Bishops Moved from One See to Another

Since some people blocked the election of Proclus by appealing to a prohibition in the church’s canon, because he had already been appointed to the see of Cyzicus, I want to make a few remarks on this subject. Those who then took it upon themselves to raise this objection do not seem to me to have told the truth. Either they were moved by prejudice against Proclus, or they themselves were entirely ignorant both of the canons and of the many precedents, often to good effect, that had been set in the churches. Eusebius Pamphilus tells in the sixth book of his Church History that Alexander, bishop of a certain city in Cappadocia, came to Jerusalem out of devotion and was kept there by the people of that city. They made him bishop as the successor of Narcissus, and he went on presiding over the churches there for the rest of his life. So little did our forefathers make of moving a bishop from one city to another whenever it seemed useful. But if the falsehood of those who prevented the ordination of Proclus must be put beyond doubt, I will add to this work the canon that bears on the subject. It runs as follows: [a] “If anyone who has been ordained a bishop does not go to the church to which he was appointed, through no fault of his own, but either because the people refuse to receive him or for some other unavoidable reason, let him share in the honor and functions of the rank he has been given, provided he does not meddle in the affairs of the church where he may be serving. He must, however, submit to whatever the synod of the province sees fit to decide after it has examined the matter.” [b]

Such are the words of the canon. I will now prove that many bishops have been moved from one city to another to meet the needs of particular cases, by giving the names of bishops who have been transferred in this way. Perigenes was ordained bishop of Patrae; but since the people of that city refused to admit him, the bishop of Rome directed that he be assigned to the metropolitan see of Corinth, which had fallen vacant at the death of its bishop, and there he presided for the rest of his days. Gregory was first made bishop of Sasima, one of the cities of Cappadocia, but was afterward transferred to Nazianzus. Meletius presided over the church at Sebaste and later governed that of Antioch. Alexander, bishop of Antioch, transferred Dositheus, bishop of Seleucia, to Tarsus in Cilicia. Reverentius was first at Arca in Phoenicia and was later moved to Tyre. John was transferred from Gordum, a city of Lydia, to Proconnesus, and presided over the church there. Palladius was transferred from Helenopolis to Aspuna, and Alexander from the same city to Adriani. Theophilus was moved from Apamea in Asia to Eudoxiopolis, which was anciently called Salambria. Polycarp was transferred from Sexantaprista, a city of Mysia, to Nicopolis in Thrace; Hierophilus from Trapezopolis in Phrygia to Plotinopolis in Thrace; Optimus from Agdamia in Phrygia to Antioch in Pisidia; and Silvanus from Philippopolis in Thrace to Troas. This list of bishops who have passed from one see to another is enough for the present. But about Silvanus, who was moved from Philippopolis in Thrace to Troas, I think it worthwhile to give a short account here. [c]