proceeding from human appointment alone, the way was prepared for
rapid progress toward a highly organized system of man-rule. When the
bishops met in provincial councils, special deference was given those
bishops from cities of great political importance, and they were
exalted to the presidency of these councils, and this in time led to
the recognition of a new order of church officials--_metropolitans_.
Later the metropolitans seemed too numerous for general utility in
governmental functions; therefore general leadership gradually became
centralized more and more in the bishops or metropolitans of
certain of the most important cities, until they were finally given
recognition as an order superior to that of metropolitans and were
styled _patriarchs_. The first Council of Nice recognized this
superior authority possessed by the patriarchates of Alexandria, Rome,
and Antioch. The General Council of Constantinople placed the bishop
of Constantinople in the same rank with the other three patriarchs,
and the General Council of Chalcedon exalted the see of Jerusalem to
a similar dignity. The race for leadership between the patriarchates
then began. On account of the Moslem invasion in the seventh century,
Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Antioch fell away from their former
positions of greatness; therefore the rivalry for leadership was
henceforth between the see of Rome and the bishop of Constantinople.
Rome possessed many natural advantages, and consequently the bishop
of Rome gained the greater prestige. The full-fledged papacy was the
result.

[Sidenote: Fundamental causes]

What produced that transition from the humble apostolic church of the
brethren to the medieval church of the impious Hildebrand, who caused
monarchs to tremble on their thrones? The change resulted from two