_Baronius_ to prove the Third Canon of the Council of _Constantinople_ supposititious[1141], are quite frivolous; and it is certain beyond all Dispute, that the Bishops of that City maintained ever after the Rank, which the above-mentioned Canon had given them. In a short time the Bishop of _Constantinople_, taking Advantage of that Canon, and of the Deference that is naturally paid to the Bishop of the Imperial City, extended his Jurisdiction over all the neighbouring Provinces, nay, and over the whole Eastern Empire, as we shall observe in the Sequel of this History. [Sidenote: _The Council writes to the Western Bishops._] The Canons of this Council were, without all doubt, sent, according to Custom, to the Western Bishops for their Approbation, probably with the Letter which the Council writ to them concerning the Heresy of _Apollinaris_[1142]. And yet Pope _Leo_ the Great writes, that the Third Canon was never notified to the Church of _Rome_[1143]; and _Gregory_ the Great, that the Canon condemning the _Eudoxians_, which was the first, had never been received at _Rome_[1144]: but _Gregory_ perhaps meant nothing else, than that the Canon he mentions was of no Authority at _Rome_. As for _Leo_, it is hard to conceive what he meant by saying, that the Third Canon was not known to the Church of _Rome_; for he could not but know, that the Bishop of _Constantinople_ held the Second Rank in the Church, and the First in the East, since his own Legates, whose Conduct he intirely approved of, owned him to have an indisputable Right to that Rank; nay, _Eusebius_ Bishop of _Dorylæum_ in _Phrygia_ maintained, that it was with the Consent and Approbation of _Leo_ himself that the See of _Constantinople_ enjoyed that Honour. [Sidenote: _The Authority of this Council among the_ Greeks,]