Chap. 3. ly, fays, that (17) Laity and Clergy, Learned Quest12 and Unlearned, all Ages, Sects, and Degrees of Men, Women, and Children of WHOLE CHRISTENDOM have been at once drown'd in abominable Idolatry, for the Space of EIGHt hundred YEARS AND MORE. And it is now Time to leave Waldo, and his Affociate Beggars. Twelfth QUESTION. Did the Greeks, before their Schifm, own jse ANSWER, T HEY did. The Greek Schifm was begun, after the middle of the ninth Century, by Photius, the most learned, as well as the most villanous, Man of his Age, who was wicked enough to ufurp the See of Conftantinople, an. 858, whilft its Bifhop S. Ignatius was living. And when the Pope excommunicated him for it, he maintain'd his Ufurpation by Schifm, an. 863, 864. But this Schifm was not of any long Continuance for it almoft died with Photius. After near two hundred Years, Michael Cerularius, Bishop of Constantinople, was more Successful in renewing it, an. 1053. But the Greeks, long before this, had own'd the Pope's Supremacy. Firft, The General and great Council at Calcedon an. 451, of five hundred and twenty Pre (17) Homily against Peril of Idolatry. Part 3d. p. 251. an. 1687. Prelates, in the Relation of their Tranfactions Chap. 3. to S. Leo, fays: (1) For, if where two or three Quelt 12 are affembled in his Name, Christ has promis'd to be there in the midst of them; how much more efpecially was be with five hundred and twenty Bilhops, - over whom you were fet, as A HEAD OVER THE MEMBERS, in those who reprefented your Place. They add, concerning Diofcorus, the wicked Bishop of Alexandria, (2) Moreover, he let bis Madness even loofe against him, WHO WAS BY OUR SAVIOUR INTRUSTED WITH THE CARE OF THE VINEYARD, that is, againft your Holinefs. They conclude in this Manner : (3) We defire you to bonour our Judgment with your Der *crees. And as we have justly agreed wITH OUR HEAD: So may your Highness grant To Us YOUR CHILDREN that which is fitting. Thefe words fhew us, what the Oriental Bifhops, affembled at Constantinople an. 382. (which was the Year after the fecond general Council) meant, when writing to the Western Bihops, and chiefly to Pope Damafus, they thank'd Ρ 4 (1) Ἐι γὰρ ὅπε εισὶ δύο ἢ τρεις συνηγμένοι εἰς τὸ αυτό ὄνομα, ἐκεῖ ἔφη ειναι ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶν· πόσην περὶ πεντακο σίες εικοσιν ἱερέας τὴν οικείωσιν ἐπεδείκνυτο.. . . . ὧν τ μὲν, ὡς κεφαλὴ μελῶν, ἡγεμόνευες, ἐν τοῖς τὴν σὴν τάξιν ἐπέχεσι, τὴν ἔννοιαν ἐπιδεικνύμενG, In Relatione ad Leonem Rapam. T. 4. Conc. Lab. p. 834. D. Ε. (2) Επ και E. Ἔπ κατ' αυτό το τῆς ἀμπέλι τὴν φυλακὴν, παρὰ τὸ Σω Θ, ἐπιτε ραμμένο, τὴν μανίαν ἐξέτεινε, λέγομεν δὴς τῆς στις οσιότη, . 835. Α. Β. (3) παρακαλέμεν τίινυν, ήμησον καὶ ταῖς σαῖς ψήφοις τὴν κρίσιν, ὥσπερ ἡμᾶς τὰ κεφαλῇ τὴν ἐν τοῖς καλοῖς συμφωνίαν εισενηνόχαμεν, ὕτω καὶ ἡ κορυφὴ τοῖς παισὶν ἀναπληρώσοι τὸ πρέπον, ρ. 838. D. E. 2 Chap. 3. thank'd him (4) for calling them, AS HIS OWN Quefti 2 MEMBERS, to the Council then held at Rome : And why Pope Damafus, in the Infcription of his Letter to them, calls them twice," his (5) MOST HONOURABLE CHILDren. They allo give us the Reafon, why, in the general Council held at Ephefus an. 431,no one in the Council contradicted the Pope's Legate, when he call'd S. Peter THE (6) HEAD of the Apoftles, Pope Celeftin (who was then at Rome) (7) THE HEAD of the Council. Secondly, Photius, in his Letters to Pope Nicolas the firft, as well as in his Synods, is very Zealous, that the Seventh general Council, held at Nicea an. 787, may be efteem'd (as indeed it is) of equal Authority with the other Six: Now, in the fecond Action of this Council, the Letters of Pope Hadrian the firft were read with Applaufe. In which he affirms, that his See (8) is THE HEAD OF THE WHOLE CHURCH. That it has (9) a distinguishing Primacy over the Earth, and is THE HEAD OF THE WHOLE CHURCH OF GOD. So that S. (10) Peter always was, and is ftill Supreme. Thirdly, (4) ἡμᾶς ὡς οικεία μέλη προσεκαλέσασθε, Tom. 2. Conc. p. 962. C. D. (5) υιοί τιμιώτατοι Ibid. p. 866. Ε. p. 867 D. Ε. (6) ΠέτρΘ ὁ ἔξαρχΘ καὶ κεφαλὴ τῶν Αποςόλων, Αθ. 3 p. 625. Α. Β. Τom. 3. (7) Ανακ νωσκομένων ὑμῖν τῶν γραμμάτων τὰ ἁγία καὶ μακαείε παπα τε ἡμῶν, τὰ ἅγια μέλη, τῇ ἁγίᾳ κεφαλῇ, ταῖς ἁγίοις εκβο ήσεσιν ἐνηνόχατε, Αθ. 2. p. 620. Β. (3) Τῷ ἡμετέρω αποςολικῷ θρόνῳ, ὅσις ἐς, κεφαλὴ πασῶν τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν 78 08, Epift. ad Taras. T. 7. Conc. p.125 D. E. (9) σὺ ἔι ΠετρΘ θεόν εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν ἐικομέ * ὁ τὴν πρωτέυων διαλάμπει, και κεφαλὴ πατῶν τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν τῇ θεῖ ὑπάρχει, ibid. (1ο) τῷ τῷ κυρίς προστάγματα ποιμαίνων τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, ἐκράτησε πάντοτε, καὶ κρατεῖ τὴν ἀρχήν. Ibid. Thirdly, Dr. (11) Heylin confeffes, that the Chap. 3. Bishops of Rome, from Pope Boniface the third Queft 12 an. 606, have challeng'd a Supremacy OVER ALL THE CHURCH. This indeed is true: But he dates the Supremacy too low. For Pope Boniface never pretended to a more extenfive Power, than he had practis'd who writ with fo much Zeal against the Title of Oecumenical Patriarch: I mean his next Predeceffor, but one, the humble S. Gregory, who died in the Year 604, and whom Dr. Barrow calls (12) a prudent, meek and holy Man. However Doctor Heylin's Account fhews Sufficiently, that the Greeks had fubmitted to the Pope's Supremacy, long before their feparation from Rome. For Photius's Schifm began not, till after the Year 860: that is, not till above two hundred and fifty Years after the Death of Pope Boniface the III. So that the Greeks, even in the Proteftant System, had communicated with the Pope, as Head of the Church, above two hundred and fifty Years before their Schifm. And during this Time, the Greeks and Latins had met in the Sixth and Seventh general Council: in the Sixth at Conftantinople an. 680, and in the Seventh at Nicea an. 787; when the Pope according to Dr. Heylin, had affum'd a Supremacy over the whole Church above a hundred and fourscore Years. Yet of this the Greeks make no Complaints, either in the faid general Councils, or in the eighth; which was held against Photius at Conftantinople, an. 869. Fourthly, (11) Cofmogr. Lib. 1. p. 91. (12) Supremacy p. 18. Chap. 3. Fourthly, As no Reformer was ever more Questi 2 vers'd in Antiquity than Photius, fo no one had ever a greater fpleen against the Pope, than he. We might therefore reasonably expect, if what our Adverfaries tell us be true, that the Supremacy of the Roman See is manifeft Ufurpation, without any Ground in Antiquity, that it was the chief Caufe of Photius's Schifm. But it was fo far from being the chief Cause of the Rupture, that it had no Influence at all upon it. Later Greeks indeed deny the Pope's Supremacy (for when will Rebels own the Authority, from which they revolt ?) but neither Photius nor Cerularius excepted against it, in any of all the trifling Objections, by which they endeavour'd to justify their Reformation, Photius, in a circular (13) Letter to the Eastern Patriarchs an. 866, to draw them into Schifm with him, accufes the Latins of these five Errors, as he calls them : ift. That they fast on Saturdays. 2dly, That they eat milk, cheeft, and butter, in the first Week of Lent. 3dly, That, with them, marry'd Men, after they have receiv'd H. Orders, are not permitted to use their Wives. (Photius fays, they affronted the Greeks for having a contrary Difcipline. But this was his Fiction only.) 4thly. That their Bifhops re-anoint those, who had been confirm'd by Priests. 5thly, That they have corrupted the Creed, by faying, that the H. Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. (13) Apud Baron. ad an. 863, §. 34. &c. Cerula |