The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-02-14

VI L1C 6ApOOOOAAN OAAuA ia We@0
the only one feasible; and yet it had
an unfortunate result, not intended by
the Apostles. The Sovereign Pontiff's
supremacy was not fully admitted by
some of the bishops. They did not
accept that supremacy in matters of
doctrine and of discipline. His teach
ing ex cathedra was not received as
the unerring doctrine Of the Pastor of
the universal Church. And as to dis
cipline, they would not at all give him
in every diocese that ordinary juris-
diction which each bishop had in his
own; they would not accept his juris-
diction as supreme, universal and or
binary.
Take little incident of Church
history. About the middle of the
second century, Pope st. Anicetus, a
Syrian and yet Bishop of Rome, en-
deavored to institute certain reforms.
He ordained that priests should crop
their hair. His purpose is clear to
any who note the effeminate vanity
with which some heretical priests of
the Orient disport their silken tresses.
A more telling effort of the Pope was
to make the Eastern bishops to cele-
brate Easter on Sunday. Some of the
Asiatics kept Easter on the fourteenth
day of the moon, the Pasch of the
Jews, no matter what day of the week
it fell on. st. Polycarp, Bishop of
Smyrna, claimed that this custom was
part of the tradition received from
st. John the Apostle; and together
with St. Irenaeus went to Rome, A.
D. $50, to dispute the matter with
Pope St. Anicetus. The Pope tolera-
ted the Asiatic custom. Later on,
Pope st. Victor "a. D. 189-199).
obliged the Asiatics under penalty of
accommodation to celebrate Easter
on Sunday; and st. Irenaeus, then
Bishop of Lyons, reproached the Sow
ereign Pontiff, as st. Paul had long be-
fore reproached st. Peter, for what
was considered imprudence in execu-
ton. This little incident of Church
history, this disagreement among
Saints about the supremacy of the
Sovereign Pontiff may help us to esti-
mate the unholy schisms that later
occurred.
Capitalization of power was found
to be a necessary ecclesiastical polity.
The early Church gradually came to
recognize Rome, Antioch and Alexan-
dria as great centers from which
power came and to which the
churches gravitated. Thus were es-
tablished the three participates of
Rome, Antioch and Alexandria. Later
were cut off from Antioch the patri-
archates of Constantinople, A. D. 381,
and of. Jerusalem, A. D. 451. From
this time the Western Church has
been the Roman patriachate and all
churches severed from it; the Eastern
Church has been the four patriachates
of Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople
and Jerusalem, together with all
churches broken off from these juris
dictions. The Eastern patriarchates
recognized the supremacy of Rome
for some centuries, but in the end
threw it off. jealousy in regard to
Rome occasioned the schism. Failure
to follow the infallible Roman Pontifl
occasioned heresy. One by one the
heresies came. One by one the great
torn from Rome And each of these
dread heresies was connected with the
Divinity of Jesus Christ. The re
vealed truth about this fundamental
dogma was given to Peter and to his
successors to keep without error
Error was found wherever and when
ever there was separation from Rome
The first error with regard tc
Christ's Divinity was the HISTORIAN
heresy, the denial of the oneness OIL
the Person of Christ The Council
of Ephesus, A. D. 431, condemned the
heresy; and defined the dogma thai
Jesus is one Person, that the same
one and indivisible Person of Christ
is both God and Man. A large por
ton of the Eastern Church revolted
The revolt lasted until the sixteenth
century, when some of the HISTORIAN:
submitted to Rome and formed thu
Uniat rite called Chaldees. Thei1
patriarch resides at Mosul in Mesopo
tamia. They number two archbishops
ten bishops and about $4,000 souls
The heretical HISTORIANS now numbe1
only 10000. Syriac is the liturgica
language of both Chaldees and Mes
torians.
The second error with regard to thu
Divinity of Jesus Christ was the denia
of the two natures of Christ
Eutyches and his followers went tt
the extreme opposite to that of Mes
torious The latter had wished t
distinguish human Person and a di
vine Person in Christ, corresponding
to the human nature and the divin
nature. Eutyches wished only on
Person and one nature; hence tn
name of his followers-the Monopoly
sites. The Council of Chalcedon, A. Z
, 451, condemned this heresy. The re
suits were the national churches o
, Egypt, Syria and Armenia. The ar
: cient Egyptian metaphysics are tn
Copts. They now number about hal
million souls, divided into thil
teen dioceses, ruled by patriarch a
Cairo In 1895, the Uniat rite of tn
} Copts was established through tn
= efforts of the Jesuit missionaries;
already numbers 10000 souls, rule
. by a patriarch and two bishops.
Syria, the Monophysite heresy resulte