13] But in course
of time, it was found convenient for the government of the Church, that
some of them should be placed higher than others; and the way in which
this was settled was very natural. The bishops of a country found it
desirable to meet sometimes, that they might consult with each other, as
we are told that the Apostles did at Jerusalem (_Acts_ xv.); and in most
countries these meetings (which were called _synods_ or _councils_) came
to be regularly held once or twice a year. The chief city of each
district was naturally the place of meeting; and the bishop of this city
was naturally the chairman or president of the assembly--just as we
read that, in the council of the Apostles, St. James, who was bishop of
Jerusalem, where it was held, spoke with the greatest authority, after
all the rest, and that his "sentence" was given as the judgment of the
assembly. These bishops, then, got the title of _metropolitans_, because
each was bishop of the _metropolis_ (or _mother-city_) of the country in
which the council was held; and thus they came to be considered higher
than their brethren. And, of course, when any messages or letters were
to be sent to the churches of other countries, the metropolitan was the
person in whose name it was done.

[13] Page 6.

And, as all this was the natural course of things in every country, it
was also natural that the bishops of very great cities should be
considered as still higher than the ordinary metropolitans. Thus the
bishoprics of Rome, of Alexandria, and of Antioch, which were the three
greatest cities of the empire, were regarded as the chief bishoprics,
and as superior to all others. Those of Rome and Antioch were both
supposed to have been founded by St. Peter, and Alexandria was believed
to have been founded by St. Mark, under the direction of St. Peter.
Hence it afterwards came to be thought that this was the cause of their
greatness; and the bishops of Rome, especially, liked to have this
believed, because they could then pretend to claim some sort of especial
power, which they said that our Lord had given to St. Peter above the
other Apostles, and that St. Peter had left it to his successors. But
such claims were quite unfounded, and it is clear that the real reason
why these three churches stood higher than others was that they were in
the three greatest cities of the whole empire.

But the Church of Rome had many advantages over Alexandria and Antioch,
as well as o