Michael sent to Rome, it was to fulfil the rule established by the Fathers; that "without the consent of the Roman see and the Roman pontiff, nothing should be decided in controversies."
This principle was admitted in this sense, that no question of faith could be passed upon without the concurrence of the Western churches, which was commonly transmitted through the chief see of those countries; but not in this sense, that the consent of the individual see of Rome or of its bishop was absolutely necessary. Nicholas thus relied upon an errour, and improperly treated it as admitted by the Emperor of the East. Upon this latter point, at least, he knew what the truth was. He next attacks the election of Photius, relying on the canons of the Council of Sardica, and the Decretals of the Popes Celestine, Leo, and Gelasius, whom he calls doctors of the catholic faith. He might have considered that the faith was not in question, but only a mere matter of discipline, and that the East had not, and was entitled not to have, upon this point, the same discipline as the West. Adrian I. had forbidden in future to raise a layman to the episcopate. Nicholas relies on this as a precedent. But he does not consider whether Adrian had any better right than himself to make this prohibition. "It is our will," he adds, "that Ignatius should appear before our envoys, that he may declare why he has abandoned his people without regarding the rules of our predecessors Leo and Benedict. ... All the proceedings will then be transmitted to our superior authority, that we may judge by Apostolic authority what is to be done, in order that your church, which is now so shaken, may be firm and peaceful for the future."
Following a practice which was already established in the Roman Church, Nicholas did not permit his duties as supreme pontiff to divert his mind from the ma-
