Eusebius wrote on this point. Now, because one bishop asks in the name of a council, for information from another bishop respecting his faith, must we conclude that the bishop who seeks this information possesses authority and jurisdiction over him to whom he writes? It is not only the right but the duty of every bishop to seek to enlighten a brother whom he believes in error, and to hold himself ready to give an account of his own faith. Thus, the bishops of Rome and Alexandria performed an imperative duty; neither of them exercised authority.
Again, because many went to Rome to accuse him, is there, therefore, no reason to say that they recognized a superior authority in this see?
Faustinus, Bishop of Lyons, wishing to have Marcianus of Arles condemned, accused him to St. Cyprian. Did he thereby acknowledge a superior authority in St. Cyprian? Two wicked bishops, who showed in their favour letters from the Bishop of Rome,[1] were condemned by St. Cyprian upon the accusation of the Spanish bishops. Shall we infer that the Spanish bishops acknowledged in Cyprian an authority not only over their church, but superior to that of the Bishop of Rome? The history of the Church affords numerous examples of bishops who appealed to each other, and that without recognizing any authority in those to whom the causes were submitted.
Dionysius of Alexandria,[2] himself received complaints against the doctrine of Paul of Samosata, Bishop of Antioch, as the Bishop of Rome had received them against his. As that bishop had written to him, he wrote to the Bishop of Antioch, to inform him of the accusations made against him. He addressed himself to Paul in the name
