Province of Palestina Prima.

1. Elia, or Jerusalem. 2. Cæsarea. 3. Dora. 4. Antipatris. 5. Diospolis, al. Georgiopolis. 6. Jamnia. 7. Nicopolis. 8. Onus. 9. Sozusa. 10. Joppa. 11. Ascalon. 12. Gaza. 13. Raphia. 14. Anthedon. 15. Diocletianopolis. 16. Eleutheropolis. 17. Neapolis. 18. Sebaste. 19. Regio Apathus. 20. Regio Jericho. 21. Regio Libya. 22. Regio Gadara. 23. Azotus Maritima. 24. Azotus Hippinis. 25. Acomazon. 25. Bittymos.

27. Tricomias. 28. Toxus. 29. Saltum Constantiniani. 30. Saltum Geraiticum, al. Barsamon.

Province of Palestina Secunda.

1. Scythopolis. 2. Gadara. 3. Pellæ. 4. Abila. 5. Capetomas. 6. Diocæsarea. 7. Maximianopolis. 8. Gabæ. 9. Tiberias. 10. Hippos. 11. Helenopolis. 12. Clima Gælanes. 13. Tetracomia. 14. Comenais.

Province of Palestina Tertia.

1. Petra. 2. Augustopolis. 3. Arindela. 4. Charagmuda. 5. Areopolis. 6. Mapsis. 7. Elusa. 8. Zoara. 9. Birosabon. 10. Elas. 11. Pentacomia. 12. Mamopsora. 13. Metrocomia. 14. Saltum Hieraticum. Goar divides two of these into four, reading them thus, Salton, Mamo, Psora, Hieraticon.

Province of Arabia.

1. Bostra. 2. Adrasus. 3. Dia. 4. Medaba. 5. Gerassa. 6. Neva. 7. Philadelphia. 8. Esbus. 9. Neapolis. 10. Philippopolis. 11. Phenutus. 12. Constantina. 13. Dionysias. 14. Pentacomia. 15. Tricomia. 16. Canothas. 17. Saltum. 18. Bataneos. 19. Exacomia. 20. Enacomia. 21. Vicus Gonias. 22. Vicus Cherus. 23. Vicus Stanes. 24. Vicus Caberæ. 25. Vicus Coreathæ. 26. Vicus Bilbanus. 27. Vicus Caprorum. 23. Vicus Pyrgoaretarum. 29. Vicus Setnes. 30. Vicus Ariacharum. 31. Neotes. 32. Clima Orientalium et Occidentalium. 33. Vicus Ariathæ Saxosæ. 34. Vicus Bebdamus.

Province of Armenia Magna.

Concerning this the author only remarks, that it is an autocephalus, or independent country, not subject to any apostolical throne, but honoured in respect to St. Gregory of Armenia, having two hundred cities and castles.

Province of Cyprus.

The author makes the same observation upon this country, that it is an independent also, in honour of St. Barnabas the apostle, who was found here, having the Gospel of St. Mark laid upon his breast. The cities in this province are,

1. Constantia, the metropolis. 2. Citium. 3. Amathus. 4. Curium. 5. Paphus. 6. Arsenæ. 7. Soli. 8. Lapithus, the birth-place of Georgius Cyprius, who wrote the book out of which these were taken. 9. Cyrenia. 10. Tamasus. 11. Cythri. 12. Trimithus. 13. Carpasin.

There is added at the end of Goar's notitia: This account was taken anno 6391, in the reign of the

emperor Leo Sapiens, and under the patriarch Photius, that is, anno 891.

In this description of the church, the reader may observe, that the author being a Greek, is much more accurate in his account of the Greek and Eastern churches, than of the Western and Latin: for here is no account of France, Spain, Britain, Illyricum; and such confused and imperfect accounts of the provinces of Italy and Africa, as show plainly, that the author was not rightly acquainted with the state of the church in those countries; at least not in Italy; for in all Italy and Sicily here are not mentioned above a hundred dioceses, and yet it is clear from the accounts that have been given before out of the subscriptions of ancient councils, that there were nearer three hundred dioceses in those regions. Above one hundred and fifty Italian bishops of distinct sees are found subscribed in one age in the Roman councils held under Hilary, Felix, and Symmachus, and there were almost as many more not mentioned in those councils, but to be found in other councils and ancient records. And though when these notitias were made, several of the ancient dioceses might be united together, yet it appears from the subscriptions of the Roman councils under Eugenius II. and Leo IV. in the ninth century, that there were above double the number to what the notitias mention. So that it must be owned, that they give but an imperfect account of the Latin or Western church. But the account of the Greek and Eastern churches is more complete, and agrees very well with the subscriptions collected out of the ancient councils. And so they one confirm another, and both together fully make out the account that has been given both of the number and extent of dioceses in the ancient church.

CHAPTER VIII.

OF THE DIVISION OF DIOCESES INTO PARISHES, AND THE FIRST ORIGINAL OF THEM.

Sect. 1. Of the ancient names of parish churches.

THERE remains but one thing more to be inquired into on this head, which is the division of dioceses into such lesser precincts as we now call parishes and parish

1 Concil. Chalced, can. 17. Tàs κa' ¿κásηY ÉKKλŋσíαv ἀγροιουκὰς παροικίας, ἢ ἐγχωρίους μένειν ἀπαρασαλεύτως τοῖς κατέχουσιν αὐτὰς ἐπισκόποις.

2 Concil. Vaisionen. 1. c. 2. Placuit ut non solum in civitatibus, sed etiam in omnibus parochiis, verbum faciendi daremus presbyteris potestatem.

Hieron. cont. Vigilant. cap. 2.

Sulpic. Sever. Dial. 1. c. 4.
Theodor. Ep. 113.

Innoc. Ep. ad Decent. c. 5.

churches. Concerning which I shall here need to say the less, because so much has already been said incidentally in speaking of the extent of ancient dioceses, which we have generally found too large to be confined to a single congregation. All that I shall add upon this subject, therefore, in this place, is only to make a few remarks upon the ancient names of parishes, (because some of them are a little ambiguous,) and show when, and upon what account, and by what degrees dioceses were divided into parishes, to bring them to the present state and form of the church. As to the ancient names, I have had occasion to show before, that the words παροικία, and διοίκησις, for the three first ages were of the same importance, denoting not what we now call a parish church, but a city with its adjacent towns or country region. But in the fourth and fifth ages we find both names promiscuously given as well to country parishes, as episcopal or city churches. For now these lesser divisions of dioceses began to be called parochiæ, as may be seen in the council of Chalcedon,' which ordered, That in every church such country parishes as belonged of old time to any bishop, should continue in his possession without any molestation. And in the council of Vaison, anno 442, a decree was made, That country parishes should have presbyters to preach in them, as well as the city churches. And so the word parochia is often used by St. Jerom,3 Sulpicius Severus, Theodoret,' Innocentius," and other writers of those ages. Though still the name parochia continued to signify properly an episcopal diocese, from which it was transferred to denote those lesser parochia, because they were a sort of imitation of the former. Which is the account that Socrates' seems to give of them, when, speaking of the villages of the region of Mareotes that were subject to the bishop of Alexandria, he says, they were as so many apoikiai, or lesser dioceses under his city. And upon the same reason the name diocesis was sometimes given to a parish church also, though it most properly belongs to an episcopal diocese. Thus Sidonius Apollinarius" speaks of his own visiting his dioceses, meaning only the parish churches under his episcopal jurisdiction. And so in the Collation of Carthage, it is said of one place, that there was perfect unity not only in the city, but in all the dioceses, that is, the country parishes or villages belonging to it. Baluzius has observed the same 10 in Ruricius Lemovicensis," and Gregory of

Socrat. lib. 1. c. 27. Εἰσὶν ὑπὸ τὴν αὐτοῦ πόλιν ὡς παροικίαι.

Sidon. lib. 9. Ep. 16. p. 611. Peragratis forte diocesi bus cum domum veni, &c.

Collat. Carthag. Die 1. c. 176. Unitas illic perfecta est non solum in ipsa civitate, verum etiam in omnibus diocesibus.

10 Baluz. Not. ad Gratian. p. 510. Ruricius Lemovic. lib. 2. Ep. 6.

Tours," and some other writers. The reason of this appellation being, as I said before, for that these churches, whereupon single presbyters were fixed, were a sort of lesser dioceses, as the author of the Pontifical" under the name of Damasus terms them; and some canons give them" the name of ecclesiæ diœcesana, diocesan churches; and others, country or village churches, whence the presbyters residing on them were termed ἐπιχώριοι πρεσβύτεροι, country presbyters, by the council of Neocæsarea, 15 in opposition to the city presbyters in the cathedral or mother church. Parish churches were also peculiarly called tituli, as has been noted before," in contradistinction to the bishop's church; being such churches as had particular presbyters and deacons assigned to them, who upon that account are said to have a title. And some learned persons" are of opinion, that cardinal presbyters and deacons, at first, were no more but presbyters and deacons so deputed and affixed to the service of particular parish churches, and that as well at Rome as other places.

munion.

tian communion with greater ease, that first gave occasion to them. For when the multitude of believers increased so in large and populous cities, that one church could not contain them, there was a necessity of dividing the assembly, and erecting other churches, where all the solemnities of the Christian worship and the usual offices of Divine service might be performed, as well as in the mother church, to answer the apostolical ordinance of holding Christian communion one with another; which was according to what we read, Acts ii. 42, that men should continue "stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." The author of the Pontifical under the name of Damasus, in the Life of Marcellus, seems to say, that several of the Roman tituli, or parish churches, were erected" for the convenience of baptizing great multitudes that were converted from paganism, and for burying the martyrs. But if there was any necessity upon that account, there was doubtless a greater necessity upon another. For in those days, the whole body of the Christian church was used to communicate weekly at the Lord's table; and it being impossible that one church should suffice in large

12 Greg. Turon. Hist. lib. 4. c. 13. lib. 6. c. 38.

13 Pontifical. Vit. Marcelli. Viginti quinque titulos in urbe Roma constituit, quasi dioceses, propter baptismum et pœnitentiam multorum.

14 Concil. Tarracon, can. 8.

15 Concil. Neocæsar. can. 13. 16 Book VIII. chap. 1. sect. 10.

cities for this purpose, there was an absolute necessity of building more, that Christians might live in communion one with another. And so parish churches must be as ancient as the necessities of the church; and he that knows how to date the one, may easily date the original of the other for any particular city or diocese in the universe. But as cities and their appendant dioceses differed very much in their size and extent, so it is reasonable to as the times of the believe, that some of them were obliged

Sect. 3. Some of them probably as ancient

apostles.

to build parish churches much sooner than others. And in such places as Jerusalem and Rome, there is great probability, from several passages in the Acts and St. Paul's Epistles, that there were more churches than one from the days of the apostles. However, it is undeniably evident from Optatus, as I have showed before, that Rome had above forty churches in it before the end of the third century, or in the beginning of the Diocletian persecution. As for the lesser cities, it will be no wonder to find some of them which had but one church whilst the persecution lasted; such as that city in Phrygia, which Lactantius speaks of, where he says, the church and all the people were burnt" together by one of the barbarous prefects in the last persecution. Valesius thinks Eusebius speaks of the same city, who says, it was all Christian at that time, both magistrates and people, and therefore an army was sent against them, which burnt them all together, men, women, and children, as they were making their supplications to Christ their God. From which it may be concluded, that there were some cities, which were but what Eusebius calls this, Toλixvaι, so very small, as to need no other church beside the bishop's cathedral, even when all the members of them were become universally Christian. And this may seem an argument to some, that there were anciently many episcopal dioceses that never had any parish churches.

cution; as appears from the canons of the council of Eliberius," and those of Neocæsarea," the former of which was held while the Diocletian persecution lasted, and the latter immediately after it was over, and yet both of them speak of country presbyters and deacons, to whom the care of Christian assemblies was committed. Epiphanius also speaks of village presbyters belonging to the city Caschara in Mesopotamia in the middle of the third century, and Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, about the same time frequently mentions such in the regions of Arsinoe, Alexandria, and other cities of Egypt and Libya, in several fragments of his epistles, recorded in Eusebius, which have already been alleged, and need not here be repeated. From these and many other such instances it is evident, that as soon as the Christian religion began to spread itself from the cities into the country regions in any considerable manner, village churches were erected, and country presbyters fixed on them; the necessities and convenience of the church requiring it so to be for the greater benefit and edification of the whole community. Thus parish churches had their original both in city and country, not all at one time, nor by any general decree, but as the exigences of every diocese required, the bishop of which was always the properest judge, how many assistants he needed to help him to discharge the several offices belonging to him as chief superintendent of the city and territory under his jurisdiction. In France the council of Vaison speaks of country parishes in the beginning of the fifth century, as I have noted before in the first section of this chapter. But in England we have not so early an account of them, because the records we have remaining of the ancient British church, make no mention of parishes: and after the Saxon conversions were begun, it was some time before our dioceses were divided into parishes, and longer before they had appropriated revenues settled upon them. Some think Honorius, the fifth archbishop of Canterbury, divided so much of the nation as was converted, into parishes about the year 640. So Bishop Godwyn and Dugdale. But others think this division is rather to be understood of dioceses than parishes for parochia in Bede commonly denotes a bishop's diocese, according to the ancient style and language of the church; as is evident from that canon of the council of Herudford mentioned in Bede," which was held above thirty years after this supposed division of Honorius, in

the time of Archbishop Theodore, anno 673, where it is decreed, That no bishop shall invade another's parochia, or diocese, but be content with the government of the people committed to him. Bishop Andrews" indeed brings this very canon for a proof of parishes being now settled all over the nation: but I conceive the other sense of the word parochia to be more proper to that place. Though I will not deny but that toward the latter end of this archbishop's time, who lived to the year 690, the division of parishes might be made. For Bede observes," that religion and the affairs of the church made a greater progress in his time than ever they had done before. And Mr. Wheelock," in his observations upon the place, cites an ancient manuscript, which speaks of the division of parishes as made under him. Now Christianity had spread itself into the country, and churches were built, and presbyters fixed upon them, and first-fruits and other revenues were settled by King Ina" among the West Saxons, and by Withred, king of Kent, in the council of Beconceld, anno 694, and patrons, when they founded churches, endowed them with lands for proper maintenance: all which seem to imply, that the original of country parishes was about the latter end of the seventh century in this nation, and in the next age they were fully settled.

Sect. 5. The city parishes not always assigned

toy particular pres

byters, served in common by the

clergy of the bishop's wise in country pa

church. This other

rishes.

But to return to the former times: it is further to be noted concerning the ancient manner of serving the city parish churches, that they were not usually committed to any particular presbyters, as those in the country regions were, but were served in common by the clergy of the bishop's church. Learned men conclude this from a passage in Epiphanius, who seems to note it as a particular custom at Alexandria, that all the churches there had their own particular presbyters assigned them, who dwelt near their own churches, every one in their own streets or divisions," which the Alexandrians, in their own language, called laura. Petavius indeed" thinks Epiphanius was mistaken, and that it was not the peculiar custom of Alexandria, but common to all great cities, to have presbyters fixed upon all their churches. But Valesius" and other learned men defend Epiphanius against his censure, and show this to have been so singular a custom at Alexandria, that perhaps no other city in the world in that age, no, not Rome itself, which had above forty churches, had any one church appropriated to any

28 Inæ Leges Eccles. c. 4. Primitiæ seminum ad festum S. Martini redduntor, &c. ap. Spelman. p. 183. Conc. Beconceld. c. 1. Ibid. p. 191.

29 Epiph. Hær. 69. Arian. c. 1.

30 Petav. Annot. in loc.

31 Vales. Not. in Sozomen. lib. 1. c. 15. Maurice's Vindic. of the Prim. Ch. p. 63.