The Church of England cleared from the charge of Schism: Upon Testimonies of Councils and Fathers of the first six centuriesAllies, T. W. (Thomas William)
Religion
The Church of England cleared from the charge of Schism: Upon Testimonies of Councils and Fathers of the first six centuries
Allies, T. W. (Thomas William)
Continuity of the church -- Anglican Communion; Episcopacy -- History of Doctrines; Papacy -- History -- To 1309
statutes of the Fathers' Canons, which many years ago were based on
spiritual decrees in the city of Nicea; so that if any one desires to
decree anything against them, he will rather lessen himself than injure
them. _And if these are kept uninjured, as it behoves, by all Pontiffs,
there will be tranquil peace and firm concord through all the Churches.
There will be no dissensions concerning the degree of honours; no contests
about ordinations; no doubts about privileges; no conflicts about the
usurpation of another's right; but under the equal law of charity, both
men's minds and duties will be kept in the due order_; and he will be truly
great, who shall be alien from all ambition, according to the Lord's words,
'Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister, &c.'" But to
Anatolius, thus:--"Those[102] holy and venerable Fathers, who in the Nicene
city established laws of ecclesiastical Canons, _which are to last to the
end of the world_, when the sacrilegious Arius with his impiety was
condemned, live both with us and in the whole world by their constitutions;
and if anything anywhere is presumed upon contrary to what they appointed,
it is without delay annulled, &c."
But _what_ the violation was he likewise states: it is not any wrong done
to his own see personally. He says to the Empress: "But[103] what doth the
prelate of the Church of Constantinople desire more than he hath obtained?
Or what will satisfy him, if the magnificence and glory of so great a city
satisfy him not? It is too proud and immoderate to go beyond one's own
limits, and, trampling on antiquity, to wish to seize on another's right.
And, in order to increase the dignity of one, to impugn the primacy of so
many Metropolitans; and to carry a new war of disturbance into quiet
provinces, settled long ago by the moderation of the holy Nicene Council,"
&c.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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