St. Peter, His Name and His Office Part 9

Augustine, "He entrusted His sheep to Peter, as to another self, He willed to make him one with Himself;" and in the words of S. Leo, "He a.s.sumed him into the partic.i.p.ation of His indivisible unity."[33] But this is seen no less plainly in the words of Christ, than in the Fathers; for He made _one_ Rock, _one_ Bearer of the keys, _one_ Confirmer of the brethren, and _one_ Shepherd. The union of millions of naturally conflicting wills in the profession and belief of one doctrine is almost the very highest work of divine power; and as grace, that is, the Holy Spirit diffused in the heart, is the inward efficient of this, so the outward, both symbol and instrument, is the Primacy, that "other self" which the Lord left in the world. And as the Church of G.o.d through every succeeding age grows and expands, the need of this power becomes greater and not less, and reverence to that "single chair in which unity was to be observed by all,"[34] a more imperative virtue, or rather an ever-deepening instinct, of the Christian mind.

But antiquity itself drew no other conclusions from the concentration of these great privileges in the person of Peter. We have but to go back to a time before the present nationalities of Europe, those jealous foes of Peter's authority, had come into existence, and we find the chief men of France, and Spain, and Italy, interpreting the above texts as we have done. Take one whose testimony from the circ.u.mstances of his life ought to be above suspicion. John Ca.s.sian was by birth a Scythian, was educated in a monastery at Bethlehem, travelled through Egypt, and made himself acquainted with its most distinguished religious men, went to Constantinople, and was ordained deacon by S. Chrysostome, and afterwards at Rome priest by Pope Innocent I. On the capture of Rome by Alaric, he settled at Ma.r.s.eilles, about the year 410, and there founded two monasteries. In his work on the Incarnation he says,[35]

"Let us ask him, who is supreme, both as disciple among disciples, and as teacher among teachers, who, steering the course of the Roman Church, held the supremacy as well of the faith as of the priesthood. Tell us, therefore, tell us, we pray, O Peter, Prince of the Apostles, tell us how the Churches ought to believe. For just it is that thou, who wast taught of the Lord, shouldst teach us, and open to us the door whose key thou hast received. Shut out all who undermine the heavenly house, and turn away those who attempt to make an entry through treacherous caverns and illicit approaches; because it is certain that no one shall be able to enter the door of the kingdom, save he to whom the key placed by thee in the Church shall open it. Tell us, therefore, how we ought to believe that Jesus is the Christ, and to confess our common Lord." Again, fourteen hundred years ago, Maximus, Bishop of Turin in that day, confessed by his words, what his successor of the present day bears witness to by his sufferings: for he writes of Peter, "As[36] the Good Shepherd he received the defence of the flock, so that he, who before had been weak in his own case, might become the confirmation to all: and he who had been shaken by the temptation of the question asked him, might be a foundation to the rest by the stability of his faith. In fine, for the firmness of his devotion he is called the Rock of the Churches, as the Lord says, 'Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock I will build My Church.' For he is called the Rock, because he was the first to lay the foundations of the faith among the nations, _and, because, as an immoveable stone, he holds together the framework and the ma.s.s of the whole Christian structure_. Peter, therefore, for his devotion is called the Rock, and the Lord is named the Rock by His inherent power, as the Apostle says, 'and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.' _Rightly does he merit to share the name, who, likewise, merits to share the work._" Again, far and wide has the lying story been spread by false-hearted men, who above all things, hate the spiritual kingdom which G.o.d has set up in the world, that Peter's power has been the growth of gradual encroachment on the secular authority. Now, long before Pelayo renewed the Spanish monarchy in the mountains of the Asturias, and while Augustine, sent by Pope Gregory, was laying the foundation of the English Church, S.

Isidore, Bishop of Seville, from 598 to 636, the very highest of the ancient Spanish doctors, wrote thus explicitly to his colleague at Toledo:[37] "But as to the question of the equality of the Apostles, Peter is pre-eminent over the rest, who merited to hear from the Lord, 'Thou shalt be called Cephas--Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church.' And not from any one else, but from the very Son of G.o.d and the Virgin, he was the first to receive the honour of the pontificate in the Church of Christ, to whom also, after the resurrection of the Son of G.o.d, was said by the same, 'Feed My lambs,' noting by the name of lambs the prelates of the churches. And although the dignity of this power is derived to all Catholic bishops, yet in a more special manner it remains for ever in the Roman bishop, who is by a certain singular privilege set as the head over the other limbs. Whoso, therefore, renders not reverently to him due obedience, involves himself, as being severed from the head, in the schism of the Acephali."

It would be easy to multiply such authorities of a period prior to the formation of all the existing European states. It was the will of G.o.d, providing for His Church, that before the old Roman society was utterly upheaved from its foundations by the deluge of the Northern tribes, reverence for S. Peter's throne should be fixed as an immovable rock, on which a new Christian civilization might be founded. Thus Pope Gregory II., writing to the Emperor Leo the Isaurian, about the year 717, only sums up the force and effect of all preceding tradition, when he says: "The whole West turns its eyes upon us, and, unworthy though we be, puts complete trust in us, and in that blessed Peter, whose image you threaten to overturn, but whom all the kingdoms of the West count for a G.o.d upon earth."[38]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Pa.s.saglia, p. 106.

[2] Pa.s.saglia, p. 109.

[3] Matt. x. 2-5; Mark iii. 16-19; Luke vi. 14-17; Acts i. 13.

[4] St. Chrysostome on Matt. Hom. 32.

[5] Origen on John, Tom. 32, n. 5, T. 4, p. 413.

[6] 1 Paral. xxvii. 33; Neh. xii. 45; 2 Paral. xxvi. 20.

[7] Matt. xx. 27; Luke xv. 22; 1 Tim. i. 15.

[8] Matt. xvii. 1; Mark v. 37; xiii. 3; xiv. 33; Luke viii. 51; xxii. 8; John xxi. 2.

[9] De Consensu. Evang. Lib. 2, c. xvii. n. 39.

[10] Mark i. 36; Luke viii. 45; Matt. xii. 3; Mark ii. 25; xvi. 10.

[11] Luke ix. 32; Matt. xxvi. 40.

[12] Matt. xvii. 24.

[13] De Praesc. c. 22.

[14] John xiv. 8; xi. 16.

[15] Matt. xviii. 21; John xiii. 6.

[16] Pa.s.saglia, p. 134.

[17] Matt. xix. 23.

[18] John vi. 67.

[19] Luke xii. 41.

[20] In Matt. Hom. 54.

[21] Pa.s.saglia, p. 510.

[22] Pa.s.saglia, p. 518.

[23] These testimonies have been set forth at length in another work, "The See of St. Peter, the Rock of the Church," &c. Pp.

97-118.

[24] Serm. 4.

[25] Matt. xviii. 1; xx. 20; Luke xxii. 24.

[26] Bossuet, Sermon on unity.

[27] Poimahinein, gubernare, to govern, the particular word which our Lord employs to convey His powers to Peter, is also the particular word which gives such offence to temporal governments, when acted on by Peter: bhoskein, pascere, to feed, they find more endurable, and probably they would all be content, from the heathen Roman emperors to the present day, to allow _the Church_ to _feed_, so long as _they_ are allowed to _govern_ the faithful.

The objection on the part of the Church is, that our Lord gave _both_ to Peter.

[28] Pa.s.saglia, p. 591.

[29] Ho katartismos ton hagion. Eph. iv. 12.

[30] Petavius, de Ecc. Hier. Lib. 3, c. 14.

[31] St. Cyprian de unitate, c. 3. St. Aug. to Pope Innocent, Ep.

177, n. 19. Pope Innocent to the Councils of Carthage and Numidia.

[32] Mansi x. 919.

[33] St. Aug. Serm. 46. St. Leo, Epistle 10.

[34] St. Optatus, cont. Parm. Lib. 2, c. 6.

[35] Lib. 3, c. 12.

[36] De Petro Apostolo, Hom. 4.

[37] Ad Eugenium Toletanum.

[38] Mausi, Concil. T. xii. 972.

CHAPTER V.

S. PETER'S PRIMACY AS EXHIBITED IN THE ACTS.

The [1]purpose of S. Luke in writing the Acts seems to have been to set before us the labours and sufferings of the Apostles in planting and propagating the Church. But he has divided the book very distinctly into two portions; the latter, from the thirteenth chapter to the end, with one short exception, is wholly occupied with the labours of S. Paul, "the vessel of election," in spreading the faith among the Gentiles, and so contains the particular history of that Apostle, and the churches founded by him. The former, from the beginning to the end of the twelfth chapter, embraces the history of the Apostles in common, and of the whole Church, as it rose at Jerusalem, and was spread first in Judea, then in Samaria, and finally extended to the Gentiles. The former history, then, is universal; the latter, particular.

Moreover, to use the words of [2]S. Chrysostome, "we may here see the promises which Christ made in the Gospels carried into execution, and the bright light of truth shining in the very actions, and a great change in the disciples, arising from the Spirit that had entered into them.--You will see here Apostles speeding on the wing over land and sea, and men once timid and unskilled suddenly changed into despisers of wealth, and conquerors of glory and all other pa.s.sions; you will see them united in the utmost harmony, without jealousy, which once they had, without contention for the higher place."