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THE FIRST ŒCUMENICAL
placed before him; but he did not incline to sit down till the bishops nodded assent to him.[1] After the emperor, all the rest seated themselves. Then that bishop, who occupied the first scat on the emperor's right,[2] arose and delivered an oration in
- ↑ Sozomen says the emperor motioned to the members to be seated, after seating himself. He says, also, the palace was a large and beautiful edifice.
- ↑ It would seem probable, that he, who is here referred to, was the first in authority at the Council, after the emperor. If it was not the writer, himself, why does he withhold the name of so prominent a man? Theodoret says,—"The great Eustathius, bishop of Antioch, who, upon the death of Philogonius, had been appointed his successor by the unanimous suffrages of the priests and of the people, and of believers, was the first to speak." Now this is doubted, for two reasons—first, because Sozomen says it was Eusebius Pamphilus; and if it had not been Eusebius, himself, he would not have withheld the orator's name, where he says, he, who had the first seat on the emperor's right, spoke first; secondly, because another error is apparent in the statement of Theodoret, namely, there was a bishop Paulinus between Philogonius and Eustathius, the latter of whom had previously been bishop of Berea in Syria; and he, who errs in the one part, may in the other. Gelasius says [book ii. chap. 5],—"Hosius occupied the first seat next to Constantine" [probably on the left] "in the name of Pope Silvester." Finally, to quote the opinion of Dr. Anthony Pagi, editor of Baronius [edition of Lucca, 1739], in his own language, as nearly as I can translate it,—"If there were any question as to the esteem and authority in which any one was held, by the emperor, at this Synod, verily Eusebius of Cæsarea, either surpassed Osius [that is, Hosius], or fully equalled him." However, by this statement, he perhaps does not intend to deny the former assertion of Baronius, that Hosius was presiding in the place of the pope, Silvester. If he was sole president, it is unaccountable that he should not have had the most honorable seat on the right of the emperor, which certainly was not the fact. Gregory, of Cæsarea in Cappadocia, in an oration upon the fathers of the Nicene Synod, declares that it was neither Eusebius nor Eustathius who delivered the first speech (this is found in the writings of Theodore, of Mopsuestia), but Alexander of Alexandria.—Baron, iv. 105.
Constantine, himself, was chief President, certainly, on this great occasion, when he occupied the golden chair. Probably on one side of the emperor sat his Western favorite, Hosius, and on the other side his Eastern favorite, Eusebius, as the latter has several times told us. The chair might have been partially of wood, but it was "wrought with gold."
