allow the other Patriarchs to be cavalierly deposed for the sake of so new an arrangement, and the reference to his own see was quite enough reason for rejecting this Canon. So it was never received into our Canon Law, and the Popes never ceased to protest against it. On November 1, 451, the Legates summoned a new session to examine what had been done in their absence. Lucentius protested against the 28th Canon as contradicting the Decree of Nicæa (Canon 6, p. 9). There was a debate in which Aetius, Archdeacon of Constantinople, the spokesman of the Greeks, kept appealing to Canon 3 of Constantinople, and Lucentius to Canon 6 of Nicæa. The Illyrian bishops, Eusebius of Ancyra, Metropolitan of Galatia, and others, had already refused to sign this 28th Canon.[1] Nothing came of the dispute, except that the Legates' protest was added to the Acts. In the exceptionally respectful letter of the council to Pope Leo, the Fathers still hope that he will confirm their Canon. They have only confirmed (they say) the rule of the 150 holy Fathers, who ordered that "after your most holy and apostolic See that of Constantinople should be honoured, because she is placed second"; they are "confident that you often spread out the Apostolic ray that shines in you even to the Church of Constantinople, and without envy you are accustomed to enrich your domestics with a share in your own good things. Be pleased then to accept what we have defined, to order ecclesiastical ranks and to remove all confusion, as being right and friendly and most convenient for good order, oh, most holy and blessed Father! But the most holy bishops Paschasius and Lucentius, and the most reverend priest Boniface, who hold the place of your Holiness, have vehemently tried to withstand what we had ordered, doubtless wishing that this good arrangement should be begun by your own foresight. Whereas we, considering the most pious and Christ-loving Emperors, who are delighted with what we have done, as also the illustrious Senate and indeed the whole Imperial city, have thought it wise to confirm its honour by a general council, and we have presumed to strengthen what was really, as it were, begun by your Holiness, inasmuch as you
- ↑ Le Quien, Or. Chris. i. 30.
