the Church and of
the Churches in their hands, though they had no bishop. What language
the Romans used in epistles 8, 30, 36 of the Cyprian collection, and how
they interfered in the affairs of the Carthaginian Church! Beyond doubt
the Roman _Church_ possessed an acknowledged primacy in the year 250; it
was the primacy of active participation and fulfilled duty. As yet there
was no recognised dogmatic or historic foundation assigned for it; in
fact it is highly probable that this theory was still shaky and
uncertain in Rome herself. The college of presbyters and deacons feels
and speaks as if it were the bishop. For it was not on the bishop that
the incomparable prestige of Rome was based--at least this claim was not
yet made with any confidence,--but on the _city itself_, on the origin
and history, the faith and love, the earnestness and zeal _of the whole
Roman Church and her clergy_.]

[Footnote 333: In Tertullian, de praesc. 36, the bishops are not
mentioned. He also, like Irenaeus, cites the Roman Church as one amongst
others. We have already remarked that in the scheme of proof from
prescription no higher rank could be assigned to the Roman Church than
to any other of the group founded by the Apostles. Tertullian continues
to maintain this position, but expressly remarks that the Roman Church
has special authority for the Carthaginian, because Carthage had
received its Christianity from Rome. He expresses the special
relationship between Rome and Carthage in the following terms: "Si autem
Italiae adiaces habes Romam, unde nobis quoque auctoritas praesto est."
With Tertullian, then, the _de facto_ position of the Roman Church in
Christendom did not lead to the same conclusion in the scheme of proof
from prescription as we found in Irenaeus. But in his case also that
position is indicated by the rhetorical ardour with which he speaks of
the Roman Church, whereas he does nothing more than mention Corinth,
Philippi, Thessalonica, and Ephesus. Even at that time, moreover, he had
ground enough for a more reserved attitude towards Rome, though in the
antignostic struggle he could not dispense with the tradition of the
Roman community. In the veil dispute (de virg. vel. 2) he opposed the
authority of the Greek apostolic Churches to that of Rome. Polycarp had
done the same against Anicetus, Polycrates against Victor, Proculus
against his Roman opponents. Conversely, Praxeas in his appeal to
Eleutherus (c. 1.: "praecessoru