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408 there were no canons of general obligation later than those of Chalcedon. Accordingly at the end of 691 a synod was held in the Domed Hall for the purpose of making canons only. This synod, generally known as the Trullan from its place of meeting, or the Quinisext because it completed the task of the fifth and sixth synods, called itself oecumenical: it was attended by the patriarchs Paul of Constantinople (Jan. 688-Aug. 694) and George of Antioch, and titular patriarchs of Alexandria and Jerusalem; and, though the papal legates did not formally take part in it, Basil of Gortyna claimed to represent the Roman Church. The assembly drew up a list of existing canons which were to be held binding, regularised the practice that had grown up with regard to the Eastern patriarchates by enacting that a bishop should suffer no detriment because he was prevented by barbarian incursions from going to his see, laid down rules dealing with the monastic life, the receiving of the eucharist, and the taking of orders, and condemned some surviving heathen observances and some practices prevailing in outlying parts of the Empire such as Armenia and Africa. If it had done no more, little would have been heard of it; but in the following points it offended the Church of Rome. It accepted all the apostolic canons, whereas the Roman Church received fifty only, and it laid special stress on the sixty-fifth, which forbade the Roman practice of fasting on Saturdays in Lent; following Acts xv. 29, it forbade the eating of flesh that contained blood; it forbade the representation of Christ as a lamb in pictures; above all it gave the patriarch of Constantinople equal rights with the pope, and in regard to the question of clerical celibacy, on which the Eastern and Western customs differed, it not only condemned the practice of compelling men to separate from their wives on taking higher orders, but declared such separation, except under special circumstances, to be unlawful. On the other hand it condemned marriage after ordination to the sub-diaconate and forbade the ordination of men who had been married twice. These regulations were described as a compromise; but in reality they differed little from a confirmation of the Eastern practice, with a prohibition of irregularities. Papal legates were present in Constantinople, and were afterwards induced to sign the Acts; but Pope Sergius disowned them, and, when urged to sign himself, refused. Justinian at last ordered him to be arrested and brought to Constantinople; but the army of Italy supported the pope, and it was only by his intercession that the imperial commissioner escaped with his life (695).

At the beginning of his reign Justinian was necessarily in the hands of others; and, as he afterwards devoted his restless energies almost entirely to foreign and ecclesiastical affairs, the civil administration continued to be conducted by ministers who, as is natural in men who know that their power is precarious, had little scruple about the means adopted to extort money. Of these the most obnoxious were the two finance-ministers, the treasurer, Stephen, a Persian eunuch, who is said to have