Eph. v. 23 ("Christ is the Head of the Church") against us, and persist in representing our difference in the monstrous and libellous form that Catholics believe the Pope to be the Head of the Church, whereas the Orthodox say that it is Christ. And in rejecting the Roman Primacy, as we have seen (chap. ii.), they have forsaken the faith of their fathers. Their theologians, however, still hold to the not very old ideal of a Pentarchy. There should be five Patriarchs set over the Church universal, five Vicars of Christ for the whole Church. But this Pentarchy has been now ruthlessly lacerated. One Patriarch has altogether fallen away, and has become a prince of heresies. And, even among the faithful four, developments have happened that the seven councils never foresaw. Although the Orthodox are the Church that knows no change, the Fathers of the second Nicene Synod would greatly wonder at their organization now. Three Patriarchs are shadows, and there are nine national Churches cut away from the other. The overwhelming majority of the Orthodox obey no Patriarch at all. The conservative theologian would desire as an ideal, first, the conversion of the Roman Patriarch to Orthodoxy and the rejection of his arrogant claims; secondly, the restoration of Russia, Greece, Bulgaria, Roumania, &c., to the obedience of Constantinople. One hope is about as likely to be fulfilled as the other. But if that did happen, the Roman Patriarch would again take his place as the first of all bishops. His authority would stretch over all the West, but he would have no jurisdiction in the East. Second and almost equal to him in honour would come the Œcumenical Patriarch, ruling over vast lands, then the Pontiffs of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, and, lastly, the Church of Cyprus. How little this ideal really answers to primitive conditions we have seen in the history of the development of the patriarchates. If the Orthodox really want to go back to the state of the early Church, they must acknowledge the Roman Patriarch as supreme Pontiff everywhere and Patriarch of the West, then the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch, and that is all. Constantinople and Jerusalem would be nowhere. But in this case, as always, what they mean by antiquity is development up to a certain point, and then an arbitrary full stop. Meanwhile, their
