His ideal was that of the Eastern
Emperors: himself as the head of State and Church, the Pope as the Patriarch of
all the churches in the Empire, elected with the Emperor's approval, ruling the
clergy with the Emperor's counsel, enjoying over the lands of his see the
largest privileges bestowed on any bishop, but still in all secular affairs a subject
of the Empire. But on the other hand arose at Rome a different conception of
the Pope's prerogative. Long ago Pope Gelasius had formulated the principle,
more useful to his remote successors than himself, of the Two Powers, Church
and State, both derived from God and both entitled to absolute power in their
respective spheres.
On this principle the State should not interfere with
episcopal elections, or with matters of faith and discipline; it should not
exercise jurisdiction over the priesthood who are servants of the Church, or
over Church estates since they are held in trust for God and the poor. This view
was proclaimed to the world by Leo III, who caused to be set up in the Lateran
a mosaic representing in an allegory his relations to the Empire. St. Peter
sits enthroned above; Charles and Leo kneel to right and left, in the act of
receiving from the Apostle the pallium and the gonfalon, the symbols of their
respective offices.
