THE EMPEROR, AND NOT THE POPE, CONVENED COUNCILS. 241 gious bishops, to cut off heresies as they sprung up, and by the right faith, sincerely preached, to keep the holy church of God in peace."' And to do this was so proper to the emperors, that when Ruffin affirmed St Hilary to have been excommunicated in a synoiz, St Jerome, to confute him, asked, "Tell me what emperor com- manded this synod to be congregated ? "' implying it to be illegal or impossible that a synod should be congregated without the imperial command. Particularly, Eusebius says of the first Christian emperor, that " as a common bishop appointed by God, he summoned synods of God's ministers."3 So he " commandeda great numberof bishops to meet at Arles," for decision of the Donatists' cause; so he also " commanded" the bishops from all quarters to meet at Tyre, for examination of the affairs concerning Athanasius. And that he con- vocated the great synod of Nice, the first and most renowned of all general synods, all thehistorians agree, he himselfaffirmed, [and] the fathers thereof in their synodical remonstrances avowed; as we shall hereafter, in remarking on the passages of that synod, show. The same course his son Constantius followed, without impedi- ment; for although he was a favourer of the Arian party, yet the catholic bishops readily at his call assembled in the great synods of Sardica,' of Ariminum,' of Seleucia,' of Sirmium,' of Milan,' &c., which he, out of a great zeal to compose dissensions among the bishops, convocateti. After him the Emperor Valentinian, understanding of dissensions about divine matters, to compose them indicted a synod in Illyricum.' Awhile after, for settlement of the Christian state (which had been greatly disturbed by the persecution of Julian and of Valens, Semper studium fuit orthodoxis et pifs imperatoribus, pro tempore exortas hsereses per congregationem religiosissimorum episcoporum amputare, et recta Me sincere prse- dicata in pace sanctam Dei ecclesiam custodire, &c.Tustin. inSyn. v.. Collat. i. p. 209, Greece, p. 368, magis emphatice. 2 Doce ... quis imperator hanc synodum jusserit congregari ? Hier. 9 Oit n; xoná; i riaxa,ros Ix 'sot xaêlordaavos avvá1au, TWV Tort Os, XIITOlys;S cuvSxp)rar. Euseb. de Vit. Const. I. 44. rasioraag ix 8,xgápav xx) dpavAñrwv rósxs ixroxóorov; ai; rfly 'Apaaarssoiar sróary cvvaa Aary Éxaas6axixsv.Euseb. Hast. x. 5, .Rs'. ad Chrestum. "Ad Arelatensiumcivitatem piissimi imperatoris voluntate adducti," say the fathers in their epistle to Pope Sylvester himself. Vid. Euseb. de Vit. Const., lib. iv. cap. 41_43, et Seer. i. 28. IIp2rirxEsv sis Maplixxv evvópalss7v ivrroxásravg.Theod. ii.4; Sox. iii. 11; Socr. ii. 16, 20; Athan., tom. i. p. 761; Hil. inFragm. p. . Jubet ex toto orbe apud Sardicam episcopos congregari. Sulp. ii. 52. s "Ex Ta Tñ, Tog Osog xaasÚOamg, xai rqs TsIS abetßNxs 9rpacrdypoarag, &c. Syn. Arim., Ep. ad Const., Socr. ii. 37. 9 Socr. ii. 39. "Hvyssmnixr rá ßaoraémg ixixavoa apkraypex.Ann. 381. 7 '0 /3aaraaú, oúvalov i,r;cxlsrmv iv Tÿi Trppuá yavívAar ixéasvos Socr. ii. 29; Sox. iv. 6. 8 npóoraypca ll sr Tog ßaoraimg Is MsSraaávap ,rias, srarsioiar rqv cnnlov.Socr. i. 36; Sox. iv. 9. 9 'Es. pig rq 'Iaavprxd oúvolos yar:oia zp.cirala Theod. iv. 7. VOL. L 16
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