In consequence of the occupants of the thrones of Constantinople and Alexandria falling successively into opposite heresies, the question arose how " patriarchs " were to be judged.
The bishops had consistorial courts; the patriarchs, chanceries and consistories (ib.).
Eliezer, of the 8th or 9th century, a sort of history of creation and of the patriarchs, and the Tanna debe Eliyahu (an ethical work of the 10th century but containing much that is old), besides a large number of minor compositions.'
The old castle, at one time the residence of the patriarchs of Aquileia, and now used as a prison, was erected by Giovanni Fontana in 1517 in place of the older one destroyed by an earthquake in 1511.
The service opened with a procession of Old Testament characters, prophets, patriarchs and kings, together with heathen prophets, including Virgil, the chief figure being Balaam on his ass.