him in this work, by restoring the estates which the Roman Church possessed in the East, and by checking the enterprises of the Patriarch Michael, whom he accuses of ambitious projects against the churches of Alexandria and Antioch.
In his letter to Michael Cerularius, Leo IX. first acknowledges the receipt of the letters written to him by that Patriarch in favour of a pacification. "We shall have peace," he tells him, "if you will, in future, abstain from overstepping the boundaries set up by the Fathers." This is just what the Eastern Church said to the Papacy. Leo then finds fault with Michael for his ambition, his luxury, and his wealth. Did such blame fall with a good grace from the mouth of a Pope? He adds, "What a detestable, lamentable, sacrilegious usurpation is yours, when in speech and in writing you call yourself universal Patriarch!" Then he mentions the opposition of St. Gregory to this title; and this brings him to the pretended rights of the Church of Rome. "The Roman Church," he says, "is not, as you allege, a local church; is she not the head and mother? How could she be this if she had neither members nor children? We proclaim this openly because we believe it firmly; the Roman Church is so little a local church, that in all the world, no nation which presumes to disagree with her can any longer be regarded as belonging to the Church. It is thenceforth only a conventicle of heretics — a synagogue of Satan! Therefore let him who would glory in the name of a Christian cease to curse and attack the Roman Church; for it is vain in him to pretend to honour the Father of the family if he dishonours his spouse!"
Is it surprising that the Eastern Church energetically protested against this sacrilegious doctrine?
Cardinal Humbert was chief of the legates of Leo IX., who were bearers of these letters. The Emperor
