e Empire possessed in Rome; the extent
and composition of the Graeco-Latin community there; the security--and
this was not the least powerful element--that accompanied the
development of this great society, well provided as it was with wealth
and possessed of an influence in high quarters already dating from the
first century;[326] as well as the care which it displayed on behalf of
all Christendom. _All these causes combined to convert the Christian
communities into a real confederation under the primacy of the Roman
Church (and subsequently under the leadership of her bishops)._ This
primacy cannot of course be further defined, for it was merely a _de
facto_ one. But, from the nature of the case, it was immediately shaken,
when it was claimed as a _legal_ right associated with the person of the
Roman bishop.

That this theory is more than a hypothesis is shown by several facts
which prove the unique authority as well as the interference of the
Roman Church (that is, of her bishop). First, in the Montanist
controversy--and that too at the stage when it was still almost
exclusively confined to Asia Minor--the already sobered adherents of the
new prophecy petitioned Rome (bishop Eleutherus) to recognise their
Church, and it was at Rome that the Gallic confessors cautiously
interfered in their behalf; after which a native of Asia Minor induced
the Roman bishop to withdraw the letters of toleration already
issued.[327] In view of the facts that it was not Roman Montanists who
were concerned, that Rome was the place where the Asiatic members of
this sect sought for recognition, and that it was in Rome that the Gauls
interfered in their behalf, the significance of this proceeding cannot
be readily minimised. We cannot of course dogmatise on the matter; but
the fact can be proved that the decision of the Roman Church must have
settled the position of that sect of enthusiasts in Christendom.
Secondly, what is reported to us of Victor, the successor of Eleutherus,
is still plainer testimony. He ventured to issue an edict, which we may
already style a peremptory one, proclaiming the Roman practice with
regard to the regulation of ecclesiastical festivals to be the universal
rule in the Church, and declaring that every congregation, that failed
to adopt the Roman arrangement,[328] was excluded from the union of the
one Church on the ground of heresy. How would Victor have ventured on
such an edict--though indeed he had not the po