384

Three Patriarchates abolished.

[CENT. 7. of Theodore foon followed; but his rival, the archdeacon Pafchal, was with great difficulty compelled to refign his pretenfions. An accufation of magic was, however, foon preferred against the turbulent priest, who was, in confequence of the charge, depofed from his ftation in the Church, and condemned to spend the remainder of his life in a monaftery, forgotten, or remembered with abhorrence, by a credulous and fuperftitious people.

The patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerufalem, which had already fuffered repeated defalcations of power, were during this century abolished, by the conquefts of the victorious Saracens. Nominal bishops * were indeed appointed to thofe fees, which had been fubjected to the power of the Muffulmans: but toleration was not the virtue of the followers of Mahomet; and, however the Arabian caliphs might be difpofed to favour those fects by whom their conquests had been originally advanced, the orthodox Christians were feverely oppreffed, and the prelates ftrictly prohibited from the exercife of the epifcopal function in their dioceses.

* Called Bishops in partibus infidelium.

CHAP.

[ 385 ]

CHAP. II.

OF GOVERNMENT, DOCTRINE, RITES, AND CEREMONIES IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY.

Council affembled for the Reformation of the Clergy-Clergy permitted to retain their Wives-Superftitious Obfervances in the Celebration of the Lord's Supper-Efficacy of Maffes afferted-Pilgrimages-Divination-Privileges of Monks extended-Boniface IV. converts his House into a Monaftery -Licensed to perform every Clerical Function-Alteration in Nicene Creed-Capture and Recovery of the real CrossFestival of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross-Of the Annunciation-Depofition and Nativity of the blessed VirginChurch of All Saints-Rights of Sanctuary-Public Pen

ance.

N order to fupply the omiffions of the fixth ge

IN

neral council, and to provide a remedy for the diforders of the clergy, another council was convened at Conftantinople, by the emperor Juftinian II. in the year 692. This convention obtained the name of the Quinifext Council, from its being confidered as a fupplement to the two last general conventions; and the Council in Trulla, from the fynod being affembled in a chamber of the imperial palace, which was covered with a dome or cupola, and called Trulla. This council, amongst various regulations refpecting difcipline, was fo favourable to the marriages of the clergy, as to decree that the feparation of thofe of the clerical order,

VOL. I.

C c

who

386 Marriages of Clergy allowed. [CENT. 7. who were already married, from their wives, was contrary to the command of Chrift. It condemned the Saturday's faft, prohibited the reprefentation of Christ under the fymbol of a lamb, and raised the Byzantine patriarch to a rank equal with that of the pontiff of Rome. Several of the weftern churches refufed to confider as valid the acts of a fynod, which, while it confirmed the faith established by former councils, fo ftrongly militated against their opinions and practices; and the Quinifext council has been branded, by the zeal of the Romish adherents, with the names of an illegitimate council, a falfe fynod, a convention of malignants, and a diabolical council*. Its canons have, however, been always acknowledged and obferved by the Greek church.

The doctrines of religion underwent few alterations in this century: its fuperftitions were, however, generally received, and their authority confirmed by the fanction and approbation of the multitude. The different fathers of the western church vied with each other in the invention of new fuperftitions; and appear to have believed, that, in order to diftinguish themselves as the champions of the church, it was neceffary to refuse the aid of truth and reason in fupport of her caufe. The facrament of the Lord's Supper, which in the first ages of the church had been received with the utmoft plainness and fimplicity, was now accompa

* Fleury, ix. 110.

CENT. 7.] Contracts figned with sacred Wine. 387 nied by various fuperftitious obfervances prefcribed by the authority of councils. The council of Toledo, in the year 646, prohibited its being received after having eaten the fmallet particle of food; • and that of Trulla confirmed this decree, with the addition of a command to the receiver to take it ftretching out his hands in the form of a crofs.. The fuperftitious opinions refpecting the facrament. extended to the euchariftical wine, which, when mixed with ink, rendered the contract with which it was figned peculiarly facred. This element, the type of that blood which was fhed for the happiness of mankind, was made a vehicle for conveying the bitterest rancour and uncharitableness. When Theodore, the Roman pontiff, depofed and anathematized Pyrrhus, the Monothelite (who, to conciliate his favour, had publicly abjured his errors, but afterwards, upon finding that the protection of that pope was rather an impediment to his restoration to the Byzantine fee, from which he had been depofed, retracted what he had abjured), the haughty bifhop, calling for the facred chalice, dipped his envenomed pen in the confecrated wine, and then fubfcribed his condemnation, which was attended with every fuperftitious ceremony that could fill the mind with terror and dismay.

The fuperftitions which increased the power and authority of the clerical order, were at the fame time fruitful fources of wealth. The doctrine of

383

Pilgrimages.

[CENT. 7: the efficacy of maffes repeated by ecclefiaftics was ftrenuously tiged; and fuch was their supposed virtue, that they were thought capable of alleviating not only the pains, and refreshing the weariness, of the fick, but of procuring the captive a temporary release from his bonds. The doctrine of pilgrimage afforded a profit not lefs confiderable: fuch indeed were the benefits accruing from the vifits of devout pilgrims to the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul, that the Romish miffionaries exerted every art of perfuafion to induce their profelytes to avail themselves of a practice which so materially leffened the difficulties they must encounter in the paths to falvation. The people, the priest, and the monarch, were equally infected by the moft defperate fuperftition. When Heraclius had ravaged the Perfian dominions, he opened the book of the gofpels, in order to be determined, by the firft fentence which caught his eye, upon the choice of his winter quarters. Intereft, however, which is a stronger principle than superstition, in the minds of moft men, fometimes oppofed its dictates. When, upon the return of Conftantine Pogonatus from Sicily, a party of his fubjects would have perfuaded him to adopt his two brothers as partners in the empire, in imitation of the facred Trinity, the emperor was not fufficiently acceffible to fuch a reafon, to agree to the requeft. He put to death the projectors of a scheme fo abfurd; and com

*Jortin, Ecc. Remarks, vol. iv. p. 432.

manded