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The Authority of the Pope: Part I
In other Catholic Answers tracts, we have shown
that the Church Fathers recognized that Jesus made Peter the rock on which
he would build his Church, that this gave Peter a special primacy, that
Peter went to Rome, and that he left successors there. In this tract we
will show that they also understood that Peter’s successors shared in his
special authority or primacy.
In a wide variety of ways, the Fathers attest to
the fact that the church of Rome was the central and most authoritative
church. They attest to the Church’s reliance on Rome for advice, for mediation
of disputes, and for guidance on doctrinal issues. They note, as Ignatius
of Antioch does, that Rome "holds the presidency" among the other churches,
and that, as Irenaeus explains, "because of its superior origin, all the
churches must agree" with Rome. They are also clear on the fact that it
is communion with Rome and the bishop of Rome that causes one to be in
communion with the Catholic Church. This displays a recognition that, as
Cyprian of Carthage puts it, Rome is "the principal church, in which sacerdotal
unity has its source."
Most significant are the passages below in which
the popes, by their statements or their actions, reveal their understanding
of their own authority in the Church, such as when Pope Clement I commanded
the church of Corinth to reinstate its leadership, or when Pope Victor
excommunicated the churches of Asia Minor as a group, after which the other
bishops sought to change Victor’s mind but did not challenge his authority
to have made the excommunication.
In this tract we will cover the views of the popes
and other Church Fathers up to the year A.D. 341. The views of the Fathers
after this period will be covered in the tract, The Authority of the
Pope: Part II.
Pope Clement I
"Owing to the sudden and repeated calamities and
misfortunes which have befallen us, we must acknowledge that we have been
somewhat tardy in turning our attention to the matters in dispute among
you, beloved; and especially that abominable and unholy sedition, alien
and foreign to the elect of God, which a few rash and self-willed persons
have inflamed to such madness that your venerable and illustrious name,
worthy to be loved by all men, has been greatly defamed. . . . Accept our
counsel and you will have nothing to regret. . . . If anyone disobey the
things which have been said by him [God] through us [i.e., that you must
reinstate your leaders], let them know that they will involve themselves
in transgression and in no small danger. . . . You will afford us joy and
gladness if being obedient to the things which we have written through
the Holy Spirit, you will root out the wicked passion of jealousy" (Letter
to the Corinthians 1, 58–59, 63 [A.D. 80]).
Hermas
"Therefore shall you [Hermas] write two little
books and send one to Clement [Bishop of Rome] and one to Grapte. Clement
shall then send it to the cities abroad, because that is his duty" (The
Shepherd 2:4:3 [A.D. 80]).
Ignatius of Antioch
"Ignatius . . . to the church also which holds
the presidency, in the location of the country of the Romans, worthy of
God, worthy of honor, worthy of blessing, worthy of praise, worthy of success,
worthy of sanctification, and, because you hold the presidency in love,
named after Christ and named after the Father" (Letter to the Romans
1:1 [A.D. 110]).
"You [the church at Rome] have envied no one, but
others you have taught. I desire only that what you have enjoined in your
instructions may remain in force" (ibid., 3:1).
Dionysius of Corinth
"For from the beginning it has been your custom
to do good to all the brethren in various ways and to send contributions
to all the churches in every city. . . . This custom your blessed Bishop
Soter has not only preserved, but is augmenting, by furnishing an abundance
of supplies to the saints and by urging with consoling words, as a loving
father his children, the brethren who are journeying" (Letter to Pope
Soter in Eusebius, Church History 4:23:9 [A.D. 170]).
"Today we have observed the Lord’s holy day, in
which we have read your letter [Pope Soter]. Whenever we do read it [in
church], we shall be able to profit thereby, as also we do when we read
the earlier letter written to us by Clement" (ibid., 4:23:11).
The Martyrs of Lyons
"And when a dissension arose about these said people
[the Montanists], the brethren in Gaul once more . . . [sent letters] to
the brethren in Asia and Phrygia and, moreover to Eleutherius, who was
then [A.D. 175] bishop of the Romans, negotiating for the peace of the
churches" (Eusebius, Church History 5:3:4 [A.D. 312])
"And the same martyrs too commended Irenaeus, already
at that time [A.D. 175] a presbyter of the community of Lyons, to the said
bishop of Rome, rendering abundant testimony to the man, as the following
expressions show: ‘Once more and always we pray that you may rejoice in
God, Pope Eleutherius. This letter we have charged our brother and companion
Irenaeus to convey to you, and we beg you to receive him as zealous for
the covenant of Christ’" (ibid., 5:4:1–2).
Irenaeus
"But since it would be too long to enumerate in
such a volume as this the succession of all the churches, we shall confound
all those who, in whatever manner, whether through self-satisfaction or
vainglory, or through blindness and wicked opinion, assemble other than
where it is proper, by pointing out here the successions of the bishops
of the greatest and most ancient church known to all, founded and organized
at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul, that church
which has the tradition and the faith which comes down to us after having
been announced to men by the apostles. With that church, because of its
superior origin, all the churches must agree, that is, all the faithful
in the whole world, and it is in her that the faithful everywhere have
maintained the apostolic tradition" (Against Heresies 3:3:2 [A.D.
189]).
Eusebius of Caesarea
"A question of no small importance arose at that
time [A.D. 190]. For the parishes of all Asia [Minor], as from an older
tradition held that the fourteenth day of the moon, on which the Jews were
commanded to sacrifice the lamb, should be observed as the feast of the
Savior’s Passover. . . . But it was not the custom of the churches in the
rest of the world
. . . as they observed the practice which, from
apostolic tradition, has prevailed to the present time, of terminating
the fast [of Lent] on no other day than on that of the resurrection of
the Savior [Sunday]. Synods and assemblies of bishops were held on this
account, and all, with one consent, through mutual correspondence drew
up an ecclesiastical decree that the mystery of the resurrection of the
Lord should be celebrated on no other but the Lord’s day and that we should
observe the close of the paschal fast on this day only. . . . Thereupon
[Pope] Victor, who presided over the church at Rome, immediately attempted
to cut off from the community the parishes of all Asia [Minor], with the
churches that agreed with them, as heterodox. And he wrote letters and
declared all the brethren there wholly excommunicate. But this did not
please all the bishops, and they besought him to consider the things of
peace and of neighborly unity and love. . . . [Irenaeus] fittingly admonishes
Victor that he should not cut off whole churches of God which observed
the tradition of an ancient custom" (Church History 5:23:1–24:11).
"Thus then did Irenaeus entreat and negotiate [with
Pope Victor] on behalf of the peace of the churches—[Irenaeus being] a
man well-named, for he was a peacemaker both in name and character. And
he corresponded by letter not only with Victor, but also with very many
and various rulers of churches" (ibid., 24:18).
Cyprian of Carthage
"The Lord says to Peter: ‘I say to you,’ he says,
‘that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the
gates of hell will not overcome it. And to you I will give the keys of
the kingdom of heaven; and whatever things you bind on earth shall be bound
also in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth, they shall be loosed also
in heaven’ [Matt. 16:18–19]). ... On him [Peter] he builds the Church,
and to him he gives the command to feed the sheep [John 21:17], and although
he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single chair
[cathedra], and he established by his own authority a source and
an intrinsic reason for that unity. Indeed, the others were also what Peter
was [i.e., apostles], but a primacy is given to Peter, whereby it is made
clear that there is but one Church and one chair. So too, all [the apostles]
are shepherds, and the flock is shown to be one, fed by all the apostles
in single-minded accord. If someone does not hold fast to this unity of
Peter, can he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he [should] desert
the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he still be confident
that he is in the Church?" (The Unity of the Catholic Church 4;
1st edition [A.D. 251]).
"Cyprian to [Pope] Cornelius, his brother. Greeting.
. . . We decided to send and are sending a letter to you from all throughout
the province [where I am] so that all our colleagues might give their decided
approval and support to you and to your communion, that is, to both the
unity and the charity of the Catholic Church" (Letters 48:1, 3 [A.D.
253]).
"Cyprian to Antonian, his brother. Greeting ... You wrote ... that I should forward a copy of the same letter to
our colleague [Pope] Cornelius, so that, laying aside all anxiety, he might
at once know that you held communion with him, that is, with the Catholic
Church" (ibid., 55[52]:1).
"Cornelius was made bishop by the decision of God
and of his Christ, by the testimony of almost all the clergy, by the applause
of the people then present, by the college of venerable priests and good
men ... when the place of Fabian, which is the place
of Peter, the dignity of the sacerdotal chair, was vacant. Since it has
been occupied both at the will of God and with the ratified consent of
all of us, whoever now wishes to become bishop must do so outside [the
Church]. For he cannot have ecclesiastical rank who does not hold to the
unity of the Church" (ibid., 55[52]:8).
"With a false bishop appointed for themselves by
heretics, they dare even to set sail and carry letters from schismatics
and b.asphemers to the chair of Peter and to the principal church [at Rome],
in which sacerdotal unity has its source" (ibid., 59:14).
Firmilian
"[Pope] Stephen ... boasts of the place of his
episcopate, and contends that he holds the succession from Peter, on whom
the foundations of the Church were laid [Matt. 16:18]. ... Stephen ... announces
that he holds by succession the throne of Peter" (collected
in Cyprian’s Letters 74[75]:17 [A.D. 253]).
Pope Julius I
"[The] judgment [concerning Athanasius] ought to
have been made, not as it was, but according to the ecclesiastical canon.
It behooved all of you to write us so that the justice of it might be seen
as emanating from all. ... Are you ignorant that the custom has been
to write first to us and then for a just decision to be passed from this
place [Rome]? If, then, any such suspicion rested upon the bishop there
[Athanasius of Alexandria], notice of it ought to have been written to
the church here. But now, after having done as they pleased, they want
to obtain our concurrence, although we never condemned him. Not thus are
the constitutions of Paul, not thus the traditions of the Fathers. This
is another form of procedure, and a novel practice. ... What I write
about this is for the common good. For what we have heard from the blessed
apostle Peter, these things I signify to you" (Letter on Behalf of Athanasius
[A.D. 341], in Athanasius, Apology Against the Arians 20–35).
NIHIL OBSTAT:
I have concluded that the materials
presented in this work are free of doctrinal or moral errors.
Bernadeane Carr, STL, Censor Librorum, August 10, 2004
IMPRIMATUR:
In accord with 1983 CIC 827
permission to publish this work is hereby granted.
+Robert H. Brom, Bishop of San Diego, August 10, 2004
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Interested in reading more about Peter and the Papacy?
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Peter: Keeper Of The Keys, Stephen Ray
Jesus, Peter & the Keys, Butler, Dahlgren, and Hess
Faith of the Early Fathers, William A. Jurgens
Papacy Learning Guide, Stephen Ray, Dennis Walters
Papacy Evangelization Guide, Stephen Ray, Dennis Walters
Tract Pak A, Catholic Answers
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