THE CHURCH IN THE SIXTH CENTURY 237
longer. Ezekiel is the first patriarch to refer to them. He speaks (Canon I) of the existence of "false ascetics, who lead captive silly women and seduce them from their duties"; who also "Broke all laws and despised sacraments." Ishu-yahb takes much the same line. His declaration (Canon VIII of his council) that all religions must have a monastery or some other proper abode (whence one may infer that the existence of a Rabban who lived in his own house was still not uncommon); and that those who desired to wander, whether for study or any other purpose, must have a commendatory letter from the bishop of their diocese; was reasonable enough. An Eastern monastery certainly did not err in the direction of not giving facilities for the contemplative life; and as a rule, the Msaliani were either a nuisance or a scandal.
Incidentally, one notices with interest that the "roving strain" so conspicuous in some modern Assyrians, goes back to this early period of their history.
Monasteries were, in theory, diocesan, and subject to the bishop. But just as in the West, at a later period, it was the ambition of all monks to get their houses declared subordinate to the Pope alone, so in the East (as the council of Sabr-Ishu shows us) many sought to escape the rule of their bishop, and to be put "under the hand" of the patriarch only.[1]
In that case, any bishop available was secured for the performance of pontifical acts. In a later age, any church where a patriarch had been buried claimed the privilege of independence.[2]
