Another Letter, universally ascribed to Syricius, has reached our Times. It is written in a very perplexed and obscure Style; bears no Date; is not to be found either in Dionysius Exiguus, or any antient Code; and is addressed to all the Orthodox dwelling in different Provinces^[1253]: which is manifestly a Mistake, since Syricius desires those, to whom it is addressed, to confirm it with their Subscriptions, which cannot be understood but of Bishops. However, as it is received by all as genuine, I shall not take upon me to reject it as spurious. The Subject of this Letter is the Ordination of the Ministers of the Church; and the First Article is against those who pretend to pass from the Vanities of the World to the Episcopal Dignity. Syricius writes, that they came often to him, attended with numerous Retinues, begging him to ordain them; but that they had never been able to prevail upon him to grant them their Request. In the Second Article he complains of the Monks, who were constantly wandering about the Country, and on whom the Bishops chose rather to confer holy Orders, and the Episcopal Dignity itself, than to relieve them with Alms. The Third and last Article forbids a Layman or Neophyte to be ordained either Deacon or Presbyter. If this Letter be genuine, Syricius was the first Bishop of Rome who styled himself Pope, as Papebrok well observes^[1254]; for the Title of his Letter, as transmitted to us, runs thus; Pope Syricius to the Orthodox, &c. The Word imports no more than Father, and it was antiently given, out of Respect, to all Bishops, as I have observed elsewhere; but I have found none before Syricius who distinguished themselves with that Title.

Jerom continued at Rome some Months after the Death of his great Patron Damasus. But, finding himself obnoxious to the Roman Clergy, for the Liberty he had taken in some of his Writings to censure their effeminate and licentious Lives, and, on the other hand, not being countenanced and supported by Syricius, as he had been by his Predecessor, he thought it adviseable to abandon that City, and return to Palæstine. Some pretend, but without sufficient Authority, that Syricius joined the rest in reviling and persecuting him.

Baronius has inserted, in his Annals^[1255], a Letter from the Usurper Maximus, who reigned in Gaul; from which we learn, that Syricius had writ first to him, exhorting him to continue steady in the Catholic Faith, being, perhaps, apprehensive lest he should suffer himself to be imposed upon by the Priscillianists, who were very numerous in Gaul; and complaining to him of the undue Ordination of a Presbyter named Agricius. Maximus, in his Answer, pretends great Zeal for the true Faith, and promises to assemble the Bishops of Gaul, and of the Five Provinces, meaning Gallia Narbonensis, to examine the Affair of Agricius. He assures Syricius, that he has nothing so much at Heart as to maintain the Catholic Faith pure and uncorrupted; to see a perfect Harmony established among the Prelates of the Church, and to suppress the many Disorders which had prevailed at the Time of his Accession to the Empire, and would have soon proved incurable, had they been neglected. He adds, that many shocking Abominations of the Manichees, meaning no doubt the Priscillianists, had been discovered, not by groundless Conjectures and Surmises, but by their own Confession before the Magistrates, as Syricius might learn from the Acts. For Maximus caused the Ringleaders of that Sect to be put to Death this very Year, convicted before the Magistrates of the grossest Immoralities^[N24]. These were Priscillian himself, Felicissimus, and Armenus, Two Ecclesiastics, who had but very lately embraced his Doctrine; Asarinus and Aurelius, Two Deacons; Latronianus, or, as Jerom calls him, Matronianus, a Layman; and Enchrocia, the Widow of the Orator Delphidius, who had professed Eloquence in the City of Bourdeaux a few Years before. These were, by the Order of Maximus, all beheaded this Year at Treves. The rest of Priscillian’s Followers, whom they could discover and apprehend, were either banished or confined.

But these Severities served only to increase the Evil which they were employed to cure. The Bodies of Priscillian and of those who had suffered with him, were conveyed by their Friends and Adherents into Spain, and there interred with great Pomp and Solemnity;|Many embrace their
Doctrine.| their Names were added to those of other Saints and Martyrs, their Firmness and Constancy extolled, and their Doctrine embraced by such Numbers of Proselytes, that it spread in a short time over all the Provinces between the Pyrenees and the Ocean^[1256]. Symphosius, Metropolitan of Galicia, whom, after the Death of Priscillian, they looked upon as the chief Man and Head of their Sect, took care to fill all the vacant Sees in that Province with Bishops of his own Communion. Dictinius, whom he raised among the rest to that Dignity, is supposed by St. Austin^[1257] to have been the Author of a Book, famous in those Times, styled Libra, or, the Pound^[N25]. |Two of their leading
Men renounce their
Errors;| However, both he and Symphosius were afterwards convinced of their Errors; and, desiring thereupon to be reconciled with the Church, they undertook a Journey to Milan, in order to engage St. Ambrose, Bishop of that City, in their Favour. He received them with the greatest Marks of Kindness and Affection; and being satisfied with the Terms of Reconciliation, which they themselves proposed, and promised to observe, he writ in their Behalf to the Bishops of Spain, who, at his Request, admitted them to their Communion^[1258][N26].

In the Year 438. of the Spanish, and 400. of the common Æra, a Council was held at Toledo; and, in the Presence of that Assembly, Symphosius, Dictinius, and Comasus, one of Symphosius’s Presbyters, solemnly abjured the Errors of Priscillian, anathematized the Doctrine, Sect, and Books of that Heretic, and readily signed the Confession of Faith which the Council had drawn up. Their Example was followed by Three other Bishops, viz. Paternus, Isonius, and Vegetinus, who were all admitted to the Communion of the Church, and even allowed to keep their Sees, though unduly preferred, on Condition the Bishops of Rome and Milan should consent thereto, and restore them to the Peace of the Church^[1259]. From these Words, which are the very Words of the Council, it is manifest, first, that the Fathers, who composed that Assembly, were Strangers to the Bishop of Rome’s universal Jurisdiction; and, secondly, that the Bishop of Milan did not act, as Baronius pretends, on that Occasion as the Pope’s Legate. Their requiring the Approbation of the Bishop of Milan, besides that of the Bishop of Rome, sufficiently proves the one; and their requiring the Approbation of the Bishop of Rome, besides that of the Bishop of Milan, the other.

Four other Bishops, viz. Herenius, Donatus, Acurius, and Æmilius, could by no means be induced to follow the Example of Symphosius and Dictinius; and were thereupon deposed by the Council, and cut off from the Communion of the Catholic Church. |The Acts of that
Council confirmed by
St. Ambrose and
Syricius.| The Bishops of Rome and Milan not only confirmed the Acts of the Council with respect to Symphosius and Dictinius, but separated themselves from the Communion of the Bishops of Bætica and the Carthagenese, who, thinking the Council had dealt too favourably with them, refused to admit them to their Communion^[1260]. |Dictinius honoured as
a Saint.| Dictinius died in 420. and is now honoured in Spain as a Saint, though it may be justly questioned whether he deserves that Honour. Idatius the Chronologist who was a Native of Spain, and raised there to the Episcopal Dignity about the Year 428. mentions him without saying any thing in his Praise, or taking the least Notice of his being honoured then as a Saint. St. Austin speaks doubtfully even of his Conversion^[1261], and at the same time tells us, that his Book was highly esteemed by the Priscillianists, and his Memory no less revered; which, notwithstanding the eminent Sanctity ascribed to him by Baronius^[1262], gives us room to suspect, that the Honour now paid him is owing to a Tradition handed down by the Priscillianists. |Priscillian honoured
as a Saint and a
Martyr.| For thus was Priscillian himself once revered both as a Saint and a Martyr. Nay, the Author of the Notes on Sulpitius Severus assures us, that he has seen his Name in some, not very antient, Martyrologies; and Petrus de Natalibus has allowed, both to him, and to Latronianus, who suffered with him, a Place among the Martyrs of the Church, pretending to be countenanced therein by the Authority of Jerom^[1263]. And truly it must be owned, that Jerom, in the Year 392. writ very favourably of Priscillian. He was executed, says he, by the Faction of Ithacius, being accused by some as if he had embraced the Heresy of the Gnostics; but others maintained, that he held not the Doctrine and Tenets with which he was charged^[1264]. But being afterwards better informed, he styles him an execrable Man^[1265], and condemns his Doctrine as an infamous Heresy, as a Plague and Contagion, that cruelly ravaged most of the Spanish Provinces^[1266]. It is not therefore without Reason that the Church of Rome now anathematizes, as an Heretic, the Man she once revered as a Saint. Such has been the Fate of many others, judged by Baronius himself unworthy of the Worship that was paid them, and therefore set aside, when, by the Command of Gregory XIII. he revised and corrected the Roman Martyrology. As for Dictinius, he has not yet been driven out of Heaven, though nobody can well tell how he came in. 'Tis true, both he and Symphosius are styled Bishops of holy Memory, in the Abstract of the Council of Toledo, which is supposed to have been done about the Year 447. This is all Baronius can plead in favour of his eminent Sanctity. A poor Charter indeed to hold a Place in Heaven by, and claim the Worship and Honours attending it! For the Author of that Abstract is utterly unknown; and, besides, he canonizes alike Symphosius and Dictinius, styling them both Bishops of holy Memory. Why then should his Authority have so much Weight with respect to the one, and none at all in regard of the other? If we bar Prescription, which surely can have no room here, Dictinius can have no more Right to keep the Place he has, than Symphosius to claim the Place he has not. Nay, the latter would have a far better Right, were it true, that Dictinius relapsed into the Errors he had abjured, and was on that Account deposed with several other Bishops of his Sect. This I read in an Author of great Note^[1267]; but as he advances it upon the Authority of another, viz. of Idatius the Chronologist, and the Passage he quotes is not to be found in that Writer, at least in the Editions I have perused, it would be both unjust and ungenerous to deprive Dictinius of, or disturb him in, the Possession of his Saintship upon such an Evidence.

Syricius and Ambrose, in Conjunction with the Catholic Bishops of Spain, alarmed at the wonderful Progress the Doctrine of Priscillian had made in so short a Time, left nothing unattempted they could think of to put a Stop to the growing Evil. But all to no Purpose; in spite of their utmost Efforts, in defiance of the most severe Laws, that were enacted against them, especially by the Emperors Honorius, and Theodosius the younger, their Numbers increased daily, and their Doctrine grew daily more popular; the Severities that were practised against them, serving only to recommend those to the Esteem and Veneration of the Multitude, who suffered them, as many did, with Patience and Constancy. As they held it lawful to conceal their real Sentiments from the Catholics, by disowning them with the most solemn Oaths; the Catholics suffered themselves to be led by a mistaken Zeal into the same Error, disowning, in like manner, their Sentiments, the better to discover those of their Adversaries. But this pernicious Practice of defending Truth by destroying it, and opposing Lyes by Lying, was fully and unanswerably confuted by Austin, in his Answer to Consentius, who had writ to him at Length upon that Subject^[1268][N27].

The indefatigable Pains Syricius took, together with the other Catholic Bishops, in suppressing the Heresy of the Priscillianists, proved quite unsuccessful, though seconded by the Secular Power, and the severest Laws that had yet been enacted against Heretics. Their Doctrine rather gained, than lost Ground; and we shall find them in the Sixth Century, that is, Two hundred Years hence, still a numerous Sect, and Councils assembling, to very little Purpose, against them. Syricius was not so intent, as we are told, upon maintaining the Doctrine of the Church, as to neglect the Discipline. |Council assembled by
Syricius at Rome.| In order to correct several Abuses, that had begun to prevail, and revive some antient Constitutions, that were grown out of Use, he convened a Council at Rome, which is said to have consisted of Eighty Bishops; and, with their Consent and Approbation, established the following Canons: 1. That no one should presume to ordain a Bishop, without the Knowlege of the Apostolic See. 2. That no Man should be admitted to the Ecclesiastical Order, who, after the Remission of his Sins, that is, perhaps, after his Baptism, had worn the Sword of worldly Warfare. 3. That no Clerk should marry a Widow. 4. That the Novatians and Montanists, that is, Donatists, should be received into the Church by the Imposition of Hands; but that such as, abandoning the Catholic Faith, had been rebaptized by them, should not be re-admitted without performing a long Penance. 5. That the Priests and Deacons should live continent, being, by their Office, daily employed in the Divine Ministry^[1269]. These Canons or Decrees, say the Roman Catholic Divines, are contained in a Letter, which Syricius writ to the Bishops of Africa, and which was read, and received as a Law, by a Council held some Years after at Tela, in the Province of Byzacene, as appears from the Acts of that Council^[1270]. Ferrandus, Deacon of Carthage, in his Abridgment of the Canons, done in the Sixth Century, often quotes the Letter of Syricius, and takes particular Notice of the Canons that were copied from it by the Council of Tela. The same Letter, together with the Acts of that Council, are to be found, Word for Word, in the antient Code of the Church of Rome. So that, upon the Whole, we cannot question, says Baronius, the Authenticity of that Piece, without rendering the Authority of every other Monument of Antiquity quite precarious, and leaving Men to their own wild and groundless Conjectures. But Men of Learning have, of late Years, been too much upon their Guard to admit, without the strictest Examination, any Piece, however authentic in Appearance, that seemed to countenance the extraordinary Power and Authority claimed by the Bishop of Rome. And not without Reason, since they well knew what Pains had been taken to banish Truth, by suppressing or adulterating the most authentic Records, and to establish Falshood, by substituting in their room fabulous Legends, spurious Letters, and Acts of Councils that never were held. As for the Letter ascribed to Syricius, it has been suspected ever since Criticism took place^[1271], and lately rejected, as unquestionably supposititious, by F. Quesnel, who, in a learned Dissertation on that Subject, proves, in my Opinion, unanswerably, not only the Letter; but the Acts of the pretended Council of Tela, to have been forged, and inserted, in latter Times, into the Collection of Ferrandus, and the Roman Code^[1272][N28].

I find no farther Mention made of Syricius, in the antient Writers, till the Year 390. when he condemned the Doctrine of Jovinian; and cast him and his Followers out of the Church. Jovinian was by Profession a Monk, by Birth a Latin, as Jerom observes, and the first who infected that Language with Heresy; all, or rather almost all, the Heresies that, for the first Four hundred Years, had disturbed the Peace of the Church, having been broached by Greeks, Chaldæans, or Syrians^[1273]. He had formerly practised great Austerities, going bare-footed, living upon Bread and Water, covered with a tattered black Garment, and earning his Livelihood with the Sweat of his Brow, his Hands being callous with long and hard Labour^[1274]. The Doctrine he taught is, by Jerom, reduced to the Four following Heads: 1. That those, who, with a lively Faith, have been regenerated by Baptism, cannot afterwards be overcome by the Devil. 2. That for all those, who shall preserve their Baptism; an equal Reward is reserved in Heaven. 3. That there is no Difference of Merit between abstaining from some Meats, and using them with Thanksgiving. 4. and lastly, That Virgins, Widows, and married Women, are in a State of equal Merit; and, consequently, that all Difference in Merit can only arise from their different Actions. That the Two last were then counted Heresies, shews that the Church began, in this Century, to be tainted with Doctrines that border on Popery, and no-ways consist with the Liberty of the Gospel^[1275]. Besides these Tenets, Jovinian taught, as Ambrose and Austin inform us, that the Virgin Mary preserved her Virginity in conceiving our Saviour, but lost it in bringing him forth, pretending to prove by Arguments, false, but ingenious enough, say they, that we should otherwise be obliged to own, with the Manichees, the Body of Christ not to have been real, but aereal^[1276]. He, besides, charged the Catholics with Manicheism, on account of their preferring the State of Virginity to that of Matrimony^[1277]. Both Jerom and Ambrose tell us, that, together with his Doctrine, he changed his Manners, renouncing his former Austerities, and giving himself up to all manner of Debauchery, to redeem, as it were, the Time he had lost^[1278]. But perhaps this Charge was not well founded, but rather supposed as a Consequence of his undervaluing Celibacy, and the Merit ascribed to it, there being too many Instances in Ecclesiastical History of such Inferences, drawn from Opinions which were not approved by the Fathers of the Church, as could no-way be justified. They often painted those, whom they styled Heretics, in the blackest Colours, to prejudice the People more effectually against their Doctrine. In this Art Jerom excelled all the rest, and none ever disagreed with him, who did not at once forfeit those very Virtues, which he himself had admired and extolled in them before. He abstained, however, from Matrimony; but merely, say Austin and Jerom, to avoid the Trouble and Anxiety attending it, and not because he apprehended there could be in this Life any Merit in Continency, or any Reward allotted for it in the next^[1279]. This Doctrine he broached in Rome, and soon found there a great Number of Followers, among the rest several of both Sexes, who had embraced, and professed for many Years, the State of Virginity, being seduced and misled, says Austin, by the Cavils of that impious Wretch, asking them, whether they pretended to be more holy than Abraham and Sarah, than many other Men and Women, who, though married, are commended in the Old Testament, for their eminent Sanctity^[1280]. The first, who took Offence at this Doctrine, were Two Laymen, viz. Pammachius and Victorinus. All we know of the latter is, that he was illustrious for his Birth, and, if we believe Ambrose, venerable for his Piety^[1281]. As for Pammachius, he is well known in the History of the Church, and often mentioned by Jerom with the greatest Commendations. He was descended, says that Writer, from the antient Family of the Camilli, and yet less distinguished by the Nobility of his Descent than his Piety^[1282]. Having heard, by Chance, some of the Propositions advanced by Jovinian, he made it his Business to inquire more narrowly into his Doctrine, being assisted therein by Victorinus, who had taken the Alarm upon hearing, in Rome, this shocking Doctrine, says Jerom^[1283], that a Virgin was no better than a married Woman. These Two having, by a diligent Inquiry, discovered at length the whole Doctrine of Jovinian, as well as the Author and Promoters of it, they presented a Request to Syricius, acquainting him therewith, and desiring, that the Doctrine of Jovinian might be condemned by the Episcopal Authority, and the Sentence of the Holy Ghost, as contrary to the Law of God^[1284]. These are Ambrose’s Words, as the Text now is; but it is generally thought to have been altered and corrupted. |The Doctrine of
Jovinian condemned
by a Council at
Rome.| Be that as it will, Syricius did not take upon him to act on this Occasion by his private Authority; but, assembling the Priests, Deacons, and other Ecclesiastics of Rome, he read to them the Request of Pammachius and Victorinus, and, having, together with them, maturely examined the Doctrine of Jovinian, he declared it, with the unanimous Consent of the whole Assembly, contrary to Scripture; and at the same time cut off, for ever, from the Communion of the Church, not only Jovinian, who had first broached such a Doctrine, but those among his Followers, who were found to have been the most sanguine in promoting it; viz. Auxentius, Genialis, Germinator, Felix, Frontinus, Martianus, Januarius, and Ingenius^[1285]. Jovinian, instead of submitting to the Judgment of Syricius, and his Clergy, immediately left Rome, and repaired with all Speed to Milan, not despairing of being able to engage Ambrose in his Favour, and likewise the Emperor Theodosius, who was then in that City, before Syricius could prejudice them against him. Of this Syricius was aware, and therefore, without Loss of Time, dispatched Three of his Presbyters to Milan, Crescentius, Leopardus, and Alexander, with a Letter to that Church, which has been transmitted to us among Ambrose’s Works^[1286], acquainting them with what had passed at Rome. In virtue of this Letter he was rejected by Ambrose; and, at the Request of the Three Roman Presbyters, driven our of the Town by the Emperor^[N29].