82 MANUAL OF INSTRUCTION 



tance of the city of Rome, the Bishops of the latter 

 place were accorded much consideration, although 

 no power over other Bishops was given them. As 

 time went on, and the empire became Christian, the 

 Roman bishops gained in honor, and began to 

 claim especial powers and privileges. When Con- 

 stantinople was built, the Bishop of that city was 

 styled "the Universal Bishop," although the title 

 never gave him any authority over others. In 

 the case of the Roman bishops, too, at first, the 

 supremacy was considered simply honorary. Dur- 

 ing parts of the sixth and seven centuries, there were 

 disputes between the Bishops of the two cities con- 

 cerning which of the two should be called the 

 "Ecumenical Bishop.'' But with the increase of 

 wealth, and especially the adding of lands in Italy 

 to the possessions of the Roman Bishop, he began 

 to take rank as a temporal prince, as well as a 

 spiritual ruler. So long as the claims made by the 

 Roman Bishop to a title of supremacy were pressed 

 only by argument, they received but little consid- 

 eration ; but growing temporal strength gained for 

 them acceptance by those who were weaker than 

 they, or who courted their favor. 



During the period we are now considering, the 

 Roman Bishops became wealthy, powerful princes ; 

 and as superstition and ignorance spread over the 

 land, their supremacy increased with both. The 

 title "The Pope" came into common use, 



