280 NO TRACES OE THIS POWER IN THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. ceedings of their brother was tarn for an iaXorpioETraxowfa, a prag- matical intrusion upon another's business, and an invasion of that liberty which belonged to each bishop by the grant of our Lord and the nature of his office; as by those passages of St Cyprian, and the declaration of the synod with him, appears. 4. In cases needing decision for the public good of the church, the law and custom of the church, confirmed by the Nicene synod (can. v.), ordered that jurisdiction should be exercised, and all causes finally determined, in each province; so that no regard is had to the pope, no exception in favour of him being expressed or im- plied. Which constitution, if we believe Pope Leo himself, cannot in any case, by any power, be revoked or infringed.' That is most expressly confirmed by the synod of Antioch, in the code of the universal church: `E If any bishop accused of certain crimes shall be condemned by all the bishops in the province, and all shall unanimously vote against him, he shall not bejudged again by others; but the unanimous sentence of the bishops of the pro- vince shall remain valid. "' Here is no consideration or exception of the pope. 5. Accordingly, in practice, synods, without regard or recourse to the pope, judged bishops upon offences charged against them. 6. The execution of those judgments was intrusted to metropoli- tan bishops, or had effect by the people's consent; for it being de- clared that any bishop had incurred condemnation, the people pre- sently deserted him. Every bishop was obliged to confer his part to the execution, as Pope Gelasius affirms.' 7. If the pope had such judicial power, seeing there were from the beginning so many occasions of exercising it, there would have been extant in history many clear instances of it; but few can be alleged, and those, as we shall see, impertinent or insufficient. 8. Divers synods (great and smaller) made sanctions contrary to this pretence of the pope, appointing the decision of causes to be terminated in each diocese, and prohibiting appeals to him; which they would not have done if the pope hadoriginally, or according to common law and custom, a supremejudicial power. 1 In venerabilis concilii Niceni contumelia sæpe versatus alienarum tibi provincia- rum jura temerariorapuisti.P. Felix Acedo., apud Baron. ann. 484, § 17. 2 EI.ro iaiexaor,e i,rí r,,,, [yxa.ñ(vaor xaTnyo,,nAs a xprhhín úvró vrá,rwv T'v iv E4 ivrapxia i rEoxbvrwv, TíYTEÇ TE ipprovOr (oía, war' abroü ÉZEVÉyxoIEY '4ñrov, Taücov (LnXTr crap' iTÉpois arxáCaAal á.'.Zá'AAMY is,:aíav Tfjv a(Lfpa,o IZY É9rf íc 6 rapxía; iiriaaítrwv ágrípaarv. Sye. Ant., can. xvi. 8 Quod non solum prxsuli apostolico facere licet, sed cuicunque pontifici, ut quos- libet et quemlibet locum, secundum regulam hæreseos ipsius ante damnataa, a catho- lica communion discernant. P. Gelas. I., Ep. iv.
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