8. Thus, and for these reasons, by the vote
of the whole people, not in the evil fashion which has since prevailed,
nor by means of bloodshed and oppression, but in an apostolic and
spiritual manner, he is led up to the throne The
throne, etc., as Patriarch of Alexandria. The date of
his consecration is a.d. 326. of
Saint Mark, to succeed him in piety, no less than in office; in the
latter indeed at a great distance from him, in the former, which is the
genuine right of succession, following him closely. For unity in
doctrine deserves unity in office; and a rival teacher sets up a rival
throne; the one is a successor in reality, the other but in name.
For it is not the intruder, but he whose rights are intruded upon, who
is the successor, not the lawbreaker, but the lawfully appointed, not
the man of contrary opinions, but the man of the same faith; if this is
not what we mean by successor, he succeeds in the same sense as disease
to health, darkness to light, storm to calm, and frenzy to sound
sense.