for the first time decidedly prominent ; but even there it appears in virtual subordination to the higher authority of the council, which did not suffer itself to be disturbed by the protest of Leo against its twenty-eighth canon in reference to the rank of the patriarch of Constantinople. Kot only ecumenical, but also provincial councils were not rarely called together by Western princes ; as the council of Aries in 314 by Constan- tine, the council of Orleans in 549 by Childebert, and — to anticipate an instance — the synod of Frankfort in 794 by Charlemagne. Another remarkable fact has been already ■ This is conceded even by the Roman Catholic church historian Hefele (i. p. V), in opposition to Bellarmine and other Romish divines. " The first eight general councils," says he, "were appointed and convoked by the emperors ; all the subse- quent councils, on the contrary [i. e. all the Roman Catholic general councils], by the popes ; but even in those first councils there appears a certain participation of the popes in their convocation, more or less prominent in particular instances." The latter assertion is too sweeping, and can by no means be verified in the history of the first two of these councils, nor of the fifth. ^ As regards the council of Nicsea : according to Eusebius and all the ancient authorities, it was called by Constantino alone ; and not till three centuries later, at the council of 680, was it claimed that Pope Sylvester had any share in the con- vocation. As to the council of Constantinople in 381 : the Roman theory, that Pope Damasus summoned it in conjunction with Theodosius, rests on a confusion of this council with another and an unimportant one of 382. Comp. the notes of Valesius to Theodoret, Hist. Eccl. v. 9 ; and Hefele (who here himself corrects his earlier view), vol. i. p. 8, and vol. ii. p. 30. 336 THIRD PERIOD. A.D. 311-590. mentioned : that in the beginning of the sixth century several orthodox synods at Rome, for the purpose of deciding the con- tested election of Symmachus, were called by a secular prince, and he the heretical Theodoric ; yet they were regarded as valid. In the second place, the emperors, directly or indirectly, took an active part in all but two of the ecumenical councils siun-moned by them, and held the presidency. Constantino the Great, Marcian, and his wife Pulcheria, Constantino Pro- gonatus, Irene, and Basil the Macedonian, attended in person ; but generally 'the emperors, like the Roman bishops (who were never present themselves), were represented by delegates or commissioners, clothed with full authority for the occasion. These deputies opened the sessions by reading the imperial edict (in Latin and Greek) and other documents. They pre- sided in conjunction with the patriarchs, conducted the entire coui'se of the transactions, preserved order and security, closed the council, and signed the acts either at the head or at the