[609:1] See Chapter vi. of this Section, p. 524.

[609:2] The old writer called Praedestinatus speaks of several synods held in reference to the Gnostics before the middle of the second century.  He may have had access to some documents now lost, but the testimony of a witness who lived in the fifth or sixth century is not of much value.

[610:1] “In toto orbe decretum est ut unus de presbyteris electus superponeretur caeteris.”—­Com. in Titum.

[610:2] Euseb. v. 16.

[610:3] See Routh’s “Reliquiae,” ii. 183, 195.

[611:1] Mosheim ("Commentaries” by Vidal, ii. 105) has made a vain attempt to set aside the Latin translation of this passage by Valesius, as he saw that it completely upsets his favourite theory.  But any one who carefully examines the Greek of Eusebius may see that the rendering complained of is quite correct.  It cannot be necessary to point out to the intelligent reader the transparent sophistry of nearly all that Mosheim has written on this subject.

[611:2] Euseb. v. 23.

[612:1] See Period II. sec. iii. chap. v. p. 509.

[612:2] Tertullian, “De Jejun,” c. xiii.

[613:1] “Aguntur praeterea per Graecias illa certis in locis concilia ex universis ecclesiis.”

[613:2] “Ipsa repraesentatio totius nominis Christiani magna veneratione celebratur.”  Mosheim argues from these words that the bishops attended these assemblies, not by right of office, but as representatives of the people!  He might, with more plausibility, have contended that they were held only once a year.  “Ista sollemnia quibus tunc praesens patrocinatus est sermo.”

[614:1] Euseb. v. 24.  Hippolytus complains of a bishop of Rome that he was “ignorant of the ecclesiastical rules,”—­a plain proof, not only that synods were in existence in the West, but also that a knowledge of canon law was considered an important accomplishment.  See Bunsen, ii. 223.

[614:2] Cyprian (Epist. lxxiii.) speaks of a large council held “many years” before his time “under Agrippinus,” one of his predecessors.  This bishop appears to have been contemporary with Tertullian.

[614:3] In his book “De Pudicitia,” c. 10, he speaks of the “Pastor” of Hermas as classed among apocryphal productions “ab omni concilio ecclesiarum”—­implying that it had been condemned by African councils, as well as others.

[614:4] The prevalence of the Montanistic spirit in Asia Minor may account for this.

[615:1] See Potter’s “Antiquities of Greece,” i. 106.

[615:2] See Mosheim’s “Commentaries,” cent. ii. sect. 22.

[616:1] “Per singulos annos seniores et praepositi in unum conveniamus.”

[616:2] Cyprian, Epist. lxxv. pp. 302, 303.

[616:3] In Africa, however, this arrangement was not established even in the fifth century.  There, the senior bishop still continued president.