Bolognia with the splendid Title of the Armenian Patriarch This Humor was carried on by one Elias who likewise pretended to be chose Patriarch of Babylon he sent several Nuncio's to the Pope with the Submission of the Babylonish Church and a Confession of Faith but these Nuncio's spoiled their business by over-acting their Parts for it having been discovered that the better to support their Pretence of the Chaldaean Church agreeing with the Church of Rome in all things they had tore several Pages out of their Church-Offices they were dismissed with disgrace However this did not discourage Elias as indeed what will a hungry Monk from sending one Adam Camara his pretended Arch-Deacon to Rome three Years after that misfortune who together with his Patriarch's Letter delivered to the Pope a Book of his own composing concerning the Reconciliation of the Chaldaean Church to the Roman which he desired might be diligently examined In his Letter he told Paul V. That let Hereticks do what they will he for his part was resolved never to go against the Holy Precepts of the Apostles and Orthodox Fathers who had all affirmed the See of great Rome to be the Head of all other Sees but would always confess that the Roman Church was the Mother of all the other Churches in the World and that all that did not own her to be so were accursed It 's observable that this Elias had a stretch of Courtship beyond his begging Predecessors which was his assuring the Pope That all their Clergy anciently had their Orders immediately from Rome and that that Custom continued till several that were going to Rome on that Errand were murdered by the way which having several times happened the Pope when he came to hear of it did of his free Grace say Let us ordain them a Patriarch and not only so but permit them to chuse him that so they may not perish thus by the way And thus said good Elias we received all the Authority we pretend to from Rome and not from our selves as they pretend to do and the greater Wretches they who trample upon the Canons of the Apostles and the Laws of the Fathers It is from this blind Story that the Roman Doctors have endeavoured to persuade the World that all the Babylonish Bishops do own that they derived their Power of Ordination from the Western Fathers meaning the Bishops of Rome no doubt Now what crude Stuff is this that those hungry Monks served up to the Pope and was as greedily swallowed at Rome there being not the least Colour of Truth in any part of the Story For as to the ancient Custom that is so confidently affirmed it is plainly contradicted by the 33d Arabick Canon of the Council of Nice which tho' not the genuine Canons of that Council are yet very ancient The Canon runs thus Canon 33. Let the See of Seleucia which is one of the Eastern Cities be honoured likewise and have the Title of Catholicon and let the Prelate thereof ordain Arch-Bishops as the other Patriarchs do that so the Eastern Christians who live under Heathens may not be wronged by waiting the Patriarch of Antioch's leisure or by going to him but may have a way opened to them to supply their own Necessities neither will any injury be done to the Patriarch of Antioch thereby seeing he has consented to its being thus upon the Synod's having desired it of him From which Canon it is plain That the Church of Seleucia or Babylon was anciently subject to the Patriarch of Antioch who of all the Patriarchs was their nighest Neighbour So that if the Chaldaean Bishops do own that they derived all their Authority from the Western Fathers as is pretended they do they must mean by the Western Fathers the Bishops of Antioch And as to its being said That the Chaldaean Bishops do to this day own that they had their Ordinations from the Western Fathers meaning the Bishops of Rome the falshood of that Pretence appears evidently not only from what has been said but from the whole Tenor of the following Synod and of all the late Reports of the Portuguezes concerning that Church As it does likewise That all those Patriarchs of Babylon who came to Rome notwithstanding the great Noise they made in this Part of the World were mere Impostors never owned by the Churches they pretended to be Patriarchs of Father Simon speaking of this in the 93 Page of his Histoire Critique confesseth their magnifying the Pope's Power as they did to have been a piece of gross Flattery but withal will have it to have been Pardonable in such poor Wretches who would not otherwise have been suffered to have approached the Pope to whom they came into Europe on purpose to make their Court for as he observes upon the same occasion few or none of the Oriental Prelates ever applied themselves to the Pope but for the promoting of some particular Interest which was one reason why the reunions they pretended to make did not last long But tho' for some time these mock Prelates being supported by the Pope made a shift to keep the face of a Church at Charamet none of them ever daring to go to Mosul yet after a little time the true Chaldaean Prelates obliged them to leave Charamet from whence they retired to Zeinalback a yet remoter Place on the borders of Persia where from little in a short time they dwindled to nothing The Prelates of Babylon we see were anciently stiled Bishops of Seleucia a City not far from Ctesiphon from whence it was that Simon who suffered Martyrdom under Sapor is stiled Bishop of Seleucia and Ctesiphon of which City we meet with this following Account in Strabo Babylon was anciently the Metropolis of Assyria which now Seleucia of Tigris is near to which is a great Village called Ctesiphon where the Kings of Parthia used to spend the Winter to spare Seleucia that it might not be continually oppressed with Soldiers and Scythians but notwithstanding this Change of the Metropolis as the Country all about is still called Babylon so the Natives tho' Born in the very City of Seleucia are still called Babylonians from the Region and not Seleucians In the Bibliotheca Patrum there is a Treatise of Paradise translated out of Syriack into Latine by Masius writ by one Moses Bar Cepha who is stiled Bishop in Bethraman and Bethleno and Curator of the Ecclesiastical Affairs of the Mozul or Seleucia Parthorum This Moses flourished in the Tenth Century But it is time to leave these Sham Prelates who run so fast to Rome of their own accord and return to the true ones who were forc'd to go thither much against their Wills After the Christians of the Serra had heard of their Arch-Bishop's being sent a Prisoner to Portugal despairing of ever seeing him again they sent secretly to Mar Simeon Patriarch of Babylon desiring him to order them a new Arch-Bishop who straightways sent them one Mar Abraham who having gotten
over celebrating and performing all other Exercises and Ministeries of Priests all which they thought they might do lawfully by virtue of a Licence granted by their Prelates who notwithstanding they prohibited them to Marry upon pain of Excommunication and had declared them Excommunicate did nevertheless Absolve them for a sum of Money or upon some Simonaical contract so that notwithstanding that Excommunication they did all Marry and continued in Wedlock reckoning themselves safe in Conscience upon their having obtained a Licence after such a manner All which being detested by the Synod as the inventions of the Devil and devised by the covetousness of Schismaticks and desiring to restore this Church to its due purity and the usage of the Roman Church doth command in virtue of obedience and upon pain of Excommunication latae Sententiae that henceforward no Clerk in Holy Orders presume to Marry nor shall any Cassanar Marry any such nor shall any presume to be present at any such Marriage nor give Council Favour or Assistance thereunto And whoever shall offend in any of these particulars must know that they are Excommunicate and Cursed and are to be declared as such by the Church and as to those who are already Married the Synod suspends them all whether Married once or oftner from the Ministery of their Orders and all Sacerdotal Acts until such time as they have put away their Wives effectually which is what the Synod intreats them in the Lord to do And to those who have been twice Married or have Married Widows or Women that were publickly dishonest the Synod doth command all such as being Bigamists and having Married contrary to their consciences as it appears several of them have done by their giving over thereupon to Celebrate notwithstanding their having obtained a Licence from their Bishop in virtue of obedience and upon pain of being declared Excommunicate so soon as this Decree shall come to their knowledge to turn off the said Women not only as to Bed and Board but so as not to dwell in the same House with them declaring that until they have done it they are in Mortal Sin and do live in Concubinate such Marriages having never been true or valid but on the contrary void and of no force neither can any Prelate or Bishop grant Licences in such cases having no Authority to do it by reason of its being contrary to the Rules of the Church that have been always punctually observed and contrary to the Holy general Councils received all over the World and as to those who have been but once Married the Synod will consult the most Holy Pope and Bishop of Rome that he as Prelate and Head of the whole Church of God and Master and Doctor of the same may teach and command what ought to be done therein and whatsoever his Holiness shall ordain shall be punctually observed Decree XVII THe Synod doth declare That those Priests who as obedient Sons shall follow the advice of the Synod in turning away their Wives may after they have so done continue in the exercise of their Functions and if not otherwise hindered may Celebrate notwithstanding they have been twice Married or may have Married Widows since by such Weddings not being true Marriages they did not incurr the irregularity of Bigamy All which the Synod grants out of pure Grace being extreamly desirous to have them turn away such Women and out of respect to their Ignorance and the Cheat that was put upon them by their Prelates who instead of instructing them better granted them Licences And whereas all Priests that Marry are Irregular according to the Holy Canons the most Illustrious Metropolitan by the Ordinary as well as the Apostolical Authority that he has in this Church by reason of the See 's being vacant doth dispense with the Priests and all the other Clergy-men in Holy Orders that shall yield obedience to the Synod in turning away their Wives and shall desire to continue to officiate as to the said irregularity which they have incurred granting them Licence as to this freely and without scruple to exercise their Orders Decree XVIII WHereas the Wives of Priests who are called Catatiaras or Cassaneiras have not only the most Honourable place in the Church for their being such and are the more reverenced but do moreover partake of the profits of the Churches wherein their Husbands ministred equally with the surviving Priests and have sometimes a greater share of them than any of the Priests by reason of the Seniority and Preheminence that their Husbands had in the Church therefore the Synod doth ordain That such of them as do not from henceforward depart from their Husbands shall receive no such benefit but if obeying the admonition of the Synod they shall leave their Husbands they shall then immediately receive their proportion as an Alms to help to sustain them and their Families and shall injoy the same place and Honour in the Church and every where else which they did before Decree XIX THe Synod doth declare That notwithstanding it has received the Holy Council of Trent with all its Decrees relating both to the good Government of the Church and Manners nevertheless that what was declared therein relating to Priests Bastards not being permitted to Minister in the same Church wherein the Fathers have Ministered before is not to be extended to the Sons of the Married Priests in this Diocess that are now born by reason of the great numbers there are of such at present in all Churches and of other great inconveniencies that would follow thereupon it is therefore permitted to such to Minister nay to be Vicars of the Churches wherein their Fathers have officiated but this is to be understood of such only as were born of Marriages that were reputed true the provision of the forementioned Holy Council being to take place as to all that shall be born hereafter Decree XX. WHereas the sin of * Simony This noise of Simony was raised for no other reason but to throw Dirt on the Memory of their former Bishops whose Fees at their Ordination were not in all probability so great as they are at Goa and had as little in them of a formal Bargain But the truth is Simony as well as Heresy is a Stone the Church of Rome throws blind-fold at all that displease her tho' at the same time she 's the Church in the World that 's most guilty of it so when she was crying shame of the Emperors as Simoniacks Petrus Clemangis tells us she her self was totius negotiationis latrocinii rapinae officina in quo venalia exponuntur Sacramenta venales ordines And Didacus Abulensis a learned Spanish Bishop and who was no stranger at Rome at the same time she was thus reproaching the poor Church of Malabar tells us in his Book of Councils that vitium Simoniae frequens est veluti res honestissima in usum deducitur in Curiâ Romanâ nulla unquam punitione
together with clear Confirmations of the Truth of what we meet with in the Fourteenth and other Decrees of the Third Action of this Synod to wit That the Three great Doctrines of Popery the Pope's Supremacy Transubstantiation the Adoration of Images were never believed nor practised at any time in this ancient Apostolical Church but on the contrary were rejected and condemned by her and that in her Publick Offices So that upon what we learn from this Synod and History I think one may venture to say That before the time of the late Reformation there was no Church that we know of no not that of the Vaudois abating that one thing of her being infected with the Heresie of Nestorius of which too she is cleared by one of the Roman Communion that had so Few Errors in Doctrine as the Church of Malabar If the Synod I here publish should be well received as I have reason to hope it will by all Protestants and lovers of Truth upon the account of the clear Discoveries it makes of the forementioned Popish Errors having never been at any time the Doctrines of the Universal Church which we know is confidently affirmed and much boasted of and for further satisfaction in so important a Matter the above-named History should be desired I shall be ready to translate and publish it with all expedition alone and in the same Volume with this of the Synod together with the best Account I can procure of the Church of Malabar and the other Oriental Churches that were never within the Bounds of the Roman Empire for it is in those Churches that we are to expect to meet with the least of the Leaven of Popery As to the Synod to prevent all surmises of its being a Piece either forged by some Protestant or of no Authority in the Church of Rome tho' set forth by a Member of her Communion I have together with the whole Title Page which tells where when and by whom it was printed translated and published all the Licences that it came out with And if any should suspect the Translation if they please they may satisfie themselves of its Fidelity by having recourse to the Original in the Bodleian Library at Oxford to which as the safest as well as noblest Repository of Books in the World I design to give it I have here and there added some short Remarks upon some Passages which will not I hope be unacceptable to the Reader The DOCTRINES wherein the Church of Malabar agrees with the Church of England and differs from that of Rome 1. SHe condemns the Pope's Supremacy 2. She affirms that the Church of Rome is fallen from the true Faith 3. She denies Transubstantiation or that Christ's Body and Blood are really and substantially in the Eucharist 4. She condemns Images and the Adoration of them as Idolatrous 5. She makes no use of Oils in the Administration of Baptism 6. She allows of no Spiritual Affinity 7. She denies Purgatory 8. She denies the necessity of Auricular Confession 9. She knows nothing of Extream Vnction 10. She allows her Priests to Marry as often as they have a mind and Ordains such as have been married three or four times and to Widows without any scruple 11. She denies Matrimony to be a Sacrament 12. She holds but two Orders Priesthood and Diaconate 13. She Celebrates in Leavened Bread 14. She Consecrates with Prayer 15. She denies Confirmation to be a Sacrament In the Account that is given of the Doctrines of the Church of Malabar in the Eighteenth Chapter of the First Book of the Visitation SHe is said 1. Not to adore Images 2. To hold but Three Sacraments Baptism the Eucharist and Order 3. To make no use of Oils 4. To have had no Knowledge of Confirmation or Extream Unction 5. To abhor Auricular Confession 6. To hold many enormous Errors about the Eucharist insomuch that the Author of the History saith he is inclined to believe that the Hereticks of our Times meaning Protestants the revivers of all forgotten Errors and Ignorances might have had their Doctrine about the Eucharist from them 7. To Ordain such as have been married several times and to Widows and to approve of her Priests marrying as often as they have a mind 8. That she abhors the Pope and the Church of Rome as Anti-Christian in pretending to a Superiority and Jurisdiction over all other Churches A Diocesan SYNOD Of the Church and Bishoprick of ANGAMALE Belonging to the Ancient Christians of St. Thomas in the Serra or Mountains of MALABAR Celebrated by the most Reverend Lord Dom Frey Aleixo de Menezes Archbishop Metropolitan of Goa Primate of the Indies and the See being vacant of the above-named Bishoprick by virtue of two Briefs of the most Holy Father Pope Clement 8th on the third Sunday after Pentecost being the 20th day of July in the Year of our Lord 1599. in the Church of All-Saints in the Town and Kingdom of Diamper Subject to the King of Cothin an Infidel in which the said Bishoprick with all the Christians thereunto belonging submitted it self to the Pope and the Holy Roman Church Printed at Conimbra in the Shop of Diogo Gomez Laureyro Printer to the University in the Year of our Lord 1606. THE Father of the Society of Jesus intrusted with the revising of Books in Conimbra having perused the Synod mentioned in the following Petition and the Inquisition of the said City having upon his Approbation given Licence to Print the same we do Order That after it is Printed it be together with the Book Intituled The Journey of the Serra or Mountains transmitted to this Council that it may be compared with the Original and Licensed without which it shall not be made publick Marcos Teixira Ruy Piz de veiga I Have perused this Synod and to me it appears to be a Work that deserves to be Printed for besides the sound Doctrine contained therein it will be of great Use and Consolation to all and very necessary to the extirpating of the Errors Schism and Heresies sown by Hereticks and particularly the Nestorians in the ancient Christianity planted in the Indies by the Apostle St. Thomas Octob. 23d 1605. Joan Pinto BY virtue of a particular Commission to us granted in this behalf by the Council of the General Inquisition of these Kingdoms having seen the Information of Father Joan Pinto Revisor of this City we give Licence for the Printing of the Book Intituled The Synod and the Journey of the Serra provided that after it is Printed it be sent to the said Council to be compared with the Original and to have leave to be made publick Jan. 11. 1606. Joan Alvarez Brandon It may be Printed Conimbra 25th of Feb. 1606. The Bishop Conde THE PUBLICATION and CALLING OF THE SYNOD DOM Frey Aleixo de Menezes by the mercy of God and the Holy Roman See Archbishop Metropolitan of Goa Primate of the Indies and the Oriental Parts c. To the
who himself complained That for want of it he was forc'd to prattle more like a Child than preach like an Apostle among the Infidels shou'd commence so powerful a Preacher among the Malabars the very first Year of his being in the Indies a Year being a very short time for a Man to make himself so far Master of a strange Language as to be able to Preach therein to any purpose But tho' the Christians of St. Thomas did not deny to send their Sons to this College several of whom after their having been taught Latin were Ordained Priests according to the Roman Rites Yet this had little or no effect as to the reducing of that Church to the Papal Obedience to which they still continued so averse that they treated those Natives with the same disregard that they did the other Latin Priests Thus matters continued with the Church of Malabar till the Year 1587. when the Jesuits imagining the reason why this Christianity was so little benefitted by having several of their Sons bred in the College at Cranganor was their not being taught Chaldee or Syriack which is the Language all their Offices are in did thereupon erect a new College which was built at the sole charge of Antonio Guedes Morales at a place called Chanota or Vaipicotta a Village inhabited by those Christians and which is about a League from Cranganor But notwithstanding the Jesuits by educating several of the Malabars in the Chaldee Tongue and instructing them thorowly in the Latin Faith did qualify them to serve the Roman Church in her Pretensions Yet all this signified very little none that had been educated by them daring so much as to mutter the least Word against any of their ancient Doctrines or in favour of the Roman or to alter any thing in their Offices or forbear praying for the Bishop of Babylon as their Patriarch in the Mass Wherefore the Portuguezes finding that these Christians were not by any thing that Friars could say or do to them to be perswaded out of their ancient Faith or to forsake their present Bishop to submit themselves to the Pope against whom they were so possessed that they cou'd not endure so much as to hear him named resolved at last to try other methods with them that is to try what Violence would do the Method to which Popery where-ever it is owes both its Propagation and Establishment And that they did not betake themselves to this course sooner we are not to imagine was in the least owing to their temper or to any disposition that was in them to try first what fair and gentle means would do for they must know nothing of the Spirit of Popery that can imagine it to be capable of any such thing but it was owing purely to the circumstances of their Affairs for that before their Government had spread it self and taken a good root in those Parts it would not have been safe for them to have made use of those rude and boisterous Methods for the reduction of these Christians which we shall see they did afterwards when they had in a manner gotten that whole Countrey into their own Power In pursuance of the forementioned Resolution the Portuguezes determined to have their Bishop to whose presence among them they attributed their constancy in their ancient Faith seized in order to send him to Rome which was executed accordingly Their Bishop at that time for they had but one of that Order among them was one Mar Joseph who according to ancient Custom had been sent â—â—â—â—er by Mar Audixa Patriarch of Babylon He is acknowledged by the Portuguezes to have reformed divers Abuses in that Church and to have put things in a much better order than he found them in Mar Joseph being brought Prisoner from Cochim to Goa was Embarked upon the first Ships that went to Portugal with an intent of sending him to Rome but being arrived at Lisbon he by his Address and appearances of an extraordinary Sanctity did so far insinuate himself into the favour and good opinion of Dona Caterina who was Queen Regent at that time and of the Infanta Dona Maria that he was sent back by the next Ships to Goa with the Queen Regents Letters ordering him to be permitted to live quietly in his Bishoprick he having promised the Cardinal Infante Don Anrique who was at that time Inquisitor-General and the Pope's Legate à latere to the Crown of Portugal to do all that was in his power towards the reducing of his Diocess to the Roman obedience In the Year 1552 one Tum Siud or Simon Salacan a Monk of the Order of St. Pachomius who pretended to have been chose Patriarch of Mosul or Seleucia Parthorum or Babylon for they are all the same by the whole Clergy of Persia and Assyria came to Rome and submitted himself to the Pope by whom according to some he was consecrated a Bishop tho' others will have it that he had only his Eastern Consecration confirmed and afterwards received the Patriarchal Pallium He presented Letters and a Confession of Faith to the Pope which he pretended were sent by all the Eastern Bishops In the Letters the Pope's Supremacy was exalted as higâ— as if they had been writ by a Parasite Canonist which Letters together with the Confession of Faith were done into Latin and Printed by Masius He gave out also that he was attended by Seventy Persons of note as far as Jerusalem and from thence only by Three whereof one died by the way and another remained sick in the Journey and the third whose name was Calafi came with him to Rome Tum Siud after he was dismissed at Rome instead of returning to Babylon went and lived in an obscure place called Charamet or Amed where in a short time he was put to death by the Mahometans and as it is said at the instigation of the Christians of those Parts who to the great discredit of the pretensions he had made at Rome would never own him nor his Authority But this ill Success did not hinder another Monk of the same Order whose name was Abd Jesu or Hebed who had writ several Books in defence of Nestorianism from coming to Rome with the same pretensions in the Year 1562 and he could never have come in a better time by reason of the Council of Trent being then sitting to which he was sent with great Solemnity to represent nothing less than all the Chaldaean Bishops having before at Rome in their Name made the submission of that whole Church to the Pope This method of making a noise with Mock-Prelates had been made great use of by some former Popes So Eugenius the IV. maintained his tottering reputation against the Council of Basil by an appearance of Graecians and Armenians in the Council of Florence And Paul the III. graced his Translation of the Council from Trent to Bolongia which was so stoutly opposed by the Emperor and Spanish Bishops by sending one Stephen to
nor no need of any created assistance to help her to bring forth or afterwards there being nothing in her but what was pure the Eternal Word made Flesh springing out of her Womb the Claustrum of her pure Virginity being shut when the time determined in the Consistory of the Holy Trinity was come to the great Spiritual Joy and satisfaction of the said Blessed Virgin for which reason she ought truly to be stiled the Mother of God and not only the Mother of Christ and that when she departed this Life she was immediately carried up into Heaven where by a particular privilege due to her Merits she enjoys God both in Body and Soul without waiting for the general Resurrection there being no reason why that Body out of which there was most Holy Flesh formed for the Son of God made Man should as other Bodies be dissolved into Dust and Ashes but that it should be immediately exalted and glorified and placed high above all the Quires of Angels as Holy Mother Church sings and confesseth concerning the whole of which matter the Impious Nestorian Hereticks have spoke and writ even in the Breviaries used in this Bishoprick a great many Blasphemies and Heresies Decree VII THe Synod is with great sorrow sensible of that Heresy and perverse Error sown by the Schismaticks in this Diocess to the great prejudice of Souls which is That there was one Law of St. Thomas and another of St. Peter which made * Two different By all this which the Synod calls Two Laws the Christians of St. Thomas meant only That the Churches planted by the Apostles in divers Regions had nothing of Superiority or Jurisdiction over one another which is a most certain and ancient truth two different and distinct Churches and both immediately from Christ and that the one had nothing to do with the other neither did the Prelate of the one owe any obedience to the Prelate of the other and that they who had followed the Law of St. Peter had endeavoured to destroy the Law of St. Thomas for which they had been punished by him all which is a manifest Error Schism and Heresy there being but one Law to all Christians which is that which was given and declared by Jesus Christ the Son of God and preached by the Holy Apostles all over the World as one Faith one Baptism there being but one Lord of all and one Catholick and Apostolick Church of which our Lord Christ God and Man who Founded it is the only Spouse and one only Universal Pastor to whom all other Prelates owe obedience the Pope and Bishop of Rome Successor in the Chair of St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles to whom our Lord Jesus Christ bequeathed that Supream Authority and by him to his Successors which Catholick Doctrine is necessary to Eternal Life Wherefore the Synod doth command all Parish Priests and Preachers to Treat often of this matter by reason of the great need there is of having this Bishoprick well instructed therein Decree VIII FOr that till the very time of the most Illustrious Metropolitan entring into this Diocess there was a certain Heresy twice repeated in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and twice more in the Divine Office in calling the Patriarch of Babylon the Universal Pastor and Head of the Catholick Church in all places and as often as they happen to name him a Title that is due only to the most Holy Father the Bishop of Rome Successor of the Prince of the Apostles St. Peter and Vicar of Christ on Earth the Synod doth therefore command in virtue of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be ipso facto incurred that no Person of this Bishoprick Secular or Ecclesiastical shall from henceforward presume by Word or Writing either in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass or in the Divine Office or in any other occasion to bestow that Title on the said Patriarch of Babylon or on any other Prelate besides our Lord the Bishop of Rome and whosoever shall dare to contravene this Order shall be declared Excommunicate and held for a Schismatick and Heretick and shall be punished as such according to the Holy Canons And whereas the Patriarchs of Babylon to whom this Church was subject are Nestorians the Heads of that cursed Sect and Schismaticks out of the Obedience of the Holy Roman Church and Aliens from our Holy Catholick Faith and are for that reason Excommunicate and accursed and it not being lawful to joyn with such in the Church in publick as stand Excommunicate Wherefore this Bishoprick upon its having now yielded a perfect Obedience to the most Holy Father the Pope Christ's Vicar upon Earth to which it was obliged by Divine Authority and upon pain of Damnation shall not from henceforward have any manner of dependance upon the said Patriarch of Babylon and the present Synod does under the said precept of Obedience and upon pain of Excommunication to be ipso facto incurred prohibit all Priests and Curates from henceforward to name the said Patriarch of Babylon in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass or in any other Divine Office in the Prayers of the Church even without the false Title of Universal Pastor but instead thereof shall name our Lord the Pope who is our true Pastor as also of the whole Church and after him the Lord Bishop of the Diocess for the time being and whosoever shall maliciously and knowingly act the contrary shall be declared Excommunicate and otherwise punish'd at the pleasure of his Prelate according to his contumacy Decree IX WHereas all the Breviaries used in this Church are Nestorian and by the commands of Prelates of the same Sect on a certain day the impious and false Heretick Nestorius is Commemorated in this Bishoprick and a Day is kept to his Honour and at other times Theodorus Diodorus Abbaratho Abraham Narsai Barchauma Johanan Hormisda and Michael who are also Nestorian Hereticks were likewise Commemorated Nestorius Theodorus and Diodorus being commemorated on the Friday after the Nativity and on the seventh Friday after that Abraham and Narsai and all the above-named and all of them on every Thursday in the Year in the said Nestorian Office and every day in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Divine Office and notwithstanding in some places they have not of late named Nestorius Theodorus and Diodorus but do still continue to name Abraham Narsai Abba Barchauma Johanan Hormisda and Michael in the Blessing that the Priest gives to the People at the end of the Mass wherein they desire Hormisda to deliver them from evil being his Disciples as also on all Fridays in the Year they commemorate as Saints the said Hormisda Joseph Michael Johanan Barchauma Barianda Rabba Hedsa Machai Hixoiau Caurixo Avahixo Lixo Xaulixo Barmun Lixo Metidor Cohada Israel Ezekiah Lixo David Lixo Barai Israel Julianus Haudixo c. who were all Nestorian Hereticks and as is evident from the said Masses and from their Lives Commemorations