Cyrrhus, is condemned
by the pseudo-council of Ephesus in 449, and appeals to Pope Leo in the
following touching language: "I await the decision of your Apostolic See,
and I supplicate your Holiness to succor me, who invoke your righteous and
just tribunal; and to order me to hasten to you, and to explain to you my
teaching, which follows the steps of the Apostles.... I beseech you not to
scorn my application. Do not slight my gray hairs.... Above all, I entreat
you to teach me whether to put up with this unjust deposition or not; for
I await your sentence. If you bid me rest in what has been determined
against me, I will rest, and will trouble no man more. I will look for the
righteous judgment of our God and Savior. To me, as Almighty God is my
Judge, honor and glory are no object, but only the scandal that has been
caused; for many of the simpler sort, especially those whom I have rescued
from diverse heresies, considering _the See_ which has condemned me,
suspect that perhaps I really am a heretic, being incapable themselves of
distinguishing accuracy of doctrine."(169) Leo declared the deposition
invalid and Theodoret was restored to his See.

John, Abbot of Constantinople, appeals from the decision of the Patriarch
of that city to Pope St. Gregory I., who reverses the sentence of the
Patriarch.

In 859 Photius addressed a letter to Pope Nicholas I., asking the Pontiff
to confirm his election to the Patriarchate of Constantinople. In
consequence of the Pope's conscientious refusal Photius broke off from the
communion of the Catholic Church and became the author of the Greek
schism.

Here are a few examples taken at random from Church History. We see
Prelates most eminent for their sanctity and learning occupying the
highest position in the Eastern Church, and consequently far removed from
the local influences of Rome, appealing in every period of the early
Church from the decisions of their own Bishops and their Councils to the
supreme arbitration of the Holy See. If this does not constitute superior
jurisdiction, I have yet to learn what superior authority means.

Second--Christians of every denomination admit the orthodoxy of _the
Fathers_ of the first five centuries of the Church. No one has ever called
in question the faith of such men as Basil, Chrysostom, Cyprian,
Augustine, Jerome, Ambrose and Leo. They were the acknowledged guardians
of pure doctrine, and the living representatives "of the faith once
d