“Our Apostles knew through our Lord Jesus Christ that there would be strife for the office of bishop. For this reason, therefore, having received perfect foreknowledge, they appointed those who have already been mentioned, and afterwards added the further provision that, if they should die, other approved men should succeed to their ministry."
St. Clement of Rome, Letter to the Corinthians, 44:1-2, c. AD 80
"You must follow the bishop as Jesus Christ follows the Father, and the presbytery as you would the Apostles. Reverence the deacons as you would the command of God. Let no one do anything of concern to the Church without the bishop. Let that be considered a valid Eucharist which is celebrated by the bishop, or by one whom he appoints. Wherever the bishop appears, let the people be there, just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church."
St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans, 8:1-2, AD 107
"The Church, having received this preaching and this faith, although she is disseminated throughout the whole world, yet guarded it, as if she occupied but one house. She likewise believes these things 'just as if she had but one soul and one and the same heart and harmoniously she proclaims them and teaches them and hands them down, as if she possessed but one mouth. For, while the languages of the world are diverse, nevertheless, the authority of the Tradition is one and the same."
St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1, 10, 2, c. AD 190
"They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the Flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, Flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in His goodness, raised up again."
St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Smyrnaeans, 7:1, AD 107
“We call this food Eucharist; and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true and who has been washed in the washing which is for the remission of sins and for regeneration, and is thereby living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by Him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nurtured, is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus.”
St. Justin Martyr, First Apology 66, A.D. 151
“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…Accept our counsel, and you will have nothing to regret…If anyone disobey the things which have been said by Him through us, 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.”
St. Clement of Rome, Letter to the Corinthians, 1: 58–59, 63, A.D. 80
“Ignatius…to the church also which holds the presidency in the place 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.”
St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans, 1:1, A.D. 110
"It is possible, then, for every Church, who may wish to know the truth, to contemplate the tradition of the Apostles which has been made known throughout the whole world. And we are in a position to enumerate those who were instituted bishops by the Apostles, and their successors to our own times…But since it would be too long to enumerate in such a volume as this the successions 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. For with this Church, because of its superior origin, all 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."
St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3, 3, 1-2, c. AD 190
“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; and although He assigns a like power to all the Apostles, yet He founded a single chair, and He established by His own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity. Indeed, the others were that also which Peter was; but a primacy is given to Peter, whereby it is made clear that there is but one Church and one chair. So too, all 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 desert the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he still be confident that he is in the Church?” [see endnote]
St. Cyprian of Carthage, The Unity of the Catholic Church, 1st edition, A.D. 251
“(T)hey 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 shall loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven.” And the vessel of divine election himself said: “If ye have forgiven anything to any one, I forgive also, for what I have forgiven I have done it for your sakes in the person of Christ.”
St. Ambrose of Milan, On Penance, Book One, Ch. VII, v. 33, c. A.D. 390.
“For as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are also with the bishop. And as many as shall, in the exercise of repentance, return into the unity of the Church, these, too, shall belong to God, that they may live according to Jesus Christ. Do not err, my brethren. If any man follows him that makes a schism in the Church, he shall not inherit the kingdom of God. If any one walks according to a strange opinion, he agrees not with the passion of Christ.”
St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Philadelphians, 3.2, ca. A.D. 110
“There is nothing more serious than the sacrilege of schism because there is no just cause for severing the unity of the Church.”
St. Augustine, Treatise On Baptism Against the Donatists, Bk 5, Ch. 1, A.D. 400
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Endnote on St. Cyprian:
Immediately after the live Journey Home program, I received an email from Mark Bonocore of The Catholic Legate pointing out that I may have chosen a quote from St. Cyprian that is not the best to express his view of the papacy. This was one of the key quotes that helped me see the authority of the bishop of Rome in the early Church, but as Mark points out, there are some controversies surrounding St. Cyprian, primarily because at times he vacillated in his statements due to disagreements with the bishop in Rome. He even himself changed the wording of a later copy of the letter I quoted, which has led over the years to conflicting views of his thought.
As Mark points out below, he recommends a better quote to illustrate Cyprian’s acceptance of the authority of the papacy. I greatly appreciate Mark’s correction, apologize for any mistakes I may have made due to the haste of preparation, and rather than attempt a re-phrase, I’ll merely give you Mark’s fine explanation below:
“While Cyprian clearly did believe in the primacy of Rome, when the great bishop and martyr of Carthage spoke of the "Chair of Peter," he usually was referring, not to the Papacy, but to the teaching authority of the Church itself, which is shared by all the bishops of the Catholic Church, just as the "Chair of Moses" (per Matt 23:1-3) was shared by all the scribes and Pharisees collectively.
“However, while Cyprian clearly believed that all bishops share in the "Chair of Peter" (that is, the teaching authority of the Church itself), he did not believe that all bishops shared in this authority equally or to the same extent. Rather, when one reads all of Cyprian, his ecclesiology essentially worked like this:
a) On the local level, the "Chair of Peter" was held by the bishop of a particular city-church, who was responsible for maintaining unity among the presbyters and laity, just as St. Peter maintained unity among the other Apostles and disciples. This was Cyprians primary objective in the quote that you read. However...
b) On the regional level, the "Chair of Peter" was held by the metropolitan bishop of a particular region, which was Cyprian's own position as the Bishop of Carthage, and so metropolitan archbishop of all Africa and Numidia. In this role, he was responsible for maintaining unity among all the bishops throughout African and Numidia. However...
c) On the universal level, the "Chair of Peter" was held by St. Peter's own literal successor, who of course was/is the Bishop of Rome. And the Bishop of Rome was responsible for maintaining unity and orthodoxy throughout the universal Church.
“This is how Cyprian understood "the Chair of Peter."
“And modern Catholics can hold to this same ecclesiology today. When we commonly speak of "the Chair of Peter" in regard to Rome, what we really mean is that Rome holds the ultimate and literal "Chair of Peter." But, in the quote that you read from Cyprian (which comes from his "On Unity"), he is not (as you incorrectly stated) referring to the primacy of Rome. Rather, he is referring to the teaching authority of the Church itself, held commonly by all bishops. Indeed, this is exactly the same concept that Jesus is referring to in Matthew 23, when he speaks of all the scribes and Pharisees holding "the Chair of Moses" –that is, the teaching authority of Israel. For, in the Jewish tradition, the "Chair of Moses" operated in the same, multi-tiered way as the early Christian concept of the "Chair of Peter." For…
1) On the local level, the "Chair of Moses" was held by the local rabbi of a synagogue, but…
2) On the regional level, the "Chair of Moses" was held by the presiding rabbi of a particular Jewish sect or school (e.g. ben Zakkai or Akiba at Jamnia). But…
3) On the universal level, the "Chair of Moses" was actually held by the High Priest in Jerusalem, who was the ultimate arbiter of world Jewry (see Acts 28:21, where the Jewish rabbis in Rome speak of not yet receiving formal instructions from the High Priest and the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. See also Acts 9:1-2, where the High Priest gives letters authorizing Saul to arrest Christians in the synagogues of Damasus, which was in Syria –an entirely different country from 4 Judea).
“So, in short, it is very important to make this distinction in St. Cyprians’ writings and theology. You were only incorrect in detail, not in overall truth, for indeed, St. Cyprian was unquestionably a "Papist.” The better quote for you to have used would have been from his “Epistle LIV ad Cornelius on Fortunatus and Felicissimus:
"With false bishops appointed for themselves, they dare even set sail and carry their letters from schismatics and blasphemers to the Chair of Peter and to the principal church, in which sacerdotal unity (priestly unity) has its source; nor do they take thought that these are Romans, whose faith was praised by the Apostle, to whom heretical faith cannot have access." “This quote, rather than the one you used (read: misapplied) reveals Cyprian's belief in the primacy and ultimate authority of Rome. Elsewhere, he also calls Rome "the womb and root of the Catholic Church," thus illustrating Rome's ultimate and universal authority.
God bless and keep you
Mark Bonocore
The Catholic Legate
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