240 FIRST PAPALCLAIM CONVOCATION OF COUNCILS. of indicting, translating, and dissolving councils."' And long before him, " To the apostolical authority," said Pope Adrian I., " by our Lord's command, and by the merits of St Peter, and by the decrees of the holy canons and of the venerable fathers, a right and special power of convocating synodshas many wise been committed."' And yet before him, " The authority," says Pope Pelagius II., "of con- vocating synods has been delivered to the apostolical see by the sin- gular privilege of St Peter."3 But it is manifest that the pope cannot pretend to this power by virtue of any old ecclesiastical canon, none such being extant or pro- duced by him; nor can he allege any ancient custom, there having been no general synod before Constantine; and as to the practice from that time, it is very clear that for some ages the popes did not assume or exercise such a power, and that it was not taken for their due. Nothing can be more evident, and it were extreme impudence to deny, that the emperors, at their pleasure and by their authority, congregated all the first general synods; for so the oldest historians in most express terms report, so those princes in their edicts averred, so the synods themselves declared. The most just and pious empe- rors, who bore greatest love to the clergy, and had much respect for the pope, called them without scruple; it was deemed their right to do it, none remonstrated against their practice; the fathers in each synod referred thereto with allowance, and commonly with applause; popes themselves didnot contest their right, yea, commonlypetitioned them to exercise it. These things are so clear and so obvious that it is almost vain to prove them; I shall therefore but touch them. In general Socrates thus attests to the ancient practice: " We," says he, " continually include the emperors in our history, because upon them, ever since they became Christians,. ecclesiastical affairs have depended, and the greatest synods have been and are made by their appointment."' And Justinian, in his prefatory type to the fifth general council, begins thus: " It has been ever the care of pious and orthodox emperors, by the assembling of the most reli- t Distinct. svii Cum etiam solum Rom. pontiScempro tempore existentem, tanquam auctoritatem super omnia concilia habentem, conciliorum indicendorum, transferendo- rum ac dissolvendorum plenum jus et potestatem habere ... manifeste constet.Con. Later., sess. xi. p. 152, anno . 2 - Cui jussione Domini, et meritis B. Petri apostoli, singularis congregandarum synodorum authoritas, et sanctorum canonum ac venerandorum.patrum decretis multi- pliciter privata traditaest potestas. P.HadrianI., apud Bin. tom. v. p. 565, ann. 785. E Cum generalium synodorum convocandi auctoritas apostolicn sedi B. Petri singu- lars privilegio sit tradita, &c. P. Pelag. II., Ep. viii., Bin. tom. iv. p. 476, ann. 587. Qu. An hsec epistola sit Pelagii II. ? Negat Launoius. ' Movsxa;ç xai aoúç ßaorxs7s af ioanpia arspA,a¡.fávoaav, Mai áp' oú Xproaravi7'sry ñptavra, 46 44 ixx).hoiaç vrpáy¡taaa iprnra içr ai"r y, xai ai ¡tiyromar 2ívoSar vm aiPräv, yvá¡t l VETS- V001,71 xai yfverrar.Socr. v. Proceem.
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