[The Canons of Chalcedon on the Church of Constantinople (Canons 9, 17 and 28); Text, with commentary]
9. If any cleric has a suit against another cleric, let him not leave his own bishop, nor have recourse to the secular courts of justice, but let him first try the question before his own bishop, or, with the consent of the bishop himself, before these persons whom both parties shall choose to have the hearing of the cause. And if any person shall act contrary to these decrees, let him undergo the canonical punishments.But if a cleric has any matter either against his own or any other bishop, let him be judged by the synod of the province. But if any bishop or cleric has a controversy against the metropolitan of the same province, let him have recourse to the exarch of the dioceses, or to the Throne of the imperial city of Constantinople, and plead his cause before him. [J. Stevenson, ed., Creeds, Councils and Controversies: Documents illustrating the History of the Church, AD 337 – 461 (rev. W.H.C. Frend; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1966, 2012), 415]
.
[Leo, Ep. CV. 2-3, to the Empress Pulcheria]
But bishops’ assents, which are opposed to the regulations of the holy canons at Nicaea in conjunction with your faithful Piety, we do not recognize, and by the blessed Apostle Peter’s authority we absolutely disannul in comprehensive terms, in all ecclesiastical cases obeying those las which the Holy Ghost set forth by the 318 bishops for the pacific observance of all bishops in such a way that ever if a much greater number were to pass a different decree to theirs, whatever was opposed to their regulations must be held in no respect. (p. 422)
In the history of the Church, a major point to be made is that the pope played only a minor role in the earlier ecumenical councils (Nicea 325AD, Constantinople 381AD, Ephesus 431AD). At Chalcedon in 451AD, Pope Leeo I played an important role through his tome, yet he was not present at the council and, as we can see, he did not have as much authority as what papalism demands.
As it can be seen from the Canons promulgated at Chalcedon, the bishops there worked hard to deal with the Nestorian and the Eutychian errors, and also drafted a bunch of canonical rulings. Canon 9 is interesting because it duplicated imperial procedure in deferring authority to the most important city of the Empire, which at that time was the new capital Constantinople. That such a ruling was drafted showed us that papal authority was not considered ultimate at that time, but merely one of respect and deference. Pope Leo I of course protested against this ruling, but as we know from subsequent church history, his protests did not register for the churches in the Eastern part of the empire.
