of baptism arid in awaiting the resurrection of the dead and
life eternal.
- One of the principles discussed and re-affirmed at this
Council was the principle – stated clearly in the fourteenth
canon of the Apostolic regulations, forbidding the transfer of
a bishop from the See over which he was originally ordained
to another See. The text of the canon affirms that "it is not
permitted that a bishop leave his diocese for another even if
he be constrained to do so, unless there be a very good
reason for that, such as his greater usefulness to the other
See. In such a case the decision must not be made by him
alone but through the judgment and exhortations of
numerous bishops."^2 At the Council of Nicea, this principle
was inserted as the 15th of its twenty canons, on the grounds
that sacerdotal honour is granted by God, that episcopal
dignity is not dependent on the magnitude of a See, and that,
consequently, a bishop of an unknown See need not aspire to
one that is of greater importance or renown^3 since all are of
equal dignity.
There was a reason for raising this whole question
once more at the Council of Constantinople. Macedonius
having been condemned, some members were inclined to
replace him by Gregory, the Theologoc. But Gregory had
already been ordained Bishop over a little-known town in
Asia Minor called Sazima, and this raised the question of the
transfer. The Theologoc was a man of deep spiritual insight
and had served the imperial city with great zeal; thus there
would have been justification for his transfer.^4 Timothcos of
Alexandria, however, thought that it would be preferable not
to break the Apostolic rule, and in a spirit of brotherly love
counselled Gregory to remain constant to it. The Theologoc
willingly accepted this advice, for he "considered the head of
Alexandria the head of the world."^5 Furthermore he