2G6 TUEBD PEKIOD. A.D. 311-590.
of St. Agnes, which are every year soleinuly blessed ani sacrificed by the pope in memory of this pure virgin. Hence tlia later symbolical meaning of the pallium, as denoting tlia bishop's following of Christ, the good Shepherd, with the lost and reclaimed sheep upon his shoulders. Alexandrian tradition traced this vestment to the evangelist Mark ; but Gregory Nazianzen expressly says that it was first given by Constantine the Great to the bishop Macarius of Jerusalem.' In the East it was worn by all bishops, in the West by archbisho[)S only, on whom, from the time of Gregory I., it was conferred by the pope on their accession to office. At first tlie investiture was gratuitous, but afterward came to involve a considerable fee, according to the ]-e venues of the archbishopric.
As the bishop united in himself all the rights and privileges of the clerical office, so he was ex2)ected to show himself a model in the discharge of its duties and a follower of the great Archbishop and Archshepherd of the sheep. He was expected to exhibit in a high degree the ascetic virtues, especially tliat of virginity, which, according to Catholic ethics, belongs to the idea of moral perfection. Many a bishop, like Athanasius, Basil, Ambrose, Augustine, Chrysostom, Martin of Tours, lived in rigid abstinence and poverty, and devoted his income to religious and charitable objects.
But this very power and this teiuporal advantage of the episcopate becanie also a lure for avarice and ambition, and a temptation to the lordly and secular spirit. For even under the ei)iscopal mantle the human heart still beat, with all those weaknesses and passions, which can only be overcome by the continual influence of Divine grace. There were metropolitans and patriarchs, especially in Alexandria, Constantinople, and Itome, who, while yet hardly past the age of persecution, forgot the servant form of the Son of God and the poverty of hia apostles and martyrs, and rivalled the most exalted civil officials, nay, the emperor himself, in worldly pomp and luxury. Not Beldom were the most disgraceful intrigues employed to gain the holy office. No wonder, says Ammianus, that for so
' Orat. xlvii. So Theodorct, Hist. eccl. ii. 27, at the beginning. Macarius is said to have worn the gilded veatiiiout in the adir. iuistratiou of baptism.
§ 54, ORGAJ^^IZATION OF THE HIERAECDY. 267
aplondid a prize as the bishopric of Rome, men strive \sith the utmost passion and persistence, when rich presents from .cdies and a more than imperial smnptuousness invite them.' The Roman prefect, Praetextatus, declared jestingly to the bishop Damasus, who had obtained the office through a bloody battle of parties, that for such a price he would at once turn Christian himself.'' Such an example could not but shed its evil influence on the lower clergy of the great cities. Jerome sketches a sarcastic description of the Roman priests, who squandered all their care on dress and perfumery, curled their hair with crisping pins, wore sparkling rings, paid far too great attention to women, and looked more like bridegrooms than like clergymen.' And in the Greek church it was little better. Gregory IS^azianzen, himself a bishop, and for a long time patriarch of Constantinople, frequently mourns the ambition, the official jealousies, and the luxury of the hierarchy, and utters the wish that the bishops might be distinguished only by a higher grade of virtue.
§ 54. Orgcmization of the Hierarchy : Country Bishops^ Cit/y Bishojos, and Metropolitans.
The episcopate, notwithstanding the unity of the office and ts rights, admitted the different grades of country bishop, ordinary city bishop, metropolitan, and patriarch. Such a distinction had ah-eady established itself on the basis of free religious sentiment in the church ; so that the incumbents of the apostolic sees, like Jerusalem, Antioch, Ephesus, Coi'inth, and Rome, stood at the liead of the hierarchy. But this gra-
' Amm. Marcell. xxvii. c. 3, sub anno 367 : . . . "ut dotentur oblationibua matronarum procedantque vehiculis insidentes, circumspecte vestiti, epulas curantea profusas, adeo ut eorum convivia regales superent mensas." But then with this pomp of the Roman prelates he contrasts the poverty of the worthy country bishops.
"^ Besides Ammianus, Jerome also states this, in his book against John of Jeru salem (Opera, torn. ii. p. 415, ed. Vallars.) : "Miserabilis ille Pnctextatus, qui degignatus consul est mortuus, homo sacrilegus et idolorura cultor, solebat ludena beato papae Damaso dicere : 'Facite me Romanae urbis episcopum et -:ro protinui Chrifltianus.' "
* Eoist. ad Eustochium de virginitate servandi,