in some sort his private chaplain. When from distant parts of the Empire cases of Church discipline were to be presented to the Government for its support, the Bishop of Constantinople was there to push on the case. He became a sort of permanent agent at the Court, always able to transact business for others. His household of priests and suffragan bishops gradually became a permanent synod that the Emperor could always consult before issuing laws about Church affairs.[1] Constantine had been content to let the Church govern herself and to remain only the "bishop of things outside,"[2] but his successors continually pretended to determine questions of faith by Imperial decrees. In this policy they found an ever-ready helper in their Court bishops. During all the centuries in which these Emperors were trying to bring the Church under the same subjection as the State their most steadfast opponents were the Popes of Old Rome, their most servile agents the Patriarchs of New Rome. The story, then, of the rise of the See of Constantinople is not a creditable one. It had no splendid traditions from the earliest age; it had none of the lustre of Apostolic origin; its dignity could not be compared with that of the old patriarchates, Rome, Alexandria, Antioch; it had nothing of the sacred associations of Jerusalem. A new see, in itself of no importance, its claims were pushed solely because of a coincidence that had nothing to do with the Church. It was only because of the presence of the Emperor and through his tyrannical policy that the Church of his city managed to usurp the first place among the Eastern Churches, and at last to lead them all in a campaign against the See of St. Peter. We must now trace the steps of this evolution.
We saw that at the Council of Nicæa (325) the "ancient custom" was recognized by which the three great Sees of Rome, Alexandria and Antioch "kept their rights." At that time Constantine had not yet set up his new capital. Jerusalem was to have a place of honour, Byzantium was not even mentioned. It was still a small local Church under the Metropolitan of Heraclea.
