But all the errors
grew the faster from the ignorance of the people; and at Rome, where
there was plenty of learning, the power the Pope enjoyed had done little
good, for it made ambitious men covet the appointment, and they ruled
their branch of the Church so as to ensure their own gain, more than for
the sake of what was right. The Patriarchs of Constantinople greatly
disapproved of this, and made the most of all the differences of opinion
and practice. When the Council of Constantinople had added to the Nicene
Creed the sentence which asserts the Godhead of the Third Holy Person of
the Ever Blessed Trinity, the third clause had been "Who proceedeth from
the Father." Of late the Western Church had added the words "and the
Son." Now though the Greeks believed with all their hearts that the
blessed Spirit doth come forth from the Father and the Son, yet they
said that the Latins ought not to put words into the Creed that no
Council had yet authorized; and thus a great dispute arose. Besides, the
Popes had begun to think themselves universal Bishops, heads over all
other Patriarchs; and to this the Patriarch of Constantinople would not
submit, and rightly said that from the old times all Patriarchs had been
equal, and had no right to take authority over one another.
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