n of bishops;
but Prelacy had not yet completely established itself upon the ruins of
the more ancient polity. Sometimes the presbytery itself still
discharged the functions of the bishop. After the martyrdom of Fabian in
A.D. 250, the Church of Rome remained upwards of a year under its care,
[596:1] as the see was meanwhile vacant; and about the same period we
find Cyprian, when in exile, requesting his presbyters and deacons to
execute both _his duties_ and their own. [596:2] It was still admitted
that elders were competent to ordain elders and deacons, as well as to
confirm and to baptize; and the bishop continued to recognise them as
his "_colleagues_" and his "_fellow-presbyters_." [596:3] It is clear,
however, that the relations between them and their episcopal chief were
now very vaguely defined, and that the ambiguous position of the parties
led to mutual complaints of ambition and usurpation. The Epistles of
Cyprian supply evidence that the bishop of Carthage, during a great part
of his episcopate, was engaged with his presbyters in a struggle for
power; [596:4] and though he asserted that he was contending for nothing
more than his legitimate authority, he was sometimes obliged to abate
his pretensions. In one case he complains that, "without his permission
or knowledge," his presbyter Novatus "of his own factiousness and
ambition" had "made Felicissimus his follower a deacon;" [596:5] but
still he does not venture to impeach the validity of the act, or refuse
to recognise the standing of the new ecclesiastic. Felicissimus seems to
have been ordained in a small meeting-house in the neighbourhood of
Carthage; and as Novatus, who probably presided on the occasion, appears
to have proceeded in conjunction with the majority of the presbytery,
they no doubt considered that, under these circumstances, the sanction
of the bishop was by no means indispensable. The manifestation of such a
spirit of independence was, however, exceedingly galling to their
imperious prelate.

From the manner in which Cyprian expresses himself we may infer that he
would not have been dissatisfied had Novatus and the elders who acted
with him obtained his _permission_ to ordain the deacon Felicissimus.
But about this period the bishops were beginning to look with extreme
jealousy on all presbyterian ordinations, and were commencing a series
of encroachments on the rights of their episcopal brethren in rural
districts. These country bishops,