reason why they gave it, "because it is New Rome." It is for a purely political reason, because of the new civil rank of his town, that the bishop is to have this primacy of honour. But what is involved in his primacy of honour? It seems to mean, first, an honorary precedence like that given by the Council of Nicæa to the Bishop of Jerusalem (p. 26), only a higher one; the Bishop of New Rome is to take precedence even of the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch, coming next after the Pope of Old Rome. It must also tacitly suppose that he is now no longer under the Metropolitan of Heraclea; the second bishop of the Church could not well submit to a metropolitan. So from this time we find that Heraclea steps down and Constantinople becomes the Metropolis of Thrace. Did the council mean to give to the Emperor's bishop more than this purely honorary precedence and metropolitan rights over Thrace? Probably not, although we find him very soon exercising real jurisdiction outside that province. It was Alexandria that felt herself most attacked by this Canon. For a long time the Church of Egypt would not accept the council in any way. Dioscur of Alexandria (444–451) in his synod in 449 (the Robber Synod of Ephesus) calls the Council of Ephesus (431) the second general council.[1] Theodoret says that he bitterly reproached the Patriarch Flavian of Antioch, who was present at the Council of 381, as a traitor to the rights of both patriarchal sees, his own and Alexandria, for signing its decrees.[2] Timothy of Alexandria, who was certainly present at the council with his Egyptians, seems to have been away when this 3rd Canon was drawn up, because he afterwards wrote that he knew nothing about it.[3] Rome was not of course attacked by the Canon; her first place no one thought of disputing. Still the Popes, too, objected to this new position suddenly given to Constantinople. They disliked so radical an upsetting of the old order in the case of the other Patriarchs, perhaps they already foresaw something of the danger which the ambition of this new see
