§ 141. THE ECUMENICAL COUNCIL OF CHALCEDON. 741
Batisfactory result, even witliout a council, by inducing the bishops to subscribe his Epistola Dogmatica.*
At the same time a political change occurred, which, as was often the case in the East, brought with it a doctrinal revolution. Theodosius died, in July, 450, in consequence of a fall from his horse ; he left no male heirs, and the distinguished general and senator Marcian became his successor, by marriage with his sister Pulcheria,^ who favored Pope Leo and the dyoph^'site doctrine. The remains of Flavian were honorably interred, and several of the deposed bishops were reinstated.
To restore the peace of the empire, the new monarch, in May, 451, in his own name and that of his Western colleague, convoked a general council ; not, however, to meet in Italy, but at ISTicsea, partly that he might the better control it, partly that he might add to its authority by the memories of the first ecumenical council. The edict was addressed to the metropol- ,itanSj and reads as follows:
" That which concerns the true faith and the orthodox religion must be preferred to all other things. For the favor of God to us insures also the prosperity of our empire. Inasmuch, now, as doubts have arisen concerning the true faith, as appears from the letters of Leo, the most holy archbisliop of Rome, we have determined that a holy council be convened at Nicsea, in Bithynia, in order that by the consent of all the truth , may be tested, and the true faith dispassionately and more ex-
• Respecting this appaient inconsistency of Leo, see Hefele, who considers it at length, ii. 387 if.
' Who, however, stipulated as a condition of the marriage, that she still be allowed to keep her vow of perpetual virginity. Marcian was a widower, sixty years of age, and had the reputation of great ability and piety. Some authors place him, as emperor, by the side of Constantino and Theodosius, or even above them. Comp. Leo's Letters, Baronius (Annales), Tillemont (Emper. iiL 284), and Gibbon (at the end of ch. xxxiv.). The last-named author says of Marcian : " The zeal which he displayed for the orthodox creed, as it was established by the council of Chalcedoii, would alone have inspired the grateful eloquence of the Catholics. But the behavio* of Marcian, in a private life, and afterwards on the throne, may support a more rational belief, that he was qualified to restore and invigorate an empire, which had been almost dissolved by the successive weakness of two hereditary monarchs. . His own ei.ample gave weight to the laws which he promulgated for th'> reforms tion of maimers."
742 THIKD PERIOD. A.D. 311-590.
plicitly declared, that iu time to come no doubt nor division may have place concerning it. Therefore let your holiness. »vith a convenient number of wise and orthodox bishops from among your suffragans, repair to Nicaea, on the first of September ensuing. We ourselves also, unless hindered by wars, will attend in person the venerable synod." '
Leo, though dissatisfied with the time and place of the council, yielded, sent the bishops Pascliasiniis and Lucentius, and the priest Boniface, as legates, who, in conjunction with the legates already in Constantinople, were to represent him at the synod, over which Paschasinus was to preside in his uame."
The bishops assembled at Nica^a, in September, 451, but, on account of their turbulent conduct, were soon summoned to Chalcedon, opposite Constantinople, that the imperial court and senate might attend in person, and repress, as far as possible, the violent outbreaks of the religious fanaticism of the two parties. Here, in the church of St. Euphemia, on a hill commanding a magnificent prospect, and only two stadia or twelve hundred paces from the Bosphorus, the fourth ecumenical council was opened on the 8tli of October, and sat till the 1st of November. In number of bishops it far exceeded all other councils of the ancient Church,' and in doctrinal importance is second only to tlie council of Nicaea. But all the five or six hundred bishops, except the papal delegates and two Africans, were Greeks and Orientals. The papal delegates had, therefore, to represent the whole of Latin Christendom. The imperial commissioners,^ who conducted the external course of the proceedings, in the name of the emperor, with the senators present, sat in the middle of the church, before the screen of
' This promise was in fact fulfilled, although only at one session, the sixth.
' Evagrius, H. E. ii. c. 4: "The bishops Paschasinus and Lucentius, and the presbyter Boniface, were the representatives of Leo, archpriest of tiie elder Rome.'" Besides them bishop Julian of Cos, Leo's legate at Constantinople, also frc(|uently appears in the council, but he had his seat among the bishops, not the papal delegates.
• There are only iniperfect registers of the subscriptions yet extant, and thr statements respecting the number of members vary from 520 to 6£0.
* "ApxofTi'i, judices. There were six of them.