emperor is called there not sucply dicine, which would be idolatrous enough, but most divine, 6 ^eioraros koI evaf^iararos tjixwv Sea-rroTTjs, divinissimus et piissimus noster imperator ad sanctam synodum dixit, etc. And these adulatory epithets occur repeatedly in the acts of this council. ^ Eusebius, Vita Const, iii. 13 : 'O iihv 57) tout" flirwy 'Pw/xaia yxdirrri [which was still the official language], icpepixrivevovTos kripov, vapeSlBov zuv Xoyov ro7s ttjs TvvuSov irpofSpoiv. Yet, according to the immediately following words of Eusebius, the emperor continued to take lively interest in the proceedings, hearing, speaking, and exhorting to harmony. Eusebius' whole account of this synod is brief and unsatisfactory. VOL. II. — 22 338 THLRD PERIOD. A.D, 311-590. bishop of Alexandria, Eustathius of Antiocli, and Hosius of Coi'dova — the latter as special friend of the emperor, and as representative of the "Western churches and perhaps of the bisb.op of Rome — are to be understood. The same distinction between a secular and spiritual presidency meets us in Theo- dosius IL, who sent the coines Candidian as his deputy to the third general council, with full power over the entire business proceedings, but none over theological matters themselves ; '' for " — wrote he to the council — " it is not proper that one who does not belong to the catalogue of most holy bishops, should meddle in ecclesiastical discussions." Yet Cyril of Alex- andria presided at this council, and conducted the business, at first alone, afterward in conjunction with the papal legates ; while Candidian supported the Xestorian opposition, which held a council of its own under the patriarch John of Antioch. Finally, from the emperors proceeded the ratification of the councils. Partly by their signatures, partly by special edicts, they gave the decrees of the council legal validity ; they raised them to laws of the realm ; they took pains to have them observed, and punished the disobedient with depo- sition and banishment. This was done by Constantine the Great for the decrees of Xice ; by Theodosius the Great for those of Constantinople ; by Marcian for those of Chalcedon. The second ecumenical council expressly prayed the emperor for such sanction, since he was present neither in person nor by commission. The papal confirmation, on the contrary, was not considered necessary, until after the fourth general council, in 451.' And notwithstanding this, Justinian broke through tlie decrees of the fifth council, of 553, without the consent, and in fact despite the intimated refusal of Pope Vigilius. In the middle ages, however, the case was reversed. The in- fluence of the pope on the councils increased, and that of the emperor declined ; or rather, the German emperor never claimed so preeminent a position in the chm'ch as the Byzan- tine. Yet the relation of the j^ope to a general council, the ' To ■wit, ill a letter of the council to Leo (Ep. 89, in the Epistles of Leo, ed. Bailer., torn. i. p. 1099), and