The Authority of the Pope

[Bernard]

The Authority of the Pope: Part I

 

In other Catholic Answers tracts, we have shown that the Church Fathers recognized that Jesus made Peter the rock on which he would build his Church, that this gave Peter a special primacy, that Peter went to Rome, and that he left successors there. In this tract we will show that they also understood that Peter’s successors shared in his special authority or primacy. 

In a wide variety of ways, the Fathers attest to the fact that the church of Rome was the central and most authoritative church. They attest to the Church’s reliance on Rome for advice, for mediation of disputes, and for guidance on doctrinal issues. They note, as Ignatius of Antioch does, that Rome "holds the presidency" among the other churches, and that, as Irenaeus explains, "because of its superior origin, all the churches must agree" with Rome. They are also clear on the fact that it is communion with Rome and the bishop of Rome that causes one to be in communion with the Catholic Church. This displays a recognition that, as Cyprian of Carthage puts it, Rome is "the principal church, in which sacerdotal unity has its source." 

Most significant are the passages below in which the popes, by their statements or their actions, reveal their understanding of their own authority in the Church, such as when Pope Clement I commanded the church of Corinth to reinstate its leadership, or when Pope Victor excommunicated the churches of Asia Minor as a group, after which the other bishops sought to change Victor’s mind but did not challenge his authority to have made the excommunication. 

In this tract we will cover the views of the popes and other Church Fathers up to the year A.D. 341. The views of the Fathers after this period will be covered in the tract, The Authority of the Pope: Part II. 

 

Pope Clement I

"Owing to the sudden and repeated calamities and misfortunes which have befallen us, we must acknowledge that we have been somewhat tardy in turning our attention to the matters in dispute among you, beloved; and especially that abominable and unholy sedition, alien and foreign to the elect of God, which a few rash and self-willed persons have inflamed to such madness that your venerable and illustrious name, worthy to be loved by all men, has been greatly defamed. . . . Accept our counsel and you will have nothing to regret. . . . If anyone disobey the things which have been said by him [God] through us [i.e., that you must reinstate your leaders], let them know that they will involve themselves in transgression and in no small danger. . . . You will afford us joy and gladness if being obedient to the things which we have written through the Holy Spirit, you will root out the wicked passion of jealousy" (Letter to the Corinthians 1, 58–59, 63 [A.D. 80]). 

 

Hermas

"Therefore shall you [Hermas] write two little books and send one to Clement [Bishop of Rome] and one to Grapte. Clement shall then send it to the cities abroad, because that is his duty" (The Shepherd 2:4:3 [A.D. 80]). 

 

Ignatius of Antioch

"Ignatius . . . to the church also which holds the presidency, in the location of the country of the Romans, worthy of God, worthy of honor, worthy of blessing, worthy of praise, worthy of success, worthy of sanctification, and, because you hold the presidency in love, named after Christ and named after the Father" (Letter to the Romans 1:1 [A.D. 110]). 

"You [the church at Rome] have envied no one, but others you have taught. I desire only that what you have enjoined in your instructions may remain in force" (ibid., 3:1). 

 

Dionysius of Corinth

"For from the beginning it has been your custom to do good to all the brethren in various ways and to send contributions to all the churches in every city. . . . This custom your blessed Bishop Soter has not only preserved, but is augmenting, by furnishing an abundance of supplies to the saints and by urging with consoling words, as a loving father his children, the brethren who are journeying" (Letter to Pope Soter in Eusebius, Church History 4:23:9 [A.D. 170]). 

"Today we have observed the Lord’s holy day, in which we have read your letter [Pope Soter]. Whenever we do read it [in church], we shall be able to profit thereby, as also we do when we read the earlier letter written to us by Clement" (ibid., 4:23:11). 

 

The Martyrs of Lyons

"And when a dissension arose about these said people [the Montanists], the brethren in Gaul once more . . . [sent letters] to the brethren in Asia and Phrygia and, moreover to Eleutherius, who was then [A.D. 175] bishop of the Romans, negotiating for the peace of the churches" (Eusebius, Church History 5:3:4 [A.D. 312]) 

"And the same martyrs too commended Irenaeus, already at that time [A.D. 175] a presbyter of the community of Lyons, to the said bishop of Rome, rendering abundant testimony to the man, as the following expressions show: ‘Once more and always we pray that you may rejoice in God, Pope Eleutherius. This letter we have charged our brother and companion Irenaeus to convey to you, and we beg you to receive him as zealous for the covenant of Christ’" (ibid., 5:4:1–2). 

 

Irenaeus

"But since it would be too long to enumerate in such a volume as this the succession of all the churches, we shall confound all those who, in whatever manner, whether through self-satisfaction or vainglory, or through blindness and wicked opinion, assemble other than where it is proper, by pointing out here the successions of the bishops of the greatest and most ancient church known to all, founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul, that church which has the tradition and the faith which comes down to us after having been announced to men by the apostles. With that church, because of its superior origin, all the churches must agree, that is, all the faithful in the whole world, and it is in her that the faithful everywhere have maintained the apostolic tradition" (Against Heresies 3:3:2 [A.D. 189]). 

 

Eusebius of Caesarea

"A question of no small importance arose at that time [A.D. 190]. For the parishes of all Asia [Minor], as from an older tradition held that the fourteenth day of the moon, on which the Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb, should be observed as the feast of the Savior’s Passover. . . . But it was not the custom of the churches in the rest of the world . . . as they observed the practice which, from apostolic tradition, has prevailed to the present time, of terminating the fast [of Lent] on no other day than on that of the resurrection of the Savior [Sunday]. Synods and assemblies of bishops were held on this account, and all, with one consent, through mutual correspondence drew up an ecclesiastical decree that the mystery of the resurrection of the Lord should be celebrated on no other but the Lord’s day and that we should observe the close of the paschal fast on this day only. . . . Thereupon [Pope] Victor, who presided over the church at Rome, immediately attempted to cut off from the community the parishes of all Asia [Minor], with the churches that agreed with them, as heterodox. And he wrote letters and declared all the brethren there wholly excommunicate. But this did not please all the bishops, and they besought him to consider the things of peace and of neighborly unity and love. . . . [Irenaeus] fittingly admonishes Victor that he should not cut off whole churches of God which observed the tradition of an ancient custom" (Church History 5:23:1–24:11). 

"Thus then did Irenaeus entreat and negotiate [with Pope Victor] on behalf of the peace of the churches—[Irenaeus being] a man well-named, for he was a peacemaker both in name and character. And he corresponded by letter not only with Victor, but also with very many and various rulers of churches" (ibid., 24:18). 

 

Cyprian of Carthage

"The Lord says to Peter: ‘I say to you,’ he says, ‘that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. And to you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever things you bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth, they shall be loosed also in heaven’ [Matt. 16:18–19]). ... On him [Peter] he builds the Church, and to him he gives the command to feed the sheep [John 21:17], and although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single chair [cathedra], and he established by his own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity. Indeed, the others were also what Peter was [i.e., apostles], but a primacy is given to Peter, whereby it is made clear that there is but one Church and one chair. So too, all [the apostles] are shepherds, and the flock is shown to be one, fed by all the apostles in single-minded accord. If someone does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he [should] desert the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he still be confident that he is in the Church?" (The Unity of the Catholic Church 4; 1st edition [A.D. 251]). 

"Cyprian to [Pope] Cornelius, his brother. Greeting. . . . We decided to send and are sending a letter to you from all throughout the province [where I am] so that all our colleagues might give their decided approval and support to you and to your communion, that is, to both the unity and the charity of the Catholic Church" (Letters 48:1, 3 [A.D. 253]). 

"Cyprian to Antonian, his brother. Greeting ... You wrote ... that I should forward a copy of the same letter to our colleague [Pope] Cornelius, so that, laying aside all anxiety, he might at once know that you held communion with him, that is, with the Catholic Church" (ibid., 55[52]:1). 

"Cornelius was made bishop by the decision of God and of his Christ, by the testimony of almost all the clergy, by the applause of the people then present, by the college of venerable priests and good men ... when the place of Fabian, which is the place of Peter, the dignity of the sacerdotal chair, was vacant. Since it has been occupied both at the will of God and with the ratified consent of all of us, whoever now wishes to become bishop must do so outside [the Church]. For he cannot have ecclesiastical rank who does not hold to the unity of the Church" (ibid., 55[52]:8). 

"With a false bishop appointed for themselves by heretics, they dare even to set sail and carry letters from schismatics and b.asphemers to the chair of Peter and to the principal church [at Rome], in which sacerdotal unity has its source" (ibid., 59:14). 

 

Firmilian

"[Pope] Stephen ... boasts of the place of his episcopate, and contends that he holds the succession from Peter, on whom the foundations of the Church were laid [Matt. 16:18]. ... Stephen ... announces that he holds by succession the throne of Peter" (collected in Cyprian’s Letters 74[75]:17 [A.D. 253]). 

 

Pope Julius I

"[The] judgment [concerning Athanasius] ought to have been made, not as it was, but according to the ecclesiastical canon. It behooved all of you to write us so that the justice of it might be seen as emanating from all. ... Are you ignorant that the custom has been to write first to us and then for a just decision to be passed from this place [Rome]? If, then, any such suspicion rested upon the bishop there [Athanasius of Alexandria], notice of it ought to have been written to the church here. But now, after having done as they pleased, they want to obtain our concurrence, although we never condemned him. Not thus are the constitutions of Paul, not thus the traditions of the Fathers. This is another form of procedure, and a novel practice. ... What I write about this is for the common good. For what we have heard from the blessed apostle Peter, these things I signify to you" (Letter on Behalf of Athanasius [A.D. 341], in Athanasius, Apology Against the Arians 20–35).

https://www.catholic.com/tract/the-authority-of-the-pope-part-i

[Bernard]

The Authority of the Pope: Part II

In another Catholic Answers tract, The Authority of the Pope: Part I, we looked at the views of the popes and the other Church Fathers up to the year A.D. 341 and showed that they recognized the unique authority of the pope, the bishop of Rome, in his role as the successor of Peter. In this tract, we will see that the later popes and Church Fathers retained a similar understanding of the Petrine office. 

 

Council of Sardica

"f any bishop loses the judgment in some case [decided by his fellow bishops] and still believes that he has not a bad but a good case, in order that the case may be judged anew . . . let us honor the memory of the apostle Peter by having those who have given the judgment write to Julius, Bishop of Rome, so that if it seem proper he may himself send arbiters and the judgment may be made again by the bishops of a neighboring province" (canon 3 [A.D. 342]). 

"f some bishop be deposed by the judgment of the bishops sitting in the neighborhood, and if he declare that he will seek further redress, another should not be appointed to his see until the bishop of Rome can be acquainted with the case and render a judgment" (canon 4). 

 

Optatus of Milevus

"In the city of Rome the episcopal chair was given first to Peter; the chair in which Peter sat, the same who was head—that is why he is also called Cephas [‘Rock’]—of all the apostles, the one chair in which unity is maintained by all. Neither do the apostles proceed individually on their own, and anyone who would [presume to] set up another chair in opposition to that single chair would, by that very fact, be a schismatic and a sinner. . . . Recall, then, the origins of your chair, those of you who wish to claim for yourselves the title of holy Church" (The Schism of the Donatists2:2 [A.D. 367]). 

 

Council of Constantinople I

"The bishop of Constantinople shall have the primacy of honor after the bishop of Rome, because his city is New Rome" (canon 3 [A.D. 381]). 

 

Pope Damasus I

"Likewise it is decreed . . . that it ought to be announced that . . . the holy Roman Church has been placed at the forefront not by the conciliar decisions of other churches, but has received the primacy by the evangelic voice of our Lord and Savior, who says: ‘You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it; and I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you shall have bound on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall have loosed on earth shall be loosed in heaven’ [Matt. 16:18–19]. The first see, therefore, is that of Peter the apostle, that of the Roman Church, which has neither stain nor blemish nor anything like it" (Decree of Damasus 3 [A.D. 382]). 

 

Synod of Ambrose

"We recognize in the letter of your holiness [Pope Siricius] the vigilance of the good shepherd. You faithfully watch over the gate entrusted to you, and with pious care you guard Christ’s sheepfold [John 10:7ff], you that are worthy to have the Lord’s sheep hear and follow you" (Synodal Letter to Pope Siricius [A.D. 389]). 

 

Jerome

"I follow no leader but Christ and join in communion with none but your blessedness [Pope Damasus I], that is, with the chair of Peter. I know that this is the rock on which the Church has been built. Whoever eats the Lamb outside this house is profane. Anyone who is not in the ark of Noah will perish when the flood prevails" (Letters 15:2 [A.D. 396]). 

"The church here is split into three parts, each eager to seize me for its own. . . . Meanwhile I keep crying, ‘He that is joined to the chair of Peter is accepted by me!’ . . . Therefore, I implore your blessedness [Pope Damasus I] . . . tell me by letter with whom it is that I should communicate in Syria" (ibid., 16:2). 

 

Augustine

"There are many other things which rightly keep me in the bosom of the Catholic Church. The consent of the people and nations keeps me, her authority keeps me, inaugurated by miracles, nourished in hope, enlarged by love, and established by age. The succession of priests keep me, from the very seat of the apostle Peter (to whom the Lord after his resurrection gave charge to feed his sheep) down to the present episcopate [of Pope Siricius]" (Against the Letter of Mani Called "The Foundation" 5 [A.D. 397]). 

"[On this matter of the Pelagians] two councils have already been sent to the Apostolic See [the bishop of Rome], and from there rescripts too have come. The matter is at an end; would that the error too might be at an end!" (Sermons 131:10 [A.D. 411]). 

 

Pope Innocent I

"If cases of greater importance are to be heard [at a council], they are, as the synod decrees and as happy custom requires, after episcopal judgment, to be referred to the Apostolic See" (Letters2:3:6 [A.D. 408]). 

"In seeking the things of God . . . following the examples of ancient tradition . . . you have strengthened . . . the vigor of your religion with true reason, for you have acknowledged that judgment is to be referred to us, and have shown that you know what is owed to the Apostolic See, if all of us placed in this position are to desire to follow the apostle himself [Peter] from whom the episcopate itself and the total authority of this name have emerged. Following him, we know how to condemn evils just as well as we know how to approve what is laudable. Or rather, guarding with your priestly office what the Fathers instituted, you did not regard what they had decided, not by human but by divine judgments, as something to be trampled on. They did not regard anything as finished, even though it was the concern of distant and remote provinces, until it had come to the notice of this See [Rome], so that what was a just pronouncement might be confirmed by the authority of this See, and thence other churches—just as all waters proceed from their own natal source and, through the various regions of the whole world, remain pure liquids of an incorrupted head. . . ." (ibid., 29:1). 

 

Pope Celestine I

"We enjoin upon you [my legates to the Council of Ephesus] the necessary task of guarding the authority of the Apostolic See. And if the instructions handed to you have to mention this and if you have to be present in the assembly, if it comes to controversy, it is not yours to join the fight but to judge of the opinions [on my behalf]" (Letters 17 [A.D. 431]). 

 

Council of Ephesus

"Philip, presbyter and legate of [Pope Celestine I] said: ‘We offer our thanks to the holy and venerable synod, that when the writings of our holy and blessed pope had been read to you, the holy members, by our holy voices, you joined yourselves to the holy head also by your holy acclamations. For your blessedness is not ignorant that the head of the whole faith, the head of the apostles, is blessed Peter the apostle. And since now [we], after having been tempest-tossed and much vexed, [have] arrived, we ask that you order that there be laid before us what things were done in this holy synod before our arrival; in order that according to the opinion of our blessed pope and of this present holy assembly, we likewise may ratify their determination’" (Acts of the Council, session 2 [A.D. 431]). 

 

Pope Leo I

"Our Lord Jesus Christ . . . established the worship belonging to the divine religion. . . . But the Lord desired that the sacrament of this gift should pertain to all the apostles in such a way that it might be found principally in the most blessed Peter, the highest of all the apostles. And he wanted his gifts to flow into the entire body from Peter himself, as if from the head, in such a way that anyone who had dared to separate himself from the solidarity of Peter would realize that he was himself no longer a sharer in the divine mystery. . . . [You, my brothers], must realize with us, of course, that the Apostolic See—out of reverence for it, I mean—has on countless occasions been reported to in consultation by bishops even of your own province [Vienne]. And through the appeal of various cases to this see, decisions already made have been either revoked or confirmed, as dictated by long-standing custom" (Letters 10:2–3 [A.D. 445]). 

"As for the resolution of the bishops which is contrary to the Nicene decree, in union with your faithful piety, I declare it to be invalid and annul it by the authority of the holy apostle Peter" (ibid., 110). 

"If in your view, [Anastasius of Thessalonica], in regard to a matter to be handled and decided jointly with your brothers, their decision was other than what you wanted, then let the entire matter, with a record of the proceedings, be referred to us. . . . Although bishops have a common dignity, they are not all of the same rank. Even among the most blessed apostles, though they were alike in honor, there was a certain distinction of power. All were equal in being chosen [to be apostles], but it was given to one to be preeminent over the others. . . . [So today through the bishops] the care of the universal Church would converge in the one see of Peter, and nothing should ever be at odds with this head" (ibid., 14:11). 

 

Peter Chrysologus

"We exhort you in every respect, honorable brother, to heed obediently what has been written by the most blessed pope of the city of Rome, for blessed Peter, who lives and presides in his own see, provides the truth of faith to those who seek it. For we, by reason of our pursuit of peace and faith, cannot try cases on the faith without the consent of the bishop of Rome" (Letters 25:2 [A.D. 449]). 

 

Council of Chalcedon

"Bishop Paschasinus, guardian of the Apostolic See, stood in the midst [of the Council Fathers] and said, ‘We received directions at the hands of the most blessed and apostolic bishop of the Roman city [Pope Leo I], who is the head of all the churches, which directions say that Dioscorus is not to be allowed to sit in the [present] assembly, but that if he should attempt to take his seat, he is to be cast out. This instruction we must carry out" (Acts of the Council, session 1 [A.D. 451]). 

"After the reading of the foregoing epistle [The Tome of Leo], the most reverend bishops cried out: ‘This is the faith of the fathers! This is the faith of the apostles! So we all believe! Thus the orthodox believe! Anathema to him who does not thus believe! Peter has spoken thus through Leo!’" (ibid., session 2). 

 

Pope Gregory I

"Your most sweet holiness, [Bishop Eulogius of Alexandria], 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 . . . 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 . . . 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 Peter from petra. And to him it is said by the voice of the Truth, ‘To you I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven’ [Matt. 16:19]. And again it is said to him, ‘And when you are converted, strengthen your brethren’ [Luke 22:32]. And once more, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me? Feed my sheep’ [John 21:17]" (Letters 40 [A.D. 597]). 

https://www.catholic.com/tract/the-authority-of-the-pope-part-ii

[Bernard]

Papal Authority at the Earliest Councils

 

Consider to what extent the history of the earliest ecumenical councils harmonizes with either of these two theses: 

First, from Vatican II: “There never is an ecumenical council which is not confirmed or at least recognized as such by Peter’s successor. And it is the prerogative of the Roman Pontiff to convoke such councils, to preside over them, and to confirm them.”[Lumen Gentium, 22.] 

Next, from a prominent non-Catholic historian: “The Papacy had laid claim sporadically to the primacy of Christendom in earlier centuries [than the fifth], but these claims had either been denied or ignored by those to whom they had been addressed. . . . In the East [the popes] were confronted by a theory of Church government which had a place for episcopal authority, but none for Roman Primacy.”[W. H. C. Frend, The Early Church (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981), 233, 235.] 

These theses may be taken as fairly typical statements of Catholic belief, on the one hand, and, on the other, the viewpoint of many who are skeptical of the traditional Catholic interpretation of history. 

In the records of the great councils of the fifth century, we can see the bishops of Rome coming to assume explicitly the dominant position which their successors have continued to exercise ever since in those councils termed “ecumenical.” That Roman primacy of jurisdiction was widely accepted in the East at this time is clear from the negotiations before and during the Council of Ephesus (431). 

Cyril of Alexandria appeals to Celestine of Rome to deal with Nestorius in Constantinople, and Celestine replies, delegating Cyril to excommunicate Nestorius if he fails to recant. Celestine equates his own judgment with “the divine sentence of Christ,” stating he has written in similar terms to four other major bishops.[J. Stevenson, ed., Creeds, Councils and Controversies (London: SPCK, 1978), 279-80.] At the Council of Ephesus Cyril presides in the place of Celestine,[Mansi, Apl. Collectio, 4:1123. Here we find that, unlike the other bishops, whose names and sees are merely mentioned, Celestine is described–at the head of the list–as “the most holy and most sacred Archbishop of the Roman Church.”] and that the whole Council accepts as worthy of confirmation by all the words of the Roman legate Philip, who presented for conciliar approval (not debate) Celestine’s prior condemnation of Nestorius: “It is doubted by no one, but in fact has been known to all ages, that the holy and most blessed Peter . . . received from our Lord Jesus Christ . . . the keys of the kingdom and that power was granted to him of binding and loosing sins, who, up till this time and always, lives in his successors and exercises judgment.”[Mansi, 4:1294; emphasis added.] 

Twenty years later we find Pope Leo the Great speaking in a similarly authoritative style to the Council of Chalcedon. Although a rump of 150 bishops out of the original 600 [L. Rivington, The Primitive Church and the See of Peter (London: Longman, Green, 1894), 447.] passed the contentious canon 28, which mentioned only the political basis of the Roman primacy,[Stevenson, Creeds, 333.] the letter of the Eastern bishops to Leo, pleading for his acceptance and ratification of the canon, is eloquent testimony to the position of headship which they according him, however much they subsequently may have treated his annulment of the canon as a dead letter.[Ibid., 339-44.] 

A papal primacy of jurisdiction, then, was without doubt accepted by the middle of the fifth century, although, then as now, there was resistance to particular acts of Roman authority on the part of various bishops. But was this also the case with the two great ecumenical councils of the prior century, or was there (as W. H. C. Frend maintains) an ancient Eastern tradition which had no place for papal primacy? 

Owing to the scarcity of ancient documents on some of these matters, the historian cannot always claim to prove the validity of the Church’s position from written sources alone, but I argue that a Catholic understanding of the relationship between the popes and the first councils is quite consistent with the available documentary evidence. 

There is no doubt that the first ecumenical council was convoked by the Emperor Constantine. Did Bishop Sylvester of Rome have anything to do with it? Ortiz de Urbina does not quite do justice to the evidence when he asserts that “Nicaea . . . was not convoked on the initiative of the Church.”[I. Ortiz de Urbina, Hoistoire des Conciles Oecumeniques (Paris, 1963), I:29.] 

The original documentation of the Council has vanished, but Ortiz omits to tell us that, according to the historian Rufinus, who died about 410, Constantine made his decision “on the advice of the clergy”[Rufinus, Hist. Eccl., 1:218.]–a perfectly plausible assertion. We simply cannot prove either way from written sources whether Rome was consulted, but it seems likely that Constantine’s trusted associate Ossius of Cordoba, who subsequently presided at the Council, was involved in its preparation. 

The Anglican bishop J. W. C. Wand declared that the Roman legates “certainly” did not preside at Nicaea.[J. W. C. Wand, A History of the Early Church (London: Methuen, 1963), 156.] But it is probable that Ossius himself was in effect a Roman legate of sorts and did not preside solely in his capacity as the Emperor’s favorite. 

The Eastern priest-historian Gelasius of Cyzicus, who had no Roman ax to grind, affirms that Ossius “held the place of Sylvester of Rome, together with the Roman presbyters Vito and Vincentius.”[Migne, Patrologia Graeca, 85:1229; Gelasius wrote around 475 and claimed to base his history on the Council’s original acts, which are now lost.] 

That Rome was acknowledged as the first of all sees is shown by the fact that the signatures of its undisputed legates, Vito and Vincentius, come immediately after that of Ossius. It is likely that Ossius, being a Western prelate and the foremost champion of anti-Arianism, was accepted by Sylvester as an ad hoc representative and presided by mutual agreement with Constantine. 

With regard to the attitude of the papacy after Nicaea there is no dispute: Rome enthusiastically endorsed the Trinitarian profession of faith and the disciplinary canons of the Council and continued to insist on their observance. 

What of the attitude of the Council fathers toward Rome? Canon 6 accords to Alexandria a metropolitan authority over Egypt, Libya, and Persepolis, and the reason given for this is that “this is also customary to the bishop of Rome.”[J. Stevenson, ed., A New Eusebius (London: SPCK, 1965), 360.] These words are perhaps somewhat obscure in their precise implications, but they do show that in some way Roman custom was regarded as normative for the wider Church, including the East. 

Furthermore, the canon is concerned with the normal mode of Church government in the “patriarchal” areas of Alexandria and Antioch, and if the right of Rome to act as arbiter in extraordinary cases (involving accusations of heresy and the like) was not disputed at the time, there is no reason why it should have been mentioned in this context. 

The Roman synod of 485 states that the Nicene fathers “referred the confirmation of things and the authority to the holy Roman Church,”[Rivington, 164.] although there is no original documentary evidence of this. Constantine seems to have promulgated the creed and canons without seeking Roman confirmation, but, quite apart from the fact that the Emperor’s attitude cannot necessarily be taken as a yardstick of accepted Christian orthodoxy at that time, his action proves very little, given the absence of the Council’s acts. 

If the Roman legates had made it clear on the Council floor that the end product was in accord with their mandate from Bishop Sylvester, Constantine may well have taken the attitude that there was no need for further confirmation. Indeed, shortly after Nicaea we find Bishop Julius of Rome appealing to a “canon of the Church,” as well as to “custom,” against a synod of bishops that ignored the authority of Rome.[Stevenson, Creeds, 8.] Which “canon” he had in mind is not clear, but it seems most improbable that Sylvester, only a few years before, would have taken a contrary view to that of Julius and felt content for the Nicene Council to make final decisions without in some way gaining his approval. 

With the First Council of Constantinople (381) we are dealing with another case in which there are not extant acts. This council also was convoked by an emperor, Theodosius I.[Ibid.] The language of his decree suggests he regarded the Roman see as a yardstick of Christian orthodoxy. He commands all his subjects to practice the religion which Peter the apostle transmitted to the Romans. In calling the Council, Theodosius did not envisage the assembled bishops debating Roman doctrine as thought it were an open question. 

The fact that Meletius of Antioch presided at Constantinople I, and the absence of any Roman legates, might appear to be evidence against the Roman primacy. It must be remembered that the Council was not originally intended to be ecumenical in the same sense as Nicaea. 

It included, after all, only 150 bishops from Thrace, Asia Minor, and Egypt and was convoked to deal with certain Eastern problems.[New Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. “Constantinople, First Council of.”] In fact, it was not recognized as ecumenical by the Council of Ephesus half a century later, and it was left to Pope Gregory the Great to elevate it to that status.[Rivington, 256-68.] 

The most controversial statement of the Council is the third canon, which states, “The bishop of Constantinople shall have the primacy of honor after the bishop of Rome because Constantinople is New Rome.”[Stevenson, Creeds, 148.] 

When this later was cited and confirmed by a rump meeting of the Chalcedonian fathers, Leo the Great took exception because it ignored the “principle of apostolicity” and overstressed the “principle of accommodation” (of the Church’s political geography to that of the Empire).[Francis Dvornik, Byzantium and the Roman Primacy (New York: Fordham University Press, 1966), 44-45.] 

This relatively local character of the Council is relevant also to its second canon, which forbids bishops to intervene in the affairs of churches in other civil dioceses.[Stevenson, Creeds, 147-48.] According to the German historian W. Ullman, this indicates an “inferior position now accorded to the Roman Church.”[W. Ullman, A Short History of the Papacy in the Middle Ages (London: Methuen, 1974), 6.] 

But it seems that the canon had only Eastern bishoprics in mind, since it spells out the five major regions of the Eastern Empire and does not even mention Rome or any Western diocese. If this canon had been understood to imply that Rome had no jurisdiction over the East, why was it not cited fifty years later, in protest against Pope Celestine’s hard-hitting interventions against Nestorius?

Ullman also emphasizes that, in sanctioning the decrees of the Council in July 381, Theodosius “did not even mention Rome.”[Ibid., 9.] We are asked to accept that “the government made crystal clear that Rome and its church were to be relegated to an inferior place. Rome was to sink to a historical site.”[Ibid., 10.] 

This is quite astonishing. In promulgating a canon which expressly acknowledges Rome’s primacy over Constantinople, Theodosius is supposed to be relegating Rome to an “inferior place,” even when his own law of the previous year, making the faith of Rome mandatory for the whole Eastern Empire, remained fully in force! 

If, as seems likely, the disciplinary canons were seen as a domestic Eastern affair not requiring Rome’s assent, there is no compelling reason why Theodosius should have mentioned Rome in the postconciliar edict, since the dogmatic teaching of the Council was already known by all to enjoy Roman approval. 

After the Council the West expressed dissatisfaction at the Council’s election of Nectarius and Flavian to the sees of Constan-tinople and Antioch, and Pope Damasus proposed a general synod at Rome to settle matters. The reply of those bishops who remained at Constantinople is informative: They claim they had wished to “flee away to Rome to be at rest with you,” but plead that for practical reasons this has been impossible, so now they propose to send three representatives to Rome instead, in order to “show our own peaceful determination and how we aim at unity.”[Rivington, 270-71.] 

Is there a touch of hypocrisy here? Even if there is, it is significant that the bishops do not question the right of Damasus to summon Eastern bishops to Rome in this manner. Flattery and hypocrisy, after all, are precisely those diplomatic devices used in dealing with persons who are acknowledged to enjoy superior authority. 

Finally, it is worth noting that, in the Roman synod of 382, Damasus, while not explicitly mentioning the contentious third canon (which never was submitted officially to him), may well have had it in mind: He emphasized that Rome’s claim to primacy was grounded on the succession from Peter, and he was the first pope known to call Rome consistently “the apostolic see.”[New Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. “Damasus I.”] 

At first sight it may seem that the imperial initiative in convoking the early councils is inconsistent with Vatican II’s declaration that it is “the prerogative of the Roman Pontiff to convoke such councils.” But the wording of Lumen Gentium is cautious. It cites only the Code of Canon Law Canon 227, 1917 Code. in support of this assertion, as if to suggest that this is a matter of positive ecclesiastical law rather than something absolutely essential. 

The minimal criterion for a council to be considered ecumenical is specified in the previous sentence: The council must be “confirmed or at least recognized as such by Peter’s successor.” These words were probably written with Constantinople I in mind, since it was not accorded the status of an ecumenical council until a much later date, after papal approval. 

It may be true, as Ortiz claims, that the precedent set by Constantine in convoking a general council was “objectively . . . an abuse of power on the part of the Emperor,”[Ortiz, 29.] but it is understandable that after centuries of frequently oppressive pagan rule the Church would not have been anxious to look a gift Emperor in the mouth, so to speak.[It was natural for Constantine and his subjects to think of him as Pontifex Maximus, “the symbol of the spiritual genius and deified corporateness of Rome,” as E. G. Weltin said in The Ancient Popes (Westminster, Maryland: Newman Press, 1964), 171.] The Hebrew background of Christianity was, of course, well-attuned to theocratic ideas, and Paul himself had taught (Rom. 12) that civil power derives its authority from God. 

Frend’s claim that the Eastern tradition excluded Roman primacy at this stage of history and that the “sporadic” papal claims to universal jurisdiction were “denied or ignored by those to whom they were addressed” is at best an argument from silence and does not seem well-supported by the available evidence. 

No doubt some Easterners (and Westerners, for that matter) rejected claims of Roman primacy–particularly Arians, Semi-Arians, and others who dissented from the Roman faith. On the other hand, it seems plausible to maintain that the primacy of honor unquestionably accorded Rome at Nicaea was accompanied by an awareness among the Council fathers that they could not make decisions binding on the whole Church without the agreement of the See of Rome.[This is a principle of which the Vatican I definitions of 1870 are a valid development.] 

I say “plausible” because, although we do not have access to the proceedings of either Nicaea or Constantinople I, we do have other evidence, the most important being summarized as follows: 

(1) Later tradition, including Eastern tradition, accorded to Sylvester of Rome a leading, though indirect, role at Nicaea, and the Council’s sixth canon suggests that Roman “custom” is normative for the whole Church. (2) Theodosius’s decree of 380 views the Pe-trine faith of Rome as similarly normative, and we find no widespread objection to this from Eastern bishops of the time. (3) The admittedly small part played by the papacy at Constantinople I can be explained by the fact that it was not at the time seen as a convocation representing the entire Church. (4) At the first two ecumenical councils of which we have ample documentation–Ephesus and Chalcedon–we find a real authority being exerted by Rome and being accepted by most of the Eastern bishops. 

In view of the conservatism of all Christian groups at this time–that is, the vehement claims of all parties to be resisting innovation–the burden of proof would seem to lie with the historian who wishes to maintain that the idea of papal jurisdiction over the whole Church, recognized so widely by fifth-century conciliar fathers, was a novelty which would have been repudiated by their predecessors at Nicaea and Constantinople. Such a historian, I think, would find it difficult to discharge this burden of proof.

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