of conquest often--as
notably with the great Emperor Heraclius--assumed the character of holy
wars. Where the barbarians of the East made havoc there too often the
Church fell without leaving a trace of its work. Without priest and
sacrament, the people came to retain only among their superstitions, as
sometimes in North Africa to-day, usages which showed that once their
ancestors belonged to the kingdom of Christ. Much {24} of the
missionary work of the period was done by Monophysites; the record of
John of Ephesus preserves what he himself did to spread Christianity in
Asia. And it would seem that even the most orthodox of emperors was
willing to aid in the work of those who did not accept the Council of
Chalcedon so long as they earnestly endeavoured to teach the heathen
the rudiments of the faith and to love the Lord in incorruptness.

[Sidenote: Organisation of the Church.]

The Church of the period was divided into five patriarchates, the
Church of Cyprus being understood to stand apart and autocephalous.
Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch still retained their old
power, while Jerusalem was regarded as somewhat inferior. The
patriarchates were divided into provinces, the capital of each province
having its metropolitan bishop. Under him were other bishops, and
gradually the title of archbishop was being understood,--as by
Justinian in the decree (Novel, xi.) in which he created his birthplace
a metropolitan see,--to imply jurisdiction over a number of suffragan
sees. Besides this there were still sees autocephalous in the sense
that they owned no superior or metropolitan bishop. It would seem from
the _Synekdemos_ of Hierocles (c. 535) that in the sixth century the
patriarch of Constantinople had under him about thirty metropolitans
and some 450 bishops. But the authority which the patriarch exercised
was by no means used to minimise that of the bishops. If the influence
of the Imperial Court on the patriarchate was always considerable and
sometimes overwhelming, Justinian was careful to preserve the
independence of the Episcopate and {25} to order that the first steps
in the election of bishops should be by the clergy and the chief
citizens in each diocese. And, as a letter of S. Gregory shows, the
bishops were elected for life; neither infirmity nor old age was
regarded as a cause for deposition, and translation from see to see was
condemned by many a Council. All the clergy under the rank o