e, but monarchical, and claimed authority by virtue of
apostolic succession. Apparently the president of the committee of bishops
or presbyters had become the sole bishop, and the presbyters had become
priests subject to his authority, although at times presiding over
separate congregations. The bishops were now regularly nominated by the
clergy, approved by the congregation, and finally inducted into office by
the ceremony of ordination. Besides their administrative powers, the
bishops had the guardianship of the traditions and doctrines of the
church. The clergy were now salaried officers, sharply distinguished from
the laity, who gradually ceased to participate actively in the government
and regulation of worship of their respective communities, and these
communities had developed into corporations organized on a juristic basis,
promising redemption to their members and withholding it from deserters.

*The primacy of Rome.* In the third century, a movement took place for the
organization of the separate churches in larger unions, and in this way
the provincial synods arose. In these the metropolitan bishops, that is,
those from the provincial administrative centers, assumed the leadership.
Among the churches of the empire as a whole two rival tendencies made
themselves manifest. The one was to accord equal authority to all the
bishops, the other to recognize the supremacy of the bishop of Rome. The
claim for the primacy of the Roman see was based upon the imperial
political status of Rome, and the special history of the Roman church. It
was strongly pressed by certain bishops of the second century who laid
emphasis upon the claim of the Roman bishopric to have been established by
the Apostle Peter.

PART IV

THE AUTOCRACY OR LATE EMPIRE: 285-565 A. D.

CHAPTER XXI

FROM DIOCLETIAN TO THEODOSIUS THE GREAT; THE INTEGRITY OF THE EMPIRE
MAINTAINED; 285-395 A. D.

I. DIOCLETIAN: 285-305 A. D.

*The epoch-making character of Diocletian's reign.* Upon Diocletian
devolved the task of bringing order out of chaos, of rebuilding the
shattered fabric of the Roman empire, of reestablishing the civil
administration and taking effective measures to secure an enduring peace.
Like many of the emperors of the third century, Diocletian was an Illyrian
of humble origin who by shee