The 'primacy of the Roman pontiff' is the
apostolic authority of the
Pope (
Bishop of Rome), from the
Holy See, over the several
churches that comprise the Catholic Church in the
Latin and
Eastern Rites. It is also termed "papal primacy",
[1] "primacy of
Peter",
[2] or "Roman primacy";
[3] one might encounter "Peter in primacy over the universal Church,"
[4] "Successor of Peter",
[5] and other related expressions. The
Eastern Orthodox churches consider that the Bishop of Rome has a mere primacy of honor.
Hierarchical church in first centuries
The
Didache, dating from A.D.
70 –
140 [6],
[7], states "Appoint for yourselves therefore bishops and
deacons worthy of the Lord" (§15).
Saint Clement,
Pope [8], d. A.D.
101, wrote about the order with which
Jesus commanded the affairs of the Church be conducted. The
liturgies are "to be celebrated, and not carelessly nor in disorder," and the selection of persons was also "by His supreme will determined" (see
Letter of Clement to the Corinthians, ch. 40). Clement emphasized that the relationship between
God, Jesus, the
apostles, and the orders given to the apostles, are "made in an orderly way". Jurgens states that Clement cites
Isaiah 60:17 which in some translations includes "I will make thy visitation peace, and thy overseers justice" (emphasis added). In chapter 43 of the cited "Letter" Clement refers to the way "rivalry ... concerning the priesthood" was resolved by or through
Moses, and in chapter 44, that likewise, the apostles "gave instructions, that when these should fall asleep, other approved men should succeed them in their ministry." St.
Ignatius of Antioch [9], d. A.D.
107, spoke in "praise of unity" in a
Letter to the Ephesians, saying "He, therefore, that does not assemble with the Church, has even by this manifested his pride, and condemned himself. For it is written, 'God resisteth the proud.' Let us be careful, then, not to set ourselves in opposition to the bishop, in order that we may be subject to God" (§5). Stressing the relationship between the Church initiated by Jesus and the hierarchy set in motion by the apostles, Ignatius writes: "we should look upon the bishop even as we would upon the Lord Himself" (§6). Ignatius stresses the hierarchical relationship between God and the bishop more strongly to the
Magnesians urging them "to yield him all reverence, having respect to the power of God the Father, ... submitting to him, or rather not to him, but to the Father of Jesus Christ, the bishop of us all" (§3). In §6 he exhorts them to harmony, and in §13 urges them to "[s]tudy ... to be established in the doctrines of the Lord and the apostles, ... with your most admirable bishop...." Thus Ignatius emphasizes unity, obedience, and the hierarchical relationship among the faithful and between the bishop and God. Further elements of the hierarchical relationship are mentioned by St.
Clement of Alexandria [10] d. A.D.
217, referring to advice in the "holy books: some for presbyters, some for bishops and deacons" (Jurgens §413), and writing treatises with titles "On the Unity and Excellence of the Church" and "On the Offices of Bishops, Presbyters, Deacons, and Widows." In his
Stromateis Clement of Alexandria writes that "according to my opinion, the grades here in the Church, of bishops, presbyters, deacons, are imitations of the angelic glory, and of that economy which, the Scriptures say, awaits those who, following the footsteps of the apostles, have lived in perfection of righteousness according to the Gospel" (Ch. 13). Other references can be adduced to show that earliest belief held that the Church is hierarchical.
Church held to be hierarchical
Pope St.
Cornelius [11] d. A.D.
253, gave a detailed accounting of the structure of the Church at the time he was pope, and enquired in a seemingly rhetorical way, "[He], then, did not know that there must be one bishop in the Catholic Church. Yet he was not unaware — how could he be? — that in it there are ..." and thence follows the accounting (Denziger §45, Jurgens §546a). This came about because Novatian had allegedly made himself
antipope; Cornelius was emphasizing the perceived need for recognition of one bishop, one head of the Church.
[12]
St.
Cyprian of
Carthage [13] d. A.D.
258 spoke of "one God and one Christ, and one Church, and one Chair founded on Peter by the word of the Lord.... Whoever has gathered elsewhere is scattering" (Jurgens §573). St. Optatus
[14] d. A.D.
385, who opposed the
Donatists, clearly believed in a "Chair of
Peter", calling it a gift of the Church and saying, as summarized by Henry Wace, that "Parmenian must be aware that the episcopal chair was conferred from the beginning on Peter, the chief of the apostles, that unity might be preserved among the rest and no one apostle set up a rival."
[15] "You cannot deny that you are aware that in the city of Rome the episcopal chair was given first to Peter; the chair in which Peter sat, the same who was head — that is why he is also called Cephas — of all the Apostles; the one chair in which unity is maintained by all. Neither do other Apostles proceed individually on their own; and anyone who would set up another chair in opposition to that single chair would, by that very fact, be a schismatic and a sinner" (Jurgens §1242). Other references can be adduced to show that earliest belief held that the Church is monarchical.
Primacy of Peter the apostle
Main articles: Primacy of Simon Peter
Early belief in the Church is that Jesus granted Peter jurisdiction over the Church. Focusing on an example of Peter's astuteness, St. Clement of Alexandria,
[16] in "Who is the Rich man that is Saved", writes of "the blessed Peter, the chosen, the pre-eminent, the first of the disciples, for whom alone and Himself the Saviour paid tribute, [who] quickly seized and comprehended the saying" (
Ch. 21), referring to
Mk 10:28.
Tertullian,
[17] while examining Scriptural teachings, legal precedents, and dogma surrounding monogamy and marriage (''post'' A.D.
213), says of Peter, "Monogamist I am led to presume him by consideration of the Church, which, built upon him..." ("On Monogamy", Ch. 8): his certainty that the Church is built especially upon Peter is such that he simply refers to it in the context of another discussion. In a slightly later text (A.D.
220) "On Modesty", Tertullian writes at length about the significance of
Matthew 16:18-19, "On this rock I will build my Church" and similar, emphasizing the singular, not plural, right, and condemning "wholly changing the manifest intention of the Lord, conferring (as that intention did) this (gift) personally upon Peter" (Ch. 21).
Origen (ca. A.D.
232) wrote also of "Peter, upon whom is built the Church of Christ" (Jurgens §479a). St. Cyprian of Carthage
[18] prepared an essay discussing, inter alia, Mt. 16:18-19, titled "On the Unity of the Church" (A.D.
251) in which he strongly associates primacy, unity, the authority of Jesus, and Peter: "On him He builds the Church, and to him He gives the command to feed the sheep; and although He assigns a like power to all the Apostles, yet He founded a single chair, and He established by His own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity" (Jurgens §555-6). Jurgens gives Cyprian as an example of "Papal Primacy being 'implicit' in the early Church."
Insofar as the bishop of Rome was accorded any special status, it was more as a mediator than as a ruler. People appealed to the bishop of Rome to help mediate disputes arising over issues like Gnosticism, not to deliver a definitive statement of Christian orthodoxy.
Peter as bishop of Rome
Pious tradition holds that in
42 A.D., Peter built a church in
Rome while he was visiting
Simon Magus. Dogma and traditions of the
Catholic Church maintain that he served as the bishop of Rome for 25 years until
67 A.D. when he was
martyred by
Nero[1] (''further information:
Great Fire of Rome''). The official Catholic position, as
Eamon Duffy points out in his book, ''Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes'', is that Jesus had essentially appointed Peter as the first pope.
Role of Paul in the founding of the Church
St. Irenaeus of Lyons believed that
St. Paul, in conjunction with St. Peter, had been the founders of the
Christianity in Rome where they served as bishops and appointed successors. Though not the Bishop of Rome, St. Paul was highly responsible for bringing the Christian Faith to parts of the world other than where Christ had worked His Ministry before He had ascended in Heaven: to
Antioch,
Ephesus,
Corinth,
Thessalonica,
Cyprus, and
Crete, in addition to Rome, where Peter had established it. According to Duffy, Paul was an important figure of Christianity, but nonetheless was "not its founder".
Irenaeus
Irenaeus compiled a list of
apostolic succession, including the immediate successors of Peter and Paul:
Linus,
Anacletus,
Clement,
Evaristus,
Alexander, and
Sixtus.
The Catholic Church currently considers these the successors of Peter, whom they consider the first pope, and through whom following popes would claim authority.
[2]
In the second century (AD 189), the assertion of the primacy of the Church of Rome may be indicated in St.
Irenaeus of Lyon's ''
Against Heresies'' (3:3:2): "With [the Church of Rome], because of its superior origin, all the churches must agree... and it is in her that the faithful everywhere have maintained the apostolic tradition." Although this may be the first clear instance of the church in Rome asserting its primacy (depending on how one reads this passage), there is no historical evidence to show that such a claim was ever accepted by the eastern churches, particularly since the seat of government of the
Roman Empire was moved to
Constantinople soon after the Ecumenical
Council of Nicaea.
Stephen I
The first bishop to claim primacy in writing was
Pope Stephen I (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 and they hit the Church of Rome hard. But then came the miracle of Constantine's conversion, and suddenly the church at Rome was saved.
Damasus I
Pope Damasus I (366-384) was first to claim that Rome's primacy rested solely on Peter, and was the first pope to refer to the Roman church as "the Apostolic See". The prestige of the city itself was no longer sufficient; but in the doctrine of apostolic succession the popes had an unassailable position.
Bishop of Rome becomes Rector of the whole Church
The power of the Bishop of Rome increased as the imperial power of the Emperor declined. Edicts of the Emperor Theodosius II 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 sixth century published a similar decree. These proclamations did not create the office of the Pope but from the sixth century onward the Bishop of Rome's power and prestige increased so dramatically that the title of "Pope" began to fit the Bishop of Rome best.
[3]
==
Edict of Milan==
After the Edict of Milan granted Christianity legal status, the church adopted the same governmental structure as the Empire: geographical provinces ruled by bishops. This bishops of important cities therefore rose in power.
First Council of Constantinople
The
First Council of Constantinople (AD 381) suggested strongly that Roman primacy was already asserted. However, it should be noted that, because of the controversy of this claim, the Pope did not personally attend this ecumencial council that was held in the capital of the eastern empire, rather than at
Rome. It was not until 440 that
Leo the Great more clearly articulated the extension of papal authority as doctrine, promulgating in edicts and in councils his right to exert "the full range of apostolic powers that Jesus had first bestowed on the apostle Peter". It was at the Ecumenical
Council of Chalcedon in 451 that Leo I (through his emissaries) stated that he was "speaking with the voice of Peter". At this same Council, an attempt at compromise was made when the bishop of Constantinople was given a primacy of honour only second to that of the Bishop of Rome, because "Constantinople is the New Rome." Ironically, Roman papal authorities rejected this language since it did not clearly recognize Rome's claim to juridical authority over the other churches.
[4]
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 first century. Antioch was the place where Jesus' followers were first called "Christians" {7} and, with Alexandria, was an important early center of Christian thought. Constantinople became highly important after Constantine moved his capital there in 330 AD.
By the fifth century, however, the bishop of Rome began to claim his supremacy over all other bishops, and some church fathers also made this claim for him.
Challenges to the primacy of the Roman Pontiff
The doctrine of the primacy of the Roman Pontiff has been challenged ever since it was first introduced.
When the doctrine originated, the bishops of Rome were claiming authority over all Christians including the other bishops who served in other parts of the Roman Empire. This claim of authority was rejected by bishops serving outside of Rome.
Writing about
Pope Leo I, church historian Ernest Trice Thompson writes, “None of the early church fathers interpreted Jesus' words to Peter to mean that to Peter and to his successors, the bishops of Rome, full authority in the church had been granted; this, however, was the claim of Leo. It was a claim that bishops in the older parts of the empire would never accept.”
[5]
The dispute about the authority of Roman bishops reached a climax in the year 1054, when
Leo IX, bishop of Rome, interfered with churches that paid allegiance to
Michael I Cerularius, bishop of Constantinople. The disputed ended when the two bishops exchanged letters in which the bishops excommunicated each other. This event resulted in the Church being split into two branches – the Roman Catholic Church and the
Greek Orthodox Church.
[6]
The primacy of the Roman Pontiff was again challenged in 1517 when a priest named
Martin Luther began preaching against the sale of indulgences. When
Pope Leo X refused to support Luther’s position, Luther investigated the source of the pontiff’s authority, after which Luther concluded that the doctrine of papal authority had no historical basis. Luther’s rejection of the primacy of the Roman Pontiff led to the start of the
Protestant Reformation, during which numerous churches broke away from the Roman Catholic Church.
[6]
In July of 2007,
Pope Benedict XVI revived the dispute about papal primacy when he approved of a document which states that Greek Orthodox churches are defective because they do not recognize the primacy of Roman Pontiff, that Protestant churches are not true churches, and that Roman Catholicism is the only true path to salvation. An Associated Press story about the document states that the document’s claim “brought swift criticism from Protestant leaders.”
[8]
See also
★
History of the Papacy
★
Pontifex Maximus (
Latin for
Supreme Pontiff)
★
Papal authority
★
Papal infallibility
★
Papal supremacy
Footnotes
1. Pennington, p. 2
2. Catholic Encyclopedia - List of Popes
3. D'Aubigne, Book I, p. 81.
4. La Due, William J., "The Chair of Saint Peter", pp.300-301, Orbis Books (Maryknoll, NY; 1999)
5. Thompson, Ernest T. (1965). ''Through The Ages: A History Of The Christian Church.'' The CLC Press.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Winfield, Nicole. ''Pope: Other denominations defective.'' Associated Press. July 14, 2007.
Further reading
'Books'
★ Schatz, Klaus. ''Papal Primacy: From Its Origins to the Present''. (ISBN 0-8146-5522-X)
'Links'
★
The Pope in the
Catholic Encyclopedia
★
Rise of the Papacy - ReligionFacts.com
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