osophically, explain only temporary strifes. The Oriental Church, on the contrary, assigns for the schism a motive radical and logical: she affirms that the Roman Church has provoked it in seeking to impose in the name of God an unlawful yoke upon the Universal Church, that is, the Papal sovereignty, as contrary to the divine constitution of the Church as to the prescriptions of the œcumenical councils.
If the accusations of the Oriental Church are well founded, it follows that it is the Roman Church which is guilty. In order to enlighten ourselves upon this point, we have investigated the relations of the two churches before their separation. It is, indeed, necessary to establish clearly the nature of these relations in order to see from which side has come the rupture. If it be true that the Roman Church sought in the ninth century to impose upon the whole Church a rule unknown to the previous ages and therefore unlawful, we must conclude that she alone should bear the responsibility of the schism. We have pursued the study with calmness and free from prejudice; it has brought us to these conclusions: (1.) The bishop of Rome did not for eight centuries possess the authority of divine right which he has since sought to exercise.
(2.) The pretension of the bishop of Rome to the sovereignty of divine right over the whole Church was the real cause of the division.
We are about to produce the proofs in support of these conclusions. But before presenting them we think it profitable to interrogate the Holy Scriptures, and examine whether the pretensions of the bishop of Rome to universal sovereignty of the Church have, as is alleged, any ground in the Word of God.
