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the arguments of Julian, who claimed the Greek Fathers for his side, by an appeal to the Greek text of Chrysostom. On the other hand, he does not, even in the de Trinitate (written 400‒416: "juvenis inchoavi senex edidi" ), spontaneously build much upon Greek theology. The Nicene Creed, which he accepted of course ex animo, is but seldom referred to in that work; of the "Constantinopolitan" Creed he shews no knowledge. The de Trinitate is Western in the texture of its thought, true to the original sense of the ὁμοούσιον, a formula imposed on the Eastern church at Nicaea by Western influences (see the present writer's Prolegomena to Athanasius in Nic. Lib. IV. p. xxxii., etc.) in the interest of the Divine Unity. Augustine paves the way, by his insistence on the doctrine of the One Personal God, for the scholastic doctrine of the Una Res, the specifically Western product of Trinitarian theology. The same holds good of Christology. At Chalcedon, Leo's tome, which shews the profound influence of Augustine, carried the day in the teeth of the dominant tone of Greek Christology; and it is interesting to find Theodoret, who of all Greek churchmen had most reason to welcome the result, quoting Ambrose and Augustine as authorities in his dogmatic Dialogues—an exception to the general indifference of the East to Latin theologians. Another exception, due in part to independent controversial reasons, is the protest of Leontius and the "Scythic monks," under Justinian, against the "semi-Pelagianism" of Faustus of Reii; Leontius shews some knowledge, direct or second-hand, of Augustine (Loofs's Leontius, pp. 231 ff.). Augustine's influence, then, on Greek Christianity has been very slight. But although he has powerfully contributed to the divergence in thought and feeling of Latin Christianity from Greek, he is personally unconscious of any such tendency. Of his own knowledge of Greek he speaks slightingly; Gibbon (c. xxiii.²⁸) and others take him strictly at his word, but Reuter (pp. 179, etc.) shews that we must rate it somewhat more highly than Augustine himself does.

§ 12. Augustine and the Constitution of the Church. The Roman See.—Augustine's view of the relation of the church to the civil power (see above, § 9) prepared the way for the medieval system. But in Augustine's hands the theory lacked elements indispensable for its practical application. Not only did his conception of the church hover between the transcendental spiritual ideal and the empirical, tangible organization, but his conception of the organization of the visible church itself lacked that practical precision without which the church could assert no effective claim to control the secular arm. To the authority of the church he surrendered himself with passionate affection. "I should not believe in the Gospel," he wrote in the early days of his episcopate, "did not the authority of the Catholic church compel me" (c. Ep. Fund. 6, in A.D. 397). But this was the immanent authority which the church by her life, creed, and worship exercised upon his soul, rather than her official decisions. These, again, he accepted with all his heart. But what was the ultimate organ of the church's authority?

Where was its centre? What was the final standard of appeal? To these questions it is hard to obtain from Augustine a definite answer. Augustine was not an ecclesiastical statesman. His interest was above all in personal religion, and therefore, in a secondary degree, in doctrine and discipline. Although he takes for granted the Cyprianic view of the episcopal office, he does not insist upon it with special emphasis; he emphasises, on the other hand, in a marked manner, the universal priesthood of Christians. His insistence on the indelible character of the priestly ordination is not in the interest of "sacerdotalism," but as against the spiritual value of valid but schismatical orders (supra, § 8, c). He accepts the authority of Nicaea (the only strictly general council known to him), but as to the authority of other councils his language is ambiguous. He disallows Julian's appeal to a general council on the ground that "the cause is finished" by "a competent judgment of bishops" (c. Jul. III. 5). But in another passage (supra, § 10, a, fin.) he is understood to say, "the cause is finished" by two African councils, plus "rescripts from the apostolic see." What is his real view of the supreme organ of church authority?

(a) The Apostles in their lifetime were the leaders, "principes" (Ps. lxvii.²⁶ Vulg.; see Enarr. in loc.), and "patres" (Ps. lxiv.¹⁷ and Enarr.); now that they are gone, we have their filii in their place, the bishops, who are principes super omnem terram. The Apostles still live on in the bishops, who are accordingly the vehicle of the supreme authority of the church. The Donatist bishops cannot claim this status (Ep. 53³, etc.), because they are out of communion with the apostolic churches. Hence (b) the unity and continuity of the episcopate are essential to its Apostolic rank. In this unity even mali praepositi are authoritative, "non enim sua sunt quae dicunt, sed Dei, qui in cathedra unitatis doctrinam posuit veritatis" (Ep. 105¹⁶). This is the old Cyprianic doctrine, which Augustine, like Cyprian, finds in the symbolic foundation of the Church upon Peter, who represents the whole body. All bishops are equal; there is no Episcopus episcoporum (de Bapt. III. 5, VI. 9, quoting Cyprian). But as Peter represented his co-equal colleagues, the Apostles, so his successors in the Roman see represent their co-equal colleagues the bishops (cf. ad Classic. in Ep. 250, ad fin. . . . "in concilio nostro agere cupio, et si opus fuerit ad Sedem Apost. scribere, ut . . . quid sequi debeamus communi omnium auctoritate . . . firmetur"). All bishops alike hold the cathedra unitatis, all alike trace their succession to one or other of the Apostles. This is more easily traceable in some cases (i.e. the churches quibus Apostoli scripserunt) than in others, but most obvious in the Roman see, whose bishops, from the sedes (i.e. episcopate, c. Ep. Fund. 5; cf. "primae sedis episcopus," supra, § 8; init.) of Peter himself, have followed one another in a succession known to all (Psalm c. Donat. sub fin., Ep. 53³). The successio sacerdotum at Rome and the successiones episcoporum generally (de Util. Cred. xvii. 35) are, to Augustine, co-ordinate and convertible ideas. Even with regard to the authority