Action Required: Peter And The Papacy

[Cure of Ars]

[quote name='thedude' date='Jun 12 2004, 01:02 PM'] I was thinking a whole new paragraph about how early Christians, who followed the teachings of the Apostles, believed that Peter was the Bishop of Rome. We could include just one of the better quotes, and include the others in an index at the end. [/quote]
Cool, so are you going to write it?

[EcceNovaFacioOmni]

I could add a paragraph to what you have, but you could probably make it smoother. If you'd like, I could write something and post it here.

[Cure of Ars]

[quote name='thedude' date='Jun 12 2004, 09:44 PM'] I could add a paragraph to what you have, but you could probably make it smoother. If you'd like, I could write something and post it here. [/quote]
Lets both write. At the very least we will improve our writing skills. Here is what I'm thinking so far.



Some claim that the papacy was invented in the middle ages. It is easy to show that this is not the case. The leaders in the early church, called the Church fathers, attest to the early Church believing that the Bishop of Rome was head of the Church. To see quotes that demonstrates this look at the Church Father section in back.

This would make a total of 425. A little bit over the 400 mark. I still need to work it over a bit to make it smooth. But what do you have in mind?

[Cure of Ars]

Something like this would be great if it was 9/10 shorter and written by us.

History
The early Church always accepted the Bishop of Rome as head of the Church. In about 80 AD, the Church at Corinth deposed its lawful leaders. The fourth bishop of Rome, Pope Clement I, was called to settle the matter even though St. John the Apostle was still alive and much closer to Corinth than was Rome. St. Irenaeus, who was taught by St. Polycarp (a disciple of St. John the Apostle), stresses that Christians must be united to the Church of Rome in order to maintain the Apostolic Tradition. He then lists all the bishops of Rome up to his time. St. Irenaeus presents this teaching as something taken for granted by orthodox Christians. For 250 years the Roman Emperors tried to destroy Christianity through persecution. In the first 200 years of Christianity, every Pope but one was martyred; the Romans certainly knew who was the head of the Church! A Roman Emperor's greatest fear was a rival to the throne. Nevertheless, the emperor Decius (249-251 AD), one of the harshest persecutors of the early Christian Church, made the following remark, "I would far rather receive news of a rival to the throne than of another bishop of Rome." Decius said this after he had executed Pope Fabian in 250 AD

[url="http://www.aboutcatholics.com/viewpage.php?story=18"]http://www.aboutcatholics.com/viewpage.php?story=18[/url]

[EcceNovaFacioOmni]

Thats good. I think we should chose a quote form somebody who had connections to the Apostles or their students. Maybe no later than 200 AD. The rest can be indexed. I'll see what I can come up with by the end of the day.

[EcceNovaFacioOmni]

Here, I finally got around to it. We can do the finishing touches now.

[quote][u]Peter as Pope, Early Christians and the Church Fathers[/u]
The leadership of Peter as the first Pope of the Catholic Church, was acknowledged by the earliest Christians and the Church Fathers, who were instructed by the Twelve Apostles themselves and their students.  Cyprian of Carthage wrote about the Chair of Peter and it's authority:
[quote]The Lord says to Peter: "I say to you," he says, "that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church" . . . On him 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 that also which 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 [A.D. 251])[/quote]

Peter's Chair was located in Rome, where he served as the first Bishop of that city (Eusebius of Caesarea, The Chronicle [A.D. 303]).

Irenaeus of Lyons, a disciple of Polycarp (who was a disciple of John the Apostle), writes this of the Church of Rome:
[quote]"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. [b]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[/b]."
(Adversus haereses 3:3:2 [A.D. 189])[/quote]
Thus all Churches must agree with the Church of Rome, founded by the Apostle Peter who also supervised it. Peter's Chair in Rome and it's authority has continued on in Peter's succesors.

[u]Further readings from the Church Fathers:[/u]
Tertullian, Modesty 21:9–10 [A.D. 220]
Letter of Clement to James 2 [A.D. 221])
Origen, Commentary on Matthew 13:31 [A.D. 248]
Cyprian of Carthage, Letters 43[40]:5 & 66[69]:8 [A.D. 253]
Firmilian, Cyprian’s Letters 74[75]:16 & 74[75]:17 [A.D. 253]
Peter of Alexandria, Penance, canon 9 [A.D. 306]
Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 2:19 & 6:14 & 17:27 [A.D. 350]
Ephraim the Syrian, Homilies 4:1 [A.D. 351]
Optatus, The Schism of the Donatists 2:2 [A.D. 367]
Ambrose of Milan, The Faith 4:5 [A.D. 379] & Commentary on Twelve Psalms of David 40:30 [A.D. 389]
Jerome, Against Jovinian 1:26 [A.D. 393] & Letters 15:2 [A.D. 396]
Augustine, Psalmus contr Partem Donati[A.D. 393] & Letters 53:1:2 [A.D. 412] & Commentary on Psalm 108 1 [A.D. 415] & Commentary on John 56:1 [A.D. 416]
Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Matthew [A.D. 428][/quote]

[Crusader_4]

The Chruch is infallable...(felt like saying that) I am soo pumped up about this everytime i read stuff like this i feel awesome.

[Cure of Ars]

[quote name='thedude' date='Jun 19 2004, 12:36 PM'] Here, I finally got around to it. We can do the finishing touches now.



Peter's Chair was located in Rome, where he served as the first Bishop of that city (Eusebius of Caesarea, The Chronicle [A.D. 303]).

Irenaeus of Lyons, a disciple of Polycarp (who was a disciple of John the Apostle), writes this of the Church of Rome:

Thus all Churches must agree with the Church of Rome, founded by the Apostle Peter who also supervised it. Peter's Chair in Rome and it's authority has continued on in Peter's succesors.

[u]Further readings from the Church Fathers:[/u]
Tertullian, Modesty 21:9–10 [A.D. 220]
Letter of Clement to James 2 [A.D. 221])
Origen, Commentary on Matthew 13:31 [A.D. 248]
Cyprian of Carthage, Letters 43[40]:5 & 66[69]:8 [A.D. 253]
Firmilian, Cyprian’s Letters 74[75]:16 & 74[75]:17 [A.D. 253]
Peter of Alexandria, Penance, canon 9 [A.D. 306]
Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 2:19 & 6:14 & 17:27 [A.D. 350]
Ephraim the Syrian, Homilies 4:1 [A.D. 351]
Optatus, The Schism of the Donatists 2:2 [A.D. 367]
Ambrose of Milan, The Faith 4:5 [A.D. 379] & Commentary on Twelve Psalms of David 40:30 [A.D. 389]
Jerome, Against Jovinian 1:26 [A.D. 393] & Letters 15:2 [A.D. 396]
Augustine, Psalmus contr Partem Donati[A.D. 393] & Letters 53:1:2 [A.D. 412] & Commentary on Psalm 108 1 [A.D. 415] & Commentary on John 56:1 [A.D. 416]
Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Matthew [A.D. 428][/QUOTE] [/quote]
Excellent

[EcceNovaFacioOmni]

Here is the finished product:


[b]Peter and the Papacy[/b]

The Church is the pillar and foundation of truth. (1 Tim 3:15) To stand firmly on this foundation one needs to understand Peter’s role in the Church. By understanding the Papacy you will be better able to do spiritual battle for the kingdom of God.

[b]Keys to the Kingdom[/b]

Jesus is the Messiah, which means that he is King. Peter infallibly pronounced Jesus as the Messiah when the disciples were unclear about who Jesus was. (Matt 16:16-17) Jesus in return gave Peter the “keys to the kingdom” with the authority to “bind and loose”. (Matt 16:19) It was once commonly understood that when a king left his kingdom, there was appointed a steward who held the keys to the kingdom. (see Isaiah 22:22) The successor of Peter –John Paul II- now holds the keys to defend the kingdom from its enemies.

[b]This Rock[/b]

The Messiah promised that the Church would be victorious. Jesus promised to do this by building the Church on Peter. Jesus said, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” (Matt 16:18) “Peter” means “rock” and Jesus gave this name to Peter to signify the role that he would play in the Church. (John 1:42)

[b]Shepherd[/b]

Jesus singles Peter out to be a Shepherd to the entire Church. Jesus tells Peter, “Feed my lambs”… “Tend my sheep”… “Feed my sheep.” (John 21:15-17) He does this to let Peter know that he is to guide, protect, and feed his people as shepherd to the entire Church.

[b]Apostolic Succession[/b]

Jesus gave the apostles positions of authority in his kingdom (Luke 22:29) and he gave them the authority to bind and loose (Matt 18:18). One of the first things that Peter did as steward of the church was to fill Judas’ “office”. (Acts 1:15-26) In the same way, the “keys” have been passed from Peter to the present day Pope. No other Church can make a legitimate claim to have the successors of Peter. The Catholic Church can even list the successors of Peter throughout its 2000-year history.

[b]Testimony of Early Christian Leaders[/b]

The leadership of Peter as the first Pope of the Catholic Church, was acknowledged by the earliest Christians and the Church Fathers, who were instructed by the Twelve Apostles themselves and their students. Cyprian of Carthage wrote about the Chair of Peter and its authority:
[quote]The Lord says to Peter: "I say to you," he says, "that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church" . . . On him 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 that also which 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 [A.D. 251])[/quote]
Peter's Chair was located in Rome, where he served as the first Bishop of that city (Eusebius of Caesarea, The Chronicle [A.D. 303]).

Irenaeus of Lyons, a disciple of Polycarp (who was a disciple of John the Apostle), writes this of the Church of Rome:
[quote]"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."
(Adversus haereses 3:3:2 [A.D. 189])[/quote]
Thus all Churches must agree with the Church of Rome, founded by the Apostle Peter who also supervised it. Peter's Chair in Rome and it's authority has continued on in Peter's succesors.

[u]Further scriptural sources[/u]:
(Enter them here, such a long list.)

[u]Further readings from the Church Fathers[/u]:
Tertullian, Modesty 21:9–10 [A.D. 220]
Letter of Clement to James 2 [A.D. 221])
Origen, Commentary on Matthew 13:31 [A.D. 248]
Cyprian of Carthage, Letters 43[40]:5 & 66[69]:8 [A.D. 253]
Firmilian, Cyprian’s Letters 74[75]:16 & 74[75]:17 [A.D. 253]
Peter of Alexandria, Penance, canon 9 [A.D. 306]
Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 2:19 & 6:14 & 17:27 [A.D. 350]
Ephraim the Syrian, Homilies 4:1 [A.D. 351]
Optatus, The Schism of the Donatists 2:2 [A.D. 367]
Ambrose of Milan, The Faith 4:5 [A.D. 379] & Commentary on Twelve Psalms of David 40:30 [A.D. 389]
Jerome, Against Jovinian 1:26 [A.D. 393] & Letters 15:2 [A.D. 396]
Augustine, Psalmus contr Partem Donati[A.D. 393] & Letters 53:1:2 [A.D. 412] & Commentary on Psalm 108 1 [A.D. 415] & Commentary on John 56:1 [A.D. 416]
Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Matthew [A.D. 428]

Edited July 2, 2004 by thedude

[phatcatholic]

dUSt, it looks like u got ur summary