of various places in Palestine and Asia Minor. Even
Dionysius, bishop of the capital of Egypt, was invited to be present,
but he pleaded his age and infirmities as an apology for his
non-attendance. [618:2] In a council which assembled A.D. 269, [618:3]
Paul was deposed and excommunicated; and the sentence, which was
announced by letter to the chief pastors of Rome, Alexandria, and other
distinguished sees, was received with general approbation.

All the information we possess respecting the councils of the first
three centuries is extremely scanty, so that it is no easy matter
exactly to ascertain their constitution; but we have no reason to
question the correctness of the statement of Firmilian of Cappadocia,
who was himself a prominent actor in several of the most famous of these
assemblies, and who affirms that they were composed of "elders and
presiding pastors." [619:1] We have seen that bishops and elders
anciently united even in episcopal ordinations, and these ministers,
when assembled on such occasions, constituted ecclesiastical
judicatories. A modern writer, of high standing in connexion with the
University of Oxford, has affirmed that "bishops alone had a definitive
voice in synods," [619:2] but the testimonies which he has himself
adduced attest the inaccuracy of the assertion. The presbyter Origen, at
an Arabian synod held about A.D. 229, sat with the bishops, and was, in
fact, the most important and influential member of the convention. About
A.D. 230, Demetrius of Alexandria "gathered a council of bishops _and of
certain presbyters_, which _decreed_ that Origen should remove from
Alexandria." [619:3] About the middle of the third century, "during the
vacancy of the see of Rome, _the presbyters of the city_ took part in
the first Roman council on the lapsed." [619:4] At the council of
Eliberis, held about A.D. 305, no less than _twenty-six presbyters_ sat
along with the bishops. [619:5] In some cases deacons, [619:6] and even
laymen, were permitted to address synods, [619:7] but ancient documents
attest that they were never regarded as constituent members. Whilst the
bishops and elders _sat_ together, and thus proclaimed their equality as
ecclesiastical judges, [619:8] the people and even the deacons were
obliged to _stand_ at these meetings. The circular letter of the council
of Antioch announcing the deposition of Paul of Samosata is written in
the name of "bishops, and presbyters, _and deacons, and the