(p. 117); and many of the barbarous tribes were “converted
to the faith” by means of pretended miracles,
“pious frauds ... very commonly practised in
Gaul and in Spain at this time, in order to captivate,
with more facility, the minds of a rude and barbarous
people, who were scarcely susceptible of a rational
conviction” (pp. 117, 118). The supremacy
of the see of Rome advanced with rapid strides during
this century. The people depending, in their
superstitious ignorance, on the clergy, and the clergy
on the bishops, it became the interest of the savage
kings to be on friendly terms with the latter, and
to increase their influence; and as the bishops, in
their turn, leant upon the central authority of Rome,
the power of the pontiff rapidly increased. This
power was still further augmented by the struggles
for supremacy among the Eastern bishops, for by favouring
sometimes one and sometimes another, he fostered the
habit of looking to Rome for aid. In the East,
five “patriarchs” were raised over the
rest of the bishops, the Patriarch of Constantinople
standing at their head. Thus, East and West drifted
ever more apart. Mosheim speaks of “the
ambitious quarrels and the bitter animosities that
rose among the patriarchs themselves, and which produced
the most bloody wars, and the most detestable and horrid
crimes. The Patriarch of Constantinople distinguished
himself in these odious contests. Elated with
the favour and proximity of the Imperial Court, he
cast a haughty eye on all sides, where any objects
were to be found on which he might exercise his lordly
ambition. On the one hand, he reduced under his
jurisdiction the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch,
as prelates only of the second order; and on the other,
he invaded the diocese of the Roman Pontiff, and spoiled
him of several provinces. The two former prelates,
though they struggled with vehemence and raised considerable
tumults by their opposition, yet they struggled ineffectually,
both for want of strength, and likewise on account
of a variety of unfavourable circumstances. But
the Roman Pontiff, far superior to them in wealth
and power, contended also with more vigour and obstinacy;
and, in his turn, gave a deadly wound to the usurped
supremacy of the Byzantine Patriarch. The attentive
inquirer into the affairs of the Church, from this
period, will find, in the events now mentioned, the
principal source of those most scandalous and deplorable
dissensions which divided first the Eastern Church
into various sects, and afterwards separated it entirely
from that of the West. He will find that these
ignominious schisms flowed chiefly from the unchristian
contentions for dominion and supremacy which reigned
among those who set themselves up for the fathers
and defenders of the Church” (p. 123).