OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 269 observance ofdecrees, without which theywould in effect signifylittle because also, commonly, the decrees of synods in a manner re- trenched some part of the royal prerogative, translating or imparting to others causes before appropriated to his jurisdiction (as in the case of appeals, and of prohibiting addresses to court, ordered in the Sar- dicanand other synods, of exempting clergymen from secular juris- diction, from taxes and common burdens, &c.); which ought not to be done without his licence and authority. So that the oriental bishops had good reason to tell the emperor that " it was impossible without his authority to order the matters under consideration with good law and order." It is no wise reasonable that any other should have this power, it being inconsistent with public peace that in one state there should be two legislative powers, which might clash the one with the other, the one enacting sanctions prejudicial to the interest and will of the other: wherefore the pope, being then a citizen of Rome, and a sub- ject to theemperor, could not have a legislative power, or a negative vote in synods, but that wholly belonged to the imperial authority. But it is opposed, that some synods have been declared invalid for want of the pope's confirmation; for to the decrees of the synod at Ariminum it was excepted that theywere null, because the bishop of Rome did not consent to them.' " Therecould not," say the Roman synod, in Theodoret, " be any prejudice from the number of those assembled in Ariminum, neither the Roman bishop, whose suffrage ought first to have been received, nor Vicentius, who for, so many years held his episcopacy blameless, nor others, agreeing to such things."3 To which exception [objection] I answer, that, - 1. That which is alleged against the synod of Ariminum is, not the defect of the pope's confirmation subsequent, but of his consent and concurrence before it or in it; which is very reasonable, because he had a right to be present and to concur in all such assemblages, especially being so eminent a bishop.' 2. The same exception every bishop might allege, all having a like right and common interest to vote in those assemblies. 3. Accordingly, the dissent of other bishops, particularly of those eminent in dignity or merit, is also alleged in exception; which t'AL',Varov y'ap árç ñyoÚpctAa óÌxa To; Úpctmi:bU zpCGmouç [TdxT/çs zai irAÉçp<o)s mm arpoxt%- pctva TvoraAñvar Rel. Orient. ad imp. Act. Syn. iJph. p. 372. 2 Tmv iv'Apr,xivá Lovtvavmiar maúmns dzúpmv ávmav, he pc»ms'Pvptaiav iatozóm'm, pcñTt mrov KÀñ.arY çUYAtpcivWr aimarç, xai ís m'oJJ.mv mm"r aúmáAt Ovrt.lAavmav áarapsoBirmav Taïç TáTt vraj aimmv B,SaypciratsSoz. vi. 23. Ouâi yáp mpóxpiped mt >rávr>An ysrioAat úm'ó Torr, hprApeav ärv b 'Aprpeivá evvaxAivrav, óoráms ovviomnzs, per'imt Torv `Porpcaiwv im'toxáorov, oú Yrpó m'ávmmY ïóst TY yvúrptnv ixóiÿavBa.y oür! OÚIxtYT%av Öç iai mooOÚTatç Émt4/ mmr áart4zaari7v 6Tar%Aas Oms TGlY áa.lav ToÌç Tnlaú- Torç ovyzamaAspcivav.Theod. ii. 22. 4 Pope Liberius being absent, detained from it by violence in banishment.
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