Bolognia with the splendid Title of the Armenian Patriarch This Humor was carried on by one Elias who likewise pretended to be chose Patriarch of Babylon he sent several Nuncio's to the Pope with the Submission of the Babylonish Church and a Confession of Faith but these Nuncio's spoiled their business by over-acting their Parts for it having been discovered that the better to support their Pretence of the Chaldaean Church agreeing with the Church of Rome in all things they had tore several Pages out of their Church-Offices they were dismissed with disgrace However this did not discourage Elias as indeed what will a hungry Monk from sending one Adam Camara his pretended Arch-Deacon to Rome three Years after that misfortune who together with his Patriarch's Letter delivered to the Pope a Book of his own composing concerning the Reconciliation of the Chaldaean Church to the Roman which he desired might be diligently examined In his Letter he told Paul V. That let Hereticks do what they will he for his part was resolved never to go against the Holy Precepts of the Apostles and Orthodox Fathers who had all affirmed the See of great Rome to be the Head of all other Sees but would always confess that the Roman Church was the Mother of all the other Churches in the World and that all that did not own her to be so were accursed It 's observable that this Elias had a stretch of Courtship beyond his begging Predecessors which was his assuring the Pope That all their Clergy anciently had their Orders immediately from Rome and that that Custom continued till several that were going to Rome on that Errand were murdered by the way which having several times happened the Pope when he came to hear of it did of his free Grace say Let us ordain them a Patriarch and not only so but permit them to chuse him that so they may not perish thus by the way And thus said good Elias we received all the Authority we pretend to from Rome and not from our selves as they pretend to do and the greater Wretches they who trample upon the Canons of the Apostles and the Laws of the Fathers It is from this blind Story that the Roman Doctors have endeavoured to persuade the World that all the Babylonish Bishops do own that they derived their Power of Ordination from the Western Fathers meaning the Bishops of Rome no doubt Now what crude Stuff is this that those hungry Monks served up to the Pope and was as greedily swallowed at Rome there being not the least Colour of Truth in any part of the Story For as to the ancient Custom that is so confidently affirmed it is plainly contradicted by the 33d Arabick Canon of the Council of Nice which tho' not the genuine Canons of that Council are yet very ancient The Canon runs thus Canon 33. Let the See of Seleucia which is one of the Eastern Cities be honoured likewise and have the Title of Catholicon and let the Prelate thereof ordain Arch-Bishops as the other Patriarchs do that so the Eastern Christians who live under Heathens may not be wronged by waiting the Patriarch of Antioch's leisure or by going to him but may have a way opened to them to supply their own Necessities neither will any injury be done to the Patriarch of Antioch thereby seeing he has consented to its being thus upon the Synod's having desired it of him From which Canon it is plain That the Church of Seleucia or Babylon was anciently subject to the Patriarch of Antioch who of all the Patriarchs was their nighest Neighbour So that if the Chaldaean Bishops do own that they derived all their Authority from the Western Fathers as is pretended they do they must mean by the Western Fathers the Bishops of Antioch And as to its being said That the Chaldaean Bishops do to this day own that they had their Ordinations from the Western Fathers meaning the Bishops of Rome the falshood of that Pretence appears evidently not only from what has been said but from the whole Tenor of the following Synod and of all the late Reports of the Portuguezes concerning that Church As it does likewise That all those Patriarchs of Babylon who came to Rome notwithstanding the great Noise they made in this Part of the World were mere Impostors never owned by the Churches they pretended to be Patriarchs of Father Simon speaking of this in the 93 Page of his Histoire Critique confesseth their magnifying the Pope's Power as they did to have been a piece of gross Flattery but withal will have it to have been Pardonable in such poor Wretches who would not otherwise have been suffered to have approached the Pope to whom they came into Europe on purpose to make their Court for as he observes upon the same occasion few or none of the Oriental Prelates ever applied themselves to the Pope but for the promoting of some particular Interest which was one reason why the reunions they pretended to make did not last long But tho' for some time these mock Prelates being supported by the Pope made a shift to keep the face of a Church at Charamet none of them ever daring to go to Mosul yet after a little time the true Chaldaean Prelates obliged them to leave Charamet from whence they retired to Zeinalback a yet remoter Place on the borders of Persia where from little in a short time they dwindled to nothing The Prelates of Babylon we see were anciently stiled Bishops of Seleucia a City not far from Ctesiphon from whence it was that Simon who suffered Martyrdom under Sapor is stiled Bishop of Seleucia and Ctesiphon of which City we meet with this following Account in Strabo Babylon was anciently the Metropolis of Assyria which now Seleucia of Tigris is near to which is a great Village called Ctesiphon where the Kings of Parthia used to spend the Winter to spare Seleucia that it might not be continually oppressed with Soldiers and Scythians but notwithstanding this Change of the Metropolis as the Country all about is still called Babylon so the Natives tho' Born in the very City of Seleucia are still called Babylonians from the Region and not Seleucians In the Bibliotheca Patrum there is a Treatise of Paradise translated out of Syriack into Latine by Masius writ by one Moses Bar Cepha who is stiled Bishop in Bethraman and Bethleno and Curator of the Ecclesiastical Affairs of the Mozul or Seleucia Parthorum This Moses flourished in the Tenth Century But it is time to leave these Sham Prelates who run so fast to Rome of their own accord and return to the true ones who were forc'd to go thither much against their Wills After the Christians of the Serra had heard of their Arch-Bishop's being sent a Prisoner to Portugal despairing of ever seeing him again they sent secretly to Mar Simeon Patriarch of Babylon desiring him to order them a new Arch-Bishop who straightways sent them one Mar Abraham who having gotten
into the Serra in a disguise notwithstanding the great care the Portuguezes had taken to have intercepted him he was received by the whole Church as their Bishop with great joy But he had not been long there before he had the news of Mar Joseph's being returned to Goa where having presented the Letters he had brought along with him he was permitted to go back to his Bishoprick The Arch-Bishop of Goa who had writ to Portugal that they should by no means ever suffer Mar Joseph to return to the Indies was not without strong jealousies of his having prevaricated in all that he had promised and what did very much confirm him therein was that Mar Joseph when he desired him to take some Friars along with him to preach the Roman Doctrines in his Bishoprick did not only deny to do it but furthermore pretended that it was reveal'd to him the Night before that it was no ways convenient The Arch-Bishop being netled at this pretence told him with great heat That he had better Revelation from the Scriptures of his not being the Pastor whom God would have to feed his Sheep but a Wolf in Sheep's cloathing of whom our Saviour had said That they were to be known by their Fruits and that their Highnesses would quickly be sensible how much they had been imposed upon by him Notwithstanding all this he was permitted to go to his Bishoprick tho' for no other reason its like but to give birth to a Schism by which means the Portuguezes hoped to be able to compass their ends upon that Church the easier Divide impera being a piece of Policy that is well understood and has been much practised by the Roman Church And if this was their drift in sending him back to his Diocess they were not out in their Policy for Mar Joseph was not sooner in the Serra than the whole Bishoprick was divided some adhering to Mar Abraham and others to Mar Joseph as their true Prelate But Mar Joseph finding Mar Abraham's Party to be much the more numerous by reason of the Communication he had had with the Latins did thereupon betake himself to the course that all distressed People who preferr their own Interest to that of the Publick take and complains to the Portuguezes of Mar Abraham not only as an Usurper but as a most bitter Enemy to the Roman Church The Viceroy who was glad of this occasion straightways dispatch'd an Order to the Governour of Cochim to have Mar Abraham apprehended and to send him Prisoner to Goa in order to send him to Rome which was executed accordingly But the Ship whereon Mar Abraham was Embarked being forced by stress of Weather into Mazambique a Port belonging to the Portuguezes in the Southern Coasts of Africk he made a shift to escape and by the way of Melindo and Ormus to get to the Patriarch of Babylon from whom having received new Briefs to Fortifie his Title he resolved to return to his Bishoprick but having afterwards considered better on the matter and being sensible that if he went thither without the Pope's Order that the Portuguezes would quickly make the Serra too hot for him he altered his Mind and resolved to try his Fortune at Rome and to take a Journey thither over Land being come to Rome after having abjured his ancient Faith and reconciled himself to the Church and promised to reduce that of Malabar to its obedience he obtained of Pius the Fourth all such Briefs as were any ways necessary having also the Title of Arch-Bishop which he and his Predecessors had enjoyed given him therein But being at Venice in his way home the Divines there discovering as it is said both from the Nature of the Opinions that he had abjured and from his own Confession that he had never been lawfully Ordained did oblige him to receive all Orders from the first tonsure to the Priesthood He was ordained Priest by the Bishop of St. Salvador and Consecrated a Bishop by the Patriarch of Venice This Venetian Consecration if it is not a downright Naggs-Head Story is a Scurvy reflection upon the Pope's Infallibility who herein was not only deceived in a matter of Fact in giving Briefs to one as an Arch-Bishop who really was not at all in Holy Orders but he must also have been deceived in a matter of Doctrine in being Ignorant that some of the Opinions which had been Abjured before him by Mar Abraham were of such a nature as to incapacitate him for Orders While Mar Abraham was in this Voyage Mar Joseph finding himself in the quiet Possession of his whole Bishoprick did not forbear to profess and teach the Doctrines he had abjured in Portugal The Bishop of Cochim who was his next Neighbour having heard thereof acquainted the Arch-Bishop of Goa therewith and he Don Anrique the Cardinal Infante who at that time Governed Portugal in the Minority of his Nephew Don Sebastian and the Cardinal informed the Pope of the whole matter These repeated Tyrannies of the Portuguezes in the Indies of dragging ancient Bishops thus out of their own Country and Diocess and tumbling them so about the World I cannot but reckon among those violent Injustices for which Manuel de Faria in the very last words of his Asia Portuguesa tells us God has punished them so visibly The observation is so remarkable and to this day so litterally true as I have been told by several intelligent Portuguezes that I shall set it down in the Author 's own words Ponderacion muy notable ay en esto y es que dequanta persona passaran a la India ya como Governadores ya como Capitanes ya como Mercadores aunque esto ultimo siempre fue de todos y de quantos destos alcançaran groessissimas haziendas no seve oy in el Reyno de Portugal ninguna casa o Mayo razgo que se fundasse con ellas o lo menos que sea cosa de importancia ni tam poco ay en la India alguna casa grande desta calidad aunque tambien aya avido allá Portugueses q iuntaron mucho y uvo algunos de a million y de dos milliones y de a tres y a un de a quatro ye'l no luzirse a nadie considerablemente tanta hazienda como tantos iuntaron se hade entendar que fue y es y sera pero por una de dos razones o por ambas la primera porq ' permetiendo Dios este viaie solo para dilatar su nombre y verdedero culto estos navigantes trataron por la mayor parte de lo material de la sacrilega codicia cometiendo muchas maldades para hartarse en vez de tractar de la religion y otra porq ' lo mas desto fue ganado por medios injustos de tiranias robos y toda suerte de insolencia como consta de muchos lugares destas Historias It is remarkable that among all the Persons who have
only dwell in Christ as in a Temple The Arch-Deacon returned no answer to this but passing to another point said to the Arch-Bishop Your Grace would fain perswade us likewise that none can be saved out of the Obedience of the Roman Church which is what St. John no where saith that ever I could see besides we have in our Archives a Letter of St. Caius Bishop of Rome wherein he confesseth that he had nothing to do with the Church of Babylon no more than the Church of Babylon had to do with his Church We have also another Letter which is called in our Books the Letter of the Lord's-day because it is said upon that day to have fallen down from Heaven wherein the same Truth is affirmed Here the Arch-Bishop run into a long discourse of the Primacy of St. Peter and of the Pope's being his Successor and Christ's Vicar upon Earth after which they came at last to this Agreement That as to matters of Faith a Synod should be called to determine them and that in the mean while the Arch-Bishop might if he pleased give the Blessing and Preach in any of their Churches but should not be received in them as their Prelate but as a Bishop that was a Stranger neither should he pretend to Confirm or do any other Episcopal Act within that Diocess This Agreement was Signed by the Arch-Bishop and the Arch-Deacon and all the Caçanares who were present with a Declaration that the Synod should be Celebrated before Whitsuntide and that the Arch-Deacon should no longer stir up the People against him nor go attended with such Troops of Armed Men as he had done formerly This Agreement being Signed the Arch-Bishop set Sail for Canhur whither the Arch-Deacon went by Land not daring to trust himself by Water where he would have been in the Power of the Portuguezes At Canhur he was received very friendly by the Christians who had been told by the Arch-Deacon that he did not pretend to come among them as their Prelate but only as a Stranger but tho' he kept to his Agreement so far as not to offer to do any thing but give the Blessing and Preach yet in his Sermon which was a very long one he talked so much of the Roman Church and its Supremacy and of the obligation all Churches were under to submit to it that the whole Congregation were much offended with him the Arch-Deacon was likewise discontented with it and being Sick or at least pretending he was returned to Cheguree to be cured and the Arch-Bishop having other work on his hands was willing enough to dismiss him who in pursuance of the Instruction he brought with him from Goa was obliged to hasten to Coulaon a Fortress belonging to the Portuguezes to see in what condition it was and to take some course to have the Fort the King of Travancor was building in its Neighbourhood and would much incommode it demolished On the first of March he set Sail for a Castle that is within two Leagues of Cochim where the Governour and Bishop of the City met him to whom having communicated his Designs he Sailed directly for Porcoa where the King of the Country had been some days expecting him he went to a Church that was there in the Evening where he was kindly received by the Christians the King who professed a great Friendship for the Portuguezes having Commanded them upon pain of his displeasure to comply with the Arch-Bishop in all things After having Preached he went to Lodge at the House of the Caçanar whither the King came at Night to visit him the Arch-Bishop entertained him very friendly and thanked him for the kindness he had shewed to the Christians of St. Thomas and their Churches and for having cleared his Coast of Pyrates the King after some Complements desired to be admitted to the Honour of being a Brother in Arms to the King of Portugal as the King of Cochim had been The Arch-Bishop told him that was an Honour the King of Portugal never did to any King before he had merited it by some signal Service however he promised to do all that lay in his Power to help him to it Next Morning the Arch-Bishap went to Church where he said Mass and afterwards confirmed the whole Congregation notwithstanding his late solemn Promise to the contrary as indeed none but Fools will ever expect that Papists will observe any such Promises longer than the first opportunity they have to break them From Porcoa he sailed directly to Coulaon where under pretence of visiting a Church that stood near the Fort the King of Travancor was building he took a view of the Fort and finding it was near finished and would in a few days have a Garrison put in it he immediately dispatched away a Messenger to the Captain General of the Fleet and Troops that were before Cunahle to come forthwith with his whole Armada to demolish the said Fort which if he came quickly he might do with great ease for that he would find none in it but Workmen Now you must know that the Arch-Bishop when he was last at the Bar of Cunahle notwithstanding that the King of Travancor and the Portuguezes were at that time in Peace had left a private Order with the General that so soon as he was Master of Cunahle he should set Sail immediately with the whole Armada and demolish this Fort which by reason of Cunahle's not being yet taken had not been executed But while the Arch-Bishop was expecting the Captain-General he received the bad news of a great slaughter of Portuguezes in an Attack they had made upon Cunahle and that the Captain-General was retired to Cochim to have his wounded Men cured from whence he intended to come and wait upon him for further Orders The Arch-Bishop was extreamly troubled at this News as well upon the account of the great numbers of Persons of Quality that had been killed in the Action as because he feared it would very much hearten the Kings of Malabar who had till then still looked upon the Portuguezes as Invincible Wherefore to prevent the ill effects that the true News of this Defeat might have upon the Minds of the Princes of Malabar he dispatched Letters immediately to all of them to acquaint them with the great Victory the Portuguezes had obtained before Cunahle and tho' he acknowledged that it was purchased with the Blood of several brave Men among whom were some of his own Kindred who were very dear to him yet he did not doubt but that they would infallibly carry the Place at the next Attack they made These tricks of the Arch-Bishop coming so thick one upon the neck of another for here we have no fewer than three of them in less than a Fortnight puts me in mind of what Manuel de Faria saith of him in the 3d. Tome of his Asia Portuguesa which I shall give the Reader in his own words Este illustre Prelado estuviera yo por
a proper place which tho' he had faithfully promised to do yet he understood the Musquets were there still The Regedor told him The Regedor of the Place and not his Master was to blame for that who to his knowledge was ordered to have done it Upon this the Arch-Bishop and Regedor went to Church together where the Regedor in his hearing commanded all the Christians of the place in the King's Name to do whatsoever the Arch-Bishop should command them But tho' he is said at the same time to have whispered some in the Ear That the King would rather that they should adhere to their Arch-Deacon and their old Customs than submit to the Arch-Bishop yet that did not appear in the sudden change that was wrought in their Carriage by what the Regedor had told them publickly for they who but the day before would not so much as endure to see the Arch-Bishop were without any other Argument reconciled to the Church of Rome and him the next day From Molandurte the Arch-Bishop went a second time to Diamper where the chief Regedor according to his promise met him again The Arch-Bishop complained to him of the Regedor of the place who had not only hindred the Christians from coming at him but encouraged several Heathens to deride and threaten him as the chief Regedor was offering to excuse his Brother the Arch-Bishop interrupted him and striking the Cane he had in his hand three times against the Ground bid him in a great fury not to offer to speak to him for that he knew his Heart well enough and that he bore an ill will to all Christians but there 's another said he I blame more than you and that 's your Master who notwithstanding his being Brother in Arms to the King of Portugal suffers me to be abused in his Country but you may tell your Master from me that the King of Portugal shall know how I have been used by him and that it will not be long before he shall smart for it The Regedor desiring to appease him did assure his Grace That his Master knew nothing of what had been done to him at Diamper and that so soon as he was acquainted with it he would be sure to make Examples of all those that had any way affronted his Grace This put the Arch-Bishop in a greater Passion than he was in before he said This was all Trick and that he had treated too often with Kings and knew their Tempers too well to be made believe that they would not see themselves obeyed when they had a mind to it The Regedor assured him a second time that his Master always had and always would favour his designs in the Serra I shall quickly know that said the Arch-Bishop for if you be sincere you will presently call all the Christians together and Command them in the King's Name to acknowledge me as their Prelate and to unite themselves to the Church of Rome The Regedor promised to do it presently and having called all the Christians together commanded them before the Arch-Bishop on pain of the King 's high displeasure to obey the Arch-Bishop in all things assuring them withal that this was His Majesty's Will and therefore they should give no credit to any that should whisper the contrary to them and thus by Hectoring and Bribing of Kings and their Regedores the Arch-Bishop made both sudden and great Conversions Having dismissed the Regedor the Arch-Bishop gave them a Sermon and commanded them to come to Church next Morning to be confirmed by him Next day after the Confirmation he told them That he had Excommunicated and Deposed the Arch-Deacon as a Rebel to the Pope who is Christ's Vicar on Earth and that he told them of it on purpose that they might have no more Communication with such a Rebel but might acknowledge him for their Prelate The People seemed to be satisfied with what he had done and to blame the Arch-Deacon for his obstinacy In the Evening he visited the Sick and gave large Alms to the Widows and Orphans of the Town telling them withal that what he did was their Prelate's duty and not to take Money from them as their former Bishops had done but he forgot to tell them that whereas their former Prelates had lived altogether upon Alms having no settled Revenues to maintain them by reason of their living under Princes who were Infidels that he had above 20000 Crowns a Year in Rents that were certain Besides by having represented what he was doing in the Serra as a great Service to the Crown he had the Command of the Publick Treasure at Goa which was never so great as at this time the Viceroy Don Matthias de Albuquerque having in the Year 1597 left 80000 Ducats and an immense Summ in Jewels therein This Trick for it deserves no better Name together with his Hectoring of Kings and their Regedores as he did made a great many People wish themselves under Portugueze Prelates who they saw would not suffer their Princes to Tyrannize over them but would espouse all their Quarrels and defend them in their Rights which was what the Chaldean Prelates were not able to do The Arch-Bishop now having by the foresaid Methods brought three such considerable places as Carturte Molandurte and Diamper besides several small Villages under his Obedience and being also sure of all the Churches that are in the Kingdom of Porca Gundara Marca and Batimena whose Kings had already Commanded all their Subjects to obey him in every thing The Arch-Deacon hearing how things went began to be sensible that it would not be possible for him to contend with so powerful an Adversary much longer and that he must therefore either submit or be sent a Prisoner to Portugal the Arch-Bishop having so blocked the Serra up to prevent a Chaldean Bishop's coming thither that it was not possible for him to make his escape if he had a mind to run his Country rather than renounce his Religion The Arch-Bishop being informed by a Caçanar that the Arch-Deacon was in great perplexity what he had best to do writ him a long Letter wherein among other things he cited him to appear before the Judgment-seat of God to answer for the Souls that were now burning in Hell by his having kept them from being reconciled to the Roman Church out of which there is no Salvation To which Letter the Arch-Deacon returned an answer in a strain quite different from what he had writ in formerly Before this Letter came to his hand the Arch-Bishop having done his work at Diamper was sailed to Narame a considerable Village of Christians which he found all in Arms having all bound themselves with an Oath never to forsake their Religion and Arch-Deacon but to defend them with the last drop of their Blood and so when the Arch-Bishop was ready to Land to go to Church they called to him to stay where he was for besides that the Church doors were shut
is said Qui comedit corpus meum bibit ex sanguine meo sanctificante liberabitur ab inferno per me the words of Christ Habet vitam aeternam shall be used instead of Liberabitur ab inferno and in the end of the third Blessing where it is said Gloria illi ex omni ore Jesu Domino it shall be said Jesu Domino Deo because the Nestorians do impiously affirm That the name of Jesus is the name of a humane Person and does not agree to God All the above-mentioned particular the Synod doth command to be Corrected as is here ordered with such caution as is necessary in these Matters wherein the cursed Nestorian Hereticks have sown so many Errors Decree II. WHereas in the Missals of this Diocess there are some Masses that were made by Nestorius others by Theodorus and others by Diodorus their Master which are appointed to be said on some certain days and which carrying those Names in their Titles are full of Errors and Heresies the Synod doth command all such Masses entire as they are to be taken out and burnt and in virtue of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication Latae Sententiae doth prohibit all Priests from henceforward to presume to use them ordering them to be forthwith cut out of their Books and at the next Visitation to be delivered by them to the most Illustrious Metropolitan or to such as he shall appoint to correct their Books that so these Masses may be burnt Decree III. WHereas in the Masses of this Bishoprick there is an impious sacrilegious Ceremony which is the Priests after having dipt that part of the Host after his having divided it which he holds in his right hand and has made the sign of the Cross upon the other part that is upon the Patin opening this latter part that was upon the Patin with the Nail of his right Thumb to the end according to their Opinion that the Blood may penetrate the Body that so the Blood and Body may be joyned together which is ignorantly done in allusion to the Heresie of Nestorius or of his Followers who do impiously affirm That under the Element of Bread is only the Body of Christ without Blood and under the Element of Wine the Blood without the Body Wherefore the Synod doth command in virtue of Holy Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be Ipso facto incurred that no Priest presume to use any such Ceremony and that they throw it out of their Masses for that besides it alludes to the forementioned Heresie it contains a great ignorance in supposing that the Species can penetrate the Body and Blood of Christ Decree IV. FOrasmuch as the Syrian Mass is too long for Priests that have a mind to celebrate daily the Synod doth grant License for the translating of the Roman Mass into Syrian desiring the Reverend Father Francisco Roz of the Society of Jesus to undertake the Work which Mass together with all the Roman Ceremonies the Priest may say on particular Occasions but the solemn and sung Masses of the day shall be always the Syrian as they shall be emended by the most Reverend Metropolitan and such Priests as are able to say Masses both in Latin and Syrian in the Churches of other Diocesses may say it in Latin but not in this Bishoprick in which to avoid confusion it shall be said only in Syrian Wherefore the Synod desires the Bishops of those parts to give License that the Priests of this Diocess having Letters dimissory from their Prelate that do not know how to say Mass in Latin may be permitted to say the Syrian Mass in their Churches or at least the Roman translated with all its Ceremonies into Syrian the Schism which this Church has been in being now thorow the goodness of God removed entreating the most Illustrious Metropolitan the President of this Synod that he would be pleased to present this Petition in behalf of the Priests of this Diocesâ— to the first Provincial Council that shall be celebrated in the Province that so if the Fathers shall think fit it may pass into a Decree Decree V. WHereas the Power of handling the Holy Vessels is given particularly to the order of the Subdeacon this Synod doth command that from henceforward if the Minister that assists at the Mass be not a Subdeacon that the Priest shall not put the Patin into his hand when he is ordered by the Syrian Mass to do it such a one having no Authority to touch it but he may lay his hand only on the stone or wood of the Altar so as not to touch the Patin which is according to the Rubrick of the Missal which supposes the Person that assists at the Mass to be a Deacon ordering expresly that the Priest shall put the Patin into the hand of the Deacon Decree VI. WHereas the Stole that is thrown over the Shoulders is the particular Badge of the Order of Deacon it is not lawful therefore for any Person that has not taken the said Order to use the Stole in the Church with any publick Ceremony and whereas hitherto all of the Clergy that have assisted at Mass tho' but in inferior Orders or without them have wore the said Stole over their shoulders no less than the Deacons contrary to the Ceremoniale which supposeth him that assists at the Mass to be a Deacon the Synod doth therefore ordain and command that from henceforward the Chamazes who do assist at the Mass and are not Deacons be not permitted to wear the Stole it would also be decent for the Deacons when they wear the Stole to be in a Surplice and to have a Towel and not to have it over their ordinary wearing Cloths as has been hitherto the Custom Decree VII THe Synod doth command That in all Churches there be Stamps of Hosts or Instruments wherewith to print the Wafers that are to be Consecrated which shall be bought forthwith out of the Fabrick-money or the Alms of the Church and that the Vicars take care to be always provided of the flour of Wheat for the making of them which they must be sure not to mix with any thing else as is done commonly in other Bread for fear there should be no Consecration therein wherefore they must either make them themselves or employ such as are of known Skill and Fidelity to do it and the same care shall be taken of the Wine that it be no other than that of Portugal and that it be not mixed with the Juice of Raisins or with any other Wines of the Countrey for the same danger Decree VIII THe Synod doth earnestly recommend it to the Priests of this Diocess to take heed in what Wine they celebrate having been informed That as some Churches by reason of their Poverty are without Portugal Wine so where it is that the Priest keeps it in Glass Bottles where being in a small quantity and kept a long time it must necessarily decay and
Bishoprick and Condemned by the forementioned and other following Councils and Banished by the Sentence of the Emperour Theodosius the II. who then Reigned in the Desarts of Aegypt and his having his Books â—â—rned by the command of the said Emperour before his death his Tongue with which he hâ—d uttered such great Blasphemies rotted in his Mouth as did also his whole Body and being eat up with Lice he expired surrendring his Soul to the Devil as Evagrius a Noble Writer who lived at the same time relates and the same is reported of him by Nicephorus Cedrenus and other Greek Writers The Disciples of this cursed Heretick being brought into this Church by the Devil sowed their Errours in it without being observed by you who were a simple sincere People insomuch that St. Thomas when he was on Earth might have said the same that St. Paul did to those of Ephesus where Nestorius was afterwards Condemned I know that after my departure greedy Wolves shall come among you not sparing the Flock And well might the Pastors you have had among you be called devouring Wolves who being a base and inconsiderable People had no other intent but to rob you of all they could taking Money for Orders * Dispensations What could the poor Malavars conclude from hence but that either no such thing as the taking of Money for Dispensations c. was ever heard of in the Roman Church or that the Declamer was one of a strange assurance to condemn the doing of it at such a Tragical rare as he does Dispensations for Absolutions and for all Sacraments and Sacred things as you very well know a thing so abominable in the sight of God that St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles for this Sin only threw Simon Magus out of the Church and Excommunicated him as you may see in the Acts of the Apostles insomuch Brethren that we see that fulfill'd in you and in your Prelates who came from Babylon which was foretold by God so many Years before by the Prophet Isaiah The Shepherds themselves had no understanding they have all gone out of the Way and from the first to the last are all turned to Covetousness For God's sake Brethren tell me what sort of Prelates and Bishops could they be who sought nothing but their own Interest and who gave Orders and Dispensations and did every thing that belongs to a Bishop without being Bishops themselves or so much as Priests or Clerks but were pure Laicks as they themselves afterwards confessed What Dispensation what Sacrament what Grace could he who was dispensed with and ordained receive from those who were no Bishops nor so much as Clerks but pure Laicks nay Lascares in whose Habit they came out of their own Country Brethren this is the Fruit which they send you from Babylon Hereticks and pure Laicks and Barbarians for Bishops Tell me what has Malabar to do with Babylon and what correspondence is there betwixt the most pure Doctrine of Christ which was preached to you by the great Apostle St. Thomas and the barbarous Errours which were brought hither by Arabians and Chaldeans from Babylon and from their Master the Apostate Nestorius Believe me Brethren these are they of whom St. Paul spoke in his Epistle to his Scholar Titus That there should come Men teaching what they ought not to teach for filthy lucre And so it fell out for these Men that they might not lose the Profits and Honours they were unjustly possessed of did all they could to put into your heads that the Doctrine of St. Peter was different from that which had been taught you by St. Thomas It is true that the Doctrine of the Apostle St. Peter is contrary to the Heresies that have been brought hither from Babylon but not what was preached here by St. Thomas For what St. Thomas that also St. Peter taught and Christ himself and all his other Disciples taught for as St. Paul saith there is one Lord one Faith one Baptism and one Church of which Christ is the Head and that on Earth St. Peter and his Successors the Bishops of Rome For that St. Peter and his Successors are the Head of the whole Church * On earth Bishop Andre did not so fair in quoting And on Earth St. Peter and his Successors the Bishops of Rome c. as St. Paul's words on Earth is plain from what Christ before his Passion promised St. Peter as it is recorded in the 16. Chap. of St. Matthew where Christ after having examined his Faith said to him Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church and I will give thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven c. Words which he spoke to ‖ None This is a mistake for he gave the same Commission to all his Apostles after his Resurrection none of the rest of the Apostles but to St. Peter only And St. John in the last Chapter of his Gospel tells us That Christ after his Resurrection having asked St. Peter if he loved him more than all other things and St. Peter had answered that he knew very well that he did said to him three several times Feed my Lambs feed my Lambs feed my Sheep By which words he made him the universal Pastor of his Sheep and after him all the Bishops of Rome who were to succeed him in that Office for Christ hâ—s but one Fold for all his Sheep and one only Church and so in the Creed that is sung in the Mass we say I believe in one Holy and Apostolical Church and so Christ her Spouse said of his Church in the Canticles My Dove my perfect is but one that is to say my Dove my perfect which is the Church is but one And St. John in his 10th Chapter tells us that the Son of God speaking to his Disciples concerning his intent of calling the Gentiles to his Faith said I have other Sheep which are not of this Fold whom I must bring in that there may be one Fold and one Shepherd Now that Fold wherein the Jews and Gentiles were to concurr in one only Faith is the Catholick Church and that Shepherd was St. Peter and all his Successors the Bishops of Rome every one of which as he is Bishop of Rome is the universal Pastor of the * Whole If this had been the Faith of the whole Christian Church at the time when the Creeds were made the compilers of them would and ought to have added Roman to Catholick in the Creed whole Church of God insomuch as that all who will not be subject to him are not of the number of the Sheep of Christ but are without the Fold of the Church being Schismaticks and Hereticks for such are all who are disobedient to the Roman Church in which Roman Church there never was nor will be any error in Faith by reason of Christ's promise who as St. Luke reports speaking to St. Peter said to him I have prayed for