and Asian dioceses, was John Chrysostom; who passing over unto Ephesus, and holding there the foresaid synod of the seventy Asian bishops, placed Hera ← Can. 35. et can. 32. quorum indicium debco D. Edovardo Pocokio linguæ Arabicæ in academia Oxoniensi professori doctissimo. f Catholici nomen infima imperii ætate natum. Salmas. Eucharistic. de eccles. suburbicar. cap. 3. pag. 511. g Concil. Constantinopol. I. can. 3. h Theodoret. lib. 5. histor. cap. 28. Pallad. ct Georg. Alexandrin. in vita Chrysostomi. Sozomen. lib. 8. histor. cap. 6. clides in the bishoprick of Ephesus, then vacant by the death of Antoninus, and deposing thirteen bishops, who were charged to have been simoniacally ordained by him, placed others in their room. And, although within four years after, as well Heraclides as the other thirteen bishops of Chrysostom's ordination were removed again, and the former bishops restored to their places: yet it appeareth by the acknowledgment of the Pontican and Asian bishops in the sixteenth action of the council of Chalcedon, that his successors continued their claim, and challenged still a right at leastwise in the ordination of the metropolitans of both those dioceses. Which power of ordaining metropolitans, not only in the Thracian but also in the Pontican and Asian diocese, being thereupon confirmed upon the bishops of Constantinople by a special act of that council, beside a liberty' given to all clerks that had any suit with their metropolitan, to prosecute the same either before the primate of the diocese or the patriarch of Constantinople, at their own election, gave occasion unto Evagrius to write, that the "council of Chalcedon took away the patriarchal right from the church of the Ephesians;" and that by Timothy of Alexandria, the deadly enemy of that council, it was restored thereunto again. After which time we see, that the bishop of Ephesus, as metropolitan of the Asian province, subscribeth thus unto the Constantinopolitan synod held under Menas. "In Hypatius, by the mercy of God, bishop of the metropolis of the Ephesians of the Asian province, have defined and subscribed;" and as patriarch of the Asian diocese, to the letters sent by the sixth council of Constantinople, unto pope Agatho, thus: "I Theodorus by the k Concil. Chalcedon. act. 16. et canon. 28. Ibid. can. 9. et 17. ̓Αποδίδωσι τῇ Ἐφεσίων καὶ τὸ πατριαρχικὸν δίκαιον, ὅπερ αὐτὴν ἀφεῖλεν ἡ ἐν Χαλκηδόνι σύνοδος. Euagr. histor. lib. 3. cap. 6. Υπάτιος, ἐλέῳ Θεοῦ ἐπίσκοπος τῆς ̓Εφεσίων μητροπόλεως τῆς ̓Ασίανῶν ἐπαρχίας, ὁρίσας ὑπεσημηνάμην. Concil. CP. sub Mena, act. 5. Θεόδωρος ἐλέῳ Θεοῦ ἐπίσκοπος τῆς Ἐφεσίων μητροπόλεως, καὶ ἔξαρ mercy of God, bishop of the metropolis of the Ephesians, and primate of the Asian diocese, both for myself, and the synod that is under me, have subscribed." For although in the times of the latter emperors also, he still retained the title of primate, or exarch" of all Asia; yet all Asia did not import therein the whole Asian diocese, but the Asian province only: the exarchate of the diocese, having been wholly engrossed into the hands of the patriarch of Constantinople. Which is the cause, why Balsamon noteth, that the privilege heretofore granted unto exarchs by the council of Chalcedon, was in his days of no force at all. "For although some of the metropolitans," saith he, " are named exarchs; yet have they none of the other metropolitans within the dioceses any ways subject unto them;" and John', in a late synod held after the time of the council of Florence, subscribeth himself " bishop of the metropolis of the Ephesians, and exarch," or primate, not of the diocese, but," of the province of the Asians," And of the Asian diocese, with the civil and ecclesiastical government thereof, thus much in brief may suffice. χος Ασιανῶν διοικήσεως, ὑπὲρ ἐμαυτοῦ, καὶ τῆς ὑπ ̓ ἐμὲ συνόδου ὁμοίως Væεonμyváμεv. Synod. VI. Constantinop. act. 18. • Ο Εφέσου ὑπέρτιμος καὶ ἔξαρχος πάσης Ασίας. In ordine thronor. metropolitan. ad calcem Codini. de officiis Constantinopol. Vid. Salmasii Eucharistic. de eccles. Suburbicar. cap. 2. pag. 385. 408, 409. 4 Τοῦτο δὲ τὸ τῶν ἐξάρχων προνόμιον σήμερον οὐκ ἐνεργεῖ· καν γὰρ λέγονται ἔξαρχοί τινες τῶν μητροπολιτῶν, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἐν ταῖς διοικήσεσιν ὄντας ἑτέρους μητροπολίτας οὐκ ἔχουσιν ὅλως ὑποκειμένους αὐτοῖς. Theod. Balsam. in concil. Chalcedon. can. 9. - Ἰωάννης, ὁ ταπεινὸς ἐπίσκοπως τῆς ̓Εφεσίων μητροπόλεως, ὑπέρτιμος καὶ ἔξαρχος τῆς ̓Ασιανῶν ἐπαρχίας. Subscript. concil. Coustantinopol. sub Gregorio patriarcha habit. Vide Sirmondi Propemptic. lib. 2. cap. 5. pag. 214. et 218. |