(Updated December 19, 2024)
This Quote Archive is on the Papacy. Each Archive is a treasury of original source quotes on various topics relevant to the Catholic Faith, and addressed in Becoming Catholic articles. They are intended to help people explore the “gold, silver, and precious gems” that have been mined and sifted from the sources of the Great Tradition by Eternal Christendom as a labor of love for our readers, and all seekers of Truth. They are periodically updated as more research is completed.
The topic of the papacy is a vast one, but consists of basically two types of data: about St. Peter himself, and about his successors. The reason why both are important to the case for the papacy is because the Catholic Church teaches that the Popes are the successors of St. Peter, and of his government, which it claims is universal (i.e. over all the churches). As such, it is important to include patristic data not only about the Popes themselves, but St. Peter, the man. If the Popes have the authority they claim, this authority must stem from St. Peter himself, which is why the patristic witness to his leading role among the Apostles in the primitive Church is relevant to any analysis of the papacy, since the Popes—if the papacy is from God—cannot have more authority than St. Peter himself had.
Drawing from these two sets of data, a convincing case for the papacy must therefore show good evidence for the following:
- Peter is the rock (which can be true alongside his confession, Christ, etc.);
- Peter was given the keys by Christ in a singular way;
- Peter held a primacy of authority among the Apostles, and thus governed the whole Church as leader, chief, and “prince of the Apostles”;
- Peter was in Rome, where he established his throne (cathedra); and
- Peter’s successors in Rome inherited his primacy, and thus his government over the whole Church.
Some Quote Archives cover topics that include multiple sub-topics, in which individual quotes only address particular sub-topics. The Papacy is obviously one such topic. Therefore, in order to help readers more easily identify the sub-topics addressed in each quote, they will be listed in the order below after each citation. We will also include quotes that could arguably be used against the Papacy.
The sub-topics in this Quote Archive, based on the five points above, are:
- ROCK (identified as St. Peter, but could also include his confession, Christ, etc.)
- KEYS (held by St. Peter in a unique way)
- PRIMACY (St. Peter himself as the leader, chief, and “prince of the Apostles”)
- ROME (St. Peter’s personal presence in Rome)
- SUCCESSORS (Primacy exercised by Popes)
- INFALLIBILITY (for quotes that explicitly or implicitly affirm papal infallibility)
Apostolic Era Documents
The Shepherd of Hermas (c. 80)
(Book 1, Part 2, Ch. 4) | SUCCESSORS
You will write therefore two books, and you will send the one to Clemens [Clement of Rome] and the other to Grapte. And Clemens will send his to foreign countries, for permission has been granted to him to do so. And Grapte will admonish the widows and the orphans. But you will read the words in this city, along with the presbyters who preside over the Church.
St. Pope Clement I (died 99) | WEST
St. Pope Clement of Rome, Letter to the Corinthians (c. 80)
(§§1, 14, 58-59, 63) | SUCCESSORS | INFALLIBILITY
(§1) …Owing, dear brethren, to the sudden and successive calamitous events which have happened to ourselves, we feel that we have been somewhat tardy in turning our attention to the points respecting which you consulted us; and especially to that shameful and detestable sedition, utterly abhorrent to the elect of God, which a few rash and self-confident persons have kindled to such a pitch of frenzy, that your venerable and illustrious name, worthy to be universally loved, has suffered grievous injury.…
(§14) It is right and holy therefore, men and brethren, rather to obey God than to follow those who, through pride and sedition, have become the leaders of a detestable emulation. For we shall incur no slight injury, but rather great danger, if we rashly yield ourselves to the inclinations of men who aim at exciting strife and tumults, so as to draw us away from what is good…
(§58) …Receive our counsel, and you shall be without repentance…
(§59) If, however, any shall disobey the words spoken by Him through us, let them know that they will involve themselves in transgression and serious danger…
(§63) Right is it, therefore, to approach examples so good and so many, and submit the neck and fulfil the part of obedience, in order that, undisturbed by vain sedition, we may attain unto the goal set before us in truth wholly free from blame. Joy and gladness will you afford us, if you become obedient to the words written by us and through the Holy Spirit root out the lawless wrath of your jealousy according to the intercession which we have made for peace and unity in this letter. We have sent men faithful and discreet, whose conversation from youth to old age has been blameless among us—the same shall be witnesses between you and us. This we have done, that you may know that our whole concern has been and is that you may be speedily at peace.
St. Ignatius of Antioch (died c. 107) | EAST
St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans (c. 107)
(Greeting, §§3-4) | ROME | SUCCESORS
(Greeting) Ignatius…to the Church which has obtained mercy, through the majesty of the Most High Father, and Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Son; the Church which is beloved and enlightened by the will of Him that wills all things which are according to the love of Jesus Christ our God, which also presides in the place of the region of the Romans, worthy of God, worthy of honor, worthy of the highest happiness, worthy of praise, worthy of obtaining her every desire, worthy of being deemed holy, and which presides over love, is named from Christ, and from the Father…
(§3) You have never envied anyone; you have taught others. Now I desire that those things may be confirmed [by your conduct], which in your instructions ye enjoin [on others]…
(§4) …Entreat Christ for me, that by these instruments [the teeth of wild beasts] I may be found a sacrifice [to God]. I do not, as Peter and Paul, issue commandments unto you…
Tatian the Syrian (c. 120-c. 180) | EAST
Tatian, Diatessaron
(§23) | ROCK | PRIMACY
He said unto them, “And you, what say you that I am?” Simon Cephas answered and said, “Thou art the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said unto him, “Blessed art thou, Simon son of Jonah: flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say unto thee also, that thou art Cephas, and on this rock will I build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:16-18).
St. Dionysius of Corinth (early to mid-100s) | EAST
St. Dionysius of Corinth, Letter to St. Pope Soter, quoted in Eusebius, Church History (c. 170)
(Book 2, Ch. 28, 8) | ROME
And that they [Peter and Paul] both suffered martyrdom at the same time is stated by Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, in his epistle to the Romans, in the following words: “You have thus by such an admonition bound together the planting of Peter and of Paul at Rome and Corinth. For both of them planted and likewise taught us in our Corinth. And they taught together in like manner in Italy, and suffered martyrdom at the same time.” I have quoted these things in order that the truth of the history might be still more confirmed.
(Book 4, Ch. 23, §§9-11) | SUCCESSORS
(§9) There is extant also another epistle written by Dionysius to the Romans, and addressed to [St. Pope] Soter, who was bishop at that time. We cannot do better than to subjoin some passages from this epistle, in which he commends the practice of the Romans which has been retained down to the persecution in our own days. His words are as follows:
(§10) “For from the beginning it has been your practice to do good to all the brethren in various ways, and to send contributions to many churches in every city. Thus relieving the want of the needy, and making provision for the brethren in the mines by the gifts which you have sent from the beginning, you Romans keep up the hereditary customs of the Romans, which your blessed bishop Soter has not only maintained, but also added to, furnishing an abundance of supplies to the saints, and encouraging the brethren from abroad with blessed words, as a loving father his children.”
(§11) In this same epistle he makes mention also of [St. Pope] Clement’s epistle to the Corinthians, showing that it had been the custom from the beginning to read it in the church. His words are as follows: “To-day we have passed the Lord’s holy day, in which we have read your epistle. From it, whenever we read it, we shall always be able to draw advice, as also from the former epistle, which was written to us through Clement.”
St. Irenaeus of Lyon (c. 130-c. 202) | EAST/WEST
St. Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies (c. 180)
(Book 3, Ch. 1, §1) | ROME
Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome, and laying the foundations of the Church.
(Book 3, Ch. 3, §§2-3) | ROME | PRIMACY | SUCCESSORS
(§2) Since, however, it would be very tedious, in such a volume as this, to reckon up the successions of all the Churches, we do put to confusion all those who, in whatever manner, whether by an evil self-pleasing, by vainglory, or by blindness and perverse opinion, assemble in unauthorized meetings; [we do this, I say] by indicating that tradition derived from the apostles, of the very great, the very ancient, and universally known Church founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul; as also [by pointing out] the faith preached to men, which comes down to our time by means of the successions of the bishops. For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church, on account of its pre-eminent authority, that is, the faithful everywhere, inasmuch as the apostolical tradition has been preserved continuously by those [faithful men] who exist everywhere.
(§3) The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the Church, committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate. Of this Linus, Paul makes mention in the Epistles to Timothy. To him succeeded Anacletus; and after him, in the third place from the apostles, Clement was allotted the bishopric. This man, as he had seen the blessed apostles, and had been conversant with them, might be said to have the preaching of the apostles still echoing [in his ears], and their traditions before his eyes. Nor was he alone [in this], for there were many still remaining who had received instructions from the apostles…To this Clement there succeeded Evaristus. Alexander followed Evaristus; then, sixth from the apostles, Sixtus was appointed; after him, Telesphorus, who was gloriously martyred; then Hyginus; after him, Pius; then after him, Anicetus. Soter having succeeded Anicetus, Eleutherius does now, in the twelfth place from the apostles, hold the inheritance of the episcopate. In this order, and by this succession, the ecclesiastical tradition from the apostles, and the preaching of the truth, have come down to us. And this is most abundant proof that there is one and the same vivifying faith, which has been preserved in the Church from the apostles until now, and handed down in truth.
St. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-c. 215) | EAST
St. Clement of Alexandria, quoted in Eusebius, Church History (c. 200)
(Book 6, Ch. 14, §6) | ROME
The Gospel according to Mark had this occasion. As Peter had preached the Word publicly at Rome, and declared the Gospel by the Spirit, many who were present requested that Mark, who had followed him for a long time and remembered his sayings, should write them out. And having composed the Gospel he gave it to those who had requested it.
St. Clement of Alexandria, Who is the Rich Man That Shall Be Saved? (c. 200)
(§21) | PRIMACY
Therefore on hearing those words, the blessed Peter, the chosen, the pre-eminent, the first of the disciples, for whom alone and Himself the Savior paid tribute, quickly seized and comprehended the saying. And what does he say? “Lo, we have left all and followed You” (Matt. 19:27)…
Tertullian (c. 155-c. 220) | WEST
Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics (200)
(Ch. 22, 32, 36) | ROCK | KEYS | ROME | SUCCESSORS
(Ch. 22) …What man, then, of sound mind can possibly suppose that they were ignorant of anything, whom the Lord ordained to be masters (or teachers), keeping them, as He did, inseparable (from Himself) in their attendance, in their discipleship, in their society, to whom, “when they were alone, He used to expound” all things (Mark 4:34) which were obscure, telling them that “to them it was given to know those mysteries” (Matt. 13:11), which it was not permitted the people to understand? Was anything withheld from the knowledge of Peter, who is called “the rock on which the church should be built” (Matt. 16:18), who also obtained “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 16:18), with the power of “loosing and binding in heaven and on earth?” (Matt. 16:19)…
(Ch. 30) Where was Marcion then, that shipmaster of Pontus, the zealous student of Stoicism? Where was Valentinus then, the disciple of Platonism? For it is evident that those men lived not so long ago—in the reign of Antoninus for the most part—and that they at first were believers in the doctrine of the Catholic Church, in the church of Rome under the episcopate of the blessed [St. Pope] Eleutherus, until on account of their ever restless curiosity, with which they even infected the brethren, they were more than once expelled…
(Ch. 32) But if there be any (heresies) which are bold enough to plant themselves in the midst of the apostolic age, that they may thereby seem to have been handed down by the apostles, because they existed in the time of the apostles, we can say: Let them produce the original records of their churches; let them unfold the roll of their bishops, running down in due succession from the beginning in such a manner that [that first bishop of theirs] bishop shall be able to show for his ordainer and predecessor some one of the apostles or of apostolic men—a man, moreover, who continued steadfast with the apostles. For this is the manner in which the apostolic churches transmit their registers: as the church of Smyrna, which records that Polycarp was placed therein by John; as also the church of Rome, which makes Clement to have been ordained in like manner by Peter. In exactly the same way the other churches likewise exhibit (their several worthies), whom, as having been appointed to their episcopal places by apostles, they regard as transmitters of the apostolic seed. Let the heretics contrive something of the same kind…
(Ch. 36) Come now, you who would indulge a better curiosity, if you would apply it to the business of your salvation, run over the apostolic churches, in which the very thrones of the apostles are still pre-eminent in their places, in which their own authentic writings are read, uttering the voice and representing the face of each of them severally. Achaia is very near you, (in which) you find Corinth. Since you are not far from Macedonia, you have Philippi; (and there too) you have the Thessalonians. Since you are able to cross to Asia, you get Ephesus. Since, moreover, you are close upon Italy, you have Rome, from which there comes even into our own hands the very authority (of apostles themselves). How happy is its church, on which apostles poured forth all their doctrine along with their blood! Where Peter endures a passion like his Lord’s! where Paul wins his crown in a death like John’s [the Baptist]. Where the Apostle John was first plunged, unhurt, into boiling oil, and thence remitted to his island-exile!…
Tertullian, Against Marcion (c. 209)
(Book 4, Ch. 5) | ROME
Let us see what milk the Corinthians drank from Paul; to what rule of faith the Galatians were brought for correction; what the Philippians, the Thessalonians, the Ephesians read by it; what utterance also the Romans give, so very near (to the apostles), to whom Peter and Paul conjointly bequeathed the gospel even sealed with their own blood…
Tertullian, Scorpiace (c. 211)
For though you think heaven still shut, remember that the Lord left here to Peter and through him to the Church, the keys of it, which everyone who has been here put to the question, and also made confession, will carry with him…
Tertullian, Modesty (c. 220)
(Ch. 21) | ROCK | KEYS | PRIMACY
I now inquire into your opinion, (to see) from what source you usurp this right to the Church.
If, because the Lord has said to Peter, “Upon this rock will I build My Church, to you have I given the keys of the heavenly kingdom” (Matt. 16:18, 19); or, “Whatsoever you shall have bound or loosed in earth, shall be bound or loosed in the heavens” (Matt. 16:19) you therefore presume that the power of binding and loosing has derived to you, that is, to every Church akin to Peter, what sort of man are you, subverting and wholly changing the manifest intention of the Lord, conferring (as that intention did) this (gift) personally upon Peter? On “you,” He says, “will I build My Church”; and, “I will give to you the keys,” not to the Church; and, “Whatsoever you shall have loosed or bound,” not “what they shall have loosed or bound.” For so withal the result teaches. In (Peter) himself the Church was reared; that is, through (Peter) himself; (Peter) himself essayed the key…
Origen (c. 184-c. 253) | EAST
Origen, Homily 5 on Exodus (c. 248)
(§4) (pg. 281) | ROCK
But who is so blessed, who so dispatches the weight of temptations that no uncertainty creeps up on his mind? Look at that great foundation of the Church, its most solid rock upon which Christ founded the Church [Matt. 16:18]. What does the Lord say [to Peter]? “Why did you doubt, O you of little faith?” (Matt. 14:31).
Origen, Commentary on Matthew (c. 249)
(Book 13, Ch. 31) | KEYS | PRIMACY
But since it was necessary, even if something in common had been said in the case of Peter and those who had thrice admonished the brethren, that Peter should have some element superior to those who thrice admonished, in the case of Peter, this saying “I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens” (Matt. 16:19), has been specially set before the words, “And whatever things you shall bind on earth,” etc. And, indeed, if we were to attend carefully to the evangelical writings, we would also find here, and in relation to those things which seem to be common to Peter and those who have thrice admonished the brethren, a great difference and a pre-eminence in the things said to Peter, compared with the second class. For it is no small difference that Peter received the keys not of one heaven but of more, and in order that whatsoever things he binds on the earth may be bound not in one heaven but in them all, as compared with the many who bind on earth and loose on earth, so that these things are bound and loosed not in the heavens, as in the case of Peter, but in one only; for they do not reach so high a stage, with power as Peter to bind and loose in all the heavens [Matt.16:19]. The better, therefore, is the binder, so much more blessed is he who has been loosed, so that in every part of the heavens his loosing has been accomplished.
Origen, Commentary on John
(Book 5, §3) (pg. 161) | ROCK
And Peter, on whom the Church of Christ is built, against which the gates of Hades shall not prevail [Matt. 16:18], has left behind one letter which is accepted.
Caius the Presbyter (200s) | WEST
Caius the Presbyter, Disputation with Proclus, quoted in Eusebius, Church History (c. 210)
(Book 2, Ch. 25, §§6-7) | ROME
(§6) It [the martyrdom of Peter and Paul in Rome] is confirmed likewise by Caius, a member of the Church, who arose under [St. Pope] Zephyrinus, bishop of Rome. He, in a published disputation with Proclus, the leader of the Phrygian heresy [Montanists], speaks as follows concerning the places where the sacred corpses of the aforesaid apostles are laid:
(§7) “But I can show the trophies of the apostles. For if you will go to the Vatican or to the Ostian way, you will find the trophies of those who laid the foundations of this church.”
St. Pope Cornelius (died 253) | WEST
St. Pope Cornelius, Letter to St. Cyprian of Carthage (Letter 45), On the Return of the Confessors to Unity (251)
(§2) | SUCCESSORS
There was one voice from all, giving thanks to God; all were expressing the joy of their heart by tears, embracing them as if they had this day been set free from the penalty of the dungeon. And to quote their very own words: “We,” they say, “know that [St. Pope] Cornelius is bishop of the most holy Catholic Church elected by Almighty God, and by Christ our Lord. We confess our error; we have suffered imposture; we were deceived by captious perfidy and loquacity. For although we seemed, as it were, to have held a kind of communion with a man who was a schismatic and a heretic, yet our mind was always sincere in the Church. For we are not ignorant that there is one God; that there is one Christ the Lord whom we have confessed, and one Holy Spirit; and that in the Catholic Church there ought to be one bishop.” Were we not rightly induced by that confession of theirs, to allow that what they had confessed before the power of the world they might approve when established in the Church? Wherefore we bade Maximus the presbyter to take his own place; the rest we received with great approbation of the people. But we remitted all things to Almighty God, in whose power all things are reserved.
St. Cyprian of Carthage (c. 210-258) | WEST
St. Cyprian of Carthage, The Unity of the Catholic Church (251)
(§4) (pgs. 98-99) | ROCK | KEYS | PRIMACY | SUCCESSORS
If anyone considers and examines these things, there is no need of a lengthy discussion and arguments. Proof for faith is easy in a brief statement of the truth. The Lord speaks to Peter: “I say to thee,” He says, “thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven” (Matt. 16:18-19). Upon him, being one, He build His Church, and although after His resurrection He bestows equal power upon all the Apostles, and says: “As the Father has sent me, I also send you. Receive 98 | 99 ye the Holy Spirit: if you forgive the sins of anyone, they will be forgiven him; if you retain the sins of anyone, they will be retained” (John 20:21, 23), yet that He might display unity, He established by His authority the origin of the same unity as beginning from one. Surely the rest of the Apostles also were that which Peter was, endowed with an equal partnership of office and of power, but the beginning proceeds from unity, that the Church of Christ may be shown to be one. This one Church, also, the Holy Spirit in the Canticle of Canticles designates in the person of the Lord and says: “One is my dove, my perfect one is but one, she is the only one of her mother, the chosen one of her that bore her” (Song. 6:8). Does he who does not hold this unity think that he holds the faith? Does he who strives against the Church and resist her think that he is in the Church, when too the blessed Apostle Paul teaches this same thing and sets forth the sacrament of unity saying: “One body and one Spirit, one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God” [Eph. 4:4-6]?
St. Cyprian of Carthage, Letter 39: To the People Concerning Five Schismatic Priests of the Faction of Felicissimus (251)
(§5) | ROCK
There is one God, and Christ is one, and there is one Church, and one chair founded upon the rock by the word of the Lord. Another altar cannot be constituted nor a new priesthood be made, except the one altar and the one priesthood. Whosoever gathers elsewhere, scatters. Whatsoever is appointed by human madness, so that the divine disposition is violated, is adulterous, is impious, is sacrilegious.
St. Cyprian of Carthage, Letter 48: Answer to St. Pope Cornelius, Concerning the Crimes of Novatus (251)
(§1) | SUCCESSORS
Cyprian to [St. Pope] Cornelius his brother, greeting. You have acted, dearest brother, both with diligence and love, in sending us in haste Nicephorus the acolyte, who both told us the glorious gladness concerning the return of the confessors, and most fully instructed us against the new and mischievous devices of Novatian and Novatus for attacking the Church of Christ.
St. Cyprian of Carthage, Letter 51: To Antonianus About Cornelius and Novatian (252)
(§1) Cyprian to Antonianus his brother, greeting. I received your first letters, dearest brother, firmly maintaining the concord of the priestly college, and adhering to the Catholic Church, in which you intimated that you did not hold communion with Novatian, but followed my advice, and held one common agreement with [Pope] Cornelius our co-bishop. You wrote, moreover, for me to transmit a copy of those same letters to Cornelius our colleague, so that he might lay aside all anxiety, and know at once that you held communion with him, that is, with the Catholic Church…
(§8) Moreover, [St. Pope] Cornelius was made bishop by the judgment of God and of His Christ, by the testimony of almost all the clergy, by the suffrage of the people who were then present, and by the assembly of ancient priests and good men, when no one had been made so before him, when the place of [St. Pope] Fabian, that is, when the place of Peter and the degree of the sacerdotal throne was vacant; which being occupied by the will of God, and established by the consent of all of us, whosoever now wishes to become a bishop, must needs be made from without; and he cannot have the ordination of the Church who does not hold the unity of the Church. Whoever he may be, although greatly boasting about himself, and claiming very much for himself, he is profane, he is an alien, he is without. And as after the first there cannot be a second, whosoever is made after one who ought to be alone, is not second to him, but is in fact none at all.
St. Cyprian, Letter 54: Concerning Fortunatus and Felicissimus, or Against the Heretics (252)
(§14) | ROME | SUCCESSORS | INFALLIBILITY
After such things as these, moreover, they still dare—a false bishop having been appointed for them by, heretics—to set sail and to bear letters from schismatic and profane persons to the throne of Peter, and to the chief church whence priestly unity takes its source; and not to consider that these were the Romans whose faith was praised in the preaching of the apostle, to whom faithlessness could have no access.
St. Cyprian of Carthage, Letter 68: To Florentius Pupianus, on Calumniators (254)
(§8) | ROCK | PRIMACY
Peter speaks there, on whom the Church was to be built, teaching and showing in the name of the Church, that although a rebellious and arrogant multitude of those who will not hear and obey may depart, yet the Church does not depart from Christ; and they are the Church who are a people united to the priest, and the flock which adheres to its pastor. Whence you ought to know that the bishop is in the Church, and the Church in the bishop; and if any one be not with the bishop, that he is not in the Church, and that those flatter themselves in vain who creep in, not having peace with God’s priests, and think that they communicate secretly with some; while the Church, which is Catholic and one, is not cut nor divided, but is indeed connected and bound together by the cement of priests who cohere with one another.
St. Cyprian of Carthage, Letter 72: To Jubaianus, Concerning the Baptism of Heretics (256)
(§7) | ROCK | KEYS
But it is manifest where and by whom remission of sins can be given; to wit, that which is given in baptism. For first of all the Lord gave that power to Peter, upon whom He built the Church, and whence He appointed and showed the source of unity—the power, namely, that whatsoever he loosed on earth should be loosed in heaven. And after the resurrection, also, He speaks to the apostles, saying, “As the Father hath sent me, even so I send you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith, unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained” (John 20:21-23). Whence we perceive that only they who are set over the Church and established in the Gospel law, and in the ordinance of the Lord, are allowed to baptize and to give remission of sins; but that without, nothing can either be bound or loosed, where there is none who can either bind or loose anything.
Caius the Presbyter (200s) | WEST
Caius the Presbyter, Fragments
Fragment 2: Against the Heresy of Artemon | SUCCESSORS
For they [heretics] say that all those of the first age, and the apostles themselves, both received and taught those things which these men now maintain; and that the truth of Gospel preaching was preserved until the times of [St. Pope] Victor, who was the thirteenth bishop in Rome from Peter, and that from his successor Zephyrinus the truth was falsified. And perhaps what they allege might be credible, did not the Holy Scriptures, in the first place, contradict them. And then, besides, there are writings of certain brethren older than the times of Victor, which they wrote against the heathen in defense of the truth, and against the heresies of their time: I mean Justin and Miltiades, and Tatian and Clement, and many others, in all which divinity is ascribed to Christ. For who is ignorant of the books of Irenaeus and Melito, and the rest, which declare Christ to be God and man? All the psalms, too, and hymns of brethren, which have been written from the beginning by the faithful, celebrate Christ the Word of God, ascribing divinity to Him. Since the doctrine of the Church, then, has been proclaimed so many years ago, how is it possible that men have preached, up to the time of [St. Pope] Victor, in the manner asserted by these? And how are they not ashamed to utter these calumnies against Victor, knowing well that Victor excommunicated Theodotus the tanner, the leader and father of this God-denying apostasy, who first affirmed that Christ was a mere man? For if, as they allege, Victor entertained the very opinions which their blasphemy teaches, how should he have cast off Theodotus, the author of this heresy?
St. Peter of Alexandria (died 311) | EAST
St. Peter of Alexandria, Canonical Letter (306)
(Can. 9) | PRIMACY | ROME
Thus Peter, the first of the apostles, having been often apprehended, and thrown into prison, and treated with ignominy, was last of all crucified at Rome.
St. Peter of Alexandria, The Genuine Acts of Peter
PRIMACY
[H]e [Meletius] was so hurried on by giving the rein to his madness, that, rending asunder the Catholic Church not only in the cities of Egypt, but even in its villages, he ordained bishops of his own party, nor cared he aught for Peter, nor for Christ, who was in the person of Peter…
In these days information was brought to Maximin about the aforesaid archbishop, that he [St. Peter] was a leader and holding chief place among the Christians; and he, inflamed with his accustomed iniquity, on the instant ordered Peter to be apprehended and cast into prison…
Then a certain virgin dedicated to God, who had her cell adjoining to the tomb of the evangelist, as she was spending the night in prayer, heard a voice from heaven, saying: “Peter was the first of the apostles, Peter is the last of the martyred bishops of Alexandria.”
Lactantius (c. 250-c. 325) | WEST
Lactantius, Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died (c. 318)
(Ch. 2) | ROME
Then were they [the Apostles] dispersed throughout all the earth to preach the Gospel, as the Lord their Master had commanded them; and during twenty-five years, and until the beginning of the reign of the Emperor Nero, they occupied themselves in laying the foundations of the Church in every province and city. And while Nero reigned, the Apostle Peter came to Rome, and, through the power of God committed unto him, wrought certain miracles, and, by turning many to the true religion, built up a faithful and steadfast temple unto the Lord.
Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 260/265-339) | EAST
Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History (c. 312)
Peter and His Successors in Rome
See the multiple references Eusebius makes to the first 32 Popes–both St. Peter, and 31 of his successors in Rome–here: Study Bank | The Ancient Lists and Testimonies of Popes Succeeding from Peter.
(Book 2, Ch. 15, §2) | ROME
And Peter makes mention of Mark in his first epistle which they say that he wrote in Rome itself, as is indicated by him, when he calls the city, by a figure, Babylon, as he does in the following words: “The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, salutes you; and so does Marcus my son” (1 Pet. 5:13).
(Book 2, Ch. 25, §§5-8) | ROME | SUCCESSORS
(§5) Thus publicly announcing himself as the first among God’s chief enemies, he [nero] was led on to the slaughter of the apostles. It is, therefore, recorded that Paul was beheaded in Rome itself, and that Peter likewise was crucified under Nero. This account of Peter and Paul is substantiated by the fact that their names are preserved in the cemeteries of that place even to the present day.
(§6) It is confirmed likewise by Caius, a member of the Church, who arose under [St. Pope] Zephyrinus, bishop of Rome. He, in a published disputation with Proclus, the leader of the Phrygian heresy, speaks as follows concerning the places where the sacred corpses of the aforesaid apostles are laid:
(§7) “But I can show the trophies of the apostles. For if you will go to the Vatican or to the Ostian way, you will find the trophies of those who laid the foundations of this church.”
(§8) And that they both suffered martyrdom at the same time is stated by Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, in his epistle to the Romans, in the following words: “You have thus by such an admonition bound together the planting of Peter and of Paul at Rome and Corinth. For both of them planted and likewise taught us in our Corinth. And they taught together in like manner in Italy, and suffered martyrdom at the same time.” I have quoted these things in order that the truth of the history might be still more confirmed.
(Book 3, Ch. 1, §2) | ROME
Peter appears to have preached in Pontus, Galatia, Bithynia, Cappadocia, and Asia to the Jews of the dispersion. And at last, having come to Rome, he was crucified head-downwards; for he had requested that he might suffer in this way.
(Book 3, Ch. 4, §§9-10) | ROME | SUCCESSORS
(§9) As to the rest of his followers, Paul testifies that Crescens was sent to Gaul [2 Tim. 4:10]; but Linus, whom he mentions in the Second Epistle to Timothy [2 Tim. 4:21] as his companion at Rome, was Peter’s successor in the episcopate of the church there, as has already been shown.
(§10) Clement also, who was appointed third bishop of the church at Rome, was, as Paul testifies, his co-laborer and fellow-soldier [Phil. 4:3].
(Book 4, Ch. 1, §2) | ROME | SUCCESSORS
At that time also [St. Pope] Alexander, the fifth in the line of succession from Peter and Paul, received the episcopate at Rome, after [St. Pope] Evarestus had held the office eight years.
(Book 4, Ch. 19) | ROME | SUCCESSORS
In the eighth year of the above-mentioned reign [of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus] [St. Pope] Soter succeeded [St. Pope] Anicetus as bishop of the church of Rome, after the latter had held office eleven years in all.
(Book 5, Ch. 28, §3) | ROME | SUCCESSORS
[Quoting a work against the “heresy of Artemon” revived by Paul of Samosata] “For they [heretics] say that all the early teachers and the apostles received and taught what they now declare, and that the truth of the Gospel was preserved until the times of Victor, who was the thirteenth bishop of Rome from Peter, but that from his successor, Zephyrinus, the truth had been corrupted.
(Book 10, §21) | SUCCESSORS
“Constantine Augustus to Chrestus, bishop of Syracuse. When some began wickedly and perversely to disagree among themselves in regard to the holy worship and celestial power and Catholic doctrine, wishing to put an end to such disputes among them, I formerly gave command that certain bishops should be sent from Gaul, and that the opposing parties who were contending persistently and incessantly with each other, should be summoned from Africa; that in their presence, and in the presence of the bishop of Rome, the matter which appeared to be causing the disturbance might be examined and decided with all care.
The Montanist Heresy
The followers of Montanus, Alcibiades, and Theodotus in Phrygia were now first giving wide circulation to their assumption in regard to prophecy—for the many other miracles that, through the gift of God, were still wrought in the different churches caused their prophesying to be readily credited by many—and as dissension arose concerning them, the brethren in Gaul set forth their own prudent and most orthodox judgment in the matter, and published also several epistles from the witnesses that had been put to death among them. These they sent, while they were still in prison, to the brethren throughout Asia and Phrygia, and also to [St. Pope] Eleutherus, who was then bishop of Rome, negotiating for the peace of the churches.
(§1) The same witnesses also recommended [St.] Irenaeus [of Lyon], who was already at that time a presbyter of the parish of Lyons, to the above-mentioned bishop of Rome, saying many favorable things in regard to him, as the following extract shows:
(§2) “We pray, father Eleutherus, that you may rejoice in God in all things and always. We have requested our brother and comrade Irenaeus to carry this letter to you, and we ask you to hold him in esteem, as zealous for the covenant of Christ. For if we thought that office could confer righteousness upon anyone, we should commend him among the first as a presbyter of the church, which is his position.”
The Quartodeciman Controversy (Dating of Easter)
(§1) A question of no small importance arose at that time. For the parishes of all Asia, as from an older tradition, held that the fourteenth day of the moon, on which day the Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb, should be observed as the feast of the Savior’s Passover [Easter]. It was therefore necessary to end their fast on that day, whatever day of the week it should happen to be. But it was not the custom of the churches in the rest of the world to end it at this time, as they observed the practice which, from apostolic tradition, has prevailed to the present time, of terminating the fast on no other day than on that of the resurrection of our Savior.
(§2) 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…And there is also another writing extant of those who were assembled at Rome to consider the same question, which bears the name of Bishop [St. Pope] Victor…
(§3) And that which has been given above was their unanimous decision.
(§9) Thereupon Victor, who presided over the church at Rome, immediately attempted to cut off from the common unity the parishes of all Asia, with the churches that agreed with them, as heterodox; and he wrote letters and declared all the brethren there wholly excommunicate.
(§10) But this did not please all the bishops. And they besought him to consider the things of peace, and of neighborly unity and love. Words of theirs are extant, sharply rebuking Victor.
(§11) Among them was Irenaeus, who, sending letters in the name of the brethren in Gaul over whom he presided, maintained that the mystery of the resurrection of the Lord should be observed only on the Lord’s day. He fittingly admonishes Victor that he should not cut off whole churches of God which observed the tradition of an ancient custom [Quotes St. Irenaeus of Lyon’s letter]…
(§18) Thus Irenaeus, who truly was well named [the root word of his name meant “peace”], became a peacemaker in this matter, exhorting and negotiating in this way in behalf of the peace of the churches. And he conferred by letter about this mooted question, not only with Victor, but also with most of the other rulers of the churches.
Firmilian of Cappadocia (died c. 269) | WEST
Firmilian of Caesarea, Letter 74: To St. Cyprian, Against the Letter of St. Pope Stephen (256)
(§§16-17) | ROCK | SUCCESSORS
(§16) But what is the greatness of his [St. Pope Stephen’s] error, and what the depth of his blindness, who says that remission of sins can be granted in the synagogues of heretics, and does not abide on the foundation of the one Church which was once based by Christ upon the rock, may be perceived from this, that Christ said to Peter alone, “Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt. 16:19). And again, in the Gospel, when Christ breathed on the apostles alone, saying, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them, and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained” (John 20:22-23). Therefore the power of remitting sins was given to the apostles, and to the churches which they, sent by Christ, established, and to the bishops who succeeded to them by vicarious ordination. But the enemies of the one Catholic Church in which we are, and the adversaries of us who have succeeded the apostles, asserting for themselves, in opposition to us, unlawful priesthoods, and setting up profane altars, what else are they than Korah, Dathan, and Abiram [Num. 16], profane with a like wickedness, and about to suffer the same punishments which they did, as well as those who agree with them, just as their partners and abettors perished with a like death to theirs?
(§17) And in this respect I am justly indignant at this so open and manifest folly of [St. Pope] Stephen, that he who so 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, should introduce many other rocks and establish new buildings of many churches; maintaining that there is baptism in them by his authority. For they who are baptized, doubtless, fill up the number of the Church. But he who approves their baptism maintains, of those baptized, that the Church is also with them. Nor does he understand that the truth of the Christian Rock is overshadowed, and in some measure abolished, by him when he thus betrays and deserts unity. The apostle acknowledges that the Jews, although blinded by ignorance, and bound by the grossest wickedness, have yet a zeal for God. [St. Pope] Stephen, who announces that he holds by succession the throne of Peter, is stirred with no zeal against heretics, when he concedes to them, not a moderate, but the very greatest power of grace: so far as to say and assert that, by the sacrament of baptism, the filth of the old man is washed away by them, that they pardon the former mortal sins, that they make sons of God by heavenly regeneration, and renew to eternal life by the sanctification of the divine laver. He who concedes and gives up to heretics in this way the great and heavenly gifts of the Church, what else does he do but communicate with them for whom he maintains and claims so much grace? And now he hesitates in vain to consent to them, and to be a partaker with them in other matters also, to meet together with them, and equally with them to mingle their prayers, and appoint a common altar and sacrifice.
St. Pope Julius I (280-352) | WEST
St. Pope Julius, Letter to the Eusebians at Antioch, quoted in St. Athanasius, Apology Against the Arians (341)
NOTE: See the accounts of this same letter from St. Pope Julius in the Ecclesiastical History of Socrates of Constantinople (Book 2, Ch. 17), and the Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen (Book 3, Ch. 10), both quoted in the Archive above.
(Part 1, Ch. 2, §35) | SUCCESSORS | INFALLIBILITY
Give us notice therefore of this, dearly beloved, that we may write both to them, and to the Bishops who will have again to assemble, so that the accused may be condemned in the presence of all, and confusion no longer prevail in the Churches…Supposing, as you assert, that some offence rested upon those persons, the case ought to have been conducted against them, not after this manner, but according to the Canon of the Church. Word should have been written of it to us all, that so a just sentence might proceed from all. For the sufferers were Bishops, and Churches of no ordinary note, but those which the Apostles themselves had governed in their own persons [Rome and Alexandria].
And why was nothing said to us concerning the Church of the Alexandrians in particular? Are you ignorant that the custom has been for word to be written 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, notice thereof ought to have been sent to the Church of this place; whereas, after neglecting to inform us, and proceeding on their own authority as they pleased, now they desire to obtain our concurrence in their decisions, though we never condemned him. Not so have the constitutions of Paul, not so have the traditions of the Fathers directed; this is another form of procedure, a novel practice. I beseech you, readily bear with me: what I write is for the common good. For what we have received from the blessed Apostle Peter, that I signify to you; and I should not have written this, as deeming that these things were manifest unto all men, had not these proceedings so disturbed us.
St. Optatus of Milevis (300s) | WEST
St. Optatus, Against the Donatists (c. 384)
(Book 2, §§2-6) (pgs. 31-35, 37)
(§2) Since, therefore, we have proved that the Catholic Church is the one that is spread throughout the whole compass of the earth, we must describe its trappings and we must see where are the five gifts, which 31 | 32 according to you [the Donatists] are six. The first of these is the see, to which, unless the Bishop occupies it, the second gift cannot be joined, which is the angel. We must see who first occupied the see, and where. If you do not know, learn; if you do not know, blush. You cannot be supposed to be ignorant; it can only be, therefore, that you know. To sin is to err knowingly; for sometimes one ignores the faults of ignorance. Therefore you cannot deny that you know that the first episcopal see was set up in Rome, which was occupied by Peter the head of all the Apostles (for which reason he was called Cephas) so that in this one see unity might be preserved by all, lest each of the other Apostles should maintain his own; thus anyone who set up another see against this one see would be a schismatic and a sinner.
(§3) Therefore the one see, which is the first of the gifts, was first occupied by Peter, then Linus succeeded him, Clement succeeded to Linus, Anacletus to Clement, Evaristus to Anacletus, [Alexander] to 32 | 33 Evaristus, Sextus [to Alexander], Telesphorus to Sextus, Hyginus to Telesphorus, Anicetus to Hyginus, Pius to Anicetus, Soter to Pius, [Eleutherius] to Soter, Victor [to Eleutherius], Zephyrinus to Victor, Calixtus to Zephyrinus, Urbanus to Calixtus, Pontianus to Urbanus, Anterus to Pontianus, Fabian to Anterus, Cornelius to Fabian, Lucius to Cornelius, Stephen to Lucius, Sextus to Stephen, Dionysius to Sextus, Felix to Dionysius, [Eutychianus] to Felix, [Gaius to Eutychianus], Marcellinus [to Gaius], [Marcellus] to Marcellinus, Eusebius [to Marcellus], Miltiades to Eusebius, Sylvester to Miltiades, Marcus to Sylvester, Julius to Marcus, Liberius to Julius, Damasus to Liberius, Siricius to Damasus, and he is our colleague today. With him, the whole world, in a single fellowship of communion maintained by the exchange of official letters, agrees. Tell us the origin of your see, which you wish to claim for yourselves as a sacred church.
(§4) But you say that you too have a certain party in the city of Rome. It is a branch of your error, springing from a lie, not from the root of truth. Moreover, if Macrobius were to say where he has his see, could he say, in the see of Peter? I do not know if he has even seen it with 33 | 34 his eyes, and he has not approached Peter’s memorial, acting like a schismatic against the Apostle, who speaks of communicating with the memorials of the saints [Rom. 12:13]. See, there are the memorials of the two Apostles [Peter and Paul]. Tell me if he was able to come up to these or made an offering in the place where the memorials of the saints are agreed to be. Therefore, your colleague Macrobius can say only that he occupies the place that was once occupied by Encolpius; and if it were possible to interrogate Encolpius himself, he would say that he occupies the place formerly occupied by Boniface of Ballita. Then if it were possible to interface the latter, he would say that his is the place formerly occupied by Victor of Garba, sent long ago by your party to a few strays. How is it that your party has not been able to have a citizen as your Bishop in the city of Rome? How is it that all those acknowledged to have succeeded one another in that city are Africans and immigrants? Do you not see the trickery, the factiousness, which is the mother of schism?…
Victor was therefore sent [to Rome]; there he was a son without a father, a novice without a guide, a disciple without a master, a follower without a predecessor, a tenant without a house, a guest without a host, a shepherd without a flock, a bishop without a people. For one could not call either flock or people the few who had nowhere to convene among the forty and more churches [in Rome]. So they marked off a certain cave outside the city with hurdles, to have a meeting-place there 34 | 35 at that time; hence they were called Hillmen…[I]f Victor were to say what see he occupied, he could point to one before him, nor any see except in the midst of plague [presumably heresy]. For the plague sent disease-stricken men to hell, and hell is where they are acknowledged to have their gates; it was against these gates, as we read, that Peter received the keys of salvation, Christ saying to him, “I shall give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the gates of hell shall not overcome them” (Matt. 16:18-19).
(§5) Whence, then, would you arrogate the keys of heaven [given to Peter] for yourselves, when you fight against the see of Peter with your presumptuous notions and sacrilegious audacity, rejecting the blessedness which is the merited praise of him who has not departed into the assembly of the impious and did not abide in the way of sinners and has not sat in the seat of plague [heresy]? Your ancestors went into the assembly of the impious, producing a division of the church. They also entered the way of sinners, when they tried to divide Christ, whose very clothes the Jews did not wish to rend, and that despite the Apostle’s exclamation, “Is Christ divided?” (2 Cor. 1:13). I wish that, having already entered the evil way, they would acknowledge their sin and return upon themselves, that is they would mend their errors and recall the peace that they have put to flight, which would be to return from their way; for in a way one walks, and does not abide. But, since your parents refused to return, it is patent that they stood in the route of sinners. Their steps had been impelled by madness, but lingering discord held them back and bound them. And, so that they could not go back to better ways, they put fetters of schism on themselves, so that they might stand pertinaciously in their error, making it impossible to go back to the peace which they had deserted… 35 | 37
(§6) Therefore of the aforesaid gifts [of the Church] the see is, as we said, the first, and we have proved that it is ours through Peter…
St. Pope Damasus I (c. 305-384) | WEST
St. Pope Damasus I, Letter Condemning Apollinarianism, quoted by Theodoret of Cyrus, Ecclesiastical History
When the most praiseworthy Damasus had heard of the rise of this heresy, he proclaimed the condemnation not only of Apollinarius but also of Timotheus his follower. The letter in which he made this known to the bishops of the Eastern empire I have thought it well to insert in my history.
[Letter of St. Pope Damasus]
Most honorable sons: Inasmuch as your love renders to the apostolic see the reverence which is its due, accept the same in no stingy measure for yourselves. For even though in the holy church in which the holy apostle sat, and taught us how it becomes us to manage the rudder which has been committed to us, we nevertheless confess ourselves to be unworthy of the honor, we yet on this very account strive by every means within our power if haply we may be able to achieve the glory of that blessedness. Know then that we have condemned Timotheus, the unhallowed, the disciple of Apollinarius the heretic, together with his impious doctrine, and are confident that for the future his remains will have no weight whatever. But if that old serpent, though smitten once and again, still revives to his own destruction, who though he exists without the church never ceases from the attempt by his deadly venom to overthrow certain unfaithful men, do you avoid it as you would a pest, mindful ever of the apostolic faith—that, I mean, which was set out in writing by the Fathers at Nicaea; do you remain on steady ground, firm and unmoved in the faith, and henceforward suffer neither your clergy nor laity to listen to vain words and futile questions, for we have already given a form, that he who professes himself a Christian may keep it, the form delivered by the Apostles, as says St. Paul, “if any one preach to you another gospel than that you have received let him be Anathema” (Gal. 1:8). For Christ the Son of God, our Lord, gave by his own passion abundant salvation to the race of men, that he might free from all sin the whole man involved in sin. If anyone speaks of Christ as having had less of manhood or of Godhead, he is full of devils’ spirits, and proclaims himself a child of hell.
Why then do you again ask me for the condemnation of Timotheus? Here, by the judgment of the apostolic see, in the presence of Peter, bishop of Alexandria, he was condemned, together with his teacher, Apollinarius, who will also in the day of judgment undergo due punishment and torment. But if he succeeds in persuading some less stable men, as though having some hope, after by his confession changing the true hope which is in Christ, with him shall likewise perish whoever of set purpose withstands the order of the Church. May God keep you sound, most honored sons.
[End of St. Pope Damasus’s letter]
The bishops assembled in great Rome also wrote other things against other heresies which I have thought it necessary to insert in my history.
See further quotes under “Council of Rome” under “Councils” below.
St. Ephrem the Syrian (c. 306-373) | EAST
St. Ephrem the Syrian, Homily on Our Lord
(§54) (pgs. 329-30)
So Mary took her firstborn and left. Although He was visibly wrapped in swaddling clothes, He was invisibly clothed with prophecy and priesthood. Thus, what Moses had been given was received from Simeon, and it remained and continued with the Lord of these two (gifts). The former steward and the final treasurer handed over the keys of priesthood and prophecy to the One in authority over “the Spirit without measure” (John 3:34), because all measures of the Spirit are under His hand. And to indicate that He received the keys from the former stewards, our Lord said to Simon: “I will give you the keys of the gates” (Matt. 16:19). Now how could He give them to someone unless He had received them from someone else? So the keys He had received from Simeon the 329 | 330 priest, he gave to another Simeon [Peter], the Apostle. So even though the (Jewish) nation did not listen to the first Simeon, the (Gentile) nations would listen to the other Simeon.
St. Ephrem the Syrian, Homily 4 (c. 353)
(§1) (pgs. 197-98)
[Jesus said] Simon, my follower, I have made you the foundation of the holy Church. I betimes called you Peter, because you will support all its buildings. You are the inspector of those who will build on earth a Church for me. If they should wish to build what is false, you, the foundation, will condemn them. You are the head of the fountain from which my teaching flows; you are the chief of my disciples. Through you I will give drink to all peoples. Yours is that life-giving sweetness that I dispense. I have chosen you to be, as it were, the firstborn in my institution so that, as the heir, you may be executor of my treasures. I have given 197 | 198 you the keys of my kingdom. Behold, I have given you authority over all my treasures.
St. Epiphanius of Cyprus/Salamis (c. 310/320-403) | EAST
St. Epiphanius of Salamis, Ancoratus
(Ch. 9) (pgs. 75-77) | ROCK | KEYS | PRIMACY
Because of the temple of God, they also will be called holy men, those who established in themselves the Holy Spirit of God, as the chief of the Apostles [Peter] bears witness, the one who was deemed worthy to be blessed by the Lord, because the Father revealed to him. Therefore, the Father reveals the true Son to him [Peter], and he is blessed; and again the same one [the Father] reveals his Holy Spirit. It was necessary for the first of the Apostles, the solid rock, “upon whom the church of God would be built, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matt. 16:18), [to declare this?]. The gates of Hades are the heresies and the heresiarchs. For in every way the faith was 75 | 76 made firm in him, in the one who received the keys of heaven, in the one who looses upon the earth and binds in heaven. For in this man are found all the subtleties being asked of the faith.
This man is the one who denied three times and cursed three times before the rooster crowed [Matt. 26:34, 69-74; Mark 14:30, 66-71; Luke 22:54-61]. For indicating the abundance of his love toward his master, affirming confidently he was saying: “even if all deny you, I will not deny” (Matt. 26:33; Mark 14:29), saying so much in reference to his [Christ’s] humanity. This is the one who wept at the sound of the rooster [Matt. 26:75; Mark 14:72; Luke 22:62], in order that he might truly confess that the arrest of the Son of God was not in appearance, but true, in order that he [Peter] might say that he was a true man in weeping at his arrest, having been handed over by the Pharisees.
This is [the] one who came to Galilee to fish, the one who was a partner of the one reclining upon his breast (for he [John], learning from the Son and receiving from the Son, was revealing the power of knowledge, and he was aided by the Father, laying the foundation of the certainty of the faith). He [Peter] is the one who, unclothed in the boat on [Lake] Tiberias [John 21:7], back after being called, was fishing (and the disciple, whom Jesus loved, [was with him?]). After the statement that the Savior made: “Children, you do not have anything to eat, do you?” (John 21:5) and, “Cast on the right side of the ship and you will find [fish]” (John 21:6), and after the astonishing statement happened, John, whom Jesus loved, said to Peter: “It is the Lord” (John 21:7), man according to the flesh, born from Mary in truth not in appearance, being God [according to] Spirit, coming form the Father from the heavens.
[This man] is the one who heard from him [Christ], “Peter, tend my sheep” (John 21:15), the one who has been entrusted with the flock, the one guiding well in the power of his own master, the one confessing concerning the flesh, the one truthfully announcing the things of the Father 76 | 77 concerning the Son, the one indicating the Spirit and his worthiness to divinity, the one giving the right hand of fellowship to Paul and Barnabas with James and John, in order that “through three witnesses all that is said may stand” (Deut. 19:15; Matt. 18:20).
(Ch. 11) (pg. 79) | KEYS | PRIMACY
How do they dare to say that the Spirit is alien from God, those who especially are possessed by madness and not by truth, those who do not learn the true expression of the trustworthy and holy Paul the Apostle, to whom the chief of the Apostles, Peter, the one worthy to hold the keys of the kingdom, gave his right hand…
(Ch. 34) (pg. 112) | PRIMACY
For the chief of the apostles, Peter, interprets for you the purpose of his death, saying, “put to death in flesh, but made alive in spirit” (1 Pet. 3:18).
St. Epiphanius of Salamis, Panarion
(Book 1, Ch. 27, §6) (pgs. 113, 114) | ROME | SUCCESSORS
For the bishops at Rome were, first, Peter and Paul, the apostles themselves and also bishops–then Linus, then Cletus, then Clement, a contemporary of Peter and Paul whom Paul mentions in the Epistle to the Romans. And no one need wonder why others before him succeeded the apostles in the episcopate, even though he was contemporary with Peter and Paul–for he too is the apostles’ contemporary… 113 | 114
In any case, the succession of the bishops at Rome runs in this order: Peter and Paul, Linus and Cletus, Clement, Evaristus, Alexander, Xystus, Telesphorus, Hyginus, Pius, and Anicetus, whom I mentioned above, on the list. And no one need be surprised at my listing each of the items so exactly; precise information is always given in this way.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 313-386) | EAST
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture 2 (c. 350)
(§19) | PRIMACY
The Lord is loving unto man, and swift to pardon, but slow to punish. Let no man therefore despair of his own salvation. Peter, the chiefest and foremost of the Apostles, denied the Lord thrice before a little maid: but he repented himself, and wept bitterly. Now weeping shows the repentance of the heart: and therefore he not only received forgiveness for his denial, but also held his Apostolic dignity un-forfeited.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture 6 (c. 350)
(§§14-15) | KEYS | ROME | PRIMACY
(§14) The inventor of all heresy was Simon Magus…This man, after he had been cast out by the Apostles, came to Rome…And he so deceived the City of Rome that Claudius set up his statue, and wrote beneath it, in the language of the Romans, “Simoni Deo Sancto,” which being interpreted signifies, “To Simon the Holy God.”
(§15) As the delusion was extending, Peter and Paul, a noble pair, chief rulers of the Church, arrived and set the error right; and when the supposed god Simon wished to shew himself off, they straightway shewed him as a corpse. For Simon [Magus] promised to rise aloft to heaven, and came riding in a demon’s chariot on the air; but the servants of God fell on their knees, and having shewn that agreement of which Jesus spake, that “If two of you shall agree concerning anything that they shall ask, it shall be done unto them” (Matt. 18:19), they launched the weapon of their concord in prayer against Magus, and struck him down to the earth. And marvelous though it was, yet no marvel. For Peter was there, who carries the keys of heaven [Matt. 16:19]: and nothing wonderful, for Paul was there, who was “caught up to the third heaven, and into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful far a man to utter” (2 Cor. 12:2, 4). These brought the supposed God down from the sky to earth, thence to be taken down to the regions below the earth. In this man [Simon Magus] first the serpent of wickedness appeared; but when one head had been cut off, the root of wickedness was found again with many heads.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture 17 (c. 350)
(§27) | KEYS | PRIMACY
In the power of the same Holy Spirit Peter also, the chief of the Apostles and the bearer of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, healed Aeneas the paralytic in the Name of Christ at Lydda, which is now Diospolis, and at Joppa raised from the dead Tabitha rich in good works…
Ammianus Marcellinus (c. 330-c. 391-400) | PAGAN
Ammianus Marcellinus, Res gestae | See #40
(Book 15, Ch. 7) (pg. 80) | SUCCESSORS
During Leontius’s administration [as prefect of Rome] Liberius [the Pope] the Christian bishop was summoned to appear before the imperial tribunal; his offense was resistance to the orders of the emperor and the decision of a majority of his brother bishops in a matter on which I will briefly touch. Athanasius, then bishop of Alexandria, who was persistently rumored to have thoughts above his station and to be prying into matters outside his province, had been deposed from his office by an assembly of the adherents of the same faith, meeting as what they call a synod. It was alleged that, being deeply versed in the interpretation of oracular sayings and of the flight of birds, he had on several occasions foretold the future events; he was also charged with other practices inconsistent with the principles of the faith of which he was a guardian. Liberius shared the views of his brethren, but when he was ordered by the emperor to sign the decree removing Athanasius from his priestly office he obstinately refused; he declared that it was entirely wrong to condemn a man unseen and unheard, and openly defied the emperor’s wishes. Constantius, who was always hostile to Athanasius, knew that the sentence had been carried out, but was extremely eager to have it confirmed by the higher authority of the bishop of the Eternal City. Failing in this object, he just managed to have Liberius deported under cover of night. This was a matter of great difficulty because of the strong affection in which he was held by the public at large.
St. Ambrose of Milan (c. 340-397) | WEST
St. Ambrose, Exposition of the Christian Faith (c. 379)
(Book 4, §§26, 57) | ROCK | KEYS | PRIMACY
(§26) Go your way, therefore, to my brethren—that is, to those everlasting doors, which, as soon as they see Jesus, are lifted up. Peter is an everlasting door, against whom the gates of hell shall not prevail [Matt. 16:18]. John and James, the sons of thunder, to wit [Mark 3:17], are everlasting doom. Everlasting are the doors of the Church, where the prophet, desirous to proclaim the praises of Christ, says: “That I may tell all your praises in the gates of the daughter of Sion” (Ps. 9:14)…
(§57) Moreover, that you may know that it is after His Manhood that He entreats, and in virtue of His Godhead that He commands, it is written for you in the Gospel that He said to Peter: “I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not” (Luke 22:32). To the same Apostle, again, when on a former occasion he said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” He made answer: “You are Peter, and upon this Rock will I build My Church, and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 16:18). Could He not, then, strengthen the faith of the man to whom, acting on His own authority, He gave the kingdom, whom He called the Rock, thereby declaring him to be the foundation of the Church? Consider, then, the manner of His entreaty, the occasions of His commanding. He entreats, when He is shown to us as on the eve of suffering: He commands, when He is believed to be the Son of God.
(Book 5, §§1-2) | PRIMACY
(§1) “Who, then, is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he comes shall find so doing” (Matt. 24:45-46). Not worthless is this servant: some great one ought he to be. Let us think who he may be.
(§2) It is Peter, chosen by the Lord Himself to feed His flock, who merits thrice to hear the words: “Feed My little lambs; feed My lambs; feed My sheep” [John 21:15-19]. And so, by feeding well the flock of Christ with the food of faith, he effaced the sin of his former fall. For this reason is he thrice admonished to feed the flock; thrice is he asked whether he loves the Lord, in order that he may thrice confess Him, Whom he had thrice denied before His Crucifixion.
St. Ambrose, Concerning Repentance (388)
(Book 1, Ch. 7, §33) | KEYS | PRIMACY
And this confession is indeed rightly made by them [the heretical Novatians], for they have not the succession of Peter, who hold not the chair of Peter, which they rend by wicked schism; and this, too, they do, wickedly denying that sins can be forgiven even in the Church, whereas it was said to Peter: “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven” (Matt. 16:19). And the vessel of divine election himself [St. Paul] said: “If you have forgiven anything to anyone, I forgive also, for what I have forgiven I have done it for your sakes in the person of Christ” (2 Cor. 2:10). Why, then, do they read Paul’s writings, if they think that he has erred so wickedly as to claim for himself the right of his Lord? But he claimed what he had received, he did not usurp that which was not due to him.
St. Jerome (c. 342/347-420) | EAST/WEST
St. Jerome, Against the Luciferians (383)
(§23) | ROME | SUCCESSORS
Cyprian of blessed memory tried to avoid broken cisterns and not to drink of strange waters: and therefore, rejecting heretical baptism, he summoned his African synod in opposition to [St. Pope] Stephen, who was the blessed Peter’s twenty-second successor in the see of Rome. They met to discuss this matter; but the attempt failed. At last those very bishops who had together with him determined that heretics must be re-baptized, reverted to the old custom and published a fresh decree.
St. Jerome, Illustrious Men (392)
(Ch. 1, 15) | PRIMACY | ROME
(Ch. 1) Simon Peter the son of John, from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, brother of Andrew the apostle, and himself chief of the apostles, after having been bishop of the church of Antioch and having preached to the Dispersion—the believers in circumcision, in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia—pushed on to Rome in the second year of Claudius to overthrow [the heretic] Simon Magus, and held the sacerdotal chair there for twenty-five years until the last, that is the fourteenth, year of Nero. At his hands he received the crown of martyrdom being nailed to the cross with his head towards the ground and his feet raised on high, asserting that he was unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord. He wrote two epistles which are called Catholic, the second of which, on account of its difference from the first in style, is considered by many not to be by him. Then too the Gospel according to Mark, who was his disciple and interpreter, is ascribed to him. On the other hand, the books, of which one is entitled his Acts, another his Gospel, a third his Preaching, a fourth his Revelation, a fifth his “Judgment” are rejected as apocryphal.
Buried at Rome in the Vatican near the triumphal way he is venerated by the whole world…
(Ch. 15) [St. Pope] Clement, of whom the apostle Paul writing to the Philippians says “With Clement and others of my fellow-workers whose names are written in the book of life” (Phil. 4:3), the fourth bishop of Rome after Peter, if indeed the second was Linus and the third Anacletus, although most of the Latins think that Clement was second after the apostle. He wrote, on the part of the church of Rome, an especially valuable Letter to the church of the Corinthians, which in some places is publicly read, and which seems to me to agree in style with the epistle to the Hebrews which passes under the name of Paul but it differs from this same epistle, not only in many of its ideas, but also in respect of the order of words, and its likeness in either respect is not very great. There is also a second Epistle under his name which is rejected by earlier writers, and a Disputation between Peter and Appion written out at length, which Eusebius in the third book of his Church history rejects. He died in the third year of Trajan and a church built at Rome preserves the memory of his name unto this day.
St. Jerome, Against Jovianus
(Book 1, §26) | KEYS | PRIMACY
But you say, the Church was founded upon Peter [Matt. 16:18]: although elsewhere the same is attributed to all the Apostles, and they all receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the strength of the Church depends upon them all alike, yet one among the twelve is chosen so that when a head has been appointed, there may be no occasion for schism…
St. Jerome, Letter 15: To St. Pope Damasus (c. 376/377) | See #41
(§§1-5) | ROCK | KEYS | ROME | PRIMACY | SUCCESSOS | INFALLIBILITY
(§1) Since the East, shattered as it is by the long-standing feuds, subsisting between its peoples, is bit by bit tearing into shreds the seamless vest of the Lord, “woven from the top throughout” (John 19:23) since the foxes are destroying the vineyard of Christ (Song. 2:15), and since among the broken cisterns that hold no water it is hard to discover “the sealed fountain” and “the garden enclosed” (Song. 4:12), I think it my duty to consult the chair of Peter, and to turn to a church whose faith has been praised by Paul [Rom. 1:8]. I appeal for spiritual food to the church whence I have received the garb of Christ [baptism; cf. Gal. 3:27]. The wide space of sea and land that lies between us cannot deter me from searching for “the pearl of great price” (Matt. 13:46). “Wheresoever the body is, there will the eagles be gathered together” (Matt. 24:28). Evil children have squandered their patrimony; you alone keep your heritage intact. The fruitful soil of Rome, when it receives the pure seed of the Lord, bears fruit a hundredfold; but here [in the east] the seed corn is choked in the furrows and nothing grows but darnel or oats [Matt. 13:22-23]. In the West the Sun of righteousness [Mal. 4:2] is even now rising; in the East, Lucifer, who fell from heaven [Luke 10:18], has once more set his throne above the stars [Isa. 14:12]. “You are the light of the world” (Matt. 5:14), “you are the salt of the earth” (Matt. 5:13), you are “vessels of gold and of silver.” Here are vessels of wood or of earth [2 Tim. 2:20], which wait for the rod of iron [Apoc. 2:27], and eternal fire.
(§2) Yet, though your greatness terrifies me, your kindness attracts me. From the priest I demand the safe-keeping of the victim, from the shepherd the protection due to the sheep. Away with all that is overweening; let the state of Roman majesty withdraw. My words are spoken to the successor of the fisherman [St. Peter], to the disciple of the cross. As I follow no leader save Christ, so I communicate with none but your blessedness, that is with the chair of Peter. For this, I know, is the rock on which the church is built [Matt. 16:18]! This is the house where alone the paschal lamb can be rightly eaten [Ex. 12:22]. This is the ark of Noah, and he who is not found in it shall perish when the flood prevails [Gen. 7:23]…Consequently I here follow the Egyptian confessors [Catholics expelled by Emperor Valens] who share your faith, and anchor my frail craft under the shadow of their great argosies [large ships]. I know nothing of Vitalis; I reject Meletius; I have nothing to do with Paulinus [rival claimants of the see of Antioch]. He that gathers not with you scatters [Matt. 12:30]; he that is not of Christ is of Antichrist.
(§3) Just now, I am sorry to say, those Arians, the Campenses [the party of Meletius in Antioch, who worshipped outside the city], are trying to extort from me, a Roman Christian, their unheard-of formula…And this, too, after the definition of Nicaea and the decree of Alexandria [allowed three hypostases to be interpreted in a Catholic way, but did not encourage it], in which the West has joined. Where, I should like to know, are the apostles of these doctrines? Where is their Paul, their new doctor of the Gentiles?…
(§4) If you think fit enact a decree; and then I shall not hesitate to speak of three hypostases. Order a new creed to supersede the Nicene; and then, whether we are Arians or orthodox, one confession will do for us all…Or, if you think it right that I should speak of three hypostases, explaining what I mean by them, I am ready to submit…
(§5) I implore your blessedness, therefore, by the crucified Savior of the world, and by the consubstantial trinity, to authorize me by letter either to use or to refuse this formula of three hypostases…I beg you also to signify with whom I am to communicate at Antioch. Not, I hope, with the Campenses; for they—with their allies the heretics of Tarsus [likely semi-Arians or Macedonians, led by Silvanus of Tarsus]—only desire communion with you to preach with greater authority their traditional doctrine of three hypostases.
St. Jerome, Letter 16: To St. Pope Damasus (c. 377/78)
(§2) | ROME | PRIMACY | SUCCESSORS
The untiring foe follows me closely, and the assaults that I suffer in the desert are severer than ever. For the Arian frenzy raves, and the powers of the world support it. The church is rent into three factions, and each of these is eager to seize me for its own. The influence of the monks is of long standing, and it is directed against me. I meantime keep crying: “He who clings to the chair of Peter is accepted by me.” Meletius, Vitalis, and Paulinus [rival claimants of the see of Antioch] all profess to cleave to you [St. Pope Damasus], and I could believe the assertion if it were made by one of them only. As it is, either two of them or else all three are guilty of falsehood. Therefore I implore your blessedness, by our Lord’s cross and passion, those necessary glories of our faith, as you hold an apostolic office, to give an apostolic decision. Only tell me by letter with whom I am to communicate in Syria, and I will pray for you that you may sit in judgment enthroned with the twelve [Matt. 19:28]; that when you grow old, like Peter, you may be girded not by yourself but by another [John 21:18], and that, like Paul, you may be made a citizen of the heavenly kingdom [Phil. 3:20]. Do not despise a soul for which Christ died.
St. Pope Anastasius I (died 401) | WEST
St. Pope Anastasius I, Letter (St. Jerome, Letter 95) to Simplicianus
(§2) | PRIMACY | ROME | SUCCESSORS | INFALLIBILITY
Being informed, then, by a letter of the aforesaid bishop, we inform your holiness that we in like manner who are set in the city of Rome in which the prince of the apostles, the glorious Peter, first founded the church and then by his faith strengthened it; to the end that no man may contrary to the commandment read these books which we have mentioned, have condemned the same; and have with earnest prayers urged the strict observance of the precepts which God and Christ have inspired the evangelists to teach. We have charged men to remember the words of the venerable apostle Paul, prophetic and full of warning: “if any than preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8). Holding fast, therefore, this precept, we have intimated that everything written in days gone by Origen that is contrary to our faith is even by us rejected and condemned.
Rufinus of Aquileia (344/45-411) | WEST
Rufinus of Aquileia, Apology | See #44
(Book 1, §44) | SUCCESSORS
You say that Origen himself repented of these doctrines, and that he sent a document to that effect to [St. Pope] Fabian who was at that time Bishop of the city of Rome; and yet after this repentance of his, and after he has been dead a hundred and fifty years, you drag him into court and call for his condemnation. How is it possible then that you should receive forgiveness, even though you repent, since he who before was penitent for emitting those doctrines gains no forgiveness? He wrote just as you have written: he repented as you have repented. You ought therefore either both of you to be absolved for your repentance, or, if you refuse forgiveness to a penitent (which I do not desire to see you insist upon), to be both of you equally condemned.
(Book 2, §33) | PRIMACY | ROME
Peter was for twenty-four years Bishop of the Church of Rome. We cannot doubt that, amongst other things necessary for the instruction of the church, he himself delivered to them the treasury of the sacred books, which, no doubt, had even then begun to be read under his presidency and teaching.
St. John Chrysostom (c. 347-407) | EAST
St. John Chrysostom, Homily on the Holy Martyr St. Ignatius of Antioch
(§4) | PRIMACY
At all events the master of the whole world, Peter, to whose hands He committed the keys of heaven, whom He commanded to do and to bear all, He bade tarry here for a long period. Thus in His sight our city was equivalent to the whole world. But since I have mentioned Peter, I have perceived a fifth crown woven from him, and this is that this man succeeded to the office after him. For just as any one taking a great stone from a foundation hastens by all means to introduce an equivalent to it, lest he should shake the whole building, and make it more unsound, so, accordingly, when Peter was about to depart from here, the grace of the Spirit introduced another teacher equivalent to Peter, so that the building already completed should not be made more unsound by the insignificance of the successor.
St. John Chrysostom, Homily 88 on John
“He saith unto him, Feed My sheep” (John 21:17).
And why, having passed by the others, doth He speak with Peter on these matters? He was the chosen one of the Apostles, the mouth of the disciples, the leader of the band; on this account also Paul went up upon a time to enquire of him rather than the others. And at the same time to show him that he must now be of good cheer, since the denial was done away, Jesus putteth into his hands the chief authority among the brethren; and He bringeth not forward the denial, nor reproacheth him with what had taken place, but saith, “If thou lovest Me, preside over thy brethren, and the warm love which thou didst ever manifest, and in which thou didst rejoice, show thou now; and the life which thou saidst thou wouldest lay down for Me, now give for My sheep.”…
“This spake He, signifying by what death he should glorify God” (John 21:19).
He said not, “Should die,” but, “Should glorify God,” that thou mayest learn, that to suffer for Christ, is glory and honor to the sufferer.
“And when He had spoken this, He saith, Follow Me” (John 21:19).
Here again He alludeth to his tender carefulness, and to his being very closely attached to Himself. And if any should say, “How then did James receive the chair at Jerusalem?” I would make this reply, that He [Christ] appointed Peter teacher, not of the chair, but of the world.
St. John Chrysostom, Homily 10 on 2 Timothy
(Commentary on 4:21) | ROME | SUCCESSORS
This Linus [2 Tim. 4:21], some say, was second Bishop of the Church of Rome after Peter.
St. Pope Innocent I (died 417) | WEST
St. Pope Innocent I, Letter 29 (181 in St. Augustine): To St. Augustine and the Bishops of the Council of Carthage (January 27, 417)
SOURCE: St. Augustine, Sister Wilfrid Parsons, SND, trans., The Fathers of the Church, Vol. 30: Saint Augustine, Letters, Vol. IV (165-203) (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1955). See also E. Giles, ed., Documents Illustrating Papal Authority: AD 96-454 (London: SPCK, 1952), 201-202, and DS 217.
(pgs. 121-22, 125-26) | PRIMACY | SUCCESSORS | INFALLIBILITY
In your inquiries into the things of God, which require to be treated by priests with great care, especially when there is question of a true, just, and Catholic council, you have kept the precedents of ancient tradition, being mindful of ecclesiastical discipline, and you have added strength to our religion, not only now in your council, but before it when you made your pronouncement according to right reason, and when you voted to submit the matter to our judgment, knowing well what is owing to the Apostolic See, since all of us who are placed in this position desire to follow the Apostle himself, from whom the very episcopate and the whole authority of its name are derived [St. Peter]. Following in his footsteps, we know equally how to condemn what is evil and to approve what is praiseworthy, as for example, the fact that you keep the customs of the fathers with priestly zeal, that you do not think they should be trampled underfoot. Because it has been decreed by a divine, not a human, authority that whenever action is taken in any of the provinces, however distant or remote, it should not be brought to a conclusion before it comes to the knowledge of this See [Rome], so that every just decision may be affirmed by our complete authority. Thus, just as all waters come forth from their natural source and flow through all parts of the world, keeping the purity of their source, so all the other Churches may draw from this source knowledge of what they are to teach, whom they are to absolve, and 121 | 122 from whom the waters, intended only for pure bodies, should be withheld as being soiled with indelible filth.
Therefore, I thank you, dearest brothers, for sending us letters by our brother and fellow priest, Julius, in which you show that while administering the Churches of the whole world, in union with all, you ask a decree that may be for the good of all. Thus, a Church, supported by its own rules and strengthened by the decretals of a legitimate pronouncement, may not have to be exposed to those against whom it should be on guard: men instructed or, rather, destroyed by the perverse subtleties of words, who pretend to argue for the Catholic faith yet breathe out deadly poison so as to corrupt the hearts of right-thinking men and drag them down, seeking to overthrow the whole system of true dogma…
Therefore, this poison is to be cut out, which, like a sore, has crept into a clean and wholly sound body, let if it is removed too late it may settle in the very vitals from which it may not be possible for the corruption of this evil to be drawn off… 122 | 125
Therefore, whoever appears to be in agreement with this statement which declares that we have no need of divine help [Pelagianism] shows himself an enemy of the Catholic faith, and an ingrate to the goodness of God. They are unworthy of our communion, which they have polluted by such preaching. They have voluntarily fled from the true religion by following those who make these statements. Since this whole matter rests on our avowal, and we accomplish nothing by our daily prayer except in so far as we receive the grace of God, how can we tolerate such boasting?…They must be plucked out and removed far 125 | 126 from the bosom of the Church, lest their error, gaining ground for a long time, should afterwards grow in to something incurable. If they were to remain long unpunished they must needs draw many into their perverted state of mind, and deceive the innocent or, rather, the unwary who now follow the Catholic faith, who will think the deceivers must be right since they see them remaining in the Church…
Therefore, let the diseased sore be cut off from the sound body, and the miasma of the cruel malady be carefully removed, that thus the healthy parts may continue to live, that the flock, being cleansed, may be clear of this contagion of an infected flock. Let there be an unspotted perfection of the whole body, such as we know, from your pronouncement against them, that you follow and hold, and which we, together with you, uphold with equal assent…
But this answer, furnished with abundant examples of our law, is sufficient to meet your warning, and we think that nothing remains for us to say.
St. Augustine (354-430) | WEST
St. Augustine, Against the Fundamental Letter of Manichaeus (397)
(§5) | PRIMACY | ROME | SUCCESSORS
For in the Catholic Church, not to speak of the purest wisdom, to the knowledge of which a few spiritual men attain in this life, so as to know it, in the scantiest measure, indeed, because they are but men, still without any uncertainty (since the rest of the multitude derive their entire security not from acuteness of intellect, but from simplicity of faith)—not to speak of this wisdom, which you do not believe to be in the Catholic Church, there are many other things which most justly keep me in her bosom. The consent of peoples and nations keeps me in the Church; so does her authority, inaugurated by miracles, nourished by hope, enlarged by love, established by age. The succession of priests keeps me, beginning from the very seat of the Apostle Peter, to whom the Lord, after His resurrection, gave it in charge to feed His sheep [John 21:15-17], down to the present episcopate. And so, lastly, does the name itself of Catholic, which, not without reason, amid so many heresies, the Church has thus retained; so that, though all heretics wish to be called Catholics, yet when a stranger asks where the Catholic Church meets, no heretic will venture to point to his own chapel or house. Such then in number and importance are the precious ties belonging to the Christian name which keep a believer in the Catholic Church, as it is right they should, though from the slowness of our understanding, or the small attainment of our life, the truth may not yet fully disclose itself. But with you, where there is none of these things to attract or keep me, the promise of truth is the only thing that comes into play. Now if the truth is so clearly proved as to leave no possibility of doubt, it must be set before all the things that keep me in the Catholic Church; but if there is only a promise without any fulfillment, no one shall move me from the faith which binds my mind with ties so many and so strong to the Christian religion.
St. Augustine, Answer to Petilian the Donatist (402)
(Book 2, Ch. 51, §118) | ROME | SUCCESSORS
However, if all men throughout all the world were of the character which you most vainly charge them with, what has the chair done to you of the Roman Church, in which Peter sat, and which Anastasius fills to-day; or the chair of the Church of Jerusalem, in which James once sat, and in which John sits today, with which we are united in catholic unity, and from which you have severed yourselves by your mad fury?
Why do you call the apostolic chair a seat of the scornful? If it is on account of the men whom you believe to use the words of the law without performing it, do you find that our Lord Jesus Christ was moved by the Pharisees, of whom He says, “They say, and do not,” to do any despite to the seat in which they sat? Did He not commend the seat of Moses, and maintain the honor of the seat, while He convicted those that sat in it? For He says, “They sit in Moses’ seat: all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not” (Matt. 23:2-3). If you were to think of these things, you would not, on account of men whom you calumniate, do despite to the apostolic seat, in which you have no share. But what else is conduct like yours but ignorance of what to say, combined with want of power to abstain from evil-speaking?
St. Augustine, Sermon 81 (131) (c. 411)
(§10) | SUCCESSORS
For already have two councils [Councils of Carthage and Milevis, referenced by St. Augustine in Letters 175-76] on this question been sent to the Apostolic see; and rescripts also have come from thence. The question has been brought to an issue; would that their error may sometime be brought to an issue too! Therefore do we advise that they may take heed, we teach that they may be instructed, we pray that they may be changed. Let us turn to the Lord, etc.
St. Augustine, Sermon 295: On the Birthday of the Apostles Peter and Paul (c. 411)
SOURCE: St. Augustine, Edmund Hill, OP, trans., The Works of Saint Augustine: Sermons, III/8 (273-305A) (New York: New City Press, 1994).
(§2) (pgs. 197-98) | KEYS | PRIMACY
Before his passion the Lord Jesus, as you know, chose those disciples of his, whom he called apostles. Among these it was only Peter who almost everywhere was given the privilege of representing the whole Church. It was in the person of the whole Church, which he alone represented, that he was 197 | 198 privileged to hear, “To you will I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 16:19). After all, it isn’t just one man that received these keys, but the Church in its unity. So this is the reason for Peter’s acknowledged pre-eminence, that he stood for the Church’s universality and unity, which he was told, “To you I am entrusting,” what has in fact been entrusted to all…
St. Augustine, Tractate 56 on the Gospel of John (c. 416/17)
(§1) | PRIMACY
For who can fail to know that the most blessed Peter was the first of the apostles?
St. Augustine, Letter 53: To Generosus (400)
(§2) | ROCK | ROME | SUCCESSORS
For if the lineal succession of bishops is to be taken into account, with how much more certainty and benefit to the Church do we reckon back till we reach Peter himself, to whom, as bearing in a figure the whole Church, the Lord said: “Upon this rock will I build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it!” (Matt. 16:18). The successor of Peter was Linus, and his successors in unbroken continuity were these: Clement, Anacletus, Evaristus, Alexander, Sixtus, Telesphorus, Iginus, Anicetus, Pius, Soter, Eleutherius, Victor, Zephirinus, Calixtus, Urbanus, Pontianus, Antherus, Fabianus, Cornelius, Lucius, Stephanus, Xystus, Dionysius, Felix, Eutychianus, Gaius, Marcellinus, Marcellus, Eusebius, Miltiades, Sylvester, Marcus, Julius, Liberius, Damasus, and Siricius, whose successor is the present Bishop [St. Pope] Anastasius. In this order of succession no Donatist bishop is found. But, reversing the natural course of things, the Donatists sent to Rome from Africa an ordained bishop, who, putting himself at the head of a few Africans in the great metropolis, gave some notoriety to the name of “mountain men,” or Cutzupits, by which they were known.
St. Pope Celestine I (c. 376-432) | WEST
St. Pope Celestine I, Letter to John of Antioch, Juvenal of Jerusalem, Rufus of Thessalonica, and Flavian of Philippi (August 10, 430)
(§§4-5) (pgs. 155-56) | SUCCESSORS | INFALLIBILITY
(§4) …We have therefore severed from our communion both Bishop Nestorius [a heretic] and anyone else who copies him in teaching these things, until in a written profession he condemns the perverse teaching he initiated, and declares that he holds the same faith about the virgin birth, that is, about the salvation of the human race, as that which, in accordance with apostolic doctrine, is held, revered, and taught by the Roman and the Alexandrian and the universal Catholic Church. And if anyone has been excommunicated or stripped of episcopal or clerical rank either by Bishop Nestorius or his followers, from the time when they initiated this teaching, it is obvious that he has remained and remains in our communion, nor do we consider him deposed, since no one can be deposed by a sentence delivered by one who has shown that he himself ought to be deposed.
(§5) This, most dear brother, we have thought necessary to write to your holiness, so that, strengthened in the Lord and wearing on your chest the familiar breastplate of Christ with the shield of Catholic teaching, you may protect from the perversity of the most dire doctrine the flocks of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was born and suffered for us, and who, after unlocking hell and conquering death, rose for us on the third day. As we have also written to our holy brother and fellow bishop [St.] Cyril [of Alexandria], a sound defender of the Catholic faith, may your holiness know that the following verdict on the same Nestorius has been delivered by us, or rather by Christ God: within ten days, counting from today’s indictment, he is either to condemn by a written profession his sacrilegious sermons on the birth of Christ and profess that he follows the faith that is preserved by the Roman and the Alexandrian and the universal church, or he is to be aware that he has been deposed from the episcopal college and that ruin has come upon 155 | 156 him. In order that this decree of ours may be executed more effectively, we have decided that this letter is to be faithfully delivered to your love by our son Posidonius, deacon of the church of Alexandria…
Socrates of Constantinople (c. 380-after 439) | EAST
Socrates of Constantinople, Ecclesiastical History
(Book 2, Ch. 17) | SUCCESSORS
When Julius, bishop of Rome, was apprised of these fresh machinations of the Arians against Athanasius, and had also received the letter of the then deceased Eusebius, he invited the persecuted Athanasius to come to him, having ascertained where he was secreted. The epistle also of the bishops who had been some time before assembled at Antioch, just then reached him; and at the same time others from the bishops in Egypt, assuring him that the entire charge against Athanasius was a fabrication. On the receipt of these contradictory communications, Julius first replied to the bishops who had written to him from Antioch, complaining of the acrimonious feeling they had evinced in their letter, and charging them with a violation of the canons, because they had not requested his attendance at the council, seeing that the ecclesiastical law required that the churches should pass no decisions contrary to the views of the bishop of Rome: he then censured them with great severity for clandestinely attempting to pervert the faith; in addition, that their former proceedings at Tyre were fraudulent, because the investigation of what had taken place at Mareotes was on one side of the question only; not only this, but that the charge respecting Arsenius had plainly been proved a false charge. Such and similar sentiments did Julius write in his answer to the bishops convened at Antioch…
St. Sechnall of Ireland (died c. 447/448) | WEST
St. Sechnall of Ireland, Hymn on St. Patrick, Teacher of the Irish (444)
(Lines 9-12) (pg. 61) | PRIMACY
Constant in the fear of God and steadfast in his faith,
On him the Church [in Ireland] is built as on Peter;
And his apostleship has he received from God–
The gates of Hell will not prevail against him [Matt. 16:18].
St. Peter Chrysologus (c. 380-c. 450) | WEST
St. Peter Chrysologus, Letter to Eutyches (448) | See #42
(§2) (pgs. 286-87) | SUCCESSORS | INFALLIBILITY
However, we give you this exhortation in regard to everything, honorable brother: obediently heed these matters which the most blessed Pope of the City of Rome has written, because blessed Peter who lives and presides in his own see proffers the truth of faith to those who seek it. 286 | 287 For, in accordance with our pursuit of peace and of faith, we cannot decide upon cases of faith without the harmonious agreement of the Bishop of Rome.
Sozomen (c. 400-c. 450) | EAST
Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History
(Book 3, Ch. 10) | SUCCESSORS
The bishops of Egypt, having sent a declaration in writing that these allegations were false, and [St. Pope] Julius having been apprised that Athanasius was far from being in safety in Egypt, sent for him to his own city. He replied at the same time to the letter of the bishops who were convened at Antioch, for just then he happened to have received their epistle, and accused them of having clandestinely introduced innovations contrary to the dogmas of the Nicene council, and of having violated the laws of the Church, by neglecting to invite him to join their Synod; for he alleged that there is a sacerdotal canon which declares that whatever is enacted contrary to the judgment of the bishop of Rome is null. He also reproached them for having deviated from justice in all their proceedings against Athanasius, both at Tyre and Mareotis, and stated that the decrees enacted at the former city had been annulled, on account of the calumny concerning the hand of Arsenius, and at the latter city, on account of the absence of Athanasius. Last of all he reprehended the arrogant style of their epistle.
St. Pope Leo the Great (c. 400-461) | WEST
St. Pope Leo the Great, Letter 10: To the Bishops of the Province of Vienne (445)
(§1) Our Lord Jesus Christ, Savior of mankind, instituted the observance of the Divine religion which He wished by the grace of God to shed its brightness upon all nations and all peoples in such a way that the Truth, which before was confined to the announcements of the Law and the Prophets, might through the Apostles’ trumpet blast go out for the salvation of all men, as it is written: “Their sound has gone out into every land, and their words into the ends of the world” (Ps. 19:4). But this mysterious function the Lord wished to be indeed the concern of all the apostles, but in such a way that He has placed the principal charge on the blessed Peter, chief of all the Apostles; and from him as from the Head wishes His gifts to flow to all the body, so that anyone who dares to secede from Peter’s solid rock may understand that he has no part or lot in the divine mystery. For He wished him who had been received into partnership in His undivided unity to be named what He Himself was, when He said: “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church” (Matt. 16:18), that the building of the eternal temple by the wondrous gift of God’s grace might rest on Peter’s solid rock: strengthening His Church so surely that neither could human rashness assail it nor the gates of hell prevail against it. But this most holy firmness of the rock, reared, as we have said, by the building hand of God, a man must wish to destroy in over-weaning wickedness when he tries to break down its power, by favoring his own desires, and not following what he received from men of old: for he believes himself subject to no law, and held in check by no rules of God’s ordinances and breaks away, in his eagerness for novelty, from your use and ours, by adopting illegal practices, and letting what he ought to keep fall into abeyance.
(§2) But with the approval, as we believe, of God, and retaining towards you the fulness of our love which the Apostolic See always, as you remember, expends upon you, holy brethren we are striving to correct these things by mature counsel, and to share with you the task of setting your churches in order, not by innovations but by restoration of the old; that we may persevere in the accustomed state which our fathers handed down to us, and please our God through the ministry of a good work by removing the scandals of disturbances. And so we would have you recollect, brethren, as we do, that the Apostolic See, such is the reverence in which it is held, has times out of number been referred to and consulted by the priests of your province as well as others, and in the various matters of appeal, as the old usage demanded, it has reversed or confirmed decisions. And in this way “the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3) has been kept, and by the interchange of letters, our honorable proceedings have promoted a lasting affection; for “seeking not our own but the things of Christ” (Phil. 2:21), we have been careful not to do despite to the dignity which God has given both to the churches and their priests. But this path which with our fathers has been always so well kept to and wisely maintained, Hilary has quitted, and is likely to disturb the position and agreement of the priests by his novel arrogance: desiring to subject you to his power in such a way as not to suffer himself to be subject to the blessed Apostle Peter, claiming for himself the ordinations of all the churches throughout the provinces of Gaul, and transferring to himself the dignity which is due to metropolitan priests; he diminishes even the reverence that is paid to the blessed Peter himself with his proud words: for not only was the power of loosing and binding given to Peter before the others, but also to Peter more especially was entrusted the care of feeding the sheep [John 21:15-17]. Yet any one who holds that the headship must be denied to Peter, cannot really diminish his dignity, but is puffed up with the breath of his pride, and plunges himself into the lowest depth…
(7) …For it is but fair, brethren, that the ordinances of antiquity should be restored, seeing that he who claimed for himself the ordinations of a province for which he was not responsible, has been shown in a similar way in the present case also to have acted so that, as he has on more than one occasion brought on himself sentence of condemnation by his rash and insolent words, he may now be kept by our command in accordance with the clemency of the Apostolic See [“as loyalty to the Apostolic See demands”] to the priesthood of his own city alone. He is not to be present then at any ordination: he is not to ordain because, conscious of his deserts, when he was required to answer for his action, he trusted to make good his escape by disgraceful flight, and has put himself out of Apostolic communion, of which he did not deserve to be a partaker…
(§9) Wherefore, because our desire seems very different to this (for we are anxious that the settled state of all the Churches and the harmony of the priests should be maintained) exhorting you to unity in the bond of love, we both entreat, and consistently with our affection admonish you, in the interests of your peace and dignity, to keep what has been decreed by us at the inspiration of God and the most blessed Apostle Peter, after sifting and testing all the matters at issue, being assured that what we are known to have decided in this way is not so much to our own advantage as to yours…For we acknowledge that it can only redound to our credit, if the diligence of the Apostolic See be kept unimpaired among you, and if in our maintenance of Apostolic discipline we do not allow what belongs to your position to fall to the ground through unscrupulous aggressions.
St. Pope Leo the Great, Letter 14: To Anastasius, Bishop of Thessalonica (445)
(§§1-2, 10, 12) | PRIMACY | SUCCESSORS | INFALLIBILITY
(§1) If with true reasoning you perceived all that has been committed to you, brother, by the blessed apostle Peter’s authority, and what has also been entrusted to you by our favor, and would weigh it fairly, we should be able greatly to rejoice at your zealous discharge of the responsibility imposed on you.
(§2) …Do but read, brother, our pages with care, and peruse all the letters sent by holders of the Apostolic See to your predecessors, and you will find injunctions either from me or from my predecessors on that in which we learn you have presumed…
(§10) …For the cementing of our unity cannot be firm unless we be bound by the bond of love into an inseparable solidity: because “as in one body we have many members, but all the members have not the same office; so we being many are one body in Christ, and all of us members one of another” (1 Cor. 12:12). The connection of the whole body makes all alike healthy, all alike beautiful: and this connection requires the unanimity indeed of the whole body, but it especially demands harmony among the priests. And though they have a common dignity, yet they have not uniform rank; inasmuch as even among the blessed Apostles, notwithstanding the similarity of their honorable estate, there was a certain distinction of power, and while the election of them all was equal, yet it was given to one [Peter] to take the lead of the rest. From which model has arisen a distinction between bishops also, and by an important ordinance it has been provided that everyone should not claim everything for himself: but that there should be in each province one whose opinion should have the priority among the brethren: and again that certain whose appointment is in the greater cities should undertake a fuller responsibility, through whom the care of the universal Church should converge towards Peter’s one seat, and nothing anywhere should be separated from its Head. Let not him then who knows he has been set over certain others take it ill that someone has been set over him, but let him himself render the obedience which he demands of them: and as he does not wish to bear a heavy load of baggage, so let him not dare to place on another’s shoulders a weight that is insupportable. For we are disciples of the humble and gentle Master who says: “Learn of Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and ye shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden light” (Matt. 11:29-30). And how shall we experience this, unless this too comes to our remembrance which the same Lord says: “He that is greater among you, shall be your servant. But he that exalts himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbles himself, shall be exalted” (Matt. 23:11-12)…
(§12) But if in that which you believed necessary to be discussed and settled with the brethren, their opinion differs from your own wishes, let all be referred to us, with the minutes of your proceedings attested, that all ambiguities may be removed, and what is pleasing to God decided. For to this end we direct all our desires and pains, that what conduces to our harmonious unity and to the protection of discipline may be marred by no dissension and neglected by no slothfulness. Therefore, dearly beloved brother, you and those our brethren who are offended at your extravagant conduct (though the matter of complaint is not the same with all), we exhort and warn not to disturb by any wrangling what has been rightfully ordained and wisely settled. Let none “seek what is his own, but what is another’s,” as the Apostle says: “Let each one of you please his neighbor for his good unto edifying” (Rom. 15:2; Phil. 2:4). For the cementing of our unity cannot be firm unless we be bound by the bond of love into an inseparable solidity: because “as in one body we have many members, but all the members have not the same office; so we being many are one body in Christ, and all of us members one of another” (1 Cor. 12:12). The connection of the whole body makes all alike healthy, all alike beautiful; and this connection requires the unanimity indeed of the whole body, but it especially demands harmony among the priests. And though they have a common dignity, yet they have not uniform rank; inasmuch as even among the blessed Apostles, notwithstanding the similarity of their honorable estate, there was a certain distinction of power, and while the election of them all was equal, yet it was given to one [St. Peter] to take the lead of the rest. From which model has arisen a distinction between bishops also, and by an important ordinance it has been provided that every one should not claim everything for himself, but that there should be in each province one whose opinion should have the priority among the brethren; and again that certain whose appointment is in the greater cities should undertake a fuller responsibility, through whom the care of the universal Church should converge towards Peter’s one seat, and nothing anywhere should be separated from its Head. Let not him then who knows he has been set over certain others take it ill that some one has been set over him, but let him himself render the obedience which he demands of them; and as he does not wish to bear a heavy load of baggage, so let him not dare to place on another’s shoulders a weight that is insupportable. For we are disciples of the humble and gentle Master who says: “Learn of Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and ye shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden light” (Matt. 11:29-30). And how shall we experience this, unless this too comes to our remembrance which the same Lord says: “He that is greater among you, shall be your servant. But he that exalts himself, shall be humbled; and he that humbles himself, shall be exalted” (Matt. 23:11-12).
St. Pope Leo the Great, Letter 28: To Flavian of Constantinople, “The Tome” (449)
But when our Lord and Savior Himself would instruct His disciples’ faith by His questionings, He said, “Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” And when they had put on record the various opinions of other people, He said, “But you, whom do you say that I am?” Me, that is, who am the Son of Man, and whom you see in the form of a slave, and in true flesh, whom do you say that I am? Whereupon blessed Peter, whose divinely inspired confession was destined to profit all nations, said, “Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:13-16). And not undeservedly was he pronounced blessed by the Lord, drawing from the chief corner-stone the solidity of power which his name also expresses, he, who, through the revelation of the Father, confessed Him to be at once Christ and Son of God: because the receiving of the one of these without the other was of no avail to salvation, and it was equally perilous to have believed the Lord Jesus Christ to be either only God without man, or only man without God.
St. Pope Leo the Great, Letter 105: To Pulcheria Augusta (445)
(§3) Let him realize what a man he has succeeded, and expelling all the spirit of pride let him imitate Flavian’s faith, Flavian’s modesty, Flavian’s humility, which has raised him right to a confessor’s glory. If he will shine with his virtues, he will merit all praise, and in all quarters he will win an abundance of love not by seeking human advancement but by deserving Divine favor. And by this careful course I promise he will bind my heart also to him, and the love of the Apostolic See, which we have ever bestowed on the church of Constantinople, shall never be violated by any change. Because if sometimes rulers fall into errors through want of moderation, yet the churches of Christ do not lose their purity. But the bishops’ assents, which are opposed to the regulations of the holy canons composed at Nicaea in conjunction with your faithful Grace, we do not recognize, and by the blessed Apostle Peter’s authority we absolutely dis-annul in comprehensive terms, in all ecclesiastical cases obeying those laws which the Holy Ghost set forth by the 318 bishops for the pacific observance of all priests in such sort that even if a much greater number were to pass a different decree to theirs, whatever was opposed to their constitution would have to be held in no respect.
St. Sechnall of Ireland (died c. 447/448) | WEST
St. Sechnall of Ireland, Hymn on St. Patrick, Teacher of the Irish (c. 444)
(Lines 9-12) (pg. 61) | ROCK
Constant in the fear of God and steadfast in his faith,
On him the Church is built as on Peter;
And his apostleship has he received from God–
The gates of Hell will not prevail against him [Matt. 16:18].
St. Pope Gelasius I (died 496) | WEST
St. Pope Gelasius, Letter 12: To Emperor Anastasius Augustus (494)
(§§2-3, 9) (pgs. 74-75, 78)
(§2) …In fact, august Emperor, there are two ways in which this world is chiefly ruled: the hallowed authority [auctoritas] of the pontiffs (pontificum) and royal power [potestas]. In these two the responsibility of the bishops (sacerdotum) is so much greater, to the extent that at the time of divine judgment they will render an account even for the very rulers of human beings. Indeed, my most indulgent son, you must know that you are permitted to superintend through high office of a human kind; however, in your devotedness you bow your head to the leaders (praesulibus) of divine affairs, and from them you await the occasions for your salvation, and, in both taking the heavenly sacraments and being suitably disposed to them, you acknowledge that you must be subject to the order of religion, rather than be in control of it. And so in these affairs you depend on their judgment, and do not wish them to be reduced to your will. For if, as much as pertains to the order of public discipline, by acknowledging that the imperial rule has been conferred on you by heavenly dispensation, the overseers (antistites) of religion themselves also obey your laws, lest their opinions which are extrinsic to worldly affairs be regarded as standing in opposition to them, with what willingness, I entreat you, is it fitting that you obey those who have been assigned to the most excellent and venerable mysteries? Accordingly, just as a charge of no light weight presses upon the pontiffs to remain silent because of the worship of the Divinity, as is proper, so there is no middling danger for those (heaven forbid!) who despise those whom they should obey. And if, in general, when all the bishops are administering divine affairs properly, it is appropriate for the hearts of the faithful to be subject to them, how much more should agreement with the leader of that see [Rome] be adhered to, whom the most high Divinity willed to be preeminent among all the bishops, and the loyalty of the entire church has honored continually?
(§3) Wherever Your Piety turns a clear gaze, never has anybody been able to raise himself by any completely human counsel to the privilege or acknowledgement of that one whom the voice of Christ set before all [Peter], whom the venerable church has always acknowledged and in her 74 | 75 devotedness holds as primate. The ordinances established by divine judgment can be assailed by acts of human presumption, but they cannot be overcome by the power of any of them… 75 | 78
(9) …Indeed, because the authority of the Apostolic See [Rome] has been put at the head of the Universal Church in all Christian centuries, it is strengthened both by a succession of canons of the Fathers and by a complex tradition…
Pope John II (c. 475-535) | WEST
Pope John II, Letter to Emperor Justinian I (534)
(pgs. 1149-54)
John, bishop of the city of Rome, to Justinian Augustus, his most glorious and most clement son.
Amid the bright praises of your Gentleness’ wisdom, most Christian of emperors, a certain constellation (so to speak) shines with purer light, because you, taught by ecclesiastical disciplines, through love for the 1149 | 1150 faith and through zeal for love preserve reverence for the Roman see and to it you subject all things and you bring all things to its unity, to whose founder, that is, the first of the apostles [St. Peter], was given the command, when the Lord spoke, “Feed my sheep” (John 21:17). And that this see is truly the head of all the churches both the fathers’ regulations and the emperors’ statues declare and your Piety’s most reverent addresses testify. Therefore it is obvious that in you will be fulfilled what the Scriptures speak: “Through me kings reign and the mighty draft justice” (Prov. 8:15). For there is naught which shines with brighter light than right Faith in an emperor; there is naught which is so unable to be subject to downfall as true religion…For it is this which strengthens your sovereignty; this which preserves your rule. For the Church’s peace, religion’s unity, guards with self-grateful tranquility the sponsor of the deed who has been raised to the heights. For no little vicissitude is granted by Divine Power to him through whom the Church, divided by no wrinkles, is separated and is changed by no imported stains…
Accordingly your Serenity’s letter we have received…by whose report also we have learned that to your faithful peoples you have proclaimed an edict through love for the faith for the intention of the heretics to be removed, according to apostolic doctrine, by the intervening consent o four brethren and fellow-bishops. And this, because it agrees with apostolic doctrine, by our authority we confirm.
Moreover, the text of the letter is as follows [Quotes letter of Emperor Justinian I, quoted below under his section]… 1150 | 1153
Therefore, most glorious emperor, it is clear—as the tenor of the reading and your legates’ report reveals—that you are desirous for apostolic instructions, when about the Catholic religion’s faith you understand these things, you have written these things, which—as we have said—both the apostolic see teaches and the fathers’ venerable authority has decreed and we have confirmed in all points.
Therefore it is fitting for the faithful to write these things in the tables of the heart, to keep these things as the pupils of the eyes, for there is not anyone, in whom Christ’s love burns, who can be an opponent to the faith of your so right, so true confession, since in damning the impiety of Nestorius and of Eutyches obviously and of all heretics you preserve unshakenly and inviolably and with a mind pious and devoted to God the one, true, Catholic faith of our Lord and God, instituted by the Savior Jesus Christ’s instruction and diffused everywhere by prophetic and apostolic preachings and strengthened by the saints’ confessions throughout the whole world, unified by the fathers’ and the teachers’ opinions and consistent with our teaching…
This, therefore, is your true faith, this the sure religion, this all the fathers of blessed memory and the Roman Church’s heads, whom in all things we follow, this the apostolic see has proclaimed hitherto and indestructibly has guarded: whoever has existed as a contradictor to this confession, to this faith, he himself has judged himself to be alien from the Holy Communion, alien from the Catholic Church… 1153 | 1154
Moreover the first of the apostles [St. Peter] through us to them not believing [heretics] speaks the words of the Prophet Isaiah: “Walk in the light of your fire and of the flame, which you have kindled” (Isa. 50:11), but their heart was hardened, as it is written, that they might not understand and the sheep, which were not mine, wished not to hear the shepherd’s voice [cf. Mark 4:10; John 10:26-27]. And since in these matters they maintained the things which have been ordained by their pontiff, we have not at all received them in our communion and we have ordered them to be alien from every Catholic church, unless, since their error has been damned, they shall have signified, after a canonical profession has been made, that they will follow our teaching as speedily as possible. Surely it is fair that those who do not adapt at all their obedience to our ordinances should be considered banished from the churches. But because the Church never closes her bosom to returners, I beg your Clemency that if, when their previous error has been discarded and when their wicked intention has been removed, they shall have wished to return to the Church’s unity, you would remove the stings of your indignation from them, when received in our communion, and grant the pardon of a kindly spirit to us making intercession.
Moreover we beseech God and our Savior Jesus Christ that he should deign to guard you for long and peaceful times in this true religion and unity and veneration for the apostolic see, whose preeminence you, as most Christian and pious, preserve in all matters…
And by another hand: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be always with you, most pious son.
Likewise the subscription: May Almighty God guard your rule and safety with perpetual protection, most glorious and most clement son, Emperor Augustus.
Emperor Justinian I (482-565) | EAST
Emperor Justinian I, To Pope John II (533)
(pgs. 1150-53)
[Quoted by Pope John II in his letter to the Emperor in his section above] Paying honor to the apostolic see and to your Sanctity (which ever has been and is in our prayer), as becomes those honoring as a father your Beatitude, we hasten to bring to your Sanctity’s knowledge all matters which pertain to the churches’ status, since ever it has been our great desire that the unity of your apostolic see and the status of God’s holy churches should be maintained, which status thus 1150 | 1151 far continues and undisturbedly persists, because no opposition interposes. And so we have hurried both to subject and to unite to your Sanctity’s see all bishops of the whole eastern region.
And at present, therefore, we have thought necessary that the matters which here are disturbed, although they are clear and undoubted and always maintained firmly and proclaimed by all bishops according to your apostolic see’s doctrine, should come to your Sanctity’s knowledge. For we do not permit that anything which pertains to the churches’ status, although it is clear and undoubted, and which is set in motion should not become known also to your Sanctity, because it is the head of all the holy churches. For by all means—as has been said—we hasten to increase your see’s honor and authority.
Therefore we make known to your Sanctity that certain few persons, unbelieving and alien from God’s Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, have dared in Jewish fashion to speak against those matters which by all bishops according to your doctrine are held rightly and praised and proclaimed [creedal formula]…But all the bishops of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church and the most reverend archimandrites of the sacred monasteries, following your Sanctity and maintaining the status and the unity of God’s holy Churches, which unity they have in regard to your Sanctity’s apostolic see, changing nothing at all about the ecclesiastical status which hitherto has obtained and obtains, by one consent confess and praise, proclaiming [creedal formula]… 1151 | 1152
Moreover we receive four holy councils, that is, of the 318 holy fathers who assembled in Nicaea, and of the 150 holy fathers who convened in this royal city [Constantinople] and of the holy fathers who assembled first in Ephesus and of the holy fathers who convened in Chalcedon, just as your apostolic see teaches and proclaims.
Therefore all bishops, following your apostolic see’s doctrine, so believe and confess and proclaim.
Wherefore we have hastened to bring these matters to your Sanctity’s knowledge by Hypatius and Demetrius, the most blessed bishops, that the things which by a certain few monks have been denied evilly and in Jewish fashion according to Nestorius’s disbelief may not escape your Sanctity’s notice.
Therefore we ask your paternal Affection that by your letters, sent to us and to the most holy bishop and patriarch, your brother, of this genial city [Constantinople], since he himself has written by the same persons to your Sanctity, hastening in all matters to follow your Beatitude’s apostolic see, you should make known to us that your Sanctity receives all who confess rightly the aforesaid things and condemns the disbelief of those who in Jewish fashion have dared to deny the right faith. For thus both all persons’ love for you and your see’s authority increase the more and the unity of the holy churches—which is your concern—will be preserved undisturbed, when all the most blessed bishops shall have learned through your Sanctity’s sincere doctrine of the matters which have been referred to you. 1152 | 1153
Moreover we ask your Beatitude to pray for us and to seek for us God’s providence.
And by another hand [the emperor’s subscription]: May the Divinity guard you for many years, holy and most religious father.
St. Pope Gregory the Great (c. 540-604) | WEST
St. Pope Gregory the Great, Letter 40 (Book 7): To Eulogius, Bishop of Alexandria (c. 597)
Your most sweet Holiness has spoken much in your letter to me about the chair of Saint Peter, Prince of the apostles, saying that he himself now sits on it in the persons of his successors. And indeed I acknowledge myself to be unworthy, not only in the dignity of such as preside, but even in the number of such as stand. But I gladly accepted all that has been said, in that he has spoken to me about Peter’s chair who occupies Peter’s chair. And, though special honor to myself in no wise delights me, yet I greatly rejoiced because you, most holy ones, have given to yourselves what you have bestowed upon me. For who can be ignorant that holy Church has been made firm in the solidity of the Prince of the apostles, who derived his name from the firmness of his mind, so as to be called Petrus from “petra.” And to him it is said by the voice of the Truth, “To thee I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 16:19). And again it is said to him, “And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Matt. 22:32). And once more, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me? Feed my sheep” (John 21:17). Wherefore though there are many apostles, yet with regard to the principality itself the See of the Prince of the apostles alone has grown strong in authority, which in three places is the See of one [Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria]. For he himself exalted the See in which he deigned even to rest and end the present life. He himself adorned the See to which he sent his disciple as evangelist. He himself stablished the See in which, though he was to leave it, he sat for seven years. Since then it is the See of one, and one See, over which by Divine authority three bishops now preside, whatever good I hear of you, this I impute to myself. If you believe anything good of me, impute this to your merits, since we are one in Him Who says, “That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee that they also may be one in us” (John 17:21).
St. Nicephorus I of Constantinople (c. 758-828) | EAST
St. Nicephorus, Apol. pro Sacris Imaginibus
SOURCE: PG 100.597A; as quoted by Francis Dvornik, Byzantium and the Roman Primacy, 96; amended translation by Msgr. Paul McPartland, A Service of Love: Papal Primacy, the Eucharist, & Church Unity (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2013).
(§25) (pg. 68)
This Synod [Council of Nicaea II] possesses the highest authority…In fact it was held in the most legitimate and regular fashion conceivable because according to the divine rules established from the beginning it was directed and presided over by that glorious portion of the Western Church, I mean by the Church of Ancient Rome. Without them [the Romans], no dogma discussed in the Church, even sanctioned in a preliminary fashion by the canons and ecclesiastical usages, can be considered to be approved, or abrogated; for they are the ones, in fact, who possess the principate of the priesthood, and who owe this distinction to the two leaders of the Apostles [Peter and Paul].
Councils
Council of Sardica (342-43)
(Can. 3, 4) [Greek versions]
(Can. 3) Bishop Hosius said: This also it is necessary to add—that no bishop pass from his own province to another province in which there are bishops, unless indeed he be called by his brethren, that we seem not to close the gates of charity.
And this case likewise is to be provided for, that if in any province a bishop has some matter against his brother and fellow-bishop, neither of the two should call in as arbiters bishops from another province.
But if perchance sentence be given against a bishop in any matter and he supposes his case to be not unsound but good, in order that the question may be reopened, let us, if it seem good to your charity, honor the memory of Peter the Apostle, and let those who gave judgment write to Julius, the bishop of Rome, so that, if necessary, the case may be retried by the bishops of the neighboring provinces and let him appoint arbiters; but if it cannot be shown that his case is of such a sort as to need a new trial, let the judgment once given not be annulled, but stand good as before.
(Ancient Epitome) No bishop, unless called thereto, shall pass to another city. Moreover a bishop of the province who is engaged in any litigation shall not appeal to outside bishops. But if Rome hears the cause, even outsiders may be present.
(Can. 4) Bishop Gaudentius said: If it seems good to you, it is necessary to add to this decision full of sincere charity which thou hast pronounced, that if any bishop be deposed by the sentence of these neighboring bishops, and assert that he has fresh matter in defense, a new bishop be not settled in his see, unless the bishop of Rome judge and render a decision as to this.
(Ancient Epitome) If a bishop has been deposed and affirms that he has an excuse to urge, unless Rome has judged the case, no bishop shall be appointed in his room. For he might treat the decree with scorn either through his nuncios or by his letters.
Ecumenical Council of Constantinople I (381)
The Bishop of Constantinople, however, shall have the prerogative of honor after the Bishop of Rome; because Constantinople is New Rome.
Council of Rome (382)
SOURCE: E. Giles, trans., Documents Illustrating Papal Authority, AD 96-454 (London: SPCK, 1952), 130-31.
(pgs. 130-31) | ROCK | KEYS | ROME | SUCCESSORS | INFALLIBILITY
After all these writings of the prophets, evangelists, and apostles which we set out above, and on which, by God’s grace, 130 | 131 the Catholic Church is founded, we think this should also be noticed: that though all the Catholic churches diffused throughout the world are but one bridal chamber of Christ, yet the holy Roman Church has been set before the rest by no conciliar decrees, but has obtained the primacy by the voice of our Lord and Savior in the gospel: “Thou art Peter and upon this rock…shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt. 16:18, 19). There is added also the society of the most blessed apostle Paul, “a chosen vessel” (Acts 9:15), who was crown on one and the same day, suffering a glorious death, with Peter in the city of Rome, under Caesar Nero; and they alike consecrated the above-named Roman church to Christ the Lord, and set it above all others in the whole world by their presence and venerable triumph.
The first see of the apostle Peter is therefore the Roman church, “not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing” (Eph. 5:27).
But the second see was consecrated at Alexandria, in the name of blessed Peter, by his disciple Mark the evangelist; and he, being directed by St. Peter into Egypt, preached the word of truth, and perfected a glorious martyrdom.
And the third see of the most blessed apostle Peter is at Antioch, which is held in honor because he lived there before he came to Rome, and there, first, the name of the new race of Christians arose.
Council of Hippo (393); Council of Carthage (397)
(Can. 36/47) (pgs. 73, 74) | SUCCESSORS
[It has been decided] that, in the Church, nothing should be read except the canonical writings under the name of the “divine Scriptures.” These canonical writings are: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, the four books of Kings [two of Samuel, two of Kings], the two books of Chronicles, Job, the Davidic Psalter, the five books of Solomon [Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom, Sirach], the twelve books of the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Tobit, Judith, Esther, two books of Esdras [Ezra, Nehemiah], two books of Maccabees… 73 | 74
[In one codex, it is added] that the Church beyond the sea [Rome, etc.] should be consulted for the confirmation of this canon.
Ecumenical Council of Ephesus (431)
Before the Council, St. Cyril of Alexandria, Letter 11 to St. Pope Celestine I (430)
(§§1, 6) (pgs. 128-29, 131) | SUCCESSORS
(§1) To the most holy and most God-beloved father Celestine, Cyril sends greetings in the Lord…
But since in these matters [heresy “undermining the orthodox faith”] God demands sober good sense from us and the long-standing custom of the churches leads us to communicate with your sacredness, 128 | 129 I need to write again in order to inform you of the fact that Satan is even now throwing everything into confusion, raging against the churches of God, and attempting to pervert the laity everywhere who are following the faith correctly… 129 | 131
(§6) We shall not publicly withdraw from communion with him [Nestorius] until we have shared this matter with your religiousness. Therefore be so good as to decree what you think right, and whether one ought to be in communion with him or rather issue a public refusal on the grounds that no one can be in communion with one who holds and teaches such things. The policy of your perfection should be published in letters to the most devout and most God-beloved bishops of Macedonia and to all those in the East, for we shall prompt them, as they desire, to make a joint stand with one soul and one mind and to contend for the orthodox faith now under attack…
Before the Council, St. Pope Celestine, Letter 17: Memorandum to His Legates (431)
(pg. 205) | SUCCESSORS
When through the agency of our God, as we trust and hope, your charity reaches your destination, consult over everything with our brother and fellow bishop [St.] Cyril, and do whatever he judges to be right. We charge you to uphold the authority of the Apostolic See. Since the instructions that have been given to you tell you that you ought to take part in the assembly, if it comes to a debate, you are to pass judgment on their statements but not to descend to controversy.
July 11 Session
(§§31, 35-36) (pgs. 378, 380)
(§31) Philip, presbyter and legate of the apostolic see, said: “It is doubtful to no one, rather it has been known in all ages, that the holy and most blessed Peter, the leader and head of the apostles, the pillar of the faith, and the foundation of the Catholic Church, received the keys of heaven from our Lord Jesus Christ the savior and redeemer of the human race, and was given the power to bind and unloose sin [Matt. 16:19], and that he lives and performs judgment, until now and always, through his successors. In accordance with this system, his successor and representative, our holy and most blessed pope Bishop Celestine, has sent us to this council as substitutes for his presence, a council that [was convoked] by the most Christian and most philanthropic emperors, who keep in mind and always protect the Catholic Faith, and who have protected and protect the apostolic teaching handed down to them till this day by their most pious and most philanthropic fathers and grandfathers of holy memory… 378 | 380
(§35) Arcadius, the most devout bishop and legate of the church of Rome, said: “Of necessity we shall confirm our own teaching by our own signatures, according to the proceedings in this holy council.”
(§36) The holy council said: “Since the most devout and most religious bishops and legates Arcadius and Projectus, and Philip, presbyter and legate of the apostolic see, have spoken most fittingly, it is appropriate that they fulfill their promise and confirm the proceedings by subscription…”
Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon (451)
Session 1 (October 8, 451)
(§§5, 9) (pg. 129) | SUCCESSORS
(§5) Paschasinus, the most devout bishop and guardian of the Apostolic See, took his stand in the center together with his companions and said: “We have [at hand] instructions from the most blessed and apostolic bishop of the city of Rome, the head of all the churches, in which he has thought it right to declare that Dioscorus should not take a seat at the assembly, and that if he has the effrontery to attempt to do so, he should be expelled. This we are obliged to observe. Therefore, if it pleases your greatness, either he must leave, or we shall leave…
(§9) Lucentius the most devout bishop, representing the Apostolic See, said: “He should render an account of his judgment. Although he did not possess the role of a judge, he usurped it. He presumed to hold a council without the leave of the Apostolic See, which has never been allowed and has never been done.
Session 2 (October 10, 451)
(§23) (pgs. 24-25)
After the reading of the aforesaid letter [the Tome of St. Pope Leo the Great] the most devout bishops exclaimed: “This is the faith of the fathers. This is the faith of the apostles. We all believe accordingly. We orthodox believe accordingly. Anathema to him who does not believe accordingly! Peter has uttered through Leo. The apostles taught accordingly. Leo aught piously and truly. [St.] Cyril taught accordingly. Eternal is the memory of Cyril. Leo and Cyril taught the same. 24 | 25 Leo and Cyril taught accordingly. Anathema to him who does not believe accordingly. This is the true faith. We orthodox think accordingly. This is the faith of the fathers.
Session 3 (October 13, 451)
(§94) (pg. 70)
Therefore the holy and most blessed pope, the head of the universal church, through us his representatives and with the assent of the holy council, endowed as he is with the dignity of Peter the Apostle, who is called the foundation of the church, the rock of faith, and the doorkeeper of the heavenly kingdom, has stripped him [Dioscorus] of episcopal dignity and excluded him from all priestly functions…
Lateran Synod (649)
Second Session, Stephen of Dora (on behalf of St. Sophronius of Jerusalem), Letter to St. Pope Martin I (October 8, 649)
(pgs. 142-46, 148-49)
To the holy and apostolic synod convened in this renowned and elder Rome according to the grace of God and the authoritative bidding of Martin the thrice-blessed pope, who is religiously presiding over it for the sacred confirmation and vindication of the definitions and decrees of the fathers and councils of the Catholic Church, I, Stephen by the mercy of God bishop and first man in the jurisdiction subject to the archiepiscopal see of Jerusalem, present what follows. 142 | 143
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all consolation, who, by the blessed and episcopal convening of your most holy selves, has consoled us in all our affliction, namely, that which we feel for his holy Catholic Church because of those [heretics] who oppose the word of faith…
As a result of their [heretics] troubling of the whole Catholic Church in this way—in the words of the blessed Jeremiah, “we have been put to shame, because we heard reproach against us; it has covered our face with reversal, because aliens have entered our sanctuary” (Jer. 51:51)—for this reason we the pious, all of us, have been looking everywhere, sometimes for “water for the head and fountains of tears from the eyes” (Jer. 8:23) for lamenting this pitiable catastrophe, and sometimes for “the wings of a dove” (Ps. 54:7) (in the words of the divine David) so that we might “fly away” and announce these things to the See that rules and presides over all others (I mean your sovereign and supreme See) [Rome], in quest of healing for the wound inflicted.
It has been accustomed to perform 143 | 144 this authoritatively from the first and from of old, on the basis of its apostolic and canonical authority, for the reason, evidently, that the truly great Peter, the head of the apostles, was deemed worthy not only to be entrusted, alone out of all, with “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 16:19) for both opening them deservedly to those who believe, and shutting them justly to those who do not believe in the gospel of grace, but also because he was the first to be entrusted with shepherding the sheep of the whole Catholic Church.
As the text runs, “Peter, do you love me? Shepherd my sheep” (John 21:16-17). And again, because he possessed more than all others, in an exceptional and unique way, firm and unshakeable faith in our Lord, [he was deemed worthy] to turn and strengthen his comrades and spiritual brethren [Luke 22:32] when they were wavering, since providentially he had been adorned by God who became incarnate for our sake with power and priestly authority over them all.
Witnessing this, Sophronius of blessed memory, who was patriarch of the holy city of Christ our God [Jerusalem] and under whom I served as a priest, not conferring at all with flesh and blood [cf. Gal. 1:16] but like your most holy self caring only for the things of Christ, hastened without delay to send my nothingness, solely over this mater, to this great and apostolic see with his own appeals, explaining both in writing and orally through me your suppliant the whole innovation of the said men, which they had committed in opposition to the orthodox faith. In addition, while still alive, he in person put up a noble resistance to those in the East, charging and adjuring them to cease from their heresy and return to the pious faith of the fathers, providing in two books six centuries of patristic citations to refute their impiety and confirm the truth; he did not, however, persuade them but excited them to calumny and wicked machinations against himself. Yet 144 | 145 he was not at all alarmed on this account, nor did he “fear where there is no fear” (Ps. 13:5), for (says the scripture) “the just man is confident like a lion” (Prov. 28:1), but, filled with godly eagerness and zeal, he took and placed me, despite my unworthiness, on holy Calvary, where, voluntarily on our behalf, the one who as God transcends us in nature, our Lord Jesus Christ deigned to be crucified in the flesh. And there he bound me with unlosable bonds, saying [quoting St. Sophronius of Jerusalem]:
“To the God who voluntarily on our behalf was crucified in this holy place you yourself will have to render an account at his glorious and dread coming, when He will judge the living and the dead, if you ignore and overlook the danger to faith in him, even though I myself, as you know, am bodily prevented from acting by the incursion of the Saracens [Arabs] as a result of our sins.
Therefore, proceed in haste from one end of the world to the other until you come to the Apostolic See, where are the foundations of the pious doctrines, and acquaint the all-sacred men there, not once or twice but many times, with everything that has with precision been mooted here. You are not to desist from vigorous exhortation and entreaty, until with apostolic wisdom they bring their judgment to a victorious conclusion and issue canonically a total refutation of the outlandish doctrines, lest, as says the Apostle, these any longer “spread like cancer” (2 Tim. 2:17), feeding on the souls of the more simple-minded.”
Wherefore, terrified and petrified at this because of the awesome judgment delivered by him on myself in this most awesome and venerable place, and then reflecting also on the episcopal dignity belonging to me by God’s leave, and on the petitions relating to the matter from almost all the God-loving bishops and Christ-loving congregations in the East, who in accord with the saints Sophronius were urging me to go with this purpose as the first men in the jurisdiction of Jerusalem, I did not, to use scriptural language, “give sleep to my eyes and slumber to my eyelids and rest to my head” (Ps. 131:4) in fulfilling this adorable command, but without any 145 | 146 delay and solely for this purpose made the journey hither.
Since then it is now the third time that I have arrived at your apostolic feet, entreating and beseeching what he and all of them have readily implored, namely, succor for the endangered faith of Christians.
On discovering that I had acted in this way, my opponents piled no slight afflictions on me, sending instructions about me through places and regions that I should be apprehended and sent to them in irons, as is known to all. But the Lord came to my assistance and rescued my life from those in pursuit of it.
Therefore, as I pursued the goal and aimed at the prize [Phil. 3:14] of your Apostolic See, God did not overlook the petition of his servants presented with tears, but stirred up to no small degree the then apostolic high priests to warn ad adjure the men aforesaid, even if in the event they had no success in pacifying them. He also stirred up the one who is now the sacred president, our master Martin, the thrice-blessed Pope, whom he will guard for his churches safe and sound, with a long life, “expounding correctly the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15), so as incomparably and surpassingly to be “zealous with zeal for God” (2 Cor. 11:2); and to gather all of you most sacred high priests to himself for the rejection of outlandish doctrines and the preservation of those of the fathers of the Church.
I too exhort and beseech you to complete the work of grace for which God has summoned you through him, so that (as the scripture says) “you may remove the evil one from among you” (1 Cor. 5:13); for the divine Apostle, writing to you Romans, exhorts you “to observe those who create scandals and divisions in opposition to the teaching you learnt and to shun them, for such people do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ but their own bellies, and by specious and fair words deceive the hearts of the innocent” (Rom. 16:17-18) [End of quote of St. Sophronius of Jerusalem]… 146 | 148
This fact [about troubles in the East] I communicated earlier to the Apostolic See, namely to the sainted Pope Theodore; he by an apostolic letter appointed me his representative, despite my unworthiness, and by an all-sacred instruction bade me, apart from conducting other ecclesiastical business, to carry out a canonical deposition of the bishops ordained in this way, if they proved incorrigible. This indeed I did, particularly in view of the fact that of their own accord they had deserted the truth for error; in accordance with his injunction I only approved those who submitted a declaration of repentance and professed in writing that they had always held, embraced, and preached the pious doctrines of the holy fathers and councils. These declarations I have no brought and presented to the thrice-blessed Pope Martin, who is presiding most sacredly over your 148 | 149 holinesses [the bishops at the synod], because some have been justly approved and other condemned, for the protection of the Catholic Church.
Second Session, Greek Monks, Letter to St. Pope Martin I (October 8, 649)
(pgs. 151-53, 154)
To God’s holy and apostolic synod convened in concord and harmony by the favor and grace and inseparable communion of the all-holy Spirit in this renowned and elder Rome for the sacred confirmation and restoration of the pious and unimpeachable faith of us Christians, according to the sacred bidding and injunction of the one [the Pope] who by divine decree is the president and primate of you and of all, the priest of priests, and father of fathers, our master Martin, the thrice-blessed pope, we, the assembly of the Greek hegumens and monks who reside here [Rome] as servants of your holinesses, present the information that follows…
We must of necessity, 151 | 152 O most blessed one, in all our resolutions choose the most holy faith of our God and Savior Jesus Christ before the world that is drawing to an end, life that is perishing, and even our own lives.
Accordingly, in common, when we were residing in the land of Africa, we—and not only ourselves but also (in unison) every region and city, or rather the communities of priests and congregations of the faith residing in each—besought this Apostolic and sovereign See not to overlook the subjecting of the orthodox faith to innovation and the open rejection of the holy council at Chalcedon—this is to say, the rejection of all the holy and illustrious fathers by Sergius, Pyrrhus, and Paul, the primates of the imperial city [Constantinople], and also by Cyrus, then bishop of the city of Alexandria…
[W]e who are now present beg, entreat, and beseech all you most holy fathers and the Apostolic and sovereign See not to overlook the petitions of Christians over so many years and from all quarters addressed equally to God and to your most holy selves, nor the pleas presented with tears on this matter by our humble selves, whether present or absent, but canonically and in council to vindicate the most holy faith that is under attack from the aforesaid men, and (after God) to keep it safe for all, uncontaminated by innovation and resplendent as before with pious 152 | 153 teaching for the benefit of orthodox priests, laymen, and monks throughout the world, since the hearts of all rely on you (after God), knowing that under Christ you are the supreme head of the churches…Together with them the same anathema should in justice be imposed on the Typos [of Paul of Constantinople, against Pope Theodore I] that has been issued against the orthodox faith by usurpation, without the knowledge or approval of our most pious emperor, but as the importunate teaching and instruction of Paul, who had been deposed by the predecessor of your all-holiness, we mean Theodore the sainted Pope of your Apostolic See… 153 | 154
It must be clearly known to your most holy selves that, if anything at all were to be defined by your beatitude contrary to this (we say) our pious petition on behalf of piety—of which perish the thought, and we do not in the least believe it, since it would be harmful to the integrity of the faith—we would stand before the event wholly free and innocent.
Because of this, for the most complete edification and assurance of our insignificance, we beseech your holinesses that your present proceedings and pronouncements on behalf of the orthodox faith be translated with total precision and in every detail into Greek, so that, taking cognizance of these things with full knowledge, we may offer our assent in these matters to you most blessed ones, adhering inviolably to what you define correctly according to the sacred teaching and tradition of the holy fathers and councils (as has already been said) for the sake of a pure confession and faith in him, our Lord and God.
Second Session, Sergius, Primate of Cyprus, Letter to Pope Theodore I (October 8, 649)
(pgs. 157-61)
Theophylact, primicerius of the notaries of the Apostolic See, said:
I informed your all-sacred holiness [St. Pope Martin I] of something that you yourself are well aware, since with great solicitude according to God you bear and possess an intelligently alert memory of everything most essential, that in your apostolic archive there are lying, kept in all security, many appeals from those in past times who, on the subject of the innovation that has lately been concocted by Cyrus and Sergius and their associates, besought your sovereign and Apostolic See to condemn and anathematize it canonically…
[Quoting the appeal of Sergius, Primate of Cyprus to Pope Theodore I] To my most holy and most blessed master, appointed by 157 | 158 God, father of fathers, archbishop and ecumenical patriarch Lord [Pope] Theodore, Sergius, the most insignificant bishop, sends greetings in the Lord.
Christ our God founded your apostolic see, O sacred head, as a divinely fixed and immovable support and conspicuous inscription of the faith. For you, as the divine Word truly declared without deceit, are Peter, and on your foundation the pillars of the church are fixed; to you he committed the keys of the heavens and decreed that you are to bind and loose with authority on earth and in heaven [Matt. 16:18-19]. You have been made the destroyer of profane heresies, as the leader and teacher of the orthodox and unimpeachable faith. Therefore, my father, do not overlook the faith of our fathers, tempest-tossed, assailed and endangered by the winds of heresy; dissolve the mist of the demented by the light of your knowledge of God, O all-holy one, obliterate the blasphemies and the raging of the heretical teachers, newly sprouted and spouting novelties. For nothing is lacking to your orthodox and apostolic ordinances and traditions, such that the faith should receive some addition from us.
For we, being guided by God, and as the associates and colleagues of the holy apostles, have held and professed them from the first, indeed from the very cradle, proclaiming and affirming to all in the words of the holy and God-bearing [St.] Pope Leo [from his Tome], “Each form operates in communion with the other.” With this all the God-bearing and all-holy fathers speak in accord, and it has been followed by us the most insignificant servants and disciples.
Therefore we do not tolerate the verbosity and adverse arguments of our opponents, for we are ready to undergo martyrdom in defense of the orthodox faith, with the support of the prayers of your most holy self. And if they were to choose to condemn the soul-destroying doctrines newly proposed in the fortunate [city of Constantinople] (that is to say, for the destruction of the beliefs and profession of the holy fathers and of the supremely glorious and renowned Pope Leo), doctrines to which our own beliefs will not cease to be contrary, things would be well, the peace dear to God would be bestowed on the churches, every division in the churches abolished, and the 158 | 159 schisms healed, with a restoration of unity. But since they do not follow you apostolic fathers [bishops who would confer with Pope Theodore in council], taught by God, we anathematize them both in writing and orally. For it is neither godly nor right, indeed it is not, when the plague of heresy is present and blasphemous anathemas have been composed, to engage in a battle of words…
In brief, therefore, most holy ones, what we say is this: let there be condemned the writings that seek to refute and condemn the God-bearing fathers, the all-holy Pope Leo, and you who speak of God. Since at your command, our masters and divinely inspired fathers, we too, as has already been said, strike them with anathemas, let us then initiate proposals and contests on the matters they are examining, since we are filled with hope by your support, which is both taught and inspired by God, since we shall not be timorous or “craven with fear where there is no fear” (Ps. 13:5), when the subject is God and the orthodox faith…For such were also the convictions of our divine Arcadius [Sergius’s predecessor as primate of Cyprus], now among the saints, heeding your orthodox teaching, whose steps we pray to follow with all our strength, concurring with your orthodox and divinely inspired teaching, our most holy masters and fathers; for we shall endure no longer those who scatter tares and stumbling blocks [Matt. 13:25, 18:7], so to speak, throughout the world. These are the beliefs of our sacred synod, which approves and embraces the Tomes of the all-holy and God-bearing Leo, confirms it as a salvific anchor of orthodoxy, exults in the doctrines of your knowledge of God, while falsifying nothing at all, and prays to depart to the Lord and stand before his dread tribunal with this orthodox profession.
May God, the Creator of all things, protect through a long life our 159 | 160 all-holy master for the support of his holy churches and the orthodox faith, the good shepherd who offers his life for his spiritual sheep and drives away the ravenous wolves with his pastoral staff [John 10:11-12]. To all those privileged to serve my all-holy master, honored by God, I and those with me send abundant greetings in the Lord.
Father of fathers, honored by God, pray that I may enjoy good health and be well-pleasing to the Lord [End of quote of Sergius, Primate of Cyprus]…
[Maurus, Bishop of Cesena, a priest from Ravenna, speaking on behalf of another Maurus, Bishop of Ravenna] Therefore it is fitting that this appeal be inserted in our minutes to expose the embattled heresy, and that we do not overlook the plaints, written and oral, addressed on this matter to the Apostolic See, but that 160 | 161 with all probity we duly bring about a total removal of the contrary speech of “chaff” by means of the “flail” [Matt. 3:12] of a canonical examination, on the basis of the nourishing and mature doctrine of the Catholic Church, which strengthens the heart of man through participation in the teaching of the fathers.
Second Session, Three African Synods, Letter to Pope Theodore I (645-46) (October 8, 649)
(pgs. 161-65)
To the most blessed lord and elevated apostolic eminence, the holy father of fathers Theodore, Pope and Supreme Pontiff of all the bishops, [from] Columbus, bishop of the first see of the synod of Numidia, and Stephen, bishop of the first see of the synod of Byzacena, and Reparatus, bishop of the first see of the synod of Mauretania, and all the bishops of the said three synods of the region of Africa.
That there is in the Apostolic See a great and inexhaustible spring pouring forth abundantly for all Christians, from which flow forth rivulets that generously water the entire Christian world, no one can dispute. In honor of the most blessed Peter, [included in the Greek version: O father of fathers], the decrees of the fathers decreed for it unique and total reverence, in the investigation of the 161 | 162 affairs of God that need a full and careful examination, and most justly, since these need to be examined by the apostolic crown of the bishops, whose concern from of old has been both to condemn evil and approve what is worthy of praise. For it has been laid down in ancient regulations that nothing, even if raised in remote and far distant provinces, should first be treated or accepted until it had been brought to the notice of your bountiful See, so that the sentence pronounced might be confirmed by her just authority, and the other churches might taken from there, as from their native source, the origin of their preaching, and there might abide through the various regions of the whole world, unsullied in their purity, the mysteries of the saving faith.
Therefore we pay to your apostolic eminence our must humble respects, which we offer with tears, since we cannot hold back our heartfelt groans.
Some time ago a detestable concoction of novelty in the city of Constantinople was relayed to us by report; we have until now remained silent, because we presumed that it had been severely condemned by the judgment of your Apostolic See.
But when we learnt that it was steadily growing stronger, and read the petition of our brother Pyrrhus, lately our fellow bishop in the same city of Constantinople, which was presented to your venerable see, we sent an appeal, such as necessity required, to our brother Paul, who now occupies the church of the city of Constantinople, beseeching him with many tears to repel from himself and the whole church over which he presides the aforesaid concoction of novelty… 162 | 163 But the divine law contains many lessons which may pour forth as our little streams from the abundant spring of your eminence.
But since our province of Africa has been mentioned as an object of a certain suspicion by malevolent men in the aforesaid imperial city, we have sent to your beatitude, dear to God, the said appeal to our aforesaid brother Paul, bishop of Constantinople. We humbly request you to forward it through the apocrisiarii of your most sacred See, so that we may happily learn if our aforesaid brother has turned from the wicked fabrication of novelty back to the pure preaching of the orthodox faith. But if he is dissembling, the authority of your bountiful see will reflect, with salutary deliberation according to the ordinances of the fathers, how to separate this unhealthy wound from the healthy body, so that, through the careful removal of the infection of the raging disease, the unaffected part may survive, and the flock, pure once more, may be cleansed by the spiritual knife of your eminence from this plague of evil… 163 | 164
[St. Pope Martin I responding to the letter] Martin, the most holy and most blessed Pope of God’s holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church of Rome, said:
The appeal from the God-beloved bishops of Africa that has now been read is known to be general and universal, since coming from each of the ecclesiastical hierarchies established there according to God…all of whom agree in censuring the outlandish innovation and 164 | 165 entreat our Apostolic and sovereign See to rise up and condemn it…
Since, therefore, in this appeal of theirs they made mention of the other appeals of which they sent copies to our Apostolic See…there should also be brought and read to the holy synod here present copies of the two appeals just mentioned, in which the said devout bishops of the region of Africa displayed, as is fitting, both the zeal and the purity of their faith.
Other Documents
Clementine Homilies, Introductory Letters, “St. Pope Clement of Rome,” Letter to James (221)
Be it known to you, my lord, that Simon, who, for the sake of the true faith, and the most sure foundation of his doctrine, was set apart to be the foundation of the Church, and for this end was by Jesus Himself, with His truthful mouth, named Peter, the first-fruits of our Lord, the first of the apostles; to whom first the Father revealed the Son; whom the Christ, with good reason, blessed; the called, and elect, and associate at table and in the journeyings of Christ; the excellent and approved disciple, who, as being fittest of all, was commanded to enlighten the darker part of the world, namely the West, and was enabled to accomplish it—and to what extent do I lengthen my discourse, not wishing to indicate what is sad, which yet of necessity, though reluctantly, I must tell you—he himself, by reason of his immense love towards men, having come as far as Rome, clearly and publicly testifying, in opposition to the wicked one who withstood him, that there is to be a good King over all the world, while saving men by his God-inspired doctrine, himself, by violence, exchanged this present existence for life.
Clementine Homilies, Homily 17 (221)
(§19) | ROCK | ROME
[St. Peter to the heretic Simon Magus, in Rome] For in direct opposition to me, who am a firm rock, the foundation of the Church, you now stand. If you were not opposed to me, you would not accuse me, and revile the truth proclaimed by me, in order that I may not be believed when I state what I myself have heard with my own ears from the Lord, as if I were evidently a person that was condemned and in bad repute.
Recognitions of Clement
(Preface) | PRIMACY | ROME | SUCCESSORS
The epistle in which the same Clement, writing to James the Lord’s brother, informs him of the death of Peter, and that he had left him his successor in his chair and teaching, and in which also the whole subject of church order is treated, I have not prefixed to this work, both because it is of later date, and because I have already translated and published it. But I do not think it out of place to explain here what in that letter will perhaps seem to some to be inconsistent. For some ask, Since Linus and Cletus were bishops in the city of Rome before this Clement, how could Clement himself, writing to James, say that the chair of teaching was handed over to him by Peter? Now of this we have heard this explanation, that Linus and Cletus were indeed bishops in the city of Rome before Clement, but during the lifetime of Peter: that is, that they undertook the care of the episcopate, and that he fulfilled the office of apostleship; as is found also to have been the case at Caesarea, where, when he himself was present, he yet had Zacchaeus, ordained by himself, as bishop. And in this way both statements will appear to be true, both that these bishops are reckoned before Clement, and yet that Clement received the teacher’s seat on the death of Peter.
Acts of Peter and Andrew (c. 260)
PRIMACY
And while he was thus speaking, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to them in the form of a child, and said to them: Hail, Peter, bishop of the whole of my Church!
Poem Against the Marcionites (c. 285)
(Lines 276-84) (pg. 204) | ROME | SUCCESSORS
In this chair in which he himself had sat, Peter in mighty Rome commanded Linus, the first elected, to sit down. After him, Cletus too accepted the flock of the fold. As his successor, Anacletus was elected by lot. Clement follows him, well-known to apostolic men. After him Evaristus ruled the flock without crime. Alexander, sixth in succession, commends the fold to Sixtus. After his illustrious times were completed, he passed it on to Telesphorus. He was excellent, a faithful martyr.
The Teaching of the Apostles, Syriac (400s)
ROME
And after the death of the apostles there were Guides and Rulers in the churches; and, whatsoever the apostles had committed to them and they had received from them, they continued to teach to the multitude through the whole space of their lives. They too, again, at their deaths committed and delivered to their disciples after them whatsoever they had received from the apostles; also what James had written from Jerusalem, and Simon from the city of Rome, and John from Ephesus, and Mark from Alexandria the Great, and Andrew from Phrygia, and Luke from Macedonia, and Judas Thomas from India: that the epistles of an apostle might be received and read in the churches that were in every place, just as the achievements of their Acts, which Luke wrote, are read; that hereby the apostles might be known, and the prophets, and the Old Testament and the New; that so might be seen one truth was proclaimed in them all: that one Spirit spoke in them all, from one God whom they had all worshipped and had all preached. And the divers countries received their teaching. Everything, therefore, which had been spoken by our Lord by means of the apostles, and which the apostles had delivered to their disciples, was believed and received in every country, by the operation of our Lord, who said to them: “I am with you, even until the world shall end” (Matt. 28:20)…
