Primacy of the Roman Pontiff
Encyclopedia
The primacy of the Bishop of Rome is an ecclesiastical doctrine held by some branches of Christianity, most notably the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church
and the Anglican Communion
. The doctrine concerns the respect and authority that is due to the Bishop of Rome from bishops and their sees. Some Orthodox understand the primacy of the Bishop of Rome to be merely one of greater honour, treating him as "primus inter pares
" ("first among equals"), without effective power over other churches. Others see primacy as indeed power, the expression, manifestation and realization in one bishop of the power of all the bishops, an expression and manifestation of the unity not just of the churches but of the Church. The Catholic Church attributes to the Pope
a primacy that involves "full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered", a power that it attributes also to the the entire body of the bishops
united with the Pope. The power that it attributes to the Pope's primatial authority has limitations that are official, legal, dogmatic, and practical, and "it is an error to think that every word uttered by the Pope is infallible".
In 2007, representatives of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church jointly stated that both East and West accept the fact of the Bishop of Rome's primacy at the universal level, but that differences of understanding exist about how the primacy is to be exercised and about its scriptural and theological foundations.
and that its teaching about matters such as the Trinity
, the divinity of Christ
, the union of his two natures in a single person developed as the result of drawing out from the original revealed truth consequences that were not obvious at first: "Thanks to the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the understanding of both the realities and the words of the heritage of faith is able to grow in the life of the Church 'through the contemplation and study of believers who ponder these things in their hearts'; it is in particular 'theological research [which] deepens knowledge of revealed truth'". Accordingly, it would be a mistake to expect to find the modern fully developed doctrine of papal primacy in the first centuries, thereby failing to recognize the Church's historical reality. The figure of the Pope as leader of the worldwide church developed over time, as the figure of the bishop as leader of the local church seems to have appeared later than in the time of the apostles.
That the Christian scriptures, which contain no cut-and-dried answers to questions such as whether there is forgiveness for post-baptismal sins or whether infants should be baptized, gradually become clearer in the light of events is a view expressed, when considering the doctrine of papal primacy, by Cardinal John Henry Newman, who summed up his thought by saying: "Developments of Christianity are proved to have been in the contemplation of its Divine Author, by an argument parallel to that by which we infer intelligence in the system of the physical world. In whatever sense the need and its supply are a proof of design in the physical creation, in the same do gaps, if the word may be used, which occur in the structure of the original creed of the Church, make it probable that those developments, which grow out of the truths which lie around them, were intended to complete it."
Writers such as Nicholas Afanassieff and Alexander Schmemann have declared that the phrase "presiding in agape", used of the Church of Rome in the letter that Ignatius of Antioch
addressed to it in the first years of the 2nd century, contains a definition of that Church's universal primacy; but the Roman Catholic writer Klaus Schatz warns that it would be wrong to read as statements of the developed Roman Catholic teaching on papal primacy this letter and the even earlier First Epistle of Clement
(the name of Clement was added only later), in which the Church of Rome intervenes in matters of the Church of Corinth, admonishing it in authoritative tones, even speaking in the name of God. It was only later that the expression of Saint Ignatius could be interpreted as meaning, as agreed by representatives of both the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Churches, that "Rome, as the Church that 'presides in love' according to the phrase of St Ignatius of Antioch (To the Romans, Prologue), occupied the first place in the taxis, and that the bishop of Rome was therefore the protos among the patriarchs". The same agreement stated:
wrote:
In the West, Ludwig Ott
wrote:
In later times, theories of various kinds were advanced, most notably that of an analogy with the position of Saint Peter
among the twelve Apostles, to explain the fact of this generally recognized presiding or primatial position of the Church of Rome. The Church of Rome also appealed to it as justification for certain actions that it took in relation to other Churches, actions that often met with resistance.
(254-257). The timing of the claim is significant, for it was made during the worst of the tumults of the third century. There were several persecutions during this century which hit the Church of Rome hard; Stephen himself and his immediate successor Pope Sixtus II
were martyred. Cyprian of Carthage (d.258) stressed the Petrine primacy as well as the unity of the Church and the importance of being in communion with the bishops. For him, "the Bishop of Rome is the direct heir of Peter, whereas the others are heirs only indirectly", and he insisted that "the Church of Rome is the root and matrix of the Catholic Church"., was based on the idea that "the Bishop of Rome is the direct heir of Peter, whereas the others are heirs only indirectly". Pope Damasus I
(366-384) was the first pope to claim that the primacy of the Church of Rome rested on Peter alone, and the first to refer to the Roman church as "the Apostolic See
" (the see of the Apostle Peter). To uphold its primacy, the prestige of the city itself was no longer sufficient, but in the doctrine of apostolic succession (from Peter) the popes had an unassailable position.
The presence of Peter in Rome, not explicitly affirmed in but consistent with the New Testament, is explicitly affirmed by Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Irenaeus of Lyon and other early Christian writers. and no other city has ever claimed to be the place of his death. The same witnesses imply that Peter was the virtual founder of the Church of Rome, though not its founder in the sense of initiating a Christian community there. They also speak of Peter as the one who initiated its episcopal succession, but speak of Linus
as the first "bishop", while it is commonly held today that the Christians in Rome did not act a single united community under a single leader until some time in the 2nd century.
Pope Stephen I
was the first to make appeal to the primacy of Peter as a basis for the Bishop of Rome's primacy.
Because of its association with the supposed position of Peter among the Apostles, the function that within the Roman Catholic Church is exercised by the Bishop of Rome among the Bishops as a whole is referred to as the Petrine function, and is generally believed to be of divine institution, in the sense that the historical and sociological factors that influenced its development are seen as guided by the Holy Spirit. Not all Roman Catholic theologians see a special providential providence as responsible for the result, but most see the papacy, regardless of its origin, as now essential to the Church's structure.
Irenaeus of Lyon (AD 189) believed that Peter
and Paul had been the founders of the Church in Rome and had appointed Pope Linus
to the office of the episcopate, the beginning of the Apostolic succession
of the Roman see. Although the introduction of Christianity was not due to them, "the arrival, ministries and especially the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul were the seminal events which really constituted the Church of Rome. It was from their time, and not before, that an orderly and meetly ordained succession of Bishops originated.
granted Christianity legal status, Emperor Constantine the Great enriched the Church of Rome with large buildings such as the Lateran Basilica and Lateran Palace
and the Basilica of Saint Peter, and with endowments. The First Council of Nicaea
gave approval to a church arrangement whereby the bishops of an imperial province were headed by the bishop (known as the "metropolitan") of the principal city. This added to the power of the bishops of important cities.
s’ from at least the time of Siricius (384-399) to Leo I provided general guidelines to follow which later would become incorporated into canon law).
and of Valentinian III
proclaimed the Roman bishop as "Rector of the whole Church". The Emperor Justinian, who was living in the East in Constantinople, in the 6th century published a similar decree. These proclamations did not create the office of the Pope.
The event that is often considered to have been the first conflict between Rome and Constantinople was triggered by the elevation of the see of Constantinople to a position of honour, second only to Rome on the grounds that, as capital of the eastern Roman empire, it was now the "New Rome
". This was promulgated by the third canon of the First Council of Constantinople
(381) which decreed: "The Bishop of Constantinople
, however, shall have the prerogative of honour after the Bishop of Rome because Constantinople is New Rome
." It has been asserted by many that a synod held by Pope Damasus I
in the following year 382 protested against this raising of the bishop of the new imperial capital, just fifty years old, to a status higher than that of the bishops of Alexandria and Antioch, and stated that the primacy of the Roman see was established by no gathering of bishops but by Christ himself. Thomas Shahan says that, according to Photius too, Pope Damasus approved the council, but he adds that, if any part of the council were approved by this pope, it could have been only its revision of the Nicene Creed
, as was the case also when Gregory the Great recognized it as one of the four general councils, but only in its dogmatic utterances. In Roman Catholic doctrine no council, regardless of who summoned it or who presided over it, is ecumenical unless it is confirmed or at least recognized as such by the Pope.
The increasing involvement of Eastern emperors in church matters and the advancement of the see of Constantinopolis over the sees of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem led successive bishops of Rome to attempt a sharper definition of their ecclesial position vis-a-vis the other bishops. The first documented use of the description of Saint Peter as first bishop of Rome, rather than as the apostle who commissioned its first bishop, dates from 354, and the phrase "the Apostolic See
", which refers to the same apostle, began to be used exclusively of the see of Rome, a usage found also in the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon
. From the time of Pope Damasus, the text of ("You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church") is used to support Roman primacy. Pope Siricius
(384-399) began the custom of issuing papal decretals to which was attributed the same authority as that of decisions by synods of bishops. Pope Innocent I
(401-417) claimed that all major cases should be reserved to the see of Rome and wrote: "All must preserve that which Peter the prince of the apostles delivered to the church at Rome and which it has watched over until now, and nothing may be added or introduced that lacks this authority or that derives its pattern from somewhere else." Pope Boniface I
(418-422) stated that the church of Rome stood to the churches throughout the world "as the head to the members", a statement that seems to have been already made by Pope Siricius and was repeated by the delegates of Pope Leo I
to the Council of Chalcedon
in 451. In line with the norm of Roman law that a person's legal rights and duties passed to his heir, Pope Leo (440-461) taught that he, as Peter's representative, succeeded to the power and authority of Peter, and he implied that it was through Peter that the other apostles received from Christ strength and stability. Pope Gelasius
(492-496) stated:
As early as the 2nd century, the bishop of Rome began to claim his supremacy over all other bishops, and some church fathers also made this claim for him.
) asserts that every bishop of Rome, as Peter’s successor, possesses the full authority granted to this position and that this power is inviolable on the grounds that it was established by God himself and so not bound to any individual. Pope Leo I
(440-461), with the aid of Roman law, solidified this doctrine by making the bishop of Rome the legal heir of Peter. Leo argued that the apostle Peter continued to speak to the Christian community through his successors as bishop of Rome.
(590-604) to Pope Clement V
(1305–1314) was a dogmatic evolution in fidelity of the depositum fidei (deposit of faith).
universalis Ecclesiae Primas esset et Apostolicus":
excommunicated Patriarch of Constantinople Michael I Cerularius
. However, as the Pope was already dead by this time, the powers of the Legate also ceased at the moment of the Pope's death; so the Legate's excommunication was technically invalid. Similarly, the ceremony of excommunication of the pope performed by Michael I was equally invalid as one cannot be posthumously excommunicated. This event resulted in the schism
of the Greek rite and Latin rite Churches. It did not have the effect of excommunicating the adherents of the respective Churches however, as the tit-for-tat excommunications, even had they been valid, would have applied to the named persons only, not the people of God in general.
, which was convoked to act on a pledge by Byzantine emperor Michael VIII
to reunite the Eastern church with the West. Wishing to end the Great Schism
that divided Rome
and Constantinople
, Gregory X had sent an embassy to Michael VIII Palaeologus, who had reconquered Constantinople, putting an end to the remnants of the Latin Empire
in the East.
On 29 June (Feast of Peter & Paul patronal feast of Popes), Gregory X celebrated a Mass
in St John's Church, where both sides took part. The council declared that the Roman church possessed “the supreme and full primacy and authority over the universal Catholic Church.”
The council was seemingly a success, but did not provide a lasting solution to the schism; the Emperor was anxious to heal the schism, but the Eastern clergy proved to be obstinate. Patriarch Joseph of Constantinople abdicated, and was replaced by John Bekkos
, a convert to the cause of union. In spite of a sustained campaign by Bekkos to defend the union intellectually, and vigorous and brutal repression of opponents by Michael, the vast majority of Byzantine Christians remained implacably opposed to union with the Latin "heretics". Michael's death in December 1282 put an end to the union of Lyon. His son and successor Andronicus II
repudiated the union, and Bekkos was forced to abdicate, being eventually exiled and imprisoned until his death in 1297. He is to this day reviled by many in the Eastern Church as a traitor to Orthodoxy.
began preaching against several practices in the Catholic Church, including some itinerant friars' abuses involving indulgences. When Pope Leo X
refused to support Luther’s position, Luther claimed belief in an "invisible church" and called the Pope the Antichrist
.
Luther’s rejection of the primacy of the Roman Pontiff led to the start of the Protestant Reformation
, during which numerous Protestant sects broke away from the Roman Catholic Church. The Anglican Church also broke away from the Catholic Church at this time, although for reasons different than Martin Luther and the Protestants.
where ultramontanism
achieved victory over conciliarism
with the pronouncement of papal infallibility
(the ability of the pope to define dogmas free from error ex cathedra
) and of papal supremacy
, i.e., supreme, full, immediate, and universal ordinary jurisdiction of the Pope.
The most substantial body of defined doctrine on the subject is found in Pastor aeternus
, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ of Vatican Council I. This document declares that “in the disposition of God the Roman church holds the preeminence of ordinary power over all the other churches.” This council also affirmed the dogma of papal infallibility
, deciding that the “infallibility” of the Christian community extended to the pope himself, at least when speaking on matters of faith.
Vatican I defined a twofold Primacy of Peter — one in papal teaching on faith and morals (the charism of infallibility), and the other a primacy of jurisdiction involving government and discipline of the Church — submission to both being necessary to Catholic faith and salvation.
Vatican I rejected the ideas that papal decrees have "no force or value unless confirmed by an order of the secular power" and that the pope’s decisions can be appealed to an ecumenical council "as to an authority higher than the Roman Pontiff."
Paul Collins argues that "(the doctrine of papal primacy as formulated by the First Vatican Council) has led to the exercise of untrammelled papal power and has become a major stumbling block in ecumenical relationships with the Orthodox (who consider the definition to be heresy) and Protestants."
Forced to break off prematurely by secular political developments in 1870, Vatican I left behind it a somewhat unbalanced ecclesiology. "In theology the question of papal primacy was so much in the foreground that the Church appeared essentially as a centrally directed institution which one was dogged in defending but which only encountered one externally,"
(1962–1965) the debate on papal primacy and authority re-emerged, and in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium
, the Roman Catholic Church's teaching on the authority of the Pope, bishops and councils was further elaborated. Vatican II sought to correct the unbalanced ecclesiology left behind by Vatican I. The result is the body of teaching about the papacy and episcopacy contained in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium
.
Vatican II reaffirmed everything Vatican I taught about papal primacy and infallibility, but it added important points about bishops. Bishops, it says, are not "vicars of the Roman Pontiff." Rather, in governing their local churches they are "vicars and legates of Christ". Together, they form a body, a "college," whose head is the pope. This episcopal college is responsible for the well-being of the Universal Church. Here in a nutshell are the basic elements of the Council’s much-discussed communio ecclesiology, which affirms the importance of local churches and the doctrine of collegiality.
In a key passage about collegiality, Vatican II teaches: "The order of bishops is the successor to the college of the apostles in their role as teachers and pastors, and in it the apostolic college is perpetuated. Together with their head, the Supreme Pontiff, and never apart from him, they have supreme and full authority over the Universal Church; but this power cannot be exercised without the agreement of the Roman Pontiff". Much of the present discussion of papal primacy is concerned with exploring the implications of this passage.
reiterated that, in the view of the Roman Catholic Church, the Christian communities born out of the Protestant Reformation
and which lack apostolic succession
in the sacrament of orders are not "Churches" in the proper sense. The Eastern Christian Church that are not in communion with Rome, such as the Eastern Orthodox Church
, Oriental Orthodoxy
and the Assyrian Church of the East
, are Churches in the proper sense and sister Churches of the Catholic particular Churches, but since communion with the Roman Pontiff is one of the internal constitutive principles of a particular Church, they lack something in their condition, while on the other hand the existing division means that the fullness of universality that is proper to the Church governed by the successor of St Peter and the bishops in communion with him is not now realised in history.
The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) statement of Venice (1976) states that the ministry of the bishop of Rome among his brother bishops was "interpreted" as Christ's will for his Church; its Importance was compared "by analogy" to the position of Peter among the apostles.
At a joint service during the first official visit of the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie
, to the Vatican, Runcie appealed to Anglicans to consider accepting papal primacy in a reunified church. At the same time, Pope John Paul II
stressed that his office must be more than a figurehead.
In Ut Unum Sint
, John Paul II asked the ‘pastors and theologians’ of ‘our Churches’ – i.e., the RC and the Orthodox Church – to come up with suggestions about how the primacy could be exercised in ways that would unite rather than divide.
In October 2007, the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue, a joint commission of Orthodox and Catholic theologians, agreed that the Pope has primacy among all bishops of the Church, something which has been universally acknowledged by both churches since the First Council of Constantinople
in 381 (when they were still one Church) though disagreements about the extent of his authority still continue.
The document "draws an analogy among the three levels of communion: local, regional, and universal, each of which appropriately has a 'first' with the role of fostering communion, in order to ground the rationale of why the universal level must also have a primacy. It articulates the principle that primacy and conciliarity are interdependent and mutually necessary." Speaking of "fraternal relations between bishops" during the first millennium, it states that "these relations, among the bishops themselves, between the bishops and their respective protoi (firsts), and also among the protoi themselves in the canonical order (taxis) witnessed by the ancient Church, nourished and consolidated ecclesial communion. It notes that both sides agree "that Rome, as the church that 'presides in love' according to the phrase of St Ignatius of Antioch, occupied the first place in the taxis (order) and that the bishop of Rome was, therefore, the protos (first) among the patriarchs. They disagree, however, on the interpretation of the historical evidence from this era regarding the prerogatives of the bishop of Rome as protos, a matter that was already understood in different ways in the first millennium"; and "while the fact of primacy at the universal level is accepted by both East and West, there are differences of understanding with regard to the manner in which it is to be exercised, and also with regard to its scriptural and theological foundations".
Discussions continued in Aghios Nikolaos, Crete (a drafting committee) in September-October 2008, Paphos, Cyprus in October 2009 and Vienna, Austria in September 2010. Igumen Filipp Ryabykh, the deputy head of the MP Department for External Church Relations said
The meeting in Cyprus of a joint drafting committee produced a historical account of "The Role of the Bishop of Rome in the Communion of the Church in the First Millennium", which the Vienna meeting asked to be revised and amplified. This document states that "Catholics and Orthodox agree that, from apostolic times, the Church of Rome has been recognised as the first among the local Churches, both in the East and in the West." Both sides agree that "the primacy of the see precedes the primacy of its bishops and is the source of the latter". While in the West, "the position of the bishop of Rome among the bishops was understood in terms of the position of Peter among the apostles ... the East tended rather to understand each bishop as the successor of all the apostles, including Peter"; but these rather different understandings "co-existed for several centuries until the end of the first millennium, without causing a break of communion".
According to Bernhard Schimmelpfennig, Rome's efforts to establish primacy over the east were largely unsuccessful for two reasons: first, except for Leo I, Roman bishops were theologically unsophisticated compared to their Eastern counterparts; and second, major decisions were made at ecumenical council
s at which Rome had little or no representation.
When the doctrine originated, the extent of the authority that the bishops of Rome were claiming was unclear. Historically, the primacy of the Pope was largely accepted by all bishops of the Church, and he was at least considered to be the first in honor of all bishops. However, the supremacy of the Pope over all bishops, first declared by Pope Leo I
was rejected by the bishops serving outside of Rome's jurisdiction. The Eastern Orthodox churches consider that the Bishop of Rome had a mere primacy of honor.
The doctrines of Papal Primacy and Papal Supremacy
are perhaps the greatest obstacles to ecumenical
efforts among the various Christian churches. Most Eastern Orthodox Christians, for example, would be quite willing to accord the Roman bishop the same respect, deference and authority as is accorded to any Eastern Orthodox patriarch. They resist, however, granting the Roman bishop special authority over all Christians. Many Protestants are quite willing to grant the Pope a position of special moral leadership. However, they feel that according to the Pope any more formal authority than that would conflict with the Protestant principle of Solus Christus
i.e. that there can be no intermediaries between a Christian and God except for Christ.
Among the Gospel verses used to support the claim of the primacy of Peter and of the Church of Rome, , "I will give unto thee ...", has played the most significant role. For the Orthodox Church, the verse is interpreted as having a wider application than to Peter alone. Their position is that while the words were spoken to Peter alone, yet they were given to all the Apostles equally, that is, the Pope is merely "Primus inter pares" (First among equals).
; Tertullian
, Hilary of Poitiers
, John Chrysostom
, Augustine.
, which according to some interpretations was prescribed by the Mosaic law. (Rabbinic Judaism
only prescribes Noahide Laws
for gentiles.) Catholic historians note that when Peter spoke, all were silent. However Whelton notes that when Paul and James spoke, all were silent as well.
Eusebius
said that it was James who stated the decision of the Council, not Peter. John Chrysostom noted James made the decision.
The ruling of the Council was expressed as being the decision of all the council, not just Peter. Continuing with this the opening statements of official formulations normally begins with the phrase "Following the Holy Fathers", not "Following the ruling of the Pope."
Ignatius sets out what he believes consists of the church in an epistle to the Trallians
;
There is no reference to another tier above bishop. For Ignatius, the bishop is supreme, not the bishop because he is in communion with the bishop in Rome.
Thus when he writes to Polycarp
the bishop of Smyrna
he states that God is Polycarp’s bishop, implying that there is no intermediary between the local bishop and God.
John Chrysostom referred to Ignatius of Antioch as a "teacher equivalent to Peter".
J.H. Srawley concedes that the Roman church presides but argues that it is unclear as to what area the act ofpresiding ("presides in the place of the region of the Romans" and "presides over love") refers to. He argues that the act of presiding may be simply of those churches in theregion of the Romans, that is, those in Italy.
), not necessarily on Sunday. "Bishop Victor of Rome ordered synods to be held to settle the matter – an interesting early instance of synodality and indeed of popes encouraging synods – and excommunicated Polycrates of Ephesus and the bishops of Asia when their synod refused to adopt the Roman line. Victor was rebuked by Irenaeus for this severity and it seems that he revoked his sentence and that communion was preserved."
Eusebius wrote:
The matter was eventually resolved at the First Ecumenical Council
in line with Sunday observance.
See also Ancient church councils (pre-ecumenical )
.
and his teachings were condemned by a synod of bishops which the Pope summoned in 320. Alexander of Alexandria summoned a local synod in Alexandria in 321 which also condemned Arianism. Five years after the Pope had condemned Arianism, Emperor Constantine I
called an ecumenical council to settle the matter. Whelton argues that the Pope's decision was not considered an end to the matter because a council in Africa met to examine the issue for itself. Constantine then ordered a larger council to decide on the matter.
The Fourth Canon of this council confirmed that bishops were to be appointed only locally. This is in contrast with Catholic canon law that allows the pope (should he wish) to interfere in the appointment of church officers at any level.
, who was not in communion with Rome.
to account for his teachings following his condemnation as a heretic by Pope Celestine I
. The council did not consider the papal condemnation as definitive.
Catholic theologian Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
noted
Bishop Maret said
St Vincent of Lerins
In its condemnation of Nestorius, the language given is of the council ruling, not because the Pope said so. Cyril writes that he, and his fellow bishop - the Pope - had both condemned Nestorius.
Catholic apologists Fathers Rumble and Carty stated
It is true that the statement was made at the council. It is however not a 'decree'. It was a statement by a priest during the deliberations of the council. This priest, Philip was at the council to represent the pope. It was not a decree or finding made by the council and remains his opinion.
, Theodoret
, and Ibas. Pope Vigilius
opposed the condemnation of the Three Chapters. At the Fifth Ecumenical Council
(553) the assembled bishops condemned and anathematized them. Vigilius changes his mind – blaming the devil for misleading him.
Bossuet wrote
German theologian Karl Josef von Hefele
notes that the council was called " …without the assent of the Pope"
and Patriarch Sergius I of Constantinople
were declared heretics.
The council anathematized them and declared them tools of the devil and cast them out of the church.
The popes (from Pope Leo II
) themselves adhered to the Council's ruling and added Honorius to their list of heretics, before quietly dropping his name in the eleventh century. The Catholic Encyclopedia states...
So too the Seventh Ecumenical Council
declared its adhesion to the anathema in its decree of faith. Thus an Ecumenical Council could rule on the faith of a pope and expel him from the church.
considered by Orthodox as a continuation of the sixth.
At this council it was confirmed (in Canon 39) that the local church could regulate itself; to have its own special laws and regulations.
It is further stated that Athanasius referred to this council as "the Great Council."
However it must be noted that this council was not an ecumenical one and not all of it was accepted by the east, who in fact refused to attend. Further they assembled themselves in an opposition council and believing that they were right to do so show that they were unaware of papal supremacy. Apart from the fact that the council at Sardica was not accepted by the whole church, it had only given to the bishop of Rome a very limited jurisdiction, a limited right of appeal in some circumstances. Pope Zosimus would later misrepresent the Council of Sardica in order to bolster his claims for power over the churches in Africa.
Some churches could accept its position on Arianism without accepting some of its findings.
(589) added the filioque despite the fact that popes opposed its inclusion, Centuries later, Pope Leo III
opposed its insertion into recitation of the Creed.
held in 589 added a clause to the Nicene Creed, known as the filioque. This despite the fact that popes had argued against adding to the Creed; it had been agreed at its formulation that the Creed could only be modified by an Ecumenical Council. It was confirmed by subsequent local councils in Toledo and despite subsequent Papal protests was also adopted in the kingdom of the Franks...
Eventually the Popes adopted the inclusion of the filioque, despite the Nicene Creed being defended as "Following the Holy Fathers", and for centuries defended as such, including by popes such as John VIII.
was held in 794. "...Two papal legates were present, Theophylact and Stephen." Despite the presence of papal representatives it still repudiated the terms of the Seventh Ecumenical Council – despite the fact that the Seventh was accepted by the pope.
, which acknowledges the primacy of the Pope but refuses to accept papal decrees concerning the liturgy
, decrees that were opposed also by two cardinals
of the Church (see Ottaviani Intervention). In 2005 the Roman Catholic Jesuit Professor John J. Paris disregarded a papal directive on euthanasia as lacking authority.
stated
Referring to Ignatius of Antioch Carlton says
The church is in the image of the Trinity and reflects the reality of the incarnation.
Any changes to the understanding of the church would reflect a change in the understanding of the Trinity.
Whelton however says that Athanasius does not use the definite article
(the) in the text.
Rome is an Apostolic throne, not the Apostolic throne. Augustine too is misquoted on the same point of grammar...
Pope Leo XIII
Augustine
Whelton goes on to say that for Augustine there is not one Apostolic See, but many...
to the Second Ecumenical Council. It in part seems to suggest that Leo speaks with the authority of Peter. It is the position of Orthodox Christianity that the approval of the Tome is simply to state a unity of faith, not only of the Pope but other churchmen as well.
However it is not just Leo's teaching that is the teaching of the Apostle, but Cyril
's teaching as well. Both teach as Peter. The same language was used following the reading of Cyril's letter at the council. The language of the council is simply to reinforce that all believe. At the Third Ecumenical Council Pope Celestine
and Cyril were compared to Paul!
. He appealed to all three in the same terms rather than viewing the Pope as leader.
In 2007 Pope Benedict XVI
also spoke of this
Historian J. N. D Kelly
wrote
The Pope took up the cause of John Chrysostom, convoking a western synod to investigate the matter. They found in favor of John Chrysostom and sent delegates to Constantinople but these were ignored and sent back after only three months. The pope's findings in support of John Chrysostom were not viewed as serious enough to annul John Chrysostom's exile.
It must also be remembered that he took his vows from Meletius (whom we noted earlier was not in communion with Rome). He accepted as an authority men not in communion with Rome. After Meletius died John Chrysostom accepted Flavian as his bishop - another person not in communion with Rome. John Chrysostom spent much of his life not in communion with Rome.
Other texts are used to allege he supported Roman primacy. John Chrysostom sometimes ascribes to Peter greatness.
This would seem to indicate that Chrysostom taught that Peter was the supreme ruler over the brethren. He goes on to ascribe Peter as the teacher of the world.
However, according to Abbé Guettée on other occasions John Chrysostom ascribes the same titles to others...
Denny also notes that John Chrysostom goes on to speak of Paul as being on an equal footing with Peter Further, the Catholic encyclopedia offers this frank admission of his writings
From his letters it appears that Basil did not hold the Popes in high esteem. When Basil wrote to the west for help (in combating Arianism) he addressed his letters to the whole western church. He didn't especially write to Rome for help and did not even list it first.
Damasus was the leader of a group supporting the heretic Marcellus
Of the Pope, St Basil wrote
It is argued by Catholics that John Chrysostom only uses the singular Coryphæus in relation to Peter. This is true, but others don't restrict the use of the singular to Peter.
Basil also uses the term Coryphæus. He refers to Athanasius as "Coryphæus of all."
He refers to Pope Damasus as Coryphæus, but as the leader of the westerners, not of the whole church.
Hesychius of Jerusalem
uses the term Coryphæus to refer to James.
. In Defloratio ex Epistola ad Petrum illustrem Maximus (also rendered Maximos) is alleged to have said...
Edward Denny giving his own translation and using that of Vincenzi shows that the words of Maximus give Rome a power conferred upon it by Holy Synods. This is in contrast with Catholic teaching and also would suggest that if a Synod can confer power, it can also take it away. Denny states that Vincenzi is "...compelled by the facts to admit that these very authorities to which St Maximus refers, as they have been handed down to us, are witness against the Papal Monarchy."
, the churches of Constantinople and Rome were in schism
. However with the ascendency of the orthodox emperor Justin I
, the two churches could be reconciled again. Justin ordered negotiations begin.
Pope Hormisdas
issued a formula of orthodox catholic faith which the Patriarch John II could sign if he wished reunion of the two churches.
Catholic apologists emphasize part of the text bolded above.
Those in agreement with orthodox faith would naturally be in agreement with the church in Rome on this matter – which was stating orthodox faith. For Catholic apologists agreement to this text means an agreement to Rome, because Rome is the leader. For Orthodox agreement to Rome is because it stated the truth.
Further evidence seems to point to this. Patriarch John expressed his opinion that Rome (Old Rome) and Constantinople (New Rome) were on the same level. The Patriarch showed this when he added to the document…
Furthermore despite it being on of the demands in the formula the east continued to disregard papal demands by not condemning Acacius.
In doing so John was re-affirming Canon XXVIII of the Council of Chalcedon - a canon which the popes were not to affirm for many centuries to come.
The politics of this is demonstrated by the fact that the Emperor Justin ignored the pope's candidate for the vacated see of Alexandria and instead…
Theoderic
, king in Italy, and an Arian
grew suspicious of the new alliance between Rome and Constantinople. John
who succeeded as Pope was sent to Constantinople to restore Arian churches there. Thus the orthodox Catholic pope was sent to urge the restoration of churches to heretics. This the pope did with limited success. Having failed, upon his return the pope was arrested and died in prison.
This then is not the capitulation of the eastern churches to Roman authority. It is not even the capitulation of the church in Constantinople – as other eastern churches ignored the formula completely. The popes didn't have authority over the church and in fact were forced to go and plead the case of heretics before the imperial throne.
The Catholic church states that Rome's supremacy rests on the Pope being given power handed down from the first pope – Peter.
However there is evidence that Peter was not the first bishop, and that the church in Rome was founded (or organized) by Peter and Paul together.
That is Linus is entrusted by the Apostles (plural). It is suggested that this evidence means that Linus was pope whilst Peter was still alive. Rome's church could be said to be founded (or organised) on both Peter and Paul.
Rome had primacy, but it was one of honor, rather than power. The reasons for this are varied. One being that it was a See
founded by both Peter and Paul. This honor was given not because of the 'primacy' of Peter (which is Catholic teaching), but on the position of both Peter and Paul. This was the accepted position, even in the west.
Augustine and Theodoret also wrote on the greatness of Rome – but for being the largest city, and its foundation on Peter and Paul. Rome's degree of 'primacy' was affirmed by one hundred and fifty bishops meeting at the Council of Chalcedon
. For this council Rome's primacy rested on the fact it was once the imperial capital.
This canon above comes up in numerous discussions on Papal Supremacy. For Orthodox it demonstrates a fluidity to the placing of honors – it shows Constantinople's place of honor moving up higher than older Sees such as Jerusalem, Alexandria and, Antioch.
Pope Leo I
protested against the inclusion of this canon and refused to sign agreement to it. The Catholic encyclopaedia says
The pope protested on behalf of two other Sees' privlleges, not on a matter of his own power. However despite his energetic protests the canon remained adhered to by the eastern churches. It was confirmed in the east at the Council of Trullo in 692, where the four major eastern patriarchs attended; Paul of Constantinople
, Peter of Alexandria, Anastasius of Jerusalem, George of Antioch. Thus despite the wishes of the pope the eastern churches ignored his protests.
Eventually it was accepted in the West. In 1215 at the Fourth Council of the Lateran
the Roman church accepted Constantinople's position – albeit when Constantinople was in western hands following the Fourth Crusade
. Subsequently at the Council of Florence
this was confirmed to the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople.
The church in Rome is occasionally singled out.
Tertullian
With no special charism associated with Paul, he is quietly ignored by Catholic apologists as a founder of the See of Rome. Or his part is acknowledged but merely in passing because the theory of the Pope's authority has no place for Paul's role in the foundation of the Roman church.
Rome serves as an example, but so do the other apostolic churches. Again, reflecting Ignatius' thoughts on catholic it is noted that the many churches each are 'one'.
Cyprian
Cyril of Alexandria
Others are called to be rock; Hippolytus of Rome; Victorinus of Pettau; Gregory of Nyssa
; Hilary of Poitiers
; Jerome
; Basil the Great
; Gregory Thaumaturgus
; Ambrosiaster
; Aphraates
; Athanasius
;
Origen
;
John Cassian
The Orthodox Christian position is that all members of the church are called to be 'rock'; just as the church is built on the foundation of all the Apostles , all are called to be stones . Protestant Matthew Henry
's bible commentary notes this too when he states
Peter described himself as a fellow elder , placing himself on equal footing with the other disciples.
it was not exclusively Rome's. Other Sees had been founded by Peter. Pope Gregory the Great recognised these Sees were all equally as Sees of Peter. There is no difference between the Sees of Peter.
Theodoret
also refers to other Sees being thrones of Peter.
As all are called to be rock, and as many Sees are of Peter, Peter serves as an archetype of Apostle. When he receives the keys he represents all of the Apostles. This is found in the writings of Augustine and Cyprian.
Pope Gregory the Great heard that Patriarch John the Faster had accepted the title ecumenical patriarch. This simply meant patriarch to the emperor, not 'universal' patriarch.
The pope wrote to the emperor
to protest that any one bishop should be accorded the title universal bishop.
Gregory first accords Peter the title prince of the Apostles.
Gregory notes that honor was bestowed upon Peter and the church in Rome – given it by an ecumenical council, but that no one person used the title. It was an honor for all priests. Gregory emphatically says no one person whould have such a title.
. They then wrote to the pope
seeking his help. They gave him much praise
Catholic apologists may make the most of such praise. However in the context of history one must also note that this praise was conditional. The next pope Zosimus
did not out-rightly condemn the heresy Pelagianism
and was himself condemned by the rest of the church for back-pedalling.
Thus the same church (in Africa) could lavish praise upon the church in Rome but could equally condemn them, depending on the teachings Rome upheld.
Zosimus eventually reconfirmed the decision of Innocent, Pelagius went to the churches in Palestine where a synod was called to hear his case. Augustine says that the churches in Palestine were deceived by Pelagius. What is important though is that even after two popes had condemned him Pelagius could still seek judgment by another region's synod. Evidentially the Palestinian churches did not see the condemnation of the church in Rome and the church in Africa as binding.
It would take an ecumenical council to bring the churches to agreement on this matter.
The quotation is taken from Cyrpian's letter to Antonianus who was questioning whether he should be loyal to Cornelius or another claimant to the pontificate Novation. Cornelius selection as bishop of Rome was backed by sixteen bishops. Cyprian stated that Novation
Therefore to adhere to a heretic (Novation) is to separate oneself from the Catholic Church. Furthermore Cyprian confirms here that the one church is divided into many bishoprics throughout the world. He goes on to say in the same letter
Cyprian is used several times in Catholic apologetics.
The Jesuit scholar Bévnot notes…
The local church decides for itself
Cyprian was adamant that the Popes had no power over him. Cyprian in his dispute believed he was following the teachings of the Apostles. He appealed to what he believed was always taught and this was the faith as maintained by all the Apostles. He addressed Pope Stephen not as his master, but as his equal.
Augustine supports Cyprian
Augustine agreed with Cyprian's right to decide within his local church... As Michael Whelton observed "He does not condemn Cyprian for refusing to submit to the Bishop of Rome"
Despite the fact that the Pope had condemned Cyprian’s position, a general council had not yet ruled on the matter. Augustine recognises this fact.
Augustine is of the belief that Cyprian might have changed his mind if a general (ecumenical) council had been called. He states that a council would have the ultimate say in removing all doubt.
Augustine had elsewhere argued that a council could over-rule a local church - even the church in Rome.
Adherence to the Bishop of Rome was not "necessary" for unity.
This is the orthodox understanding – bishops can be in error, including the bishop of Rome. Individual churches could disagree with each other, and still remain Catholic short of a general council deciding; it could be called in which all churches gathered and proclaimed a unity of faith.
The African Church was steadfast in its belief, despite any papal pronouncements. In 258 at the Council of Iconium, presided over by St. Firmilian of Neo-Caesarea, and attended by Fathers from Cappadocia, Lycea, Galatia and other parts of Asia. It rejected the teaching of Pope Stephen of Rome, and confirmed the decrees of Carthage in regards to the rebaptism and re-ordination of converts baptized or ordained by heretics.
Around 419 at the Council of Carthage, presided over by Pope Aurelius of Carthage, and attended by 217 bishops all together it condemned Pelagianism (those who deny original sin and grace) and Donatism (who reject the ordination of those who had lapsed during the persecution), and denied the jurisdiction of the Pope of Rome in the African Church. Further it enumerated canon of Holy Scriptures (Old and New Testaments), and prohibited the rebaptism or re-ordination of those baptized or ordained by Donatists. (which of course depends on whether they were rightly ordained/baptised in the first place).
Eventually, following an Ecumenical Council the orthodox position as supported by both the pope and Augustine was accepted in Africa. But, as shown they did not accept it simply because the pope had stated it was so. They recognised he could be in error, and that they had, for the time being ruled on their own affairs themselves. Augustine supported Cyprian's right to decide as he did.
This same rule would be used also to argue against Papal infallibility
.
of 1272 shows the churches of the east submitting to Roman authority. It was at this council that the Roman (Byzantine) Emperor Michael
endevored to re-unite the churches (split apart at the Great Schism in 1054).
The delegation who attended from the east however did not represent the churches in the east, but the Emperor himself. They were his personal emissaries.
Historian Steven Runciman
notes;
Michael had genuinely wished re-union. His primary fear was not an attack from the Turks, but the fear of a renewed effort by the Latin west against the Empire – one must remember that this is not long after Michael had recaptured Constantinople from the Latin west – which had held it since the Fourth Crusade
in 1204. With the failure of this attempt at union through a political solution, Michaels fears were realised when the Pope concluded an alliance with Charles of Anjou in 1281. The empire and the dynasty were saved from military intervention only by the Sicilian Vespers
, (a rebellion that broke out in Palermo). This council then, having been rejected by the whole church is not accepted in the east as a valid council, despite the pope accepting it as such.
As a reflection of the Trinity the church is united by love, not a formal adherence to one particular bishop in one particular location. For Orthodox, each individual to truly be a person must also be engaged in this unity of love with other persons. The Trinity too is joined by a union of love - with each member of the Trinity fully God. Each church is fully catholic united by love. To change the structure of the church would change how we perceive God, and also how we must interact with each other.
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
and the Anglican Communion
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
. The doctrine concerns the respect and authority that is due to the Bishop of Rome from bishops and their sees. Some Orthodox understand the primacy of the Bishop of Rome to be merely one of greater honour, treating him as "primus inter pares
Primus inter pares
Primus inter pares is Latin phrase describing the most senior person of a group sharing the same rank or office.When not used in reference to a specific title, it may indicate that the person so described is formally equal, but looked upon as an authority of special importance by their peers...
" ("first among equals"), without effective power over other churches. Others see primacy as indeed power, the expression, manifestation and realization in one bishop of the power of all the bishops, an expression and manifestation of the unity not just of the churches but of the Church. The Catholic Church attributes to the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
a primacy that involves "full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered", a power that it attributes also to the the entire body of the bishops
College of Bishops
The term "College of Bishops" is used in Catholic theology to denote the bishops in communion with the Pope as a body, not as individuals...
united with the Pope. The power that it attributes to the Pope's primatial authority has limitations that are official, legal, dogmatic, and practical, and "it is an error to think that every word uttered by the Pope is infallible".
In 2007, representatives of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church jointly stated that both East and West accept the fact of the Bishop of Rome's primacy at the universal level, but that differences of understanding exist about how the primacy is to be exercised and about its scriptural and theological foundations.
Development of the doctrine
The Roman Catholic Church accepts that its doctrine has a developmental historyDevelopment of doctrine
Development of doctrine is a term used by John Henry Newman and other theologians influenced by him to describe the way Catholic teaching has become more detailed and explicit over the centuries, while later statements of doctrine remain consistent with earlier statements.-Newman's book:The term...
and that its teaching about matters such as the Trinity
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...
, the divinity of Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
, the union of his two natures in a single person developed as the result of drawing out from the original revealed truth consequences that were not obvious at first: "Thanks to the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the understanding of both the realities and the words of the heritage of faith is able to grow in the life of the Church 'through the contemplation and study of believers who ponder these things in their hearts'; it is in particular 'theological research [which] deepens knowledge of revealed truth'". Accordingly, it would be a mistake to expect to find the modern fully developed doctrine of papal primacy in the first centuries, thereby failing to recognize the Church's historical reality. The figure of the Pope as leader of the worldwide church developed over time, as the figure of the bishop as leader of the local church seems to have appeared later than in the time of the apostles.
That the Christian scriptures, which contain no cut-and-dried answers to questions such as whether there is forgiveness for post-baptismal sins or whether infants should be baptized, gradually become clearer in the light of events is a view expressed, when considering the doctrine of papal primacy, by Cardinal John Henry Newman, who summed up his thought by saying: "Developments of Christianity are proved to have been in the contemplation of its Divine Author, by an argument parallel to that by which we infer intelligence in the system of the physical world. In whatever sense the need and its supply are a proof of design in the physical creation, in the same do gaps, if the word may be used, which occur in the structure of the original creed of the Church, make it probable that those developments, which grow out of the truths which lie around them, were intended to complete it."
Writers such as Nicholas Afanassieff and Alexander Schmemann have declared that the phrase "presiding in agape", used of the Church of Rome in the letter that Ignatius of Antioch
Ignatius of Antioch
Ignatius of Antioch was among the Apostolic Fathers, was the third Bishop of Antioch, and was a student of John the Apostle. En route to his martyrdom in Rome, Ignatius wrote a series of letters which have been preserved as an example of very early Christian theology...
addressed to it in the first years of the 2nd century, contains a definition of that Church's universal primacy; but the Roman Catholic writer Klaus Schatz warns that it would be wrong to read as statements of the developed Roman Catholic teaching on papal primacy this letter and the even earlier First Epistle of Clement
First Epistle of Clement
The First Epistle of Clement, is a letter addressed to the Christians in the city of Corinth. The letter dates from the late 1st or early 2nd century, and ranks with Didache as one of the earliest — if not the earliest — of extant Christian documents outside the canonical New Testament...
(the name of Clement was added only later), in which the Church of Rome intervenes in matters of the Church of Corinth, admonishing it in authoritative tones, even speaking in the name of God. It was only later that the expression of Saint Ignatius could be interpreted as meaning, as agreed by representatives of both the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Churches, that "Rome, as the Church that 'presides in love' according to the phrase of St Ignatius of Antioch (To the Romans, Prologue), occupied the first place in the taxis, and that the bishop of Rome was therefore the protos among the patriarchs". The same agreement stated:
Historical development
While the doctrine of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome, in the form in which it is upheld today in the Roman Catholic Church, developed over the course of centuries often in reaction to challenges made against exercises of authority by popes, writers both of East and West declare that from a very early period the Church of Rome was looked to as the centre of reference for the whole Church. Thus Alexander SchmemannAlexander Schmemann
Alexander Schmemann was a prominent 20th century Orthodox Christian priest, teacher, and writer.-Early life:...
wrote:
In the West, Ludwig Ott
Ludwig Ott
Ludwig Ott was a Catholic theologian and Medievalist from Bavaria....
wrote:
In later times, theories of various kinds were advanced, most notably that of an analogy with the position of Saint Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
among the twelve Apostles, to explain the fact of this generally recognized presiding or primatial position of the Church of Rome. The Church of Rome also appealed to it as justification for certain actions that it took in relation to other Churches, actions that often met with resistance.
Ante-Nicene period
The first bishop to claim primacy in writing was Pope Stephen IPope Stephen I
Pope Saint Stephen I served as Bishop of Rome from 12 May 254 to 2 August 257.Of Roman birth but of Greek ancestry, he became bishop of Rome in 254, having served as archdeacon of Pope Lucius I, who appointed Stephen his successor....
(254-257). The timing of the claim is significant, for it was made during the worst of the tumults of the third century. There were several persecutions during this century which hit the Church of Rome hard; Stephen himself and his immediate successor Pope Sixtus II
Pope Sixtus II
Pope Sixtus II or Pope Saint Sixtus II was Pope from August 30, 257 to August 6, 258. He died as a martyr during the persecution by Emperor Valerian....
were martyred. Cyprian of Carthage (d.258) stressed the Petrine primacy as well as the unity of the Church and the importance of being in communion with the bishops. For him, "the Bishop of Rome is the direct heir of Peter, whereas the others are heirs only indirectly", and he insisted that "the Church of Rome is the root and matrix of the Catholic Church"., was based on the idea that "the Bishop of Rome is the direct heir of Peter, whereas the others are heirs only indirectly". Pope Damasus I
Pope Damasus I
Pope Saint Damasus I was the bishop of Rome from 366 to 384.He was born around 305, probably near the city of Idanha-a-Velha , in what is present-day Portugal, then part of the Western Roman Empire...
(366-384) was the first pope to claim that the primacy of the Church of Rome rested on Peter alone, and the first to refer to the Roman church as "the Apostolic See
Apostolic See
In Christianity, an apostolic see is any episcopal see whose foundation is attributed to one or more of the apostles of Jesus.Out of the many such sees, five acquired special importance in Chalcedonian Christianity and became classified as the Pentarchy in Eastern Orthodox Christianity...
" (the see of the Apostle Peter). To uphold its primacy, the prestige of the city itself was no longer sufficient, but in the doctrine of apostolic succession (from Peter) the popes had an unassailable position.
Rome's role as arbiter
Nicholas Afanassieff writes:
This passage in Irenaeus [from Against Heresies 3:4:1] illuminates the meaning of his remarks about the Church of Rome: if there are disputes in a local church, that church should have recourse to the Roman Church, for there is contained the Tradition which is preserved by all the churches. Rome's vocation [in the pre-Nicene period] consisted in playing the part of arbiter, settling contentious issues by witnessing to the truth or falsity of whatever doctrine was put before them. Rome was truly the centre where all converged if they wanted their doctrine to be accepted by the conscience of the Church. They could not count upon success except on one condition -- that the Church of Rome had received their doctrine -- and refusal from Rome predetermined the attitude the other churches would adopt. There are numerous cases of this recourse to Rome...
Peter and Paul
The evolution of earlier tradition established both Peter and Paul as the forefathers of the bishops of Rome, from whom they received their position as chief shepherd (Peter) and supreme authority on doctrine (Paul). To establish her primacy among the churches of the Western half of the empire, the bishops of Rome relied on a letter written in 416 by Innocent I to the Bishop of Gubbio, to show how subordination to Rome had been established. Since Peter was the only apostle (no mention of Paul) to have worked in the West, thus the only persons to have established churches in Italy, Spain, Gaul, Sicily, Africa, and the Western islands were bishops appointed by Peter or his successors. This being the case then, all congregations had to abide by the regulations set in Rome). This claim to primacy may have been accepted in Italy, but was not so readily accepted in the rest of the West.Primacy of Peter the apostle
The presence of Peter in Rome, not explicitly affirmed in but consistent with the New Testament, is explicitly affirmed by Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Irenaeus of Lyon and other early Christian writers. and no other city has ever claimed to be the place of his death. The same witnesses imply that Peter was the virtual founder of the Church of Rome, though not its founder in the sense of initiating a Christian community there. They also speak of Peter as the one who initiated its episcopal succession, but speak of Linus
Pope Linus
Pope Saint Linus was, according to several early sources, Bishop of the diocese of Rome after Saint Peter. This makes Linus the second Pope. According to other early sources Pope Clement I was the Pope after Peter...
as the first "bishop", while it is commonly held today that the Christians in Rome did not act a single united community under a single leader until some time in the 2nd century.
Classic Roman Catholic tradition maintained that the universal primacy of the bishop of Rome was divinely instituted by Jesus Christ. This was derived from the Petrine texts, and from the gospel accounts of Matthew (16:17‑19), Luke (22:32) and John (21:15‑17) according to the Roman tradition, they all refer not simply to the historical Peter, but to his successors to the end of time. Today, scriptural scholars of all traditions agree that we can discern in the New Testament an early tradition which attributes a special position to Peter among Christ's twelve apostles. The Church built its identity on them as witnesses, and responsibility for pastoral leadership was not restricted to Peter. In Matthew 16:19, Peter is explicitly commissioned to "bind and loose"; later, in Matthew 18:18, Christ directly promises all the disciples that they will do the same. Similarly, the foundation upon which the Church is built is related to Peter in Matthew 16:16, and to the whole apostolic body elsewhere in the New Testament (cf. Eph. 2:10).
Pope Stephen I
Pope Stephen I
Pope Saint Stephen I served as Bishop of Rome from 12 May 254 to 2 August 257.Of Roman birth but of Greek ancestry, he became bishop of Rome in 254, having served as archdeacon of Pope Lucius I, who appointed Stephen his successor....
was the first to make appeal to the primacy of Peter as a basis for the Bishop of Rome's primacy.
Because of its association with the supposed position of Peter among the Apostles, the function that within the Roman Catholic Church is exercised by the Bishop of Rome among the Bishops as a whole is referred to as the Petrine function, and is generally believed to be of divine institution, in the sense that the historical and sociological factors that influenced its development are seen as guided by the Holy Spirit. Not all Roman Catholic theologians see a special providential providence as responsible for the result, but most see the papacy, regardless of its origin, as now essential to the Church's structure.
Role of Paul in the founding of the Church of Rome
Irenaeus of Lyon (AD 189) believed that Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
and Paul had been the founders of the Church in Rome and had appointed Pope Linus
Pope Linus
Pope Saint Linus was, according to several early sources, Bishop of the diocese of Rome after Saint Peter. This makes Linus the second Pope. According to other early sources Pope Clement I was the Pope after Peter...
to the office of the episcopate, the beginning of the Apostolic succession
Apostolic Succession
Apostolic succession is a doctrine, held by some Christian denominations, which asserts that the chosen successors of the Twelve Apostles, from the first century to the present day, have inherited the spiritual, ecclesiastical and sacramental authority, power, and responsibility that were...
of the Roman see. Although the introduction of Christianity was not due to them, "the arrival, ministries and especially the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul were the seminal events which really constituted the Church of Rome. It was from their time, and not before, that an orderly and meetly ordained succession of Bishops originated.
After the Edict of Milan
After the Edict of MilanEdict of Milan
The Edict of Milan was a letter signed by emperors Constantine I and Licinius that proclaimed religious toleration in the Roman Empire...
granted Christianity legal status, Emperor Constantine the Great enriched the Church of Rome with large buildings such as the Lateran Basilica and Lateran Palace
Lateran Palace
The Lateran Palace , formally the Apostolic Palace of the Lateran , is an ancient palace of the Roman Empire and later the main Papal residence....
and the Basilica of Saint Peter, and with endowments. The First Council of Nicaea
First Council of Nicaea
The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in Nicaea in Bithynia by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325...
gave approval to a church arrangement whereby the bishops of an imperial province were headed by the bishop (known as the "metropolitan") of the principal city. This added to the power of the bishops of important cities.
Decretals
The bishops of Rome sent letters which, though largely ineffectual, provided historical precedents which were subsequently used by supporters of papal primacy. These letters were known as ‘decretalDecretal
Decretals is the name that is given in Canon law to those letters of the pope which formulate decisions in ecclesiastical law.They are generally given in answer to consultations, but are sometimes due to the initiative of the popes...
s’ from at least the time of Siricius (384-399) to Leo I provided general guidelines to follow which later would become incorporated into canon law).
Bishop of Rome becomes "Rector of the whole Church"
The power of the Bishop of Rome increased as the power of the Emperors gradually diminshed and the imperial authorities tried to bolster their waning power with religious support. Edicts of the Emperor Theodosius IITheodosius II
Theodosius II , commonly surnamed Theodosius the Younger, or Theodosius the Calligrapher, was Byzantine Emperor from 408 to 450. He is mostly known for promulgating the Theodosian law code, and for the construction of the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople...
and of Valentinian III
Valentinian III
-Family:Valentinian was born in the western capital of Ravenna, the only son of Galla Placidia and Flavius Constantius. The former was the younger half-sister of the western emperor Honorius, and the latter was at the time Patrician and the power behind the throne....
proclaimed the Roman bishop as "Rector of the whole Church". The Emperor Justinian, who was living in the East in Constantinople, in the 6th century published a similar decree. These proclamations did not create the office of the Pope.
First Council of Constantinople and its context
New Rome
The term "New Rome" has been used in the following contexts:* "Nova Roma" is traditionally reported to be the Latin name given by emperor Constantine the Great to the new imperial capital he founded in 324 at the city on the European coast of the Bosporus strait, known as Byzantium until then and...
". This was promulgated by the third canon of the First Council of Constantinople
First Council of Constantinople
The First Council of Constantinople is recognized as the Second Ecumenical Council by the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox, the Eastern Orthodox, the Roman Catholics, the Old Catholics, and a number of other Western Christian groups. It was the first Ecumenical Council held in...
(381) which decreed: "The Bishop of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, however, shall have the prerogative of honour after the Bishop of Rome because Constantinople is New Rome
New Rome
The term "New Rome" has been used in the following contexts:* "Nova Roma" is traditionally reported to be the Latin name given by emperor Constantine the Great to the new imperial capital he founded in 324 at the city on the European coast of the Bosporus strait, known as Byzantium until then and...
." It has been asserted by many that a synod held by Pope Damasus I
Pope Damasus I
Pope Saint Damasus I was the bishop of Rome from 366 to 384.He was born around 305, probably near the city of Idanha-a-Velha , in what is present-day Portugal, then part of the Western Roman Empire...
in the following year 382 protested against this raising of the bishop of the new imperial capital, just fifty years old, to a status higher than that of the bishops of Alexandria and Antioch, and stated that the primacy of the Roman see was established by no gathering of bishops but by Christ himself. Thomas Shahan says that, according to Photius too, Pope Damasus approved the council, but he adds that, if any part of the council were approved by this pope, it could have been only its revision of the Nicene Creed
Nicene Creed
The Nicene Creed is the creed or profession of faith that is most widely used in Christian liturgy. It is called Nicene because, in its original form, it was adopted in the city of Nicaea by the first ecumenical council, which met there in the year 325.The Nicene Creed has been normative to the...
, as was the case also when Gregory the Great recognized it as one of the four general councils, but only in its dogmatic utterances. In Roman Catholic doctrine no council, regardless of who summoned it or who presided over it, is ecumenical unless it is confirmed or at least recognized as such by the Pope.
The increasing involvement of Eastern emperors in church matters and the advancement of the see of Constantinopolis over the sees of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem led successive bishops of Rome to attempt a sharper definition of their ecclesial position vis-a-vis the other bishops. The first documented use of the description of Saint Peter as first bishop of Rome, rather than as the apostle who commissioned its first bishop, dates from 354, and the phrase "the Apostolic See
Apostolic See
In Christianity, an apostolic see is any episcopal see whose foundation is attributed to one or more of the apostles of Jesus.Out of the many such sees, five acquired special importance in Chalcedonian Christianity and became classified as the Pentarchy in Eastern Orthodox Christianity...
", which refers to the same apostle, began to be used exclusively of the see of Rome, a usage found also in the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon
Council of Chalcedon
The Council of Chalcedon was a church council held from 8 October to 1 November, 451 AD, at Chalcedon , on the Asian side of the Bosporus. The council marked a significant turning point in the Christological debates that led to the separation of the church of the Eastern Roman Empire in the 5th...
. From the time of Pope Damasus, the text of ("You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church") is used to support Roman primacy. Pope Siricius
Pope Siricius
Pope Saint Siricius, Bishop of Rome from December 384 until his death on 26 November 399, was successor to Damasus I and was himself succeeded by Anastasius I....
(384-399) began the custom of issuing papal decretals to which was attributed the same authority as that of decisions by synods of bishops. Pope Innocent I
Pope Innocent I
-Biography:He was, according to his biographer in the Liber Pontificalis, the son of a man called Innocens of Albano; but according to his contemporary Jerome, his father was Pope Anastasius I , whom he was called by the unanimous voice of the clergy and laity to succeed -Biography:He was,...
(401-417) claimed that all major cases should be reserved to the see of Rome and wrote: "All must preserve that which Peter the prince of the apostles delivered to the church at Rome and which it has watched over until now, and nothing may be added or introduced that lacks this authority or that derives its pattern from somewhere else." Pope Boniface I
Pope Boniface I
Pope Saint Boniface I was pope from December 28, 418 to September 4, 422. He was a contemporary of Saint Augustine of Hippo, who dedicated to him some of his works....
(418-422) stated that the church of Rome stood to the churches throughout the world "as the head to the members", a statement that seems to have been already made by Pope Siricius and was repeated by the delegates of Pope Leo I
Pope Leo I
Pope Leo I was pope from September 29, 440 to his death.He was an Italian aristocrat, and is the first pope of the Catholic Church to have been called "the Great". He is perhaps best known for having met Attila the Hun in 452, persuading him to turn back from his invasion of Italy...
to the Council of Chalcedon
Council of Chalcedon
The Council of Chalcedon was a church council held from 8 October to 1 November, 451 AD, at Chalcedon , on the Asian side of the Bosporus. The council marked a significant turning point in the Christological debates that led to the separation of the church of the Eastern Roman Empire in the 5th...
in 451. In line with the norm of Roman law that a person's legal rights and duties passed to his heir, Pope Leo (440-461) taught that he, as Peter's representative, succeeded to the power and authority of Peter, and he implied that it was through Peter that the other apostles received from Christ strength and stability. Pope Gelasius
Pope Gelasius
Pope Gelasius can refer to:*Pope Gelasius I, in office 492–496*Pope Gelasius II, in office 1118–1119...
(492-496) stated:
- "The see of blessed Peter the Apostle has the right to unbind what has been bound by sentences of any pontiffs whatever, in that it has the right to judge the whole church. Neither is it lawful for anyone to judge its judgment, seeing that canons have willed that it might be appealed to from any part of the world, but that no one may be allowed to appeal from it."
Relationship with bishops of other cities
Rome was not the only city that could claim a special role in Christ's Church. Jerusalem had the prestige of being the city of Christ's death and resurrection, and an important church council was held there in the 1st century. Antioch was the place where Jesus' followers were first called "Christians" {7} (as well as "Catholic") and, with Alexandria, was an important early center of Christian thought. It is important to note, however, that the three main apostolic sees of the early Church (i.e. Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome) were directly related to Peter. Prior to holding the position of Bishop of Rome, Peter was the Bishop of Antioch. And his disciple, St. Mark the Evangelist, founded the church in Alexandria. Constantinople became highly important after Constantine moved his capital there in 330 AD.As early as the 2nd century, the bishop of Rome began to claim his supremacy over all other bishops, and some church fathers also made this claim for him.
Leo I
The doctrine of the sedes apostolica (apostolic seeApostolic See
In Christianity, an apostolic see is any episcopal see whose foundation is attributed to one or more of the apostles of Jesus.Out of the many such sees, five acquired special importance in Chalcedonian Christianity and became classified as the Pentarchy in Eastern Orthodox Christianity...
) asserts that every bishop of Rome, as Peter’s successor, possesses the full authority granted to this position and that this power is inviolable on the grounds that it was established by God himself and so not bound to any individual. Pope Leo I
Pope Leo I
Pope Leo I was pope from September 29, 440 to his death.He was an Italian aristocrat, and is the first pope of the Catholic Church to have been called "the Great". He is perhaps best known for having met Attila the Hun in 452, persuading him to turn back from his invasion of Italy...
(440-461), with the aid of Roman law, solidified this doctrine by making the bishop of Rome the legal heir of Peter. Leo argued that the apostle Peter continued to speak to the Christian community through his successors as bishop of Rome.
From Gregory I to Clement V
The historical and juridical development of the "primacy of the Roman Pontiff" from Pope Gregory IPope Gregory I
Pope Gregory I , better known in English as Gregory the Great, was pope from 3 September 590 until his death...
(590-604) to Pope Clement V
Pope Clement V
Pope Clement V, born Raymond Bertrand de Got was Pope from 1305 to his death...
(1305–1314) was a dogmatic evolution in fidelity of the depositum fidei (deposit of faith).
Council of Reims (1049)
The 3 October 1054 the Council has a dogmatic declaration about the primacy of the Roman Pontiff as Successor of Peter: "declaratum est quod solus Romanae sedis pontifexPontifex
PONTIFEX was a mid-1980s project that introduced a novel approach to complex aircraft fleet scheduling, partially funded by the European Commission’s Strategic Programme for R&D in Information Technology.Since the mathematical problems stemming from non trivial fleet scheduling easily become...
universalis Ecclesiae Primas esset et Apostolicus":
East-West Schism
The dispute about the authority of Roman bishops reached a climax in the year 1054, when the legate of Pope Leo IXPope Leo IX
Pope Saint Leo IX , born Bruno of Eguisheim-Dagsburg, was Pope from February 12, 1049 to his death. He was a German aristocrat and as well as being Pope was a powerful secular ruler of central Italy. He is regarded as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, with the feast day of April 19...
excommunicated Patriarch of Constantinople Michael I Cerularius
Michael I Cerularius
Michael I Cerularius , also known as Michael Keroularios or Patriarch Michael I, was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1043 to 1059.-Biography:...
. However, as the Pope was already dead by this time, the powers of the Legate also ceased at the moment of the Pope's death; so the Legate's excommunication was technically invalid. Similarly, the ceremony of excommunication of the pope performed by Michael I was equally invalid as one cannot be posthumously excommunicated. This event resulted in the schism
Schism
- Religion :* Schism , a division or a split, usually between people belonging to an organization or movement, most frequently applied to a break of communion between two sections of Christianity that were previously a single body...
of the Greek rite and Latin rite Churches. It did not have the effect of excommunicating the adherents of the respective Churches however, as the tit-for-tat excommunications, even had they been valid, would have applied to the named persons only, not the people of God in general.
Second Council of Lyon
The Second Council of LyonSecond Council of Lyon
The Second Council of Lyon was the fourteenth ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, convoked on 31 March 1272 and convened in Lyon, France, in 1274. Pope Gregory X presided over the council, called to act on a pledge by Byzantine emperor Michael VIII to reunite the Eastern church with the West...
, which was convoked to act on a pledge by Byzantine emperor Michael VIII
Michael VIII Palaiologos
Michael VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus reigned as Byzantine Emperor 1259–1282. Michael VIII was the founder of the Palaiologan dynasty that would rule the Byzantine Empire until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453...
to reunite the Eastern church with the West. Wishing to end the Great Schism
East-West Schism
The East–West Schism of 1054, sometimes known as the Great Schism, formally divided the State church of the Roman Empire into Eastern and Western branches, which later became known as the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, respectively...
that divided Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, Gregory X had sent an embassy to Michael VIII Palaeologus, who had reconquered Constantinople, putting an end to the remnants of the Latin Empire
Latin Empire
The Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople is the name given by historians to the feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. It was established after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 and lasted until 1261...
in the East.
On 29 June (Feast of Peter & Paul patronal feast of Popes), Gregory X celebrated a Mass
Mass
Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...
in St John's Church, where both sides took part. The council declared that the Roman church possessed “the supreme and full primacy and authority over the universal Catholic Church.”
The council was seemingly a success, but did not provide a lasting solution to the schism; the Emperor was anxious to heal the schism, but the Eastern clergy proved to be obstinate. Patriarch Joseph of Constantinople abdicated, and was replaced by John Bekkos
Patriarch John XI of Constantinople
John XI Bekkos was Patriarch of Constantinople from June 2, 1275 to December 26, 1282, and the chief Greek advocate, in Byzantine times, of the reunion of the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches...
, a convert to the cause of union. In spite of a sustained campaign by Bekkos to defend the union intellectually, and vigorous and brutal repression of opponents by Michael, the vast majority of Byzantine Christians remained implacably opposed to union with the Latin "heretics". Michael's death in December 1282 put an end to the union of Lyon. His son and successor Andronicus II
Andronikos II Palaiologos
Andronikos II Palaiologos , Latinized as Andronicus II Palaeologus, was Byzantine emperor from 1282 to 1328. He was the eldest surviving son of Michael VIII Palaiologos and Theodora Doukaina Vatatzina, grandniece of John III Doukas Vatatzes...
repudiated the union, and Bekkos was forced to abdicate, being eventually exiled and imprisoned until his death in 1297. He is to this day reviled by many in the Eastern Church as a traitor to Orthodoxy.
Reformation
The primacy of the Roman Pontiff was again challenged in 1517 when Martin LutherMartin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
began preaching against several practices in the Catholic Church, including some itinerant friars' abuses involving indulgences. When Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X , born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, was the Pope from 1513 to his death in 1521. He was the last non-priest to be elected Pope. He is known for granting indulgences for those who donated to reconstruct St. Peter's Basilica and his challenging of Martin Luther's 95 Theses...
refused to support Luther’s position, Luther claimed belief in an "invisible church" and called the Pope the Antichrist
Antichrist
The term or title antichrist, in Christian theology, refers to a leader who fulfills Biblical prophecies concerning an adversary of Christ, while resembling him in a deceptive manner...
.
Luther’s rejection of the primacy of the Roman Pontiff led to the start of the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
, during which numerous Protestant sects broke away from the Roman Catholic Church. The Anglican Church also broke away from the Catholic Church at this time, although for reasons different than Martin Luther and the Protestants.
First Vatican Council
The doctrine of papal primacy was further developed in 1870 at the First Vatican CouncilFirst Vatican Council
The First Vatican Council was convoked by Pope Pius IX on 29 June 1868, after a period of planning and preparation that began on 6 December 1864. This twentieth ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, held three centuries after the Council of Trent, opened on 8 December 1869 and adjourned...
where ultramontanism
Ultramontanism
Ultramontanism is a religious philosophy within the Roman Catholic community that places strong emphasis on the prerogatives and powers of the Pope...
achieved victory over conciliarism
Conciliarism
Conciliarism, or the conciliar movement, was a reform movement in the 14th, 15th and 16th century Roman Catholic Church which held that final authority in spiritual matters resided with the Roman Church as a corporation of Christians, embodied by a general church council, not with the pope...
with the pronouncement of papal infallibility
Papal infallibility
Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, by action of the Holy Spirit, the Pope is preserved from even the possibility of error when in his official capacity he solemnly declares or promulgates to the universal Church a dogmatic teaching on faith or morals...
(the ability of the pope to define dogmas free from error ex cathedra
Ex Cathedra
Ex Cathedra is a British choir and early music ensemble based in Birmingham in the West Midlands, England. It performs choral music spanning the 15th to 21st centuries, and regularly commissions new works....
) and of papal supremacy
Papal supremacy
Papal supremacy refers to the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church that the pope, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ and as pastor of the entire Christian Church, has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered: that, in brief,...
, i.e., supreme, full, immediate, and universal ordinary jurisdiction of the Pope.
The most substantial body of defined doctrine on the subject is found in Pastor aeternus
Pastor aeternus
Pastor aeternus is the incipit of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ, issued by the First Vatican Council, July 18, 1870. According to The Modern Catholic Dictionary, Pastor aeternus defines four doctrines of the Catholic faith: the apostolic primacy conferred on Peter, the...
, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ of Vatican Council I. This document declares that “in the disposition of God the Roman church holds the preeminence of ordinary power over all the other churches.” This council also affirmed the dogma of papal infallibility
Papal infallibility
Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, by action of the Holy Spirit, the Pope is preserved from even the possibility of error when in his official capacity he solemnly declares or promulgates to the universal Church a dogmatic teaching on faith or morals...
, deciding that the “infallibility” of the Christian community extended to the pope himself, at least when speaking on matters of faith.
Vatican I defined a twofold Primacy of Peter — one in papal teaching on faith and morals (the charism of infallibility), and the other a primacy of jurisdiction involving government and discipline of the Church — submission to both being necessary to Catholic faith and salvation.
Vatican I rejected the ideas that papal decrees have "no force or value unless confirmed by an order of the secular power" and that the pope’s decisions can be appealed to an ecumenical council "as to an authority higher than the Roman Pontiff."
Paul Collins argues that "(the doctrine of papal primacy as formulated by the First Vatican Council) has led to the exercise of untrammelled papal power and has become a major stumbling block in ecumenical relationships with the Orthodox (who consider the definition to be heresy) and Protestants."
Forced to break off prematurely by secular political developments in 1870, Vatican I left behind it a somewhat unbalanced ecclesiology. "In theology the question of papal primacy was so much in the foreground that the Church appeared essentially as a centrally directed institution which one was dogged in defending but which only encountered one externally,"
Second Vatican Council
At the Second Vatican CouncilSecond Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
(1962–1965) the debate on papal primacy and authority re-emerged, and in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium
Lumen Gentium
Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, is one of the principal documents of the Second Vatican Council. This dogmatic constitution was promulgated by Pope Paul VI on November 21, 1964, following approval by the assembled bishops by a vote of 2,151 to 5...
, the Roman Catholic Church's teaching on the authority of the Pope, bishops and councils was further elaborated. Vatican II sought to correct the unbalanced ecclesiology left behind by Vatican I. The result is the body of teaching about the papacy and episcopacy contained in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium
Lumen Gentium
Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, is one of the principal documents of the Second Vatican Council. This dogmatic constitution was promulgated by Pope Paul VI on November 21, 1964, following approval by the assembled bishops by a vote of 2,151 to 5...
.
Vatican II reaffirmed everything Vatican I taught about papal primacy and infallibility, but it added important points about bishops. Bishops, it says, are not "vicars of the Roman Pontiff." Rather, in governing their local churches they are "vicars and legates of Christ". Together, they form a body, a "college," whose head is the pope. This episcopal college is responsible for the well-being of the Universal Church. Here in a nutshell are the basic elements of the Council’s much-discussed communio ecclesiology, which affirms the importance of local churches and the doctrine of collegiality.
In a key passage about collegiality, Vatican II teaches: "The order of bishops is the successor to the college of the apostles in their role as teachers and pastors, and in it the apostolic college is perpetuated. Together with their head, the Supreme Pontiff, and never apart from him, they have supreme and full authority over the Universal Church; but this power cannot be exercised without the agreement of the Roman Pontiff". Much of the present discussion of papal primacy is concerned with exploring the implications of this passage.
Relation with other Christian denominations
In the document Responses to some questions regarding certain aspects of the doctrine on the Church of 29 June 2007 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the FaithCongregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , previously known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition , and after 1904 called the Supreme...
reiterated that, in the view of the Roman Catholic Church, the Christian communities born out of the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
and which lack apostolic succession
Apostolic Succession
Apostolic succession is a doctrine, held by some Christian denominations, which asserts that the chosen successors of the Twelve Apostles, from the first century to the present day, have inherited the spiritual, ecclesiastical and sacramental authority, power, and responsibility that were...
in the sacrament of orders are not "Churches" in the proper sense. The Eastern Christian Church that are not in communion with Rome, such as the Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
, Oriental Orthodoxy
Oriental Orthodoxy
Oriental Orthodoxy is the faith of those Eastern Christian Churches that recognize only three ecumenical councils — the First Council of Nicaea, the First Council of Constantinople and the First Council of Ephesus. They rejected the dogmatic definitions of the Council of Chalcedon...
and the Assyrian Church of the East
Assyrian Church of the East
The Assyrian Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East ʻIttā Qaddishtā w-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi d-Madnĕkhā d-Āturāyē), is a Syriac Church historically centered in Mesopotamia. It is one of the churches that claim continuity with the historical...
, are Churches in the proper sense and sister Churches of the Catholic particular Churches, but since communion with the Roman Pontiff is one of the internal constitutive principles of a particular Church, they lack something in their condition, while on the other hand the existing division means that the fullness of universality that is proper to the Church governed by the successor of St Peter and the bishops in communion with him is not now realised in history.
Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission
The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) statement of Venice (1976) states that the ministry of the bishop of Rome among his brother bishops was "interpreted" as Christ's will for his Church; its Importance was compared "by analogy" to the position of Peter among the apostles.
Unlike many other Churches of the ReformationProtestant ReformationThe Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
, the Anglican Church has never abandoned a possible role for the Roman primacy, so long as the ministry of the Bishop of Rome is rightly understood, interpreted, and implemented. The ministry of the Bishop of Rome should not be an obstacle, but rather should function as a possible instrument of ultimate Christian unity. Orthodox Anglicanism today acknowledges that the ministry of the papacy is evolving rapidly and could someday be received by the Anglican Church as means tending toward the reconciliation of all Churches. A de facto recognition of the historic papal ministry already exists within the Anglican Communion, which has consistently maintained throughout her history that the Roman Pontiff possesses a station of primus inter pares, ‘first amongst equals,’ a primacy of honour and reverence, though not of jurisdiction or personal infallibility.
"Communion with the bishop of Rome does not imply submission to an authority which would stifle the distinctive features of the local churches. The purpose of the episcopal function of the bishop of Rome is to promote Christian fellowship in faithfulness to the teaching of the apostles."
Joint worship service with the Archbishop of Canterbury
At a joint service during the first official visit of the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie
Robert Runcie
Robert Alexander Kennedy Runcie, Baron Runcie, PC, MC was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1980 to 1991.-Early life:...
, to the Vatican, Runcie appealed to Anglicans to consider accepting papal primacy in a reunified church. At the same time, Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
stressed that his office must be more than a figurehead.
Ut Unum Sint
In Ut Unum Sint
Ut Unum Sint
Ut Unum Sint is the incipit of an encyclical by Pope John Paul II of May 25, 1995. Encyclicals are referred to by their "incipit" or first few words...
, John Paul II asked the ‘pastors and theologians’ of ‘our Churches’ – i.e., the RC and the Orthodox Church – to come up with suggestions about how the primacy could be exercised in ways that would unite rather than divide.
Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue
In October 2007, the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue, a joint commission of Orthodox and Catholic theologians, agreed that the Pope has primacy among all bishops of the Church, something which has been universally acknowledged by both churches since the First Council of Constantinople
First Council of Constantinople
The First Council of Constantinople is recognized as the Second Ecumenical Council by the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox, the Eastern Orthodox, the Roman Catholics, the Old Catholics, and a number of other Western Christian groups. It was the first Ecumenical Council held in...
in 381 (when they were still one Church) though disagreements about the extent of his authority still continue.
The document "draws an analogy among the three levels of communion: local, regional, and universal, each of which appropriately has a 'first' with the role of fostering communion, in order to ground the rationale of why the universal level must also have a primacy. It articulates the principle that primacy and conciliarity are interdependent and mutually necessary." Speaking of "fraternal relations between bishops" during the first millennium, it states that "these relations, among the bishops themselves, between the bishops and their respective protoi (firsts), and also among the protoi themselves in the canonical order (taxis) witnessed by the ancient Church, nourished and consolidated ecclesial communion. It notes that both sides agree "that Rome, as the church that 'presides in love' according to the phrase of St Ignatius of Antioch, occupied the first place in the taxis (order) and that the bishop of Rome was, therefore, the protos (first) among the patriarchs. They disagree, however, on the interpretation of the historical evidence from this era regarding the prerogatives of the bishop of Rome as protos, a matter that was already understood in different ways in the first millennium"; and "while the fact of primacy at the universal level is accepted by both East and West, there are differences of understanding with regard to the manner in which it is to be exercised, and also with regard to its scriptural and theological foundations".
Discussions continued in Aghios Nikolaos, Crete (a drafting committee) in September-October 2008, Paphos, Cyprus in October 2009 and Vienna, Austria in September 2010. Igumen Filipp Ryabykh, the deputy head of the MP Department for External Church Relations said
The meeting in Cyprus of a joint drafting committee produced a historical account of "The Role of the Bishop of Rome in the Communion of the Church in the First Millennium", which the Vienna meeting asked to be revised and amplified. This document states that "Catholics and Orthodox agree that, from apostolic times, the Church of Rome has been recognised as the first among the local Churches, both in the East and in the West." Both sides agree that "the primacy of the see precedes the primacy of its bishops and is the source of the latter". While in the West, "the position of the bishop of Rome among the bishops was understood in terms of the position of Peter among the apostles ... the East tended rather to understand each bishop as the successor of all the apostles, including Peter"; but these rather different understandings "co-existed for several centuries until the end of the first millennium, without causing a break of communion".
Opposition to the doctrine
Stephen Ray asserts that "There is little in the history of the Church that has been more heatedly contested than the primacy of Peter and the See of Rome. History is replete with examples of authority spurned, and the history of the Church is no different."According to Bernhard Schimmelpfennig, Rome's efforts to establish primacy over the east were largely unsuccessful for two reasons: first, except for Leo I, Roman bishops were theologically unsophisticated compared to their Eastern counterparts; and second, major decisions were made at ecumenical council
Ecumenical council
An ecumenical council is a conference of ecclesiastical dignitaries and theological experts convened to discuss and settle matters of Church doctrine and practice....
s at which Rome had little or no representation.
When the doctrine originated, the extent of the authority that the bishops of Rome were claiming was unclear. Historically, the primacy of the Pope was largely accepted by all bishops of the Church, and he was at least considered to be the first in honor of all bishops. However, the supremacy of the Pope over all bishops, first declared by Pope Leo I
Pope Leo I
Pope Leo I was pope from September 29, 440 to his death.He was an Italian aristocrat, and is the first pope of the Catholic Church to have been called "the Great". He is perhaps best known for having met Attila the Hun in 452, persuading him to turn back from his invasion of Italy...
was rejected by the bishops serving outside of Rome's jurisdiction. The Eastern Orthodox churches consider that the Bishop of Rome had a mere primacy of honor.
The doctrines of Papal Primacy and Papal Supremacy
Papal supremacy
Papal supremacy refers to the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church that the pope, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ and as pastor of the entire Christian Church, has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered: that, in brief,...
are perhaps the greatest obstacles to ecumenical
Ecumenism
Ecumenism or oecumenism mainly refers to initiatives aimed at greater Christian unity or cooperation. It is used predominantly by and with reference to Christian denominations and Christian Churches separated by doctrine, history, and practice...
efforts among the various Christian churches. Most Eastern Orthodox Christians, for example, would be quite willing to accord the Roman bishop the same respect, deference and authority as is accorded to any Eastern Orthodox patriarch. They resist, however, granting the Roman bishop special authority over all Christians. Many Protestants are quite willing to grant the Pope a position of special moral leadership. However, they feel that according to the Pope any more formal authority than that would conflict with the Protestant principle of Solus Christus
Solus Christus
Solus Christus , sometimes referred to in the ablative case as Solo Christo , is one of the five solas that summarise the Protestant Reformers' basic belief that salvation is through Christ alone and that Christ is the only mediator between God and man, see also New Covenant.-Protestant-Catholic...
i.e. that there can be no intermediaries between a Christian and God except for Christ.
Among the Gospel verses used to support the claim of the primacy of Peter and of the Church of Rome, , "I will give unto thee ...", has played the most significant role. For the Orthodox Church, the verse is interpreted as having a wider application than to Peter alone. Their position is that while the words were spoken to Peter alone, yet they were given to all the Apostles equally, that is, the Pope is merely "Primus inter pares" (First among equals).
Opposition arguments from Scripture
- At the Council of JerusalemCouncil of JerusalemThe Council of Jerusalem is a name applied by historians and theologians to an Early Christian council that was held in Jerusalem and dated to around the year 50. It is considered by Catholics and Orthodox to be a prototype and forerunner of the later Ecumenical Councils...
, it was James the JustJames the JustJames , first Bishop of Jerusalem, who died in 62 AD, was an important figure in Early Christianity...
who stated the decision of the Council, not Peter. - The granting of the Keys of the KingdomKeys of the KingdomKeys of the Kingdom is the fifteenth album released by the rock band The Moody Blues in 1991. Although some of the tracks recall the songwriting on Sur La Mer, the failure of Keys of the Kingdom to produce any major hit singles would mark the beginning of the Moodies' decline in popularity with...
is not to Peter alone; it is the whole Church, that binds and looses sins. - The church at Rome was founded (or organised) by both Peter and Paul. As no particular charism or primacy attaches to Paul, then it is not from his co-foundation of the church of Rome that the Roman Pontiff claims primacy.
- Christ is the spiritual rock; all are called to be "rock".
- As many Sees are of Peter, Peter serves as an archetype of Apostle.
Opposition arguments from early church history
- Rome had primacy, but it was one of honour, rather than power.
- Rome is an Apostolic throne, not the Apostolic throne.
- Each bishop has the right to decide affairs within his local church. In the event of a dispute with another bishop, only a general council may rule on the matter.
- Church FathersChurch FathersThe Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were early and influential theologians, eminent Christian teachers and great bishops. Their scholarly works were used as a precedent for centuries to come...
do not refer to another tier above bishop. - Cases which had been decided by Rome were appealed to bishops in other metropolitan areasMetropolitan bishopIn Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...
- Cases which had been decided by Rome were appealed to synodSynodA synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...
s of bishops in other metropolitan areas - Peter founded many Episcopal seeEpiscopal SeeAn episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
s. There is no difference between the Sees of Peter; all are equal. - The ApostlesApostle (Christian)The term apostle is derived from Classical Greek ἀπόστολος , meaning one who is sent away, from στέλλω + από . The literal meaning in English is therefore an "emissary", from the Latin mitto + ex...
were equal; nothing was withheld from any of the Apostles. - The Roman Pontiff is also styled "universal bishop" , but a previous pope condemned the use of such a title by any bishop.
- Rome (Old Rome) and ConstantinopleConstantinopleConstantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
(New Rome) were on the same level. - Eastern patriarchsPatriarchateA patriarchate is the office or jurisdiction of a patriarch. A patriarch, as the term is used here, is either* one of the highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, earlier, the five that were included in the Pentarchy: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, but now nine,...
have regarded popes as the leader of the westerners (not of the whole church). - Faced with exile, John ChrysostomJohn ChrysostomJohn Chrysostom , Archbishop of Constantinople, was an important Early Church Father. He is known for his eloquence in preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and his ascetic...
- the Archbishop of Constantinople - wrote an appeal for help to three western churchmen. While one of these was the bishop of Rome, had Rome exercised primacy at that time, he would not have written to the other two bishops.
"Keys of the Kingdom"
Orthodox Christians accept that Peter had a certain primacy. In the New Testament, he is first to be given the keys . However other texts may be interpreted to imply that the other Apostles also received the keys in . Such an interpretation, it is claimed, has been accepted by many Church FathersChurch Fathers
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were early and influential theologians, eminent Christian teachers and great bishops. Their scholarly works were used as a precedent for centuries to come...
; Tertullian
Tertullian
Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian , was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He is the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of Latin Christian literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and...
, Hilary of Poitiers
Hilary of Poitiers
Hilary of Poitiers was Bishop of Poitiers and is a Doctor of the Church. He was sometimes referred to as the "Hammer of the Arians" and the "Athanasius of the West." His name comes from the Latin word for happy or cheerful. His optional memorial in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints is 13...
, John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom , Archbishop of Constantinople, was an important Early Church Father. He is known for his eloquence in preaching and public speaking, his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and his ascetic...
, Augustine.
The Council of Jerusalem
The New Testament records the convening of a council to decide whether gentiles who converted should be required to be circumcisedCircumcision controversy in early Christianity
There is evidence of a controversy over religious male circumcision in Early Christianity. A Council of Jerusalem, possibly held in approximately 50 AD, decreed that male circumcision was not a requirement for Gentile converts. This became known as the "Apostolic Decree" and may be one of the...
, which according to some interpretations was prescribed by the Mosaic law. (Rabbinic Judaism
Rabbinic Judaism
Rabbinic Judaism or Rabbinism has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE, after the codification of the Talmud...
only prescribes Noahide Laws
Noahide Laws
The Seven Laws of Noah form the major part of the Noachide Laws, or Noahide Code. This code is a set of moral imperatives that, according to the Talmud, were given by God as a binding set of laws for the "children of Noah" – that is, all of humankind...
for gentiles.) Catholic historians note that when Peter spoke, all were silent. However Whelton notes that when Paul and James spoke, all were silent as well.
Eusebius
Eusebius of Caesarea
Eusebius of Caesarea also called Eusebius Pamphili, was a Roman historian, exegete and Christian polemicist. He became the Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine about the year 314. Together with Pamphilus, he was a scholar of the Biblical canon...
said that it was James who stated the decision of the Council, not Peter. John Chrysostom noted James made the decision.
The ruling of the Council was expressed as being the decision of all the council, not just Peter. Continuing with this the opening statements of official formulations normally begins with the phrase "Following the Holy Fathers", not "Following the ruling of the Pope."
Ignatius of Antioch
For Ignatius each church under a bishop is complete – the original meaning of "catholic". For Ignatius the church is a world-wide unity of many communities. Each has at its center a bishop "who draws together the local community in the Eucharistic celebration." This then is the unity of the church – each church united to its bishop -each of these churches united to each other. There is no evidence of him accepting a single supreme bishop-of-bishops as the bishops authority is localised to a particular church.Ignatius sets out what he believes consists of the church in an epistle to the Trallians
Tralles (Thracian tribe)
Tralles is the name of a Thracian tribe whose members were hired as mercenaries, torturers, and executioners.According to the Greek geographer Strabo the ancient city of Tralles, in the valley of the Maeander River in Asia Minor was founded by Trallians and Argives....
;
There is no reference to another tier above bishop. For Ignatius, the bishop is supreme, not the bishop because he is in communion with the bishop in Rome.
Thus when he writes to Polycarp
Polycarp
Saint Polycarp was a 2nd century Christian bishop of Smyrna. According to the Martyrdom of Polycarp, he died a martyr, bound and burned at the stake, then stabbed when the fire failed to touch him...
the bishop of Smyrna
Smyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
he states that God is Polycarp’s bishop, implying that there is no intermediary between the local bishop and God.
John Chrysostom referred to Ignatius of Antioch as a "teacher equivalent to Peter".
Letter to the Romans
Ignatius' Epistle to the Romans is used by Catholic apologists to suggest Roman primacy. In particular his opening remarksJ.H. Srawley concedes that the Roman church presides but argues that it is unclear as to what area the act ofpresiding ("presides in the place of the region of the Romans" and "presides over love") refers to. He argues that the act of presiding may be simply of those churches in theregion of the Romans, that is, those in Italy.
Easter controversy
There existed a difference in how some local churches celebrated Easter: in the Roman province of Asia it was celebrated on the 14th of the moon (QuartodecimanismQuartodecimanism
Quartodecimanism refers to the custom of some early Christians celebrating Passover beginning with the eve of the 14th day of Nisan , which at dusk is Biblically the "Lord's passover".The modern Jewish Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread is seven days, starting with the sunset at...
), not necessarily on Sunday. "Bishop Victor of Rome ordered synods to be held to settle the matter – an interesting early instance of synodality and indeed of popes encouraging synods – and excommunicated Polycrates of Ephesus and the bishops of Asia when their synod refused to adopt the Roman line. Victor was rebuked by Irenaeus for this severity and it seems that he revoked his sentence and that communion was preserved."
Eusebius wrote:
The matter was eventually resolved at the First Ecumenical Council
First Council of Nicaea
The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in Nicaea in Bithynia by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325...
in line with Sunday observance.
Opposition arguments from Church Councils
- Not one Ecumenical CouncilEcumenical councilAn ecumenical council is a conference of ecclesiastical dignitaries and theological experts convened to discuss and settle matters of Church doctrine and practice....
was called by a pope; all were called by Byzantine emperors. Had the teaching of primacy formed part of Holy TraditionSacred TraditionSacred Tradition or Holy Tradition is a theological term used in some Christian traditions, primarily in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox traditions, to refer to the fundamental basis of church authority....
, then such power would have been exercised to resolve the many disputes in the early history of the churchHistory of early ChristianityThe history of early Christianity covers Christianity before the First Council of Nicaea in 325.The first part of the period, during the lifetimes of the Twelve Apostles, is traditionally believed to have been initiated by the Great Commission of Jesus , and is called the Apostolic Age...
. - A general council may overrule decisions of the Roman Pontiff
- Decisions taken by popes in cases involving against bishops have often been confirmed by ecumenical councils. This indicates that the papal decision itself is not considered binding.
See also Ancient church councils (pre-ecumenical )
Ancient church councils (pre-ecumenical )
Pre-ecumenical councils were conferences of ecclesiastical dignitaries and theological experts of the early Christian Church that were convened to discuss and settle matters of Church doctrine and practice. They were held when Christianity was still illegal in the Roman Empire. Until the Edict of...
.
First Ecumenical Council
AriusArius
Arius was a Christian presbyter in Alexandria, Egypt of Libyan origins. His teachings about the nature of the Godhead, which emphasized the Father's divinity over the Son , and his opposition to the Athanasian or Trinitarian Christology, made him a controversial figure in the First Council of...
and his teachings were condemned by a synod of bishops which the Pope summoned in 320. Alexander of Alexandria summoned a local synod in Alexandria in 321 which also condemned Arianism. Five years after the Pope had condemned Arianism, Emperor Constantine I
Constantine I
Constantine the Great , also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine and co-Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of all...
called an ecumenical council to settle the matter. Whelton argues that the Pope's decision was not considered an end to the matter because a council in Africa met to examine the issue for itself. Constantine then ordered a larger council to decide on the matter.
The Fourth Canon of this council confirmed that bishops were to be appointed only locally. This is in contrast with Catholic canon law that allows the pope (should he wish) to interfere in the appointment of church officers at any level.
Second Ecumenical Council
The Second Ecumenical Council read into its notes the proceedings of the First Ecumenical Council even though the First had not yet at that time been approved of by the Pope; therefore it can be argued that the bishops assembled at that council didn't seem to believe that the pope's approval was necessary to make a council ecumenical. Further to not regarding the Pope's approval, the Second Ecumenical Council was presided over by Meletius of AntiochMeletius of Antioch
Saint Meletius of Antioch was a Christian bishop, or Patriarch of Antioch, from 360 until his death. There were contrasting view about his theological position: on the one hand, he was exiled three times under Arian emperors; on the other, he was strongly opposed by those faithful to the memory...
, who was not in communion with Rome.
Third Ecumenical Council
The Third Ecumenical Council called NestoriusNestorius
Nestorius was Archbishop of Constantinople from 10 April 428 to 22 June 431.Drawing on his studies at the School of Antioch, his teachings, which included a rejection of the long-used title of Theotokos for the Virgin Mary, brought him into conflict with other prominent churchmen of the time,...
to account for his teachings following his condemnation as a heretic by Pope Celestine I
Pope Celestine I
Pope Saint Celestine I was elevated to the papacy in the year 422, on November 3 according to the Liber Pontificalis, but on April 10 according to Tillemont....
. The council did not consider the papal condemnation as definitive.
Catholic theologian Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet was a French bishop and theologian, renowned for his sermons and other addresses. He has been considered by many to be one of the most brilliant orators of all time and a masterly French stylist....
noted
Bishop Maret said
St Vincent of Lerins
In its condemnation of Nestorius, the language given is of the council ruling, not because the Pope said so. Cyril writes that he, and his fellow bishop - the Pope - had both condemned Nestorius.
Catholic apologists Fathers Rumble and Carty stated
It is true that the statement was made at the council. It is however not a 'decree'. It was a statement by a priest during the deliberations of the council. This priest, Philip was at the council to represent the pope. It was not a decree or finding made by the council and remains his opinion.
Fourth Ecumenical Council
The Fourth Ecumenical Council was called against the expressed wishes of the Pope.Fifth Ecumenical Council
A controversy arose out of the writings known as Three Chapters – written by bishopsTheodoreTheodore of Mopsuestia
Theodore the Interpreter was bishop of Mopsuestia from 392 to 428 AD. He is also known as Theodore of Antioch, from the place of his birth and presbyterate...
, Theodoret
Theodoret
Theodoret of Cyrus or Cyrrhus was an influential author, theologian, and Christian bishop of Cyrrhus, Syria . He played a pivotal role in many early Byzantine church controversies that led to various ecumenical acts and schisms...
, and Ibas. Pope Vigilius
Pope Vigilius
Pope Vigilius reigned as pope from 537 to 555, is considered the first pope of the Byzantine Papacy.-Early life:He belonged to a aristocratic Roman family; his father Johannes is identified as a consul in the Liber pontificalis, having received that title from the emperor...
opposed the condemnation of the Three Chapters. At the Fifth Ecumenical Council
Second Council of Constantinople
The Second Council of Constantinople is recognized as the Fifth Ecumenical Council by the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Old Catholics, and a number of other Western Christian groups. It was held from May 5 to June 2, 553, having been called by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian...
(553) the assembled bishops condemned and anathematized them. Vigilius changes his mind – blaming the devil for misleading him.
Bossuet wrote
German theologian Karl Josef von Hefele
Karl Josef von Hefele
Karl Josef von Hefele was a German theologian. He was born at Unterkochen in Württemberg, and was educated at Tübingen where in 1839 he became professor-ordinary of Church history and patristics in the Roman Catholic faculty of theology.From 1842 to 1845 he sat in the National Assembly of...
notes that the council was called " …without the assent of the Pope"
Sixth Ecumenical Council
At the Sixth Ecumenical Council, both Pope HonoriusPope Honorius I
Pope Honorius I was pope from 625 to 638.Honorius, according to the Liber Pontificalis, came from Campania and was the son of the consul Petronius. He became pope on October 27, 625, two days after the death of his predecessor, Boniface V...
and Patriarch Sergius I of Constantinople
Patriarch Sergius I of Constantinople
Sergius I was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 610 to 638.In 626 during the absence of Emperor Heraclius on campaign against Sassanid Persia, the Avars laid siege to Constantinople. Along with the magister militum Bonus, he had been named regent and was in charge of the city's defense...
were declared heretics.
The council anathematized them and declared them tools of the devil and cast them out of the church.
The popes (from Pope Leo II
Pope Leo II
-Background and early activity in the Church:He was a Sicilian by birth , and succeeded Agatho. Though elected pope a few days after the death of St. Agatho , he was not consecrated till after the lapse of a year and seven months...
) themselves adhered to the Council's ruling and added Honorius to their list of heretics, before quietly dropping his name in the eleventh century. The Catholic Encyclopedia states...
So too the Seventh Ecumenical Council
Second Council of Nicaea
The Second Council of Nicaea is regarded as the Seventh Ecumenical Council by Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholic Churches and various other Western Christian groups...
declared its adhesion to the anathema in its decree of faith. Thus an Ecumenical Council could rule on the faith of a pope and expel him from the church.
The Council of Trullo
The Council in TrulloQuinisext Council
The Quinisext Council was a church council held in 692 at Constantinople under Justinian II. It is often known as the Council in Trullo, because it was held in the same domed hall where the Sixth Ecumenical Council had met...
considered by Orthodox as a continuation of the sixth.
At this council it was confirmed (in Canon 39) that the local church could regulate itself; to have its own special laws and regulations.
The Council of Sardica
It is claimed by Catholic apologiststhat this council offers proof of papal primacy. In particular this reference is usedIt is further stated that Athanasius referred to this council as "the Great Council."
However it must be noted that this council was not an ecumenical one and not all of it was accepted by the east, who in fact refused to attend. Further they assembled themselves in an opposition council and believing that they were right to do so show that they were unaware of papal supremacy. Apart from the fact that the council at Sardica was not accepted by the whole church, it had only given to the bishop of Rome a very limited jurisdiction, a limited right of appeal in some circumstances. Pope Zosimus would later misrepresent the Council of Sardica in order to bolster his claims for power over the churches in Africa.
Some churches could accept its position on Arianism without accepting some of its findings.
Western Councils
It can be argued that western councils also disregarded papal authority. For example, the Third Council of ToledoThird Council of Toledo
The Third Council of Toledo marks the entry of Catholic Christianity into the rule of Visigothic Spain, and the introduction into Western Christianity of the filioque clause...
(589) added the filioque despite the fact that popes opposed its inclusion, Centuries later, Pope Leo III
Pope Leo III
Pope Saint Leo III was Pope from 795 to his death in 816. Protected by Charlemagne from his enemies in Rome, he subsequently strengthened Charlemagne's position by crowning him as Roman Emperor....
opposed its insertion into recitation of the Creed.
Third Council of Toledo
The Third Council of ToledoThird Council of Toledo
The Third Council of Toledo marks the entry of Catholic Christianity into the rule of Visigothic Spain, and the introduction into Western Christianity of the filioque clause...
held in 589 added a clause to the Nicene Creed, known as the filioque. This despite the fact that popes had argued against adding to the Creed; it had been agreed at its formulation that the Creed could only be modified by an Ecumenical Council. It was confirmed by subsequent local councils in Toledo and despite subsequent Papal protests was also adopted in the kingdom of the Franks...
Eventually the Popes adopted the inclusion of the filioque, despite the Nicene Creed being defended as "Following the Holy Fathers", and for centuries defended as such, including by popes such as John VIII.
Council of Frankfurt
The Council of FrankfurtCouncil of Frankfurt
The Council of Frankfurt in 794 was called by Charlemagne. This church council condemned the Adoptionist heresy and revoked decrees regarding the holy icons which were established in 787 at the Second Council of Nicaea...
was held in 794. "...Two papal legates were present, Theophylact and Stephen." Despite the presence of papal representatives it still repudiated the terms of the Seventh Ecumenical Council – despite the fact that the Seventh was accepted by the pope.
Other disregard of papal directives by Westerners
Disagreements with directives of the popes by groups and high-ranking individuals of Roman Catholic tradition are by no means limited to past centuries. A well-known continuing example is that of the Society of St. Pius XSociety of St. Pius X
The Society of Saint Pius X is an international Traditionalist Catholic organisation, founded in 1970 by the French archbishop Marcel Lefebvre...
, which acknowledges the primacy of the Pope but refuses to accept papal decrees concerning the liturgy
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
, decrees that were opposed also by two cardinals
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
of the Church (see Ottaviani Intervention). In 2005 the Roman Catholic Jesuit Professor John J. Paris disregarded a papal directive on euthanasia as lacking authority.
Opposition arguments from orthodox doctrine
Catholic Cardinal and theologian Yves CongarYves Congar
Yves Marie Joseph Congar was a French Dominican cardinal and theologian.-Early life:Born in Sedan, in northeast France, in 1904, Congar's home was occupied by the Germans for much of World War I...
stated
Orthodox understanding of Catholicity
The test of catholicity is adherence to the authority of Scripture and then by the Holy Tradition of the church. It is not defined by adherence to any particular See. It is the position of the Orthodox Church that it has never accepted the Pope as de jure leader of the entire church. All bishops are equal 'as Peter' therefore every church under every bishop (consecrated in apostolic succession) is fully complete (the original meaning of catholic).Referring to Ignatius of Antioch Carlton says
The church is in the image of the Trinity and reflects the reality of the incarnation.
Any changes to the understanding of the church would reflect a change in the understanding of the Trinity.
Orthodox rebuttal of Catholic arguments
It is the position of Orthodox Christianity that Roman Catholic arguments in support of the teaching have relied on proofs from Fathers that have either been misinterpreted or so taken out of context as to misrepresent their true intent. It is the position of Orthodox Christianity that a closer examination of those supposed supports would have the effect of either not supporting the argument or have the opposite effect of supporting the counter-argument.Apostolic Throne
Athanasius is used as a witness for papal primacy on numerous Catholic apologist sites.Whelton however says that Athanasius does not use the definite article
Definite Article
Definite Article is the title of British comedian Eddie Izzard's 1996 performance released on VHS. It was recorded on different nights at the Shaftesbury Theatre...
(the) in the text.
Rome is an Apostolic throne, not the Apostolic throne. Augustine too is misquoted on the same point of grammar...
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...
Augustine
Whelton goes on to say that for Augustine there is not one Apostolic See, but many...
Tome of Leo
Often cited as a proof of Papal Supremacyis the Tome of Leo which is a letter sent by Pope LeoPope Leo I
Pope Leo I was pope from September 29, 440 to his death.He was an Italian aristocrat, and is the first pope of the Catholic Church to have been called "the Great". He is perhaps best known for having met Attila the Hun in 452, persuading him to turn back from his invasion of Italy...
to the Second Ecumenical Council. It in part seems to suggest that Leo speaks with the authority of Peter. It is the position of Orthodox Christianity that the approval of the Tome is simply to state a unity of faith, not only of the Pope but other churchmen as well.
However it is not just Leo's teaching that is the teaching of the Apostle, but Cyril
Cyril of Alexandria
Cyril of Alexandria was the Patriarch of Alexandria from 412 to 444. He came to power when the city was at its height of influence and power within the Roman Empire. Cyril wrote extensively and was a leading protagonist in the Christological controversies of the later 4th and 5th centuries...
's teaching as well. Both teach as Peter. The same language was used following the reading of Cyril's letter at the council. The language of the council is simply to reinforce that all believe. At the Third Ecumenical Council Pope Celestine
Pope Celestine I
Pope Saint Celestine I was elevated to the papacy in the year 422, on November 3 according to the Liber Pontificalis, but on April 10 according to Tillemont....
and Cyril were compared to Paul!
John Chrysostom
Another apparent witness for supremacy claims is John Chrysostom. This evidence is supposed to be based on an incident when he faced exile and he appealed to the Pope for help. When he was to be exiled he appealed to the Pope for help, as well as two other western prelates; Venerius of Milan and Chromatius of AquileiaChromatius
Saint Chromatius was a bishop of Aquileia. He was probably born at Aquileia, and in any case grew up there. His father had died when Chromatius was an infant. He was raised by his mother and large family of older siblings....
. He appealed to all three in the same terms rather than viewing the Pope as leader.
In 2007 Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
also spoke of this
Historian J. N. D Kelly
John Norman Davidson Kelly
John Norman Davidson Kelly FBA was a prominent academic within the theological faculty of Oxford University and Principal of St Edmund Hall, Oxford between 1951 and 1979 during which the Hall transformed into an independent constituent college of the University and later a co-educational...
wrote
The Pope took up the cause of John Chrysostom, convoking a western synod to investigate the matter. They found in favor of John Chrysostom and sent delegates to Constantinople but these were ignored and sent back after only three months. The pope's findings in support of John Chrysostom were not viewed as serious enough to annul John Chrysostom's exile.
It must also be remembered that he took his vows from Meletius (whom we noted earlier was not in communion with Rome). He accepted as an authority men not in communion with Rome. After Meletius died John Chrysostom accepted Flavian as his bishop - another person not in communion with Rome. John Chrysostom spent much of his life not in communion with Rome.
Other texts are used to allege he supported Roman primacy. John Chrysostom sometimes ascribes to Peter greatness.
This would seem to indicate that Chrysostom taught that Peter was the supreme ruler over the brethren. He goes on to ascribe Peter as the teacher of the world.
However, according to Abbé Guettée on other occasions John Chrysostom ascribes the same titles to others...
Denny also notes that John Chrysostom goes on to speak of Paul as being on an equal footing with Peter Further, the Catholic encyclopedia offers this frank admission of his writings
Basil the Great
Basil the Great also supported Meletius against Rome's candidate. Writing to Count Terentius Basil saidFrom his letters it appears that Basil did not hold the Popes in high esteem. When Basil wrote to the west for help (in combating Arianism) he addressed his letters to the whole western church. He didn't especially write to Rome for help and did not even list it first.
Damasus was the leader of a group supporting the heretic Marcellus
Of the Pope, St Basil wrote
Coryphæus
Coryphæus means the head of the choir. Catholic apologists note that John Chrysostom uses the term to describe Peter. However he also uses this term in relation to othersIt is argued by Catholics that John Chrysostom only uses the singular Coryphæus in relation to Peter. This is true, but others don't restrict the use of the singular to Peter.
Basil also uses the term Coryphæus. He refers to Athanasius as "Coryphæus of all."
He refers to Pope Damasus as Coryphæus, but as the leader of the westerners, not of the whole church.
Hesychius of Jerusalem
Hesychius of Jerusalem
Hesychius of Jerusalem was a Christian presbyter and exegete, probably of the fifth century. Nothing certain is known as to the dates of his birth and death , or, indeed concerning the events of his life...
uses the term Coryphæus to refer to James.
Maximus the Confessor
Pope Leo III has already been shown to have misquoted Athanasius. Whelton states that (in his encyclical Satis cognitum) he misquotes Maximus the ConfessorMaximus the Confessor
Maximus the Confessor was a Christian monk, theologian, and scholar. In his early life, he was a civil servant, and an aide to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius...
. In Defloratio ex Epistola ad Petrum illustrem Maximus (also rendered Maximos) is alleged to have said...
Edward Denny giving his own translation and using that of Vincenzi shows that the words of Maximus give Rome a power conferred upon it by Holy Synods. This is in contrast with Catholic teaching and also would suggest that if a Synod can confer power, it can also take it away. Denny states that Vincenzi is "...compelled by the facts to admit that these very authorities to which St Maximus refers, as they have been handed down to us, are witness against the Papal Monarchy."
Formula of Pope Hormisdas
Under the emperor Anastasius IAnastasius I (emperor)
Anastasius I was Byzantine Emperor from 491 to 518. During his reign the Roman eastern frontier underwent extensive re-fortification, including the construction of Dara, a stronghold intended to counter the Persian fortress of Nisibis....
, the churches of Constantinople and Rome were in schism
Acacian schism
The Acacian schism between the Eastern and Western Christian Churches lasted thirty-five years, from 484-519. It resulted from a drift in the leaders of Eastern Christianity toward Monophysitism, and Emperor Zeno's unsuccessful attempt to reconcile the parties with the Henotikon.-Chronology:In the...
. However with the ascendency of the orthodox emperor Justin I
Justin I
Justin I was Byzantine Emperor from 518 to 527. He rose through the ranks of the army and ultimately became its Emperor, in spite of the fact he was illiterate and almost 70 years old at the time of accession...
, the two churches could be reconciled again. Justin ordered negotiations begin.
Pope Hormisdas
Pope Hormisdas
Pope Saint Hormisdas was Pope from July 20, 514 to 523. His papacy was dominated by the Acacian schism, started in 484 by Acacius of Constantinople's efforts to placate the Monophysites...
issued a formula of orthodox catholic faith which the Patriarch John II could sign if he wished reunion of the two churches.
Catholic apologists emphasize part of the text bolded above.
Those in agreement with orthodox faith would naturally be in agreement with the church in Rome on this matter – which was stating orthodox faith. For Catholic apologists agreement to this text means an agreement to Rome, because Rome is the leader. For Orthodox agreement to Rome is because it stated the truth.
Further evidence seems to point to this. Patriarch John expressed his opinion that Rome (Old Rome) and Constantinople (New Rome) were on the same level. The Patriarch showed this when he added to the document…
Furthermore despite it being on of the demands in the formula the east continued to disregard papal demands by not condemning Acacius.
In doing so John was re-affirming Canon XXVIII of the Council of Chalcedon - a canon which the popes were not to affirm for many centuries to come.
The politics of this is demonstrated by the fact that the Emperor Justin ignored the pope's candidate for the vacated see of Alexandria and instead…
Theoderic
Theodoric the Great
Theodoric the Great was king of the Ostrogoths , ruler of Italy , regent of the Visigoths , and a viceroy of the Eastern Roman Empire...
, king in Italy, and an Arian
Arianism
Arianism is the theological teaching attributed to Arius , a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of the entities of the Trinity and the precise nature of the Son of God as being a subordinate entity to God the Father...
grew suspicious of the new alliance between Rome and Constantinople. John
Pope John I
Pope Saint John I was Pope from 523 to 526. He was a native of Siena or the Castello di Serena, near Chiusdino. He is the first pope known to have visited Constantinople while in office....
who succeeded as Pope was sent to Constantinople to restore Arian churches there. Thus the orthodox Catholic pope was sent to urge the restoration of churches to heretics. This the pope did with limited success. Having failed, upon his return the pope was arrested and died in prison.
This then is not the capitulation of the eastern churches to Roman authority. It is not even the capitulation of the church in Constantinople – as other eastern churches ignored the formula completely. The popes didn't have authority over the church and in fact were forced to go and plead the case of heretics before the imperial throne.
The first pope
The Catholic church states that Rome's supremacy rests on the Pope being given power handed down from the first pope – Peter.
However there is evidence that Peter was not the first bishop, and that the church in Rome was founded (or organized) by Peter and Paul together.
That is Linus is entrusted by the Apostles (plural). It is suggested that this evidence means that Linus was pope whilst Peter was still alive. Rome's church could be said to be founded (or organised) on both Peter and Paul.
Primacy based on Peter and Paul
Rome had primacy, but it was one of honor, rather than power. The reasons for this are varied. One being that it was a See
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
founded by both Peter and Paul. This honor was given not because of the 'primacy' of Peter (which is Catholic teaching), but on the position of both Peter and Paul. This was the accepted position, even in the west.
- Pope Leo the GreatPope Leo IPope Leo I was pope from September 29, 440 to his death.He was an Italian aristocrat, and is the first pope of the Catholic Church to have been called "the Great". He is perhaps best known for having met Attila the Hun in 452, persuading him to turn back from his invasion of Italy...
Augustine and Theodoret also wrote on the greatness of Rome – but for being the largest city, and its foundation on Peter and Paul. Rome's degree of 'primacy' was affirmed by one hundred and fifty bishops meeting at the Council of Chalcedon
Council of Chalcedon
The Council of Chalcedon was a church council held from 8 October to 1 November, 451 AD, at Chalcedon , on the Asian side of the Bosporus. The council marked a significant turning point in the Christological debates that led to the separation of the church of the Eastern Roman Empire in the 5th...
. For this council Rome's primacy rested on the fact it was once the imperial capital.
Canon XXVIII of the Council of Chalcedon
This canon above comes up in numerous discussions on Papal Supremacy. For Orthodox it demonstrates a fluidity to the placing of honors – it shows Constantinople's place of honor moving up higher than older Sees such as Jerusalem, Alexandria and, Antioch.
Pope Leo I
Pope Leo I
Pope Leo I was pope from September 29, 440 to his death.He was an Italian aristocrat, and is the first pope of the Catholic Church to have been called "the Great". He is perhaps best known for having met Attila the Hun in 452, persuading him to turn back from his invasion of Italy...
protested against the inclusion of this canon and refused to sign agreement to it. The Catholic encyclopaedia says
The pope protested on behalf of two other Sees' privlleges, not on a matter of his own power. However despite his energetic protests the canon remained adhered to by the eastern churches. It was confirmed in the east at the Council of Trullo in 692, where the four major eastern patriarchs attended; Paul of Constantinople
Patriarch Paul III of Constantinople
Paul III was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 687 to 693.....
, Peter of Alexandria, Anastasius of Jerusalem, George of Antioch. Thus despite the wishes of the pope the eastern churches ignored his protests.
Eventually it was accepted in the West. In 1215 at the Fourth Council of the Lateran
Fourth Council of the Lateran
The Fourth Council of the Lateran was convoked by Pope Innocent III with the papal bull of April 19, 1213, and the Council gathered at Rome's Lateran Palace beginning November 11, 1215. Due to the great length of time between the Council's convocation and meeting, many bishops had the opportunity...
the Roman church accepted Constantinople's position – albeit when Constantinople was in western hands following the Fourth Crusade
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire...
. Subsequently at the Council of Florence
Council of Florence
The Council of Florence was an Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. It began in 1431 in Basel, Switzerland, and became known as the Council of Ferrara after its transfer to Ferrara was decreed by Pope Eugene IV, to convene in 1438...
this was confirmed to the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople.
Rome as an archetype church
The church in Rome is occasionally singled out.
Tertullian
With no special charism associated with Paul, he is quietly ignored by Catholic apologists as a founder of the See of Rome. Or his part is acknowledged but merely in passing because the theory of the Pope's authority has no place for Paul's role in the foundation of the Roman church.
Rome serves as an example, but so do the other apostolic churches. Again, reflecting Ignatius' thoughts on catholic it is noted that the many churches each are 'one'.
Cyprian
Equality of the Apostles
Peter and Paul taught the same as each other. All the Apostles were the foundation (rock) of the church. Nothing was withheld from any of the Apostles. When they preached they did so with equal knowledge. Peter preached to the Jews as Paul preached to the Gentiles .- Tertullian
- John Chrysostomon
Cyril of Alexandria
Cyril of Alexandria
Cyril of Alexandria was the Patriarch of Alexandria from 412 to 444. He came to power when the city was at its height of influence and power within the Roman Empire. Cyril wrote extensively and was a leading protagonist in the Christological controversies of the later 4th and 5th centuries...
"Rock"
Orthodox Christians believe all people can share in God. In a process called Theosis. We are all called to be rock. That is to share in the same nature. Thus from the earliest times the foundation of the church can be said to be; the faith; Jesus; the Apostles, not just Peter.- The Shepherd of HermasThe Shepherd of HermasThe Shepherd of Hermas is a Christian literary work of the 1st or 2nd century, considered a valuable book by many Christians, and considered canonical scripture by some of the early Church fathers such as Irenaeus. The Shepherd had great authority in the 2nd and 3rd centuries...
- The Divine Liturgy of James the Apostle and brother of God
Others are called to be rock; Hippolytus of Rome; Victorinus of Pettau; Gregory of Nyssa
Gregory of Nyssa
St. Gregory of Nyssa was a Christian bishop and saint. He was a younger brother of Basil the Great and a good friend of Gregory of Nazianzus. His significance has long been recognized in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Catholic and Roman Catholic branches of Christianity...
; Hilary of Poitiers
Hilary of Poitiers
Hilary of Poitiers was Bishop of Poitiers and is a Doctor of the Church. He was sometimes referred to as the "Hammer of the Arians" and the "Athanasius of the West." His name comes from the Latin word for happy or cheerful. His optional memorial in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints is 13...
; Jerome
Jerome
Saint Jerome was a Roman Christian priest, confessor, theologian and historian, and who became a Doctor of the Church. He was the son of Eusebius, of the city of Stridon, which was on the border of Dalmatia and Pannonia...
; Basil the Great
Basil of Caesarea
Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great, was the bishop of Caesarea Mazaca in Cappadocia, Asia Minor . He was an influential 4th century Christian theologian...
; Gregory Thaumaturgus
Gregory Thaumaturgus
Gregory Thaumaturgus, also known as Gregory of Neocaesarea or Gregory the Wonderworker, was a Christian bishop of the 3rd century.-Biography:Gregory was born at Neo-Caesarea around 213 A.D...
; Ambrosiaster
Ambrosiaster
Ambrosiaster is the name given to the writer of a commentary on St Paul's epistles, "brief in words but weighty in matter," and valuable for the criticism of the Latin text of the New Testament...
; Aphraates
Aphrahat
Aphrahat was a Syriac-Christian author of the 4th century from the Adiabene region of Northern Mesopotamia, which was within the Persian Empire, who composed a series of twenty-three expositions or homilies on points of Christian doctrine and practice...
; Athanasius
Athanasius of Alexandria
Athanasius of Alexandria [b. ca. – d. 2 May 373] is also given the titles St. Athanasius the Great, St. Athanasius I of Alexandria, St Athanasius the Confessor and St Athanasius the Apostolic. He was the 20th bishop of Alexandria. His long episcopate lasted 45 years Athanasius of Alexandria [b....
;
Origen
Origen
Origen , or Origen Adamantius, 184/5–253/4, was an early Christian Alexandrian scholar and theologian, and one of the most distinguished writers of the early Church. As early as the fourth century, his orthodoxy was suspect, in part because he believed in the pre-existence of souls...
;
John Cassian
The Orthodox Christian position is that all members of the church are called to be 'rock'; just as the church is built on the foundation of all the Apostles , all are called to be stones . Protestant Matthew Henry
Matthew Henry
Matthew Henry was an English commentator on the Bible and Presbyterian minister.-Life:He was born at Broad Oak, a farmhouse on the borders of Flintshire and Shropshire. His father, Philip Henry, had just been ejected under the Act of Uniformity 1662...
's bible commentary notes this too when he states
Peter described himself as a fellow elder , placing himself on equal footing with the other disciples.
Peter as "Prince of the Apostles"
Peter is often called the Prince of the Apostles. If such a special title meant that he held a special charismCharism
In Christian theology, a charism in general denotes any good gift that flows from God's love to man. The word can also mean any of the spiritual graces and qualifications granted to every Christian to perform his or her task in the Church...
it was not exclusively Rome's. Other Sees had been founded by Peter. Pope Gregory the Great recognised these Sees were all equally as Sees of Peter. There is no difference between the Sees of Peter.
- Pope Gregory
Theodoret
Theodoret
Theodoret of Cyrus or Cyrrhus was an influential author, theologian, and Christian bishop of Cyrrhus, Syria . He played a pivotal role in many early Byzantine church controversies that led to various ecumenical acts and schisms...
also refers to other Sees being thrones of Peter.
Peter as the Archetype
As all are called to be rock, and as many Sees are of Peter, Peter serves as an archetype of Apostle. When he receives the keys he represents all of the Apostles. This is found in the writings of Augustine and Cyprian.
Gregory the Great
The pope now holds the title of universal bishop. However such titles once raised the ire of popes.Pope Gregory the Great heard that Patriarch John the Faster had accepted the title ecumenical patriarch. This simply meant patriarch to the emperor, not 'universal' patriarch.
The pope wrote to the emperor
Maurice (emperor)
Maurice was Byzantine Emperor from 582 to 602.A prominent general in his youth, Maurice fought with success against the Sassanid Persians...
to protest that any one bishop should be accorded the title universal bishop.
Gregory first accords Peter the title prince of the Apostles.
Gregory notes that honor was bestowed upon Peter and the church in Rome – given it by an ecumenical council, but that no one person used the title. It was an honor for all priests. Gregory emphatically says no one person whould have such a title.
Pelagianism
During the controversies surrounding Pelagius' heresies a council in Mileve (in Numidia) found against PelagianismPelagianism
Pelagianism is a theological theory named after Pelagius , although he denied, at least at some point in his life, many of the doctrines associated with his name. It is the belief that original sin did not taint human nature and that mortal will is still capable of choosing good or evil without...
. They then wrote to the pope
Pope Innocent I
-Biography:He was, according to his biographer in the Liber Pontificalis, the son of a man called Innocens of Albano; but according to his contemporary Jerome, his father was Pope Anastasius I , whom he was called by the unanimous voice of the clergy and laity to succeed -Biography:He was,...
seeking his help. They gave him much praise
Catholic apologists may make the most of such praise. However in the context of history one must also note that this praise was conditional. The next pope Zosimus
Pope Zosimus
Pope Saint Zosimus was Pope from March 18, 417 to December 26, 418 .He succeeded Innocent I, and was followed by Boniface I. Zosimus took a decided part in the protracted dispute in Gaul as to the jurisdiction of the see of Arles over that of Vienne, giving energetic decisions in favour of the...
did not out-rightly condemn the heresy Pelagianism
Pelagianism
Pelagianism is a theological theory named after Pelagius , although he denied, at least at some point in his life, many of the doctrines associated with his name. It is the belief that original sin did not taint human nature and that mortal will is still capable of choosing good or evil without...
and was himself condemned by the rest of the church for back-pedalling.
Thus the same church (in Africa) could lavish praise upon the church in Rome but could equally condemn them, depending on the teachings Rome upheld.
Zosimus eventually reconfirmed the decision of Innocent, Pelagius went to the churches in Palestine where a synod was called to hear his case. Augustine says that the churches in Palestine were deceived by Pelagius. What is important though is that even after two popes had condemned him Pelagius could still seek judgment by another region's synod. Evidentially the Palestinian churches did not see the condemnation of the church in Rome and the church in Africa as binding.
It would take an ecumenical council to bring the churches to agreement on this matter.
Cyprian
In the encyclical Satis cognitum Pope Leo XIII misquotes Cyprian.The quotation is taken from Cyrpian's letter to Antonianus who was questioning whether he should be loyal to Cornelius or another claimant to the pontificate Novation. Cornelius selection as bishop of Rome was backed by sixteen bishops. Cyprian stated that Novation
Therefore to adhere to a heretic (Novation) is to separate oneself from the Catholic Church. Furthermore Cyprian confirms here that the one church is divided into many bishoprics throughout the world. He goes on to say in the same letter
Cyprian is used several times in Catholic apologetics.
The Jesuit scholar Bévnot notes…
Cyprian and Augustine
Background - Donatism- During the persecutions of the early church some Christians, in order to avoid persecution renounced their faith. A question then rose of how to accept these people back into the church. Some argued that they should just be allowed back into the church. Others, “Donatists” argued that re-baptism was required. CyprianCyprianCyprian was bishop of Carthage and an important Early Christian writer, many of whose Latin works are extant. He was born around the beginning of the 3rd century in North Africa, perhaps at Carthage, where he received a classical education...
of Carthage was one who argued that the lapsed needed to be baptised again. AugustineAugustine of HippoAugustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
would argue against rebaptism. Augustine’s position was one that was accepted as orthodox.
The local church decides for itself
- Cyprian stated the position that each local church to decide upon matters.
Cyprian was adamant that the Popes had no power over him. Cyprian in his dispute believed he was following the teachings of the Apostles. He appealed to what he believed was always taught and this was the faith as maintained by all the Apostles. He addressed Pope Stephen not as his master, but as his equal.
Augustine supports Cyprian
- Thus Cyprian's stance does not evidence Papal Supremacy. The Pope had condemned this position but one local church continued on with its own matters in the manner it decided. Importantly Augustine, who disagrees with Cyprian's stance on dogma does not condemn Cyprian's manner.
Augustine agreed with Cyprian's right to decide within his local church... As Michael Whelton observed "He does not condemn Cyprian for refusing to submit to the Bishop of Rome"
Despite the fact that the Pope had condemned Cyprian’s position, a general council had not yet ruled on the matter. Augustine recognises this fact.
Augustine is of the belief that Cyprian might have changed his mind if a general (ecumenical) council had been called. He states that a council would have the ultimate say in removing all doubt.
Augustine had elsewhere argued that a council could over-rule a local church - even the church in Rome.
Adherence to the Bishop of Rome was not "necessary" for unity.
This is the orthodox understanding – bishops can be in error, including the bishop of Rome. Individual churches could disagree with each other, and still remain Catholic short of a general council deciding; it could be called in which all churches gathered and proclaimed a unity of faith.
The African Church was steadfast in its belief, despite any papal pronouncements. In 258 at the Council of Iconium, presided over by St. Firmilian of Neo-Caesarea, and attended by Fathers from Cappadocia, Lycea, Galatia and other parts of Asia. It rejected the teaching of Pope Stephen of Rome, and confirmed the decrees of Carthage in regards to the rebaptism and re-ordination of converts baptized or ordained by heretics.
Around 419 at the Council of Carthage, presided over by Pope Aurelius of Carthage, and attended by 217 bishops all together it condemned Pelagianism (those who deny original sin and grace) and Donatism (who reject the ordination of those who had lapsed during the persecution), and denied the jurisdiction of the Pope of Rome in the African Church. Further it enumerated canon of Holy Scriptures (Old and New Testaments), and prohibited the rebaptism or re-ordination of those baptized or ordained by Donatists. (which of course depends on whether they were rightly ordained/baptised in the first place).
Eventually, following an Ecumenical Council the orthodox position as supported by both the pope and Augustine was accepted in Africa. But, as shown they did not accept it simply because the pope had stated it was so. They recognised he could be in error, and that they had, for the time being ruled on their own affairs themselves. Augustine supported Cyprian's right to decide as he did.
St Vincent of Lérins
As Augustine argues that Cyprian would have rejoined orthodox belief following a general council, Vincent of Lérins wrote on what he considered constituted the teachings of the Catholic Church. His opening "General Rule" mentions no adhesion to the Bishop of Rome, rather what is taught by all the church. Hasler sums this up as asThis same rule would be used also to argue against Papal infallibility
Papal infallibility
Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, by action of the Holy Spirit, the Pope is preserved from even the possibility of error when in his official capacity he solemnly declares or promulgates to the universal Church a dogmatic teaching on faith or morals...
.
The Reunion Council
For Orthodox, the acceptance of a council relies on two points, it must not only state the faith as always taught, but also be accepted by the whole church. A council can rule and still be rejected by the faithful. Some Catholic historians maintain that the Second Council of LyonSecond Council of Lyon
The Second Council of Lyon was the fourteenth ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, convoked on 31 March 1272 and convened in Lyon, France, in 1274. Pope Gregory X presided over the council, called to act on a pledge by Byzantine emperor Michael VIII to reunite the Eastern church with the West...
of 1272 shows the churches of the east submitting to Roman authority. It was at this council that the Roman (Byzantine) Emperor Michael
Michael VIII Palaiologos
Michael VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus reigned as Byzantine Emperor 1259–1282. Michael VIII was the founder of the Palaiologan dynasty that would rule the Byzantine Empire until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453...
endevored to re-unite the churches (split apart at the Great Schism in 1054).
The delegation who attended from the east however did not represent the churches in the east, but the Emperor himself. They were his personal emissaries.
Historian Steven Runciman
Steven Runciman
The Hon. Sir James Cochran Stevenson Runciman CH — known as Steven Runciman — was a British historian known for his work on the Middle Ages...
notes;
Michael had genuinely wished re-union. His primary fear was not an attack from the Turks, but the fear of a renewed effort by the Latin west against the Empire – one must remember that this is not long after Michael had recaptured Constantinople from the Latin west – which had held it since the Fourth Crusade
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire...
in 1204. With the failure of this attempt at union through a political solution, Michaels fears were realised when the Pope concluded an alliance with Charles of Anjou in 1281. The empire and the dynasty were saved from military intervention only by the Sicilian Vespers
Sicilian Vespers
The Sicilian Vespers is the name given to the successful rebellion on the island of Sicily that broke out on the Easter of 1282 against the rule of the French/Angevin king Charles I, who had ruled the Kingdom of Sicily since 1266. Within six weeks three thousand French men and women were slain by...
, (a rebellion that broke out in Palermo). This council then, having been rejected by the whole church is not accepted in the east as a valid council, despite the pope accepting it as such.
Conclusion of Orthodox rebuttal
The Catholic position is that Rome's bishop stands out from the others because he has a special charism handed down from Peter. As shown above Rome's greatness was found in the two apostles Peter and Paul; that there was no difference between them. The Church Fathers state that the keys are held by others; John the Evangelist, for example, and the church as a whole. The Church Fathers also say that rock refers not just to Peter, but to the church, to Jesus, and to the Christian faith. Further there was no difference between one of Peter's Sees from another. Orthodox maintain that all bishops are equal. All are called to be rock.As a reflection of the Trinity the church is united by love, not a formal adherence to one particular bishop in one particular location. For Orthodox, each individual to truly be a person must also be engaged in this unity of love with other persons. The Trinity too is joined by a union of love - with each member of the Trinity fully God. Each church is fully catholic united by love. To change the structure of the church would change how we perceive God, and also how we must interact with each other.
See also
- History of the PapacyHistory of the PapacyThe history of the papacy, the office held by the Pope as head of the Catholic Church, spans from the time of Saint Peter to present day.During the Early Church, the bishops of Rome enjoyed no temporal power until the time of Constantine...
- Pontifex MaximusPontifex MaximusThe Pontifex Maximus was the high priest of the College of Pontiffs in ancient Rome. This was the most important position in the ancient Roman religion, open only to patricians until 254 BC, when a plebeian first occupied this post...
- Papal infallibilityPapal infallibilityPapal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, by action of the Holy Spirit, the Pope is preserved from even the possibility of error when in his official capacity he solemnly declares or promulgates to the universal Church a dogmatic teaching on faith or morals...
- Papal supremacyPapal supremacyPapal supremacy refers to the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church that the pope, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ and as pastor of the entire Christian Church, has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered: that, in brief,...
- Primacy of Simon PeterPrimacy of Simon PeterMost Christians hold that Simon Peter was the most prominent of the Apostles, called the Prince of the Apostles and favored by Jesus of Nazareth. As such, it is argued that Peter held the first place of honor and authority...
- Donation of ConstantineDonation of ConstantineThe Donation of Constantine is a forged Roman imperial decree by which the emperor Constantine I supposedly transferred authority over Rome and the western part of the Roman Empire to the pope. During the Middle Ages, the document was often cited in support of the Roman Church's claims to...
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