ABSTRACT
FROM the time of Constantine to that of Theodosius there had been a great growth in the power of the episcopate. It has been suggested that towards the close of his reign Constantine was delivering himself more and more into the hands of the bishops. However this may be, it is certain that in enlisting the influence of the chief officers of the Church for political ends the government was in fact making them into great State officials. We shall in future see some striking examples of the power they exercised in secular affairs. But at the very period of this rise it was to some extent balanced in ecclesiastical affairs by the growth of a new religious movement among the laity. This was the ascetic movement which we know as monasticism.
