ainst Paul of Samosata, Bishop of that great city. It
was the Metropolitans and Bishops of the neighbourhood who assembled with
those of the Province where the flame of a great dissension had been
kindled. The Council of Sardica, urged by the same desire to break through
the custom which was introducing itself, of having recourse to the Emperor
for judgment of spiritual causes of the Church, bethought itself of another
means, which was not less conformable to the practice of the preceding
centuries, and which had, beside that, much foundation in the Holy
Scriptures. For Jesus Christ, having given the Primacy, and the rank of
Head, to St. Peter, above the other Apostles, and having given successors
as well to the Apostles, to wit, all the Bishops, as to St. Peter, to wit,
the Roman Pontiffs; moreover, having willed that His Church should remain
for ever one by the union of all Bishops with their Head, it is manifest,
that if the Bishops of a province could not agree in their Provincial
Council, and if the Bishops of several provinces had disputes between each
other, the most natural way to finish these differences was to introduce
the authority of the Head, and of him whom Jesus Christ has established as
the centre of unity of His universal Church."

Accordingly, at the Council of Sardica, attended by St. Athanasius, then in
exile, and about a hundred Western Bishops, after the secession of the
Eastern or Arian portion, Hosius proposed, "If two Bishops of the same
province have a disagreement, neither of the two shall take for arbitrator
a Bishop of another province: if a Bishop, having been condemned, feels so
assured of his right, that he is willing to be judged anew in a Council,
_let us honour, if you think it good, the memory of the Apostle St. Peter_:
let those who have examined the cause, write to Julius, Bishop of Rome; if
he thinks proper to order a fresh trial, let him name judges; if he does
not think that there is reason to renew the matter, let what he orders be
kept to. The Council approved this proposition. The Bishop Gaudentius
added, that, during this appeal, no Bishop should be ordained in place of
him who had been deposed, until the Bishop of Rome had judged his
cause."[32]

"To make the preceding Canon clearer, Hosius said, 'When a Bishop, deposed
by the Council of the province, shall have appealed and had recourse to the
Bishop of Rome, if he judge proper that the matter be examined afresh, he
shall