Page:History of the First Council of Nice.djvu/111

Rh 5. That an excommunication of either a clergyman or a layman, by the sentence of a simple bishop, shall be valid everywhere, till it shall be decided by a provincial council, which shall be held twice a year, the first before Lent, and the second in the autumn.

6. Gives superiority to the bishop of Alexandria over the bishops and churches of Egypt, Libya, and Pentapolis, also, to the patriarchs of Rome and Antioch, precedence, and, to metropolitans, a veto power over all elections to the episcopal office within their provinces:

"Whereas, the Roman Church has always held the first rank, but likewise Egypt holds the same, therefore the bishop of Alexandria may have power over all the Egyptian provinces; since this is the rule in respect to the Roman Church. For the same reason, he, who has been established among the Antiochian churches, and, moreover, in the other provinces, the churches of the larger cities may hold the primacy. But, throughout all, let it be understood, that if any one has been ordained before it was agreeable to the metropolitan bishops, he ought not to be a bishop (because the holy Synod has ordained this to be so). Assuredly, it will be seen, if reasonably weighed by the common understanding, that, according to the ecclesiastical rule, two or three bishops, obstinately opposing, may be counteracted, and overruled in the regular mode. Let that judgment prevail, which shall have been esteemed right by the majority."

7. Gives to the bishop of Ælia the rank of a metropolitan: