The Novelty of Popery Opposed to the Antiquity of True Christianity, Book 6 · Chapter 20
CHAP. 20. Of the excommunication that Dioſcorus Patriarch of Alexandria fulminated againſt Leo Biſhop of Rome; and other cenſures pronounced againſt the Biſhop of Rome.
DIoſcorus Patriarch of Alexandria diſpleaſed that Leo Biſhop of Rome had aſſembled a particular Council at Rome, in which he had condemned Eutyches and his doctrine; to be revenged of him, aſſembled a Council at Alexandria, in which he excommunicated Leo, and declared him excluded from the communion of the Church. This was a very perverſe, proud and unjuſt action; for which, as alſo for his Hereſie, and for his violence againſt Flavianus, he was condemned a little after, and depoſed by the Council of Chalcedon.
Yet ſuch examples ſhew how little the other Patriarchs reſpected the Roman Prelate. With the like boldneſs Steven Patriarch of Antioch, with the Oriental Biſhops (that had ſeparated themſelves from the Council of Sardica to make a Council apart,Socrat. l. 2. c. 16. See before book 5. ch. 2.) depoſed Julius Biſhop of Rome, as we ſhewed before. It is true, they were Arians, and Dioſcorus an Eutychian; But we find not in any of the antients that have written againſt theſe Hereticks, and exactly examined their errours, as Epiphanius, Theodoretus, Auſtin and Philaſtrius, that this was ever put among the errours of the Eutichians or Arians, that they did not ſubject themſelves to the Biſhop of Rome, and had not acknowledged him Head of the Univerſal Church.
Wherefore not only the Hereticks, but alſo the Orthodox Biſhops uſed the like boldneſs, and feared not to uſe cenſures againſt the Pope of Rome. Of that we have a notable example in St. Hilary, in his fragments alledged by Baronius, and publiſhed by Mr. Faber Tutour to the King(b)Ann. 1626. he means Lewis the XIII. of France. now reigning. Where Hilary repeateth theſe words often, Anathema tibi à me Liberi. O Liberius, anatheme is denounced unto thee by me. The reaſon was, that Liberius Biſhop of Rome, bowing under the perſecution, had ſubſcribed the confeſſion of the Arians made at Syrmicum.
Nicephorus in the Eccleſiaſtical Hiſtory, book 17. ch. 26. relateth how(c)Eo inſolentiae progreſſus eſt, ut & M…nam à communione quatuor menſibus excluſerit. Idem ſane & Menas adverſus eum fecit. Sed enim Juſtinianus ejuſmodi rebus ad iram commotus qui eum comprehenderent miſit. Vigilius autem ſibi metuens ad …rgii martyris aram f…gil, &c. Vigilius Biſhop of Rome grew ſo inſolent as to exclude from the Communion for four moneths Menas Patriarch of Conſtantinople. Menas did the ſame unto Vigilius. But Juſtinian provoked to anger with ſuch actions, ſent men to take Vigilius, who being afraid, fled to the Altar of Sergius Martyr, and there embracing the holy Organs, could not be drawn from them without breaking them.
Victor Tunenſis in his Chronicle, in the 10. year after the Conſulat of Baſilius, ſaith, that(d)Poſt conſultatum Baſilii V. C. an. X. Africani Antistites Vigilium Romanum Epiſcopum damnatorem trium capitulorum Synodaliter à Catholica communione reſervato ei poenitentiae loco excludunt. the African Biſhops aſſembled in Council, hearing that Vigilius Biſhop of Rome had condemned three Articles confirmed by the Council of Chalcedon, excommunicated Vigilius, yet reſerving unto him time of repentance.
A little before, that is, in the year 484. two fierce beaſts troubled the reſt of the Church, Acacius Patriarch of Conſtantinople, and Felix Biſhop of Rome, ſtriving to exceed one another in pride. Felix aſſembled a Council at Rome of 77. Biſhops, where he declared Acacius, not Heretick, but polluted with the communion of Hereticks. Liberatus in the 18. ch. of his Breviary, ſaith, that the Legats ſent to ſignifie that ſentence unto Acacius, durſt not appear, but cauſed it to be ſurreptitiouſly delivered by a contemptible Monk. Nicephorus addeth, that ſome of them were killed, the others committed priſoners. Upon that Acacius fulminated againſt Felix Biſhop of Rome, and commanded that his name ſhould be put out of the(e)The diptychs were certain Tables with two pages, in which the Names of the dead and the living were written, which for honours ſake were named in the celebration of the Myſteries. Diptychs or Eccleſiaſtical Tables, as of an execrable and excommunicated man, not to be named in the Church. Which cenſure was for a long time obſerved, till the coming of an Emperour that was favourable to the Roman Biſhop.