268 THIRD PEKIOD. A.D. 311-590.
dation now assumed a political character, and beca.iie both niodilied and confirmed bj attachment to the municipal division of the Roman empire.
Constantino the Great divided the whole empire into four praefectures (the Oriental, the Illyrian, the Italian, and the Gallic) ; the pra3fectures into vicariates, dioceses, or proconsu lates, fourteen or fifteen in all ; ' and each diocese again into several provinces," The praefectures were governed bj Pr(£fecti Prcetorio, the dioceses by Vicarii, the provinces by Hectares, with various titles — commonly ProBsides.
It was natural, that after the union of church and state the ecclesiastical organization and the political should, so far as seemed proper, and hence of course with manifold exceptions, accommodate themselves to one another. In the East this principle of conformity was more palpably and rigidly carried out than in the West. The council of Kice in the fourth century proceeds upon it, and the second and fourth ecumenical councils confirm it. The political influence made itself most distinctly felt in the elevation of Constantinople to a patriarchal see. The Roman bishop Leo, however, protested against the reference of his own power to political considerations, and planted it exclusively upon the primacy of Peter ; though evidently the Roman see owed its importance to the favorable
' The dioceses of vicariates were aa follows :
I. The Prafectuia Orientalis consisted of the five dioceses of Orient, with Antioch as its political and ecclesiastical capital ; ^^gyptus^ with Alexandria ; Asia p-oconsvlariK, with Ephcsus ; Pontics, with Cajsarca in Cappadocia ; 77iracia, with Heraklea, afterward Constantinople.
II. The Praefectura Illyuica, with Thessjilonica as its capital, had only the two dioceses of Macedonia and Dacia.
III. The Priefectura Itamca embraced Roma (i. c. South Italy and the islands of the Mediterranean, or the so-called Suburban provinces) ; Italia, or the "Vicariate of Italy, witii its centre at Mediolanum (Milan) ; Illyricum occidentale, with its capital at Sirmium ; and Africa occidcntalis, with Carthage.
IV. The Prajfectura Gallica embraced the dioceses of Gallia, with Treveii (Trier) and Lugdunum (Lyons) ; Hispania, with Ilispalis (Sevilla) ; and Britannia, with Eboracum (York).
' Thus the diocese of the Orient, for example, had five provinces, Egypt nine, Pontus thirteen, Gaul seventeen, Spain seven. Comp. Wiltsch, Kirchl. Gcogr. n. Statistik, i, p. 57 s(iq., where the provinces arc all quoted, as is t i)t necessary foi our purpose here.
§ 54. OEGANIZATION OF THE HIERARCHY. 269
cooperation of both these influences. The power of tlie patrl* archs extended over one or more municipal dioccfces ; while the metropolitans presided over single provinces. The word diocese {SioiKrjcn^) passed from the political into the ecclesiastical terminology, and denoted at first a patriarchal district, comprising several provinces (thus the expression occurs continually in the Greek acts of councils), but afterward came to be applied in the West to each episcopal district. The circuit of a metropolitan was called in the East an eparchy (eTrapxici), in the "West jprovincia. An ordinary bishopric was called in the East a jparish (TrapoiKia), while in the Latin church the term (parochia) was usually applied to a mere pastoral charge. The lowest rank in the episcopal hierarchy was occupied by the country dishops,^ the presiding ofiicers of those rural congregations, which were not supplied with presbyters from neighboring cities. In IS^orth Africa, with its multitude of small dioceses, these country bishops were very numerous, and stood on an equal footing with the others. But in the East they became more and more subordinate to the neighboring city bishops ; until at last, partly on account of their own incompetence, chiefly for the sake of the rising hierarchy, they were wholly extinguished. Often they were utterly unfit for their office ; at least Basil of Csesarea, who had fifty country bishops in his metropolitan district, reproached them with frequently receiving men totally unworthy into the clei-ical ranks. And moreover, they stood in the way of the aspirations of the city bishops ; for the greater the number of bishops, the smaller the diocese and the power of each, though' probably the better the collective influence of all upon the church. The council of Sardica, in 343, doubtless had both considerations in view, when, on motion of Ilosius, the president, it decreed: "It is not permitted, that, in a village oi
' XwpfTTLaKon-oi. The principal statements respecting them arc : Epist. Synodi Antioch., a. d. 270, in Euseb. H. E. vii. 36 (where they are called eVirr«-o7rot rcif bfxnpoiv aypwv) ; Concil. Ancyr., a. d. 315, can. 13 (where they are forbidden to ordain presbyters and deacons); Concil. Antioch., a. d. 341, can. 10 (same prohibition); Cone. Laodic, between 320 and 372, can. 57 (where the erection of new country bishoprics is forbidden) ; and Cone. Sardic, a. d. 343, can. 6 (where (bey arc whcllj abolished).