| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
 Bad Advertisement? News & Reviews: Are you a Christian? Online Store: |
BOOK 4PREVIOUS CHAPTER - NEXT CHAPTER - HELP
THE SYNODS OF SARDICA AND PHILIPPOPOLIS. SECTION 58. DATE OF THE SYNOD OF SARDICA. Our inquiries concerning the Synod of Sardica must begin with a chronological examination of the date of this assembly. Socrates and Sozomen place it expressly in the year 347 a.d., with the more precise statement that it was held under the Consuls Rufinus and Eusebius, in the eleventh year after the death of Constantine the Great; therefore after the 22nd of May 347, according to our way of reckoning. f378 This was the most general view until, rather more than a hundred years ago, the learned Scipio Maffei discovered at Verona the fragment of a Latin translation of an old Alexandrian chronicle (the Historia Acephala , already cited in p. 50), and edited it in the third volume of the Osservazioni Letterarie in 1738. This fragment contains the information that on the 24th Phaophi (October 21), under the Consuls Constantius iv. and Constans ii., in the year 346, Athanasius had returned to Alexandria from his second exile. As it is universally allowed, however, as we shall presently show more clearly, that this return certainly only took place about two years after the Synod of Sardica, Mansi hence saw the necessity of dating this synod as early as the year 344. f380 In this he is confirmed by S. Jerome, in the continuation of the Eusebian chronicle, who, in accordance with the Historia Acephala , has assigned the return of S. Athanasius to the tenth year of the reign of the Emperor Constantius, in 346. Many learned men now followed Mansi, the greater number blindly; others, again, sought to contradict him: at first the learned Dominican, Mamachi; FA2 then Dr. Wetzer (Professor at Freiburg); and latterly, we ourselves in a treatise, “Controversen uber die Synode von Sardika,” in the Tubinger Theol . Quartalschrift , 1852. Soon after there was a fresh discovery. Some of the Paschal Letters of S. Athanasius, which until then were supposed to be lost, were discovered in an Egyptian monastery, with a very ancient preface translated into Syriac, and were published in that language by Cureton in London, and in the year 1852 in German by Professor Larsow at the Grey Friars Convent in Berlin. Among these Festal Letters , the nineteenth, intended for Easter 347, and therefore composed in the beginning of that year, had been re-written in Alexandria, as the introduction expressly states. This confirms the statement of the Historia Acephala , that Athanasius was already returned to Alexandria in October 346, and confirms the chief points of Mansi’s hypothesis; while, on the other hand, it unanswerably refutes, by Athanasius’ own testimony, the statements of Socrates and Sozomen (which, from their dependence on each other, only count as one) with reference to the date 347. As we said, Mansi placed this Synod in the year 344; but the old preface to the Festal Letters of S. Athanasius dates it in the year 343, and in fact we can now only hesitate between the dates 343 and 344. If the preface were as ancient and as powerfully convincing as the Festal Letters themselves, then the question concerning the date of the Council of Sardica would be most accurately decided. As, however, this preface contains mistakes in several places, especially chronological errors, — for instance, regarding the death of Constantine the Great, — we cannot unconditionally accept its statement as to the date 344, but can only do so when it corresponds with other dates concerning that time. Let us, at all events, assume that Athanasius came to Rome about Easter 340. As is known, he was there for three whole years, and in the beginning of the fourth year was summoned to the Emperor Constans at Milan. This points to the summer of 343. From thence he went through Gaul to Sardica, and thus it is quite possible that that Synod might have begun in the autumn of 343. It probably lasted, however, until the spring; for when the two envoys, Euphrates of Cologne and Vincent of Capua, who were sent by the Synod to the Emperor Constans, arrived in Antioch, it was already Easter 344. Stephen, the bishop of the latter city, treated them in a truly diabolical manner; but his wickedness soon became notorious, and a synod was assembled, which deposed him after Easter 344. Its members were Eusebians, who therefore appointed Leontius Castratus as Stephen’s successor, and it is indeed no other than this assembly which Athanasius has in mind, when he says it took place three years after the Synod in Encoeniis , and drew up a very explicit Eusebian confession of faith, the makro>sticov . The disgraceful behavior of Bishop Stephen of Antioch for some time inclined the Emperor to place less confidence in the Arian party, and to allow Athanasius’ exiled clergy to return home in the summer of 344. Ten months later, the pseudo-bishop, Gregory of Alexandria, died (in June 345, as we shall show later), and Constantius did not permit any fresh appointment to the See of Alexandria, but recalled S. Athanasius by three letters, and waited for him more than a year. Thus the See of Alexandria remained unoccupied for more than a year, until the last six months of 346. At length in October 346 Athanasius returned to his bishopric. We see, then, that by accepting the distinct statements of the Paschal Letters of S. Athanasius and the preface, we obtain a satisfactory chronological system, in which the separate details cohere well together, and which thus recommends itself. One great objection we formerly raised ourselves against the date 344 can now be solved. It is certainly true that in 353 or 354 Pope Liberius wrote thus: “Eight years ago the Eusebian deputies, Eudoxius and Martyrius (who came to the West with the formula makro>sticov ), refused to anathematize the Arian doctrine at Milan.” But the Synod of Milan here alluded to, and placed about the year 345, was not, as we before erroneously supposed, held before the Synod of Sardica, but after it. We are somewhat less fortunate as regards another difficulty. The Eusebians assembled at Philippopolis (the pseudo-Synod of Sardica) say, in their synodal letter: “Bishop Asclepas of Gaza was deposed from his bishopric seventeen years ago.” This deposition occurred at an Antiochian Synod. If we identified this Synod with the well-known one of 330, by which Eustathius of Antioch also was overthrown, we should, reckoning the seventeen years, have the year 346 or 347, in which to place the writing of the Synodal Letter of Philippopolis, and therefore the Synod of Sardica. There are, however, two ways of avoiding this conclusion: either we must suppose that Asclepas had been already deposed a year or so before the Antiochian Synod of 330; or that the statement as to the number seventeen in the Latin translation of the Synodal Letter of Philippopolis (for we no longer possess the original text) is an error or slip of the pen. But in no case can this Synodal Letter alter the fact that Athanasius was again in Alexandria when he composed his Paschal Letter for the year 347, and that the Synod of Sardica must therefore have been held several years before. SECTION 59. OBJECT OF THE SYNOD OF SARDICA. As the Synod itself says, it was assembled by the two Emperors, Constans and Constantius, at the desire of Pope Julius, with a threefold object: first, the removal of all dissensions, especially concerning Athanasius, Marcellus of Ancyra, and Paul of Constantinople; secondly, the rooting out of all false doctrine; and thirdly, the holding fast by all of the true faith in Christ. The Synod, in another letter, says somewhat differently, that the three points concerning which they had to treat were: (1) the false doctrine taught by some; (2) the deposition of several bishops; and (3) the cruel acts of violence practiced upon many bishops, priests, and other clerics. We easily see that in both these passages the second and third points hang together; and the object of the Emperors, as well as that of all those who had taken any part in assembling the Synod, was therefore the following: — first , that as the Western and Eastern bishops had hitherto considerably differed in their judgments of Athanasius and others, so now a great Ecumenical Council should give a final decision on this matter, in order that peace might be restored in Church and State; secondly , that as the continual machinations of the Eusebians, and especially their great levity in drawing up four different creeds in the course of a few months, had destroyed all the security and stability of the Church’s faith, and made it appear as variable as the fashions, there was urgent need for a great synod to give a distinct decision upon this point also. In order, if possible, to secure the presence of many members at such a synod, Sardica or Serdica was chosen as the place of assembly; because this town, though indeed belonging to the portion of the Emperor Constantius, was situated nearly on the borders of the two divisions of the empire, and in the center of the great whole. SECTION 60. MEMBERS AND PRESIDENCY OF THE SYNOD OF SARDICA. The first to arrive at Sardica were the Western bishops, to whom many Greek bishops, zealous in the Nicene cause, had joined themselves; but the Eusebian party also, in obedience to the imperial summons, set out without delay, confident of being able there, too, to maintain their former decisions against Athanasius and their other adversaries. In this they relied chiefly upon the protection of the Emperor Constantius, and two officers of high standing, Musanius and Hesychius, whom he had sent with them to Sardica. The ancient writers differ very much as to the numerical strength of the two parties present; but by comparison it can be decided with at least approximate accuracy. The Eusebians themselves in their synodal letter assert that they were eighty in number. Among the signatures to the letter, there appear, indeed, only seventy-three names; but these do not include the bishops, Maris of Chalcedon, Macedonius of Mopsuestia, and Ursacius of Singidunum, who, as we know from other sources, were present at Sardica. If we add these names, we have the number seventy-six on which Socrates and Sozomen are entirely agreed, the former of whom, moreover, appeals to the still earlier testimony of Sabinus of Heraclea. The most important of these Eusebians were Stephen of Antioch, Acacius of Caesarea in Palestine, Theodore of Heraclea, Marcus of Arethusa, Eudoxius of Germanicia, Basil of Ancyra (afterwards the head of the Semi-arians), Valens of Murcia, Demophilus of Beroea, and the previously mentioned Maris of Chalcedon, Macedonius, and Ursacius; Dianius of Caesarea in Cappadocia, who was not exactly a Eusebian, and the notorious Ischyras, were also in their company. Far more uncertain are the statements regarding the Western bishops, or rather the orthodox Nicene party, of whom Socrates and Sozomen report that about 300 bishops were present, and Socrates appeals for this to Athanasius. The latter, in his Apology against the Arians, says that “more than 300 bishops had agreed to what was decided in his favor at Sardica.” In another part of the same Apology , at the end of the Synodal Letter of Sardica, cited by himself, Athanasius gives the names of 282 bishops; but he says plainly in the preceding words, “that the decisions of Sardica were sent also to absent bishops, and received by them, and that the names of those who signed at the Synod, and of the others , were as follows.” Further on, at the end of c. 50, he adds, that “even earlier, before the Council of Sardica, about sixty-three bishops, i .e . in all 344, had declared for him.” We see from this whence Socrates and Sozomen derived their statements; but at the same time we see that they wrongly reckoned among the number those bishops also who, though not present in person at the Council, accepted and signed the decrees of Sardica. In another place Athanasius says that “about 170 bishops from the East and West had come together at Sardica;” and the context shows that by the Eastern bishops he understands the Eusebians, and therefore his words cannot have the meaning which Fuchs assigns to them in his Bibliothek der Kirchenversammlungen , i .e . that the number 170 did not include the Eusebian bishops, so that with these (who were about eighty) the whole number would be 250, as Theodoret states it. If we, however, adhere to the statement of S. Athanasius, which is above all others worthy of credit, that the Eastern and Western bishops at Sardica numbered in all about 170, and then deduct from that number the 76 Eusebian (Eastern) bishops, we have 94 still remaining for the orthodox party. There would be no need for this inquiry if the signatures to the synodal acts had come down to us whole and complete. But unhappily they were entirely lost, with the exception of one very defective list of fifty-nine bishops’ names, which S. Hilary, in his second Fragment , has appended to the Letter of the Synod of Sardica to Pope Julius. It is clear that this list is imperfect, from the fact that the names of bishops, whose presence at Sardica is otherwise known, are wanting. Later copyists and compilers appended this list to the Canons of Sardica also, and thus arose the statement which appears here and there, — for instance, in the Corpus Juris Canonici , — that the Canons of Sardica had been published by 59, 60, or 61 bishops; for some codices, instead of unus de sexaginta , as Hilary says, read unus et sexaginta , while others also include a Bishop Alexander of Acia (Achaia) in the list, whom Hilary leaves out. Two other documents containing signatures of Sardica, one a letter from the Synod to the Christians in Mareotis, and the other a letter to them from Athanasius, were discovered about one hundred and forty years ago by Scipio Maffei in the library at Verona. The latter letter has sixtyone, and the former twenty-six or twenty-seven names of bishops; but that all the members of the Synod did not sign, is distinctly said in the Synodal Letter, for Bishop Vincent, in this list, remarks that he signed for the others also. The Ballerini had these documents printed in their edition of the works of S. Leo I.; and by making use of these two lists of signatures, and the two others previously mentioned (at the end of the Synodal Letter to Pope Julius, and in Athanas. Apol . c . Arian . c. 50), as well as other statements, they made a list certainly very near the truth, according to which 97 bishops of the orthodox party were present at Sardica. This number agrees so well with that which we obtained before, by subtracting the 80 Eusebian bishops from the 170 members of the Synod mentioned by Athanasius, that the result may now be considered as fairly certain. It also agrees admirably with the fact that the first list of bishops, given by Athanasius in his often cited Apology, without naming any locality, accords almost entirely with the list obtained by the Ballerini; so that we can see that Athanasius had there noted, as was most natural, first those bishops present at Sardica, and afterwards those who had signed afterwards. These orthodox bishops present at Sardica belonged, as the Synodal Letter to the Alexandrians says, to the following provinces and countries: Rome, Spain, Gaul, Italy, Africa, Sardinia, Pannonia, Mysia, Dacia, Noricum, Tuscany, Dardania, the second Dacia, Macedonia, Thessaly, Achaia, Epirus, Thrace, Rhodope (a part of Thrace), Palestine, Arabia, Crete, and Egypt. But in the signatures to the Encyclical Synodal Letter, in Theodoret, the following provinces are also named: Asia, Caria, Bithynia, Hellespont, Phrygia, Pisidia, Cappadocia, Pontus, the other Phrygia, Cilicia, Pamphylia, Lycia, the Cyclade Islands, the Thebaid, Libya, and Galatia. We might indeed allege in favor of this fuller list, that Athanasius himself says that there had been bishops present at Sardica from more than thirty-five provinces; but the Ballerini brothers have nevertheless declared this larger list to be false: first, because at that time Phrygia was not yet divided into two provinces, and there was therefore no second Phrygia; and secondly, because the bishops of those provinces, which are added in the larger list, were Eusebians. Pope Julius did not appear in person, but sent two priests, Archidamus and Philoxenus, as his representatives, and he excused his absence by such cogent reasons, that the Synod, in their letter to him, say that “he had excused his non-appearance in the best and fullest way, on the ground that neither schismatics nor heretics should take advantage of his absence from Rome to work mischief, nor the serpent spread the poison of blasphemy; for it was best and most fitting that the priests (bishops) of all provinces should bring their reports to the head, namely, the chair of S. Peter.” On account of the absence of the Pope, Hosius took the presidency, and was head of the Synod. In this capacity he proposed the various canons, and signed the acts before all the others; and Athanasius speaks expressly of “the holy Synod, whose president (proh>gorov ) was the great Hosius.” Shortly before, he had declared that “the bishops at Sardica had Hosius for their father;” and Theodoret, agreeing with him, writes, “This Hosius was bishop of Cordova; he was celebrated at the Synod of Nicaea, and took the first place (prwteu>sav ) among those assembled at Sardica.” Sozomen further designates the orthodox party at Sardica as oiJ ajmfi< to SECTION 61. THE EUSEBIANS TAKE NO PART IN THE SYNOD.
While still on the road to Sardica, as soon as they learnt that Athanasius, Marcellus of Ancyra, and Asclepas had arrived there, the Eusebians took a step intended to frustrate all conciliatory designs. They held cabals of their own, and by threats extorted from all their adherents the promise, under certain circumstances, to take no part whatever in the Synod. For when they found that Athanasius and Marcellus of Ancyra were come to Sardica, they could not but fear that, as both had been already acquitted at Rome under Pope Julius in 341, the sentence of deposition, passed upon them by the Eusebians, would be regarded as null, and, so long as nothing fresh could be proved against them, both would be received into fellowship by the Council. If this happened, they could not help further foreseeing that Athanasius and his comrades in misfortune would soon change the defensive for the aggressive, and would bring heavy charges against the Eusebians themselves. They therefore resolved to insist on Athanasius and the others deposed by them at Sardica being treated from the very first as excommunicate, on the ground that their reception would be a violation of the reverence due to the Eastern Synods, and entirely contrary to all Church rule. Besides this, they said, many of the former judges, accusers, and witnesses against Athanasius were dead, so that a fresh investigation was sure to end too favorably for him. Walch is of opinion that Athanasius had unquestionably a just cause, but that equity demanded that he and his companions, Marcellus and Asclepas, should still be excluded at first from the Synod. But (1) the Roman Synod of 341, which declared these men to be innocent, and received them into the communion of the Church, must necessarily have had as much weight as the Antiochian Synod of the same year. (2) To this must be added, that the Emperors had themselves given permission to the Synod of Sardica to reinvestigate the whole matter, and this was, in fact, the object of the assembly. This implied that all judgments hitherto pronounced for and against Athanasius and his adherents, including that of Antioch, should be considered as suspended. Therefore the Synod of Sardica was bound to ignore all former proceedings, and to regard the matter as a res integra , and to treat Athanasius and his colleagues as if no sentence had yet anywhere been pronounced against them. (3) If, however, at Sardica, Athanasius and his friends had been treated as a party, then, in all fairness, their enemies, of whom they complained, must have been treated in the same way, and the exclusion of one party would have necessitated the exclusion of the other. (4) Lastly, not only was there a fully sufficient number of the former judges, accusers, and witnesses against Athanasius still living, — many more than were required for giving evidence, — but actually many of the most important of them were in the ranks of the Eusebians; for instance, Ischyras and those envoys whom the Synod of Tyre had sent to Mareotis. One of these six was dead, but all the others were present, as the Eusebian Synodal Letter itself, relates. The voluminous Mareotic Acts of Inquiry , which contained the testimonies of so many witnesses, as also the Acts of the Synods of Tyre and Antioch , were certainly still available; and the Synod of Rome in had heard and examined the testimony of no less than eighty bishops on the affair of Athanasius, so that there was clearly sufficient legal evidence at hand for a final decision. To all this the Eusebians might appeal, if they chose to proceed against Athanasius at the Synod, besides bringing their own charges against him.
In order to appear at Sardica as a firm and compact party, and to be able to hinder the accession of any of their colleagues to the Synod, the Eusebians had so arranged that they all occupied one house in the town. 72 Notwithstanding this, two bishops who had come with them, Asterius from Arabia, and Arius (also named Macarius) from Palestine, immediately went over to the Synod, and related the intrigues already formed on the journey by the Eusebians. They affirmed at the same time that many other orthodox bishops were come in the company of the Eusebians, who would gladly have joined the Synod, if they were not hindered by violence and false representations. Naturally, the desertion of these two was highly inconvenient to the Eusebians, and therefore Athanasius rightly says that they were struck with fear. In fact, they did not long delay taking revenge on both, and immediately after the Synod of Sardica procured their banishment, through the Emperor Constantius. That the Synod of Sardica was entirely free, and not managed by imperial officials, was, moreover, in the highest degree contrary to the wishes of the Eusebians, as no court influence in their favor could be hoped for. The consternation of the Eusebians, however, was complete when they learnt that Athanasius and many others, bishops and priests, were ready to appear as their accusers, and witnesses of their violent conduct, and that there were even chains and irons forthcoming which would testify to this. The Eusebians, on their side, say that “immediately upon their arrival at Sardica, they had heard that Athanasius, Marcellus, and other justly condemned offenders, who had been already deposed by synodal decision, were sitting in the midst of the church with Hosius and Protogenes, disputing with them, and, even worse, celebrating the holy mysteries. They had therefore demanded of those who were with Protogenes and Hosius (in fact commanded them, mandavimus ) that they should shut out the condemned from their assembly, and hold no communion with sinners. When this was done, they should meet together with them, the Eusebians, and hear what had been decided by earlier synods against Athanasius and the others. The adherents of Hosius, however, opposed this idea, and would not give up communion with those persons. This troubled them even to tears; for they could not, as they say, sit in an assembly with those whom their predecessors condemned, neither could they take part with profane persons in the sacraments. They therefore again and again repeated their demand to the Orthodox, begging them not to confound divine right, violate the tradition of the Church, give occasion for divisions, and place the many Oriental bishops and holy synods on a lower footing than that party. But the companions of Hosius paid no heed, but rather sought to assume the part of judges over the judges (at the former synods), and to bring the Eusebians themselves to trial.” We see from this, also, that the Eusebians would not allow to the Council the right of trying afresh the sentences of the Synods of Tyre and Antioch, etc. During these quarrels, five Eusebian bishops, who had formerly been members of the deputation sent to Mareotis, proposed that a new commission of inquiry, composed of members of both parties (Eusebian and Orthodox), should be sent into those places where Athanasius had committed his offenses, and should it be shown that they (the five bishops) had falsely accused him, they would unhesitatingly submit to condemnation; but if, on the contrary, their accusations were shown to be well-founded, then the five deputies of the Orthodox party, as well as the defenders and well-wishers of Athanasius and Marcellus, should be thrust out of communion. The Eusebians further affirm that Hosius, Protogenes, and their friends had not, however, agreed to this proposal, but had rather sought by reference to the wishes and written edicts of the Emperor to frighten the Eusebians, and to force them through fear to take part in the Synod. Therefore they, the Eusebians, had now decided to return to their own homes, and, before leaving Sardica, to give a report of what had taken place to the rest of Christendom. That they did not speak the truth in this last point, but issued their circular letter from Philippopolis, and not from Sardica, will appear later: it is enough here to supplement the above account of the Eusebians by the following communications from the orthodox side.
The Orthodox bishops greatly desired that the Eusebians should appear at the Synod. They therefore repeatedly invited them, both by word of mouth and by letter, and represented to them in how bad a light they placed themselves by their non-appearance, as it must be supposed that they had no proof to bring of their charges against Athanasius, but were rather slanderers, as indeed they would have to be declared by the Synod. They were repeatedly told that Athanasius and his friends were ready to refute the charges raised against them, and to convict their enemies of slander. Hosius made yet another special attempt, which he thus relates in a subsequent letter to the Emperor Constantius: “When the enemies of Athanasius came to me in the church, where I generally was, I requested them to bring forward their proofs against Athanasius, and promised them all possible security and justice, observing that, in case they did not like to bring their proofs before the whole Synod, they should at least communicate them to me alone. I even added a promise, that if Athanasius was proved guilty, he should be rejected by us all; but if he was innocent, and could convict them of slander, and still they would not hold communion with him, I would induce him to travel with me to Spain.” Hosius adds, that Athanasius accepted these conditions without any hesitation; but that the Eusebians, not having confidence in their own cause, refused them. Athanasius himself says: “The Eusebians thought that under such circumstances (that is to say, if the whole affair was to be investigated anew, and the decisions of Tyre and Antioch no longer regarded as unalterable) flight was for them the lesser evil; for it was better to leave Sardica, than to be there formally convicted of slander. And if, after all, sentence was pronounced against them, the Emperor Constantius was their protector, and would certainly not allow their deposition.” In order, however, to have a fitting pretext for their flight, the Eusebians sent word by the priest Eustathius of Sardica to the Orthodox party, that the Emperor had sent them by letter the news of his victory over the Persians, and that this compelled their immediate departure (probably to offer him their congratulations). But Hosius was not deceived by this, and sent word to them: “If you do not appear and clear yourselves as regards the slanders which you have spread, and the accusations which have been brought against you, be assured that the Synod will condemn you as guilty, but will declare Athanasius and his associates to be innocent.” The Eusebians were, however, deaf to these words, and fled by night from Sardica. SECTION 62. ENERGETIC ACTION OF THE SYNOD OF SARDICA.
With the flight of the accusers, the whole proceeding against Athanasius and his friends might easily have been considered as finished; but in order to fulfill all justice, and to cut off from the Eusebians every possible pretext for further objections, the Synod resolved most carefully to investigate the whole affair, with all the testimonies already given, for and against Athanasius. The acts showed that the accusers were pure slanderers; that Theognis of Nicaea had, as was attested by several of his own former deacons, addressed malicious letters to the Emperors, in order to excite them against Athanasius; that Arsenius, said to have been killed by Athanasius, was still living; and that no chalice had been broken by the Athanasian priest Macarius. The Synod ascertained this through the testimony of many Egyptians, who had come to Sardica, and by an ancient Synodal Letter which had been addressed to Pope Julius by no less than eighty Egyptian bishops, in defense of Athanasius. No less was it shown that the Mareotic acts were very one-sided; that only one party — the enemies of Athanasius — were heard; that catechumens, and even heathens, were therein brought forward as witnesses against priests, their statements, however, being for the most part in direct contradiction to one another. Two former Meletian priests at the same time declared to the Synod that Ischyras, whose chalice Macarius was said to have broken (by order of Athanasius), had never been a priest, and that Meletius had had no church in that country (Mareotis). The Synod also saw, from a letter written by Ischyras’ own hand, that he himself declared that at the time when, during divine service, his chalice was said to have been broken, he could not leave his bed on account of illness, and therefore could have held no service. The Synod at once proceeded to examine, secondly, into the complaints brought forward against Marcellus of Ancyra, causing his treatise to be read aloud, from which it discovered the wicked intrigues of the Eusebians, who had set down as decided and positive statements what Marcellus had said merely by way of inquiry (xhtw~n ). That which preceded and followed the incriminated passages was also read aloud, and the Synod was convinced of the orthodoxy of Marcellus, and that he had not, as they said, ascribed to the divine Logos a beginning from Mary, or maintained that His kingdom was not eternal. Marcellus had, as we saw before, made a distinction between the Logos and the Son: by the Son he understood the union of the Godhead with human nature, or the God-man, and to Him he ascribed His origin from Mary; whereas he declared the Logos to be eternal, and in the Father from all eternity (in fact, impersonal). According to this, it appeared to him that the kingdom of the Logos only was eternal, and that that of the Son ceases with the end of the world, since then all human corporeality ends.
The third person whose affairs were investigated by the Synod of Sardica was Asclepas, Bishop of Gaza in Palestine, whom the Eusebians had deposed at Antioch. He produced the acts of the Antiochian Synod which had condemned him, and proved his innocence by the very words of his judges. At the same time, it appeared that the Eusebians had not only received back many who before had been lawfully deposed on account of Arianism, but had promoted them to higher offices in the Church; that they had practiced many acts of violence against the orthodox, occasioned the destruction of many churches, imprisonments, executions, and mutilations of holy virgins and the like, and had stirred up the Arian heresy afresh. The Synod therefore declared innocent Athanasius, Marcellus, Aselepas, and their companions, especially the Alexandrian priests Aphton, Athanasius the son of Capiton, Paul and Plution, who had been deposed and banished by the Eusebians, and restored them all to their former offices and dignities, and proclaimed this publicly, in order that from henceforth no one should consider those who had intruded into their places, Gregory at Alexandria, Basil at Ancyra, Quintian at Gaza, as rightful bishops. At the same time, the Synod pronounced the sentence of deposition and even excommunication upon the heads of the Eusebians, Theodore of Heraclea, Narcissus of Neronias, Acacius of Caesarea, Stephen of Antioch, Ursacius of Singidunum, Valens of Murcia, Menophantes of Ephesus, and George of Laodicea, who, from fear, had not appeared at the Synod because they had adopted the Arian madness, and had, besides, been guilty of other offenses (slander and violence). Athanasius remarks incidentally in one place, that the Synod also deposed Bishop Patrophilus of Scythopolis, but he does not seem here to have spoken accurately; and the statement of Theodoret, that Maris, Valens, and Ursacius had confessed their unfair dealings as deputies at Mareotis, and had demanded pardon of the Synod, is probably as little worthy of reliance. We shall see further on, that with regard to both these bishops something of the sort took place some years later, whence it may be conjectured that Theodoret is here guilty of an anachronism.
SECTION 63. THE PRETENDED CREED OF SARDICA.
It was, as we know, the further task of the Synod of Sardica to give a definite explanation of the orthodox faith, which had become uncertain.
Athanasius relates that some had sought to move the Synod to draw up a new creed, on the pretext that the Nicene was not full enough; but that the Synod did not agree to this, and, on the other hand, absolutely determined to draw up no new formula, declaring that of Nicaea to be sufficient, and entirely faultless and pious. Nevertheless, a pretended Sardican Creed soon got into circulation, which, however, Athanasius and those bishops assembled with him at Alexandria in 362 warned people against, and declared to be false. Bishop Eusebius of Vercellae (now Vercelli) was also present at this Alexandrian Synod, and added to his signature a remark in which he expressly declared himself against the pretended formula of Sardica. Theodoret gives a copy of this socalled Sardican formula at the end of the Encyclical Letter of the Synod; but the Historia Tripartita adopted a Latin translation of it, the work of the scholar Epiphanius. Its sense is throughout orthodox, and directed against the Arians, notwithstanding which, the expression uJpo>stasiv is confounded with ouJsi>a , and thus to the Three Persons of the Trinity only one hypostasis is ascribed; there are also misstatements with regard to Valens and Ursacius, as though they had been Sabellians. This Sardican formula is also mentioned by Sozomen; but it is only recently that any clear light has been thrown upon this matter, since Scipio Maffei discovered in the library at Verona an old Latin translation of nearly all the Sardican Acts, and his discovery was made known by the Ballerini and Mansi. In this translation, immediately following the Canons of Sardica, there is a short letter from Hosius and Protogenes to Pope Julius, and it is plainly this letter of which Sozomen gives a fairly detailed account. In this letter it is said, and it quite accords with Sozomen’s account, “that at Sardica the Nicene formula was accepted; but in order to make sophistical interpretations impossible to the Arians, it was further explained.” The Latin translation of the Encyclical Letter of Sardica follows this short letter, and to this is appended a translation of the Sardican formula in question. Though there are some passages in this version where the Greek text of Theodoret is plainly more correct, yet, on the other hand, it just removes that difficulty regarding the one hypostasis, as here it rightly stands, “unam esse substantiam , quam ipsi Groeci Usiam appellant ,” etc. On the other hand, the misstatement with regard to Valens and Ursacius is also found here.
What is, however, far more important, is that, since this discovery, we can without hesitation join the Ballerini in their conjecture, that probably Hosius and Protogenes were of opinion that a fuller exposition of the Nicene formula ought to be drawn up at Sardica. Such a form they had already sketched out with this view, as well as an appropriate letter to Pope Julius. The Synod, however, did not agree to their plan; but, nevertheless, their draft came into the Acts, and was thus early considered by many as a genuine Synodal document, as, for instance, by the fourth General Council at Chalcedon, in its address to the Emperor Marcian. The Synod had now completed the three duties laid upon it: it had declared itself concerning the right faith, and given a decision upon the deposition of Athanasius and his friends, and concerning the acts of violence which had been practiced upon them. But it desired also to provide for the discipline of the Church, and therefore drew up a set of canons, many of which have become very famous, and obtained permanent force in the Church.
SECTION 64. THE SARDICAN CANONS.
According to the unanimous conclusion arrived at through the inquiries of late scholars, especially Spittler and the Ballerini, there can be no doubt that the canons of Sardica were originally drawn up in both languages, Latin and Greek, as they were intended both for Latins and Greeks. The Greek text is preserved to us in the collection of John of Constantinople, of the sixth century, and in several other manuscripts, from which it was first given to the press by the French Bishop Tilius in 1540, and later by Beveridge, Hardouin, and all modern collectors. Comments upon it were made in the Middle Ages by three learned Greeks, Balsamon, Zonaras, and Aristenus, whose works Beveridge has adopted in his famous Synodicon . On the other hand, we meet with the original Latin text in the three most celebrated ancient collections of Canons of the West, the Prisca , that of Dionysius Exiguus, and Isidore, the genuine and the false. These three, while differing distinctly from each other in the Latin translation of those canons which existed originally only in Greek, yet agree so strikingly here, that all three must have been based on one and the same original copy. These three Latin copies, moreover, while agreeing so remarkably with each other, yet so strikingly differ from the Greek text, even in the order of sequence, that their difference can only be sufficiently explained by supposing that from the first there existed two distinct originals, that is to say, an original Latin and an original Greek copy of the canons.
In the Greek text, and in the Latin of Dionysius Exiguus, these canons run thus:
JH aJgi>a su>nodov hJ ejn Sardikh~ sugkrothqei~sa ejk diafo>rwn ejparciw~n wJ>rise ta< uJpotetagme>na.
CANON 1.
J>Osiov ejpi>skopov po>lewv Kordou>bhv ei+pen Ouj tosou~ton hJ fau>lh sunh>qeia o\son hJ blaberwta>th tw~n pragma>twn diafqora< ejx aujtw~n tw~n qemeli>wn ejsti We see at a glance that this canon is nothing more than a severer rendering of the fifteenth canon of Nicaea, which, indeed, also forbade the translation from one See to another, but in no wise inflicted the heavy punishment of the denial even of lay communion (the placing among public penitents). Van Espen, who has given a good commentary on the canons of Sardica, as on those of other synods, remarks that “already, some years before the Synod of Sardica, Pope Julius (in his letter before mentioned) reproached the Eusebians with their frequent change of place, and their hunting after wealthier Sees;” and in all probability this canon was purposely drawn up with reference to the Eusebians. The first part of the same canon was received in the Corpus Jur . Can . c. 9, “De Clericis non residentibus” (3. 4).
CANON 2.
J>Osiov ejpi>skopov ei+pen Eij di> tiv toiou~tov eujri>skoito maniw>dhv h] tolmhro Placet.”
The addition in the Latin text, qui sinceram fidem non habent , is found both in Dionysius Exiguus and in Isidore and the Prisca , and its meaning is as follows: “In a town, some few, especially those who have not the true faith, can be easily bribed to demand this or that person as bishop.”
The Fathers of Sardica plainly had here in view the Arians and their adherents, who, through such like machinations, when they had gained over, if only a small party in a town, sought to press into the bishoprics.
The Synod of Antioch, moreover, in 341, although the Eusebians, properly speaking, were dominant there, had laid down in the twenty-first canon a similar, only less severe, rule. It is to be observed also, that in the Isidorian collection this second canon is not separated from the first and counted as the second. In Corpus Juris Canon . c. 2, “De Electione” (1. 6), it has the further addition, nisi hoc poenituerit , i .e . “such an one shall not, on his deathbed, receive even lay communion, except he has repented of his fault.” But neither the Greek text, Dionysius, Isidore, nor the Prisca , contain this additional mitigating clause; and it was probably added by Raymund of Pennaforte, when he was collecting the decretals, in order to conform the canon to the later practice in this respect. CANON 3. [Osiov ejpi>skopov ei+pe Kai< tou~to prosteqh~~~nai ajnagkai~on, i[na mhdeiMv ejpisko>pwn ajpo< th~v eJautou~ ejparci Kai tou~to de< wJsau Eij de< a]ra tiv ejpisko>own e]n tivi pra>gmati do>xh| katakrinesqai kai< uJpolamqa>nei eJauto The first clause, or the first rule of our canon, is a repetition of the thirteenth Antiochian, which, as being both clearer and more circumstantial, may be used as a commentary on it. Both direct that no bishop shall go into another Church province for the purpose of performing any spiritual office, especially that of ordination, unless he is called upon to do so by the metropolitan and the bishops of that province; in which case it shall, however, be allowed, “that it may not appear as if the Synod wished to cut off from the bishops the opportunity of rendering each other any service of love.” Thus the last words of the first part are to be understood: dia< to< mh< dokei~n hJma~v ta Instead of in qua sunt episcopi , a Roman codex reads: in qua non sunt episcopi , thus giving the synodal order this meaning, that “a bishop should not perform any spiritual office in a strange province, even if that province has no bishops of its own.” This reading, which is not supported by the Greek or the other Latin manuscripts, nor by the Greek commentators, Zonaras, etc., is defended by Van Espen, although it contradicts the further words of the canon: “unless he is called upon by his brethren,” i .e . the bishops of the province in question, as appears from the thirteenth canon of Antioch. In order to do away with this contradiction, Van Espen quite gratuitously interprets the latter words thus: “unless he is called by his brethren to become bishop of this hitherto unoccupied province.”
The second part of the canon is connected with the fifth of Nicaea, which also directs that the quarrels of the bishops in the province itself shall be decided by the Provincial Synod, without the assistance of foreign bishops. This true meaning, however, is altered by some Latin translations in the collection of Dionysius, especially in that printed by Justellus, where, instead of ne unus , stands unus , without the negation, which so alters the sense, as to make it in direct contradiction to the whole ancient law of the Church.
The third part of the canon makes, in one instance, an exception to the above rule (the second), — i .e , that the right of judging a bishop belonged to the comprovincial bishops, — as it provides a court of second appeal to revise the sentence of the comprovincial bishops of the court of first appeal. This clause, however, and the two following canons connected with it, concerning appeals to Rome, have been, up to our day, the subject of violent controversies between canonists; and therefore we before ventured to publish the result of our studies on these subjects in the Tubinger Quartalschrift , of the year 1852.
The meaning of this direction is: “If a bishop is condemned (that is, deposed, as appears from the fourth canon), but thinks his case a good one, so that a fresh sentence ought to be pronounced, then, out of respect to the memory of the Apostle Peter, a letter shall be addressed to Rome to Pope Julius, so that, if necessary, he may appoint a new court composed of the bishops near the province in question, and may himself appoint the judges. If it is not proved, however, that the affair requires a fresh inquiry, then the first sentence (of the Provincial Synod) shall not be annulled, but shall be confirmed by the Pope.” The further examination of this canon and of the disputes regarding it, will only be possible to us when we have first made clear the meaning of the two next canons. We remark, further, that Gratian also has received it into the Corp . Jur . Can . 1. 7, causa 6. quaest. 4.
CANON 4.
Gaude>ntiov ejpi This canon, proposed by Gaudentius, Bishop of Naissus in Dacia, according to the Greek literally runs thus: “Bishop Gaudentius said: ‘If pleasing to you, it shall be added to this judgment, which you, Hosius, have brought forward, and which is full of pure love, that if a bishop has been deposed by sentence of those bishops who are in the neighbourhood, and he desires again to defend himself, no other shall be appointed to his See until the Bishop of Rome has judged and decided thereupon.’” In all essentials the Latin text of Dionysius, Isidore, and the Prisca agree with this; but, concerning the explanation of the words of the text, two parties have arisen, in direct opposition to each other, one of which alone can be right, and this latter, armed with old and new arguments, shall first speak for itself.
The preceding canon had declared that if a bishop, deposed by the Provincial Synod, desired a second appeal, Rome should decide whether the demand should be granted or not. This decided, the further question necessarily arose, “What should meanwhile be done with the bishop in question?” The natural answer was, that, “until the new decision, he may, on his part, undertake no episcopal function; but neither may any other be appointed to his See.” This answer was so natural, that it might perhaps have appeared superfluous to state it expressly in a special canon, if it had not been that a few years before, at the Synod of Antioch, the Eusebians, although they themselves and Athanasius had appealed to Rome and demanded a second decision by a great synod, had appointed a new bishop, Gregory of Cappadocia, for Alexandria. In the face of these and other like facts, it was necessary to add: “but if a bishop deposed by the court of first appeal adopts the course indicated above (in can. 3), his See may not be given over to another until the Pope has either confirmed the sentence of the court of first appeal, or has instituted a second.” We see that the connection of these two canons (three and four), the nature of the case, and the course of events (that which the Eusebians had done), render such an interpretation of the words of the text necessary, and in the words themselves there is nothing to compel us to adopt any other meaning. And yet this has several times been attempted; first, indeed, simply and entirely through a misunderstanding of the words: “If he is deposed by the sentence tw~n ejpisko>pwn tw~n ejn geitvi>a| tugcano>ntwn, i .e . episcoporum , qui in vicinis locis commorantur .” In our opinion, this means those bishops who were neighbors of the accused, that is, his comprovincials; but because the third canon speaks of bishops who are “neighbors” of the Province in question, many scholars have confused these two expressions, and have taken the word “neighbors” in the fourth canon also in the latter sense, and have therefore given it the following meaning: “Even if the court of second appeal, consisting of the bishops of the neighboring province, has pronounced the accused guilty, he still has one more appeal to the court of third instance, namely Rome.”
Such a commentary upon the canon was given by the Greeks, Zonaras and Balsamon; and among Latin scholars by the Ballerini, Van Espen, Palma, Walter, and others; but especially by Natalis Alexander, who, in this whole question, rather agrees with the Curialists than with the Gallicans. But in spite of these many authorities we cannot accept the fourth canon in the second sense, but can only understand it in the first. It must be added to the reasons before mentioned (i .e . the connection with the preceding canon, the course of events, etc.): 1. That it certainly would be very curious if in the third canon mention was made of the appeal to Rome as following the judgment of the court of first instance; in the fourth, after that of the court of second instance; and again in the fifth, after the judgment of the court of first instance. 2. That if the Synod had really intended to institute a court of third appeal, it would have done so in clearer and more express terms, and not only have, as it were, smuggled in the whole point with the secondary question, as to “what was to be done with the bishop’s See.” 3. Further, that it is quite devoid of proof that the expression “neighboring bishops” is identical with “Bishops in the neighborhood of the said Province;” that, indeed, this identification is throughout unwarrantable and wrong, and it is far more natural to understand by the neighboring bishops, the comprovincials, therefore the court of first instance. 4. That by this interpretation we obtain clearness, consistency, and harmony in all three canons. 5. That the word pa>lin in the fourth canon presents no difficulty; for even one who has only been heard in the court of first instance may say he desires again to defend himself, because he has already made his first defense in the court of first instance.
Peter de Marca, Tillemont, Dupin, Fleury, Remi Ceillier, Neander, 150 Stolberg, 151 Eichhorn, 152 Kober, and others, understand the fourth canon in the same sense as ourselves; while some, like Fuchs, Rohrbacher, Ruttenstock, etc., do not enter into any discussion about its meaning. Finally, we remark that this explanation does not the least affect the right of appealing to the Pope, and we shall presently show the untenableness of the Gallican argument against this right from the Sardican canons.
CANON 5. FA157 \Osiov ejpi>skopov ei+pen ]Hresen, i[nj ei] tiv ejpi>skopov kataggelqei>h, kai< sunaqroisqe>ntev oiJ ejpi>skopoi th~v ejnori>av th~v aujth~v tou~ baqmou~ aujto>n ajpokinh>swsi, kai< w[s[per ejkkalesa>menov katafu>gh| ejpi< to The meaning is: “If a bishop deposed by his comprovincials (the bishops of the same region) has appealed to Rome, and the Pope considers a fresh examination necessary, then he (the Pope) shall write to the bishops living nearest the province in question, that they may thoroughly investigate the matter, and give sentence in accordance with the truth.
But if the appellant can induce the Bishop of Rome to send priests of his own to constitute, with the appointed bishops, the court of second instance, and thereby to enjoy the authority belonging to himself (the Pope), — i .e . to preside in the court, as even the Gallican Marca allows to be the meaning, — it shall be open to the Pope to do so. But should he think the bishops alone sufficient for this court of appeal, he shall do what seems to him good.”
A comparison of this canon with the third part of the third canon shows that it only gives a more accurate exposition of the earlier one, and more precisely defines the method of conducting the appeal. First, if in the third canon it is only said that the judges of the first court may refer the matter to Rome, this canon supplements it by saying that the accused bishop also may himself appeal to Rome. Secondly, for completeness’ sake, what was, however, a matter of course, is added: that in case the Pope summoned bishops of the neighboring province to the court of second instance, he should give them notice by letter. But it is an entirely new and essential modification of the third canon, that the Pope should not only have the power of adding some Roman priests to the court of second instance, but of authorizing these legates to preside at it.
Clear as the meaning of those three canons may seem after what has been said, yet a violent controversy has arisen between the Gallican and Curialist theologians, in which neither party regarded the text from a quite impartial point of view, but each sought chiefly to make capital out of it, for their own particular system of canon law.
The first question which arose was to this effect, whether the rights ascribed to the Pope in these canons had been newly given to him by the Synod of Sardica, when he had not possessed them at all before. This was affirmed by the Gallicans; for instance, by Peter de Marca, Quesnel, Du-Pin, Richer, and others, as also by Febronius and his followers. It seems to me that Natalis Alexander, though himself a Gallican, and after him the Ballerini, Palma, Roskovany (now Bishop of Neutra in Hungary), and others, have conclusively shown that this was not the case, but rather that the right of the Pope to receive appeals was involved in the idea of the Primacy as a divine institution, and had in fact been exercised before the Synod of Sardica, which only expressly defined and declared it. The formula, si placet , has not here the meaning often ascribed to it by synods, i .e . “if pleasing to you, we will introduce a new thing,” — in dogmatic expressions such a meaning would indeed be heterodox, — but: “if pleasing to you, we will declare and pronounce this or that.” In like manner, in the words of the third canon: Sancti Petri Apostoli memoriam honoremus , there is no good ground for supposing that the Synod had here conferred upon the Pope an entirely new right; for every direct acknowledgment even of an ancient papal right is always made out of reverence to S. Peter, as the person upon whom the primacy was conferred by Christ. Moreover, this right of appealing to Rome was not universally acknowledged at the time of the Synod of Sardica; on the contrary, the Eusebians themselves had only recently disputed this prerogative with Pope Julius, and they also plainly call it in question, in their Encyclical from Philippopolis, in the words: ut Orientales episcopi , etc.
The second controversy as to the meaning of this canon was again occasioned by the Gallicans through the assertion of the well-known syndic of the Sorbonne, Edmund Richer, that as in the third canon Pope Julius was expressly mentioned, therefore the prerogative there spoken of was assigned to this Pope only in his own person, and not to his successors. This has been well refuted by the famous Protestant, Spittler, in these words: “It is said that these Sardican decisions were simply provisional, and intended for the present necessity; because Athanasius, so hardly pressed by the Arians, could only be rescued by authorizing an appeal to the Bishop of Rome for a final judgment. Richer, in his History of the General Councils , has elaborately defended this opinion, and Horix also has declared in its favour. But would not all secure use of the canons of the Councils be done away with if this distinction between provisional and permanent synodal decisions were admitted? Is there any sure criterion for distinguishing those canons which were only to be provisional, from the others which were made for all future centuries? The Fathers of the Synod of Sardica express themselves quite generally; is it not therefore most arbitrary on our part to insert limitations? It is beyond question that these decisions were occasioned by the very critical state of the affairs of Athanasius; but is everything only provisional that is occasioned by the circumstances of individuals? In this way the most important of the ancient canons might be set aside.” We further add, that in the fourth and fifth canons, which speak of the same prerogative of Rome, the Bishop of Rome generally is mentioned, not Pope Julius in particular; and secondly, that the Sardican Fathers, even if they had desired simply to help Athanasius, could not possibly have ensured their end by assigning that prerogative to Julius alone, as he might have died within a few months, and then could no longer have protected the oppressed.
The third controversy touches the character of the prerogative which these canons ascribe to the Pope. The Gallicans, as also Van Espen and Febronius, maintain that no real appeal to Rome is there admitted, but that it only treats of a revision of the first sentence, and that only the right of ordering such a revision is assigned to the Pope. That this was so, they proved from the fact that the judges of the court of first instance might also sit on the court of appeal, but strengthened by bishops from another province. In fact, it is of the essence of a court of appeal that the judges of the first court should have no voice in it; that is, the appeal is a means of obtaining justice by devolution. If, then, it were really true that the canons of Sardica allowed the judges of the first court to take part in the sentence pronounced by the second, this would certainly be no case of appeal. But it is not so; the canons undeniably say quite the reverse, and plainly exclude the judges of the first court from the second, so that only great prejudice could have given rise to such a confusion, which had already been refuted by Natalis Alexander, the Ballerini, Palma, and others. The Gallicans, however, can only bring forward on their side Hincmar of Rheims, who has indeed fallen into the same error, but is not able to substantiate his view.
The second feature in the character of an appeal is, that it acts suspensively, that is, that the former judges cannot proceed, nor the sentence of the first court be put in force, until the appeal is rejected, or the sentence of the second court is pronounced. But the fourth canon shows that the prerogative which these canons ascribe to the Pope bears also this mark of a true right of appeal. Moreover, the fifth canon gives to these words, “to apply to the Pope,” the express title of an appeal, ejkkalesa>menov , appellaverit ; and lastly, the fact that the Pope was to appoint the judges of the second court, and send his own legates, plainly shows that this second court was really his own, not a foreign one, but one appointed by him, — a circumstance which points to a formal appeal, not only a revision.
Having so far combated the Gallicans, we must now turn round upon the Curialists. First of all, this statement of Palma’s is incorrect: “Of the canons of Sardica, the most celebrated were those in quibus de appellationibus agitur , a quolibet Episcoporum judicio ad Romanum Pontificem deferendis .” This is not true. The canons of Sardica only speak of an appeal in one case, namely, when a bishop was deposed by his comprovincials; other cases are not mentioned at all, and, as a glance at the text of the canons unquestionably shows, in all other cases the appeal is neither affirmed nor denied.
The Ballerini and Palma further maintain that these canons also ascribe to the Pope the right of transferring the whole process, with its investigation, upon such an appeal being made, to Rome, and of himself deciding, therefore, without the presence of the neighboring bishops. The canons nowhere say this; what they expressly insist upon is, that to the Pope belongs the appointment of a second court, for which he is to designate bishops from the neighboring province, but may also appoint legates of his own. Even when in those three canons a decision of Rome is spoken of in general terms only, as for instance at the end of the fourth, this cannot be understood in a sense favorable to Palma and the Ballerini; for the true meaning is, that the Pope alone, and in his own person, decides whether the appeal shall be allowed, and a second judgment ordered or not. In this last case he confirms the sentence of the first court; in the other, he orders the second investigation; but that he himself, instead of the court appointed by him, should conduct the investigation of the second court, is nowhere said. Further on, indeed, at the end of the fifth canon, these words occur: “The Pope shall do what seems to him good;” but neither by this are we to understand that the Pope should himself conduct the second investigation, but that he should decide whether or not to send his own legates to the court of appeal.
There remains one more point on which I cannot agree with the Ballerini and Palma. They have conceded to the Gallicans that the third canon does not speak of the actual appeal, but only of the revision, and that the appeal is first treated of in the fourth and fifth canons. The first ground for this concession is their embarrassment as to the words: Si vobis placet , Sancti Petri Apostoli memoriam honoremus . They were of opinion that these words meant that a prerogative was here granted to the Pope which he had not de jure , but only as a matter of courtesy, and therefore that this prerogative could not be the right of appeal which was juris divini . They said, therefore, that a fresh examination of the complaint, that is, a revision, might have taken place at a new and greater synod, even without the papal intervention, as is clear from the fourteenth Antiochian canon; but that the Synod of Sardica had also in this, case given to the Pope the power of intervention, in order that the revision might more surely take place. I believe, however, that this expedient is unnecessary: the words memoriam … honoremus are, as we showed above, in nowise so dangerous; while the third and fifth canons agree so well together, that if in the latter a real appeal is meant, then the former must have the same meaning. The fifth canon treats of the sentence of the first court of comprovincials as does the third canon. The fifth canon, like the third, treats of the appeal from it to the Pope. In the fourth canon the Pope appoints bishops from the neighboring province as judges in the second court, as in the third canon. And yet they say that the fifth canon speaks of a real appeal, and not the third, simply because, according to the fifth canon, the condemned bishop himself demands the interposition of Rome, while, according to the third, this is done by the judges of the first court at the desire of the bishop!
This is not credible. Besides this, the appeal of Palma and the Ballerini to the fourteenth Antiochian canon is most infelicitous. First, because that canon only allows a second investigation in case of the judges of the first court (the comprovincials) being divided among themselves, while in the case of their being unanimous, the fifteenth canon of Antioch expressly forbids it. On the other hand, the Sardican canon allows the right of appeal in all cases, and therefore in the case of the sentence of the first court having been given unanimously. Thus the Sardican canon allows what the Antiochian canon forbids, and it is wrong to conclude that a second investigation was already sanctioned by the fourteenth Antiochian canon. Secondly, according to the fourteenth Antiochian canon, the court of appeal was again to consist of the comprovincial bishops, i .e . of the same judges as the first court, with only the addition of a few foreign bishops. This second court ordered by the Antiochian Synod is therefore quite different from that of which the Sardican canon treats; and consequently it is not correct to say that a second court of that description was already ordered by the Synod of Antioch. Moreover, thirdly, according to the third canon also, the Pope was not only to decide as to the necessity or not of a second court, but was himself to name the judges who were to form it, as in the fifth canon.
Thus this second court, as we have before shown in refuting the Gallicans, was not to be a foreign one, but one appointed by the Pope, that is, his own court.
The Ballerini and Palma have, besides, a still further reason for supposing the third canon not to refer to the actual appeal, and this lies in their interpretation of the fourth canon. As we showed just now, they gave it this meaning, that even after the sentence of the second court of bishops from the neighboring province, another appeal to Rome might take place, and that in this case the Pope alone should decide. But if they wanted to discover here an appeal after the sentence of the second court, they could not venture to interpret the third canon also of an actual appeal, or they would have been involved in the absurdity of two appeals to Rome, so that the Pope, having pronounced judgment in the second court, would have been again appealed to in the third court; thus the appeal would have been from the Pope to himself.
In order to avoid this, and not to abandon the meaning given by themselves to the fourth canon, it was necessary for them not to recognize any actual appeal in the third canon. They were bent, however, on maintaining their explanation of the fourth canon, in order to gain some ground for the assertion that the Pope might also himself decide at Rome, since they, quite arbitrarily, interpreted the words already mentioned at the end of the fourth canon, eja We meet with this mediaeval alteration of the Sardican |
