Who Is The Most Underpinned Rome's Important In The Church
Trace the rise in importance of the figure of the Bishop of Rome (what we now call the ‘Pope’) from the first century to the papacy of Leo the Great in the mid fifth century. What factors underpinned Rome’s importance in the Church?
In this essay I intend to show how the church in Rome grew in importance and how the Holy Roman See came to hold a position of pre-eminence in the early Christian Church and which still pertains today in the Catholic Church. I will first look at the evidence that theologically is put forward to support this position. I then intend to look at some examples of the personalities that further enhanced this position. For the purposes of this essay I have focused on, Damasus I, Siricius, Innocent I and the Emperor Constantine.
The pre-eminence of the bishop of Rome over the entire Catholic Church, an institution known as "the papacy," took centuries to develop.
In the first few hundred years of the church, the term "pope," which means …show more content…
“father,” was used for any important and respected bishop, and the bishop of Rome was one of several important bishops in Christendom. 1
Rome had always been honoured for her association with Peter and Paul and her position as the church in the Empire 's capital 2, but especially after Christianity was legalized under Emperor Constantine, the special status of that office grew even more with each passing Roman bishop.
Most of the claims for the authority of the pope have rested on one basic argument:
The bishop of Rome is the successor of St. Peter; and
Jesus gave St. Peter authority over the entire church.
The primary theological reason for the eventual primacy of Rome is the city 's association with Peter. Tradition held that Peter visited Rome during his lifetime and, more importantly, was martyred there (his remains are believed to reside beneath St. Peter 's Basilica in Vatican City). St. Paul was believed to have been martyred in Rome as well.3
The second claim is based on a passage in Matthew 16. In this passage, Jesus asks his disciples who they think he is. Peter answers, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Jesus replies:
"Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." 4
Because the word "Peter" means "rock," the Catholic Church has long interpreted Jesus to be teaching that Peter is the foundation of the Church and that Peter has spiritual authority over it.5 The Matthew 16 passage is also the basis for the imagery of St. Peter guarding the gates of heaven.
Additional biblical support for the primacy of Peter over the church has been found in the Gospel of John, in which the resurrected Jesus commands Peter: "Feed my sheep." 6
In the early history of Christianity, five cities emerged as important centres of Christianity: Rome, Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople. Although the Roman church was always highly respected, the churches in the East generally had more numbers and more authority than those of the West. 7
After the Edict of Milan granted Christianity legal status, the church adopted the same governmental structure as the Empire: geographical provinces ruled by bishops. These bishops of important cities therefore rose in power.
Rome was not the only city that could claim a special role in Christ 's Church. Jerusalem had the prestige of being the city of Christ 's death and resurrection, and an important church council was held there in the first century. 8Antioch was the place where Jesus ' followers were first called "Christians"9 and, with Alexandria, was an important early centre of Christian thought. Constantinople became highly important after Constantine moved his capital there in 330 AD.
By the fifth century, however, the bishop of Rome began to claim his supremacy over all other bishops, and some church fathers also made this claim for him.
But there were political reasons for the upsurge in the pope 's authority as well. First, Rome was the historical capital of the empire and an important city politically, so it was natural that the bishop of that city would also be important. And when Constantine moved the capital of the empire to Constantinople in 330, the pope was the most powerful figure that remained in Rome.
Also influential were the barbarian invasions of the fifth century. Leo I, who is regarded by many as the first pope in the modern sense, was instrumental in persuading Attila the Hun not to attack Rome in 452. When the city finally fell to the Vandals in 455, Leo convinced their leader not to burn the city. These accomplishments added to the prestige to the bishop of Rome.
Moreover, when Rome fell to the barbarians in 455 AD, the church became the defender of order, justice, and what was left of ancient civilization. The Roman bishop was instrumental in regaining the unity and stability that had been shattered by the invasions. 10 In the East, on the other hand, the empire survived for another 1000 years, so the bishops there did not have the same opportunity for political importance as their Roman counterpart.
Another factor that must not be overlooked in analysing the rise of the papacy is the personalities who held the office of bishop of Rome. These men - some of which were worldly, some of which were very devout - regarded themselves as holding a special place in Christendom and did not hesitate to claim this supremacy.
Damasus I (366-384)
An important early figure in the rise of the papacy is Damasus I. A Spaniard, Damasus came to the chair of Rome amid great scandal. He was elected in October 366, but an Arian group wished to see Ursinus as bishop instead. In 367, the Emperor Valentinian recognized Damasus and banished Ursinus from Rome. 11
During his reign as bishop of Rome, Damasus contended against the heresies of Apollinarianism and Arianism, presiding over two Roman synods in 368 and 369 and sending his legates to the important Council of Constantinople in 381, all of which condemned these and other heresies. He also commissioned the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible, which became the standard translation used by the church throughout the Middle Ages, and built a marble monument in honour of Peter and Paul. 12
Damasus was the first to declare himself the “Apostolic See.” St. Jerome, Damasus ' secretary and the translator of the Vulgate, clearly agreed with this designation. The church father wrote in a letter to Damasus:
As I follow no leader save Christ, so I communicate with none save your Beatitude, that is, with the chair of Peter. For this, I know, is the Rock on which the Church is built. This is Noah 's ark, and he who is not found in it shall perish when the flood overwhelms all. ... 13
In 381, during Damasus ' reign, the Council of Constantinople granted the bishop of Constantinople "primacy of honour next after the Bishop of Rome." 14
Siricius (384-399)
Siricius was the first to apply the term "pope" to himself and the first to issue a formal decretal - a ruling with binding legal precedent - on disputes in the Church.15 It remains the Catholic view today that "in all his decrees the pope speaks with the consciousness of his supreme ecclesiastical authority and of his pastoral care over all the churches." 16
Innocent I (402-416)
During Innocent 's pontificate, the Emperor Honorius moved the capital of the Western Empire from Rome to Ravenna, in northwest Italy, in 402. Rome was no longer a strong political centre, and it would not regain its political strength until the rise of the Papal States in the 8th century. 17 Taking advantage of this weakness and the absence of a strong emperor, Alaric and the Visigoths sacked Rome in 410. As would not be the case later, the pope was powerless to stop the barbarian invasion.
However, Innocent did advance the idea of the supremacy of the pope further by introducing the concept of "primacy of jurisdiction.” Replying to African bishops who had appealed to the pope to support them against Pelagianism, Innocent wrote:
...nothing which was done even in the most remote and distant provinces should be taken as finally settled unless it came to the notice of this See, that any just pronouncement might be confirmed by all the authority of this See, and that the other churches might from thence gather what they should teach. 18
Pope Leo the Great (440-461)
Leo I has been called "the master builder of the papacy."19 He is considered by many to be the first pope in the modern sense of the term, for he put the idea of primacy of jurisdiction fully into practice. Leo was ideal for the task; by all accounts he was a good man, highly disciplined, and a true Christian.
Leo took the title Pontifex Maximus, "chief priest," which had been used by the Roman emperors in reference to the state cult. In his writings appeared all the traditional arguments for papal authority, including the idea that Jesus had made Peter and his successors the rock on which the church would be built, and that the bishop of Rome is the successor of Peter.20
Several important events for the development of the papacy occurred during Pope Leo 's reign. In 445, Emperor Valentinian said the Bishop of Rome was the law for all. In 451, Pope Leo convened the important Council of Chalcedon although that job had traditionally been reserved for emperors.21
But most important of all, Pope Leo was instrumental in saving Rome from Attila the Hun. In 45222, the Huns had taken a nearby Italian city, the road to Rome was open to them, the Western emperor was weak in character and resources, and the East gave no indications it would help. It seemed certain the Huns would sack Rome, but Leo left Rome and marched to meet Attila himself. We do not know what was said between the two men – legend has it that Attila saw Saints Peter and Paul marching with Leo and threatening the barbarian. In any case, Attila decided not to attack Rome. He turned to the north instead, and died shortly thereafter.
Three years later, Pope Leo saved Rome from the Vandals. This time he couldn’t stop them from invading, but he led negotiations with the Vandal leader and prevented the burning of the city.23
So far we have looked at former “Bishops of Rome” who have had an influence on the development of Papal primacy. There were of course others outside of the church who also had an immense influence in this regard. The most obvious of these was probably the Roman emperor Constantine. The church under his rule underwent a remarkable reversal of fortune.24 He identified the Church as a source of unity for the Empire and it now became the favoured religion of state, though not the only one. As Duffy says:
A stream of edicts granted religious freedom ‘to Christians and all others’ (the order of the words here was crucial). Confiscated Church property was returned (without compensation to the purchasers), Christian clergy were exempted from the responsibilities of public office and public funds were allocated for the work of the church. [Sic] 25
This was a golden age for the church as Constantine built many churches so as to give the church an Imperial image and bequeathed lands to the church to help finance its new found glory. The Church now came to be at the centre of state politics and its new found respectability attracted many new converts from the upper classes. This was a remarkable change from a few years earlier when the Christian church was made an outcast and suffered its worst state wide pogrom under the emperor Diocletian.
The Church in Rome benefited greatly from this and its prestige grew. Ironically the church also benefited when Constantine moved his capitol to Constantinople. This move was to eventually lead to a power vacuum into which the papacy stepped as was shown above by for example by Leo the Great.26
In conclusion then we can see that there is some biblical reference to the position of Peter within the Hierarchy of the Church. This has been put forward as the “charter” for the primacy of the Roman papacy, however it has to be said that this is not a universally accepted interpretation of these texts and indeed would lead to schisms in future years. That said it did gain wide acceptance and helped Rome assert its primacy. This event was further enhanced as we have seen by some very influential personalities and historical events within the first five hundred years or so of the Christian churches history and which would be built upon further in the following years.
Bibliography
Holy Bible New Standard Revised Version.
(1989). Peabody ; MA: Hendrickson Publishers Marketing.
Duffy, E. (1997). Saints and Sinners. Wales: S4C.
Frend, W. (1986). The Rise of Christianity. london: Darton,Longman & Todd.
Gonzalez, J. L. (1999). The Story of Christianity: The Early Church to the Present Day. Washington: Prince Press.
Henry Bettenson (Editor), C. M. (2011). Documents of the Christian Church. USA: Oxford University Press.
Lapple, A. (1982). The Catholic Church a Brief History. New York: The Paulist Press.
Latourette, K. S. ( 1975). A History of Christianity, Volume 1: Beginnings to 1500 (Revised). New York: HarperOne.
Maxwell-Stuart, P. G. ( 1997). Chronicle of the Popes: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Papacy over 2000 Years. London: Thames & Hudson.
Shahan, T. ( 2009). The Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 10, 2013, from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04613a.htm
Word count
2456
In this essay I intend to show how the church in Rome grew in importance and how the Holy Roman See came to hold a position of pre-eminence in the early Christian Church and which still pertains today in the Catholic Church. I will first look at the evidence that theologically is put forward to support this position. I then intend to look at some examples of the personalities that further enhanced this position. For the purposes of this essay I have focused on, Damasus I, Siricius, Innocent I and the Emperor Constantine.
The pre-eminence of the bishop of Rome over the entire Catholic Church, an institution known as "the papacy," took centuries to develop.
In the first few hundred years of the church, the term "pope," which means …show more content…
“father,” was used for any important and respected bishop, and the bishop of Rome was one of several important bishops in Christendom. 1
Rome had always been honoured for her association with Peter and Paul and her position as the church in the Empire 's capital 2, but especially after Christianity was legalized under Emperor Constantine, the special status of that office grew even more with each passing Roman bishop.
Most of the claims for the authority of the pope have rested on one basic argument:
The bishop of Rome is the successor of St. Peter; and
Jesus gave St. Peter authority over the entire church.
The primary theological reason for the eventual primacy of Rome is the city 's association with Peter. Tradition held that Peter visited Rome during his lifetime and, more importantly, was martyred there (his remains are believed to reside beneath St. Peter 's Basilica in Vatican City). St. Paul was believed to have been martyred in Rome as well.3
The second claim is based on a passage in Matthew 16. In this passage, Jesus asks his disciples who they think he is. Peter answers, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Jesus replies:
"Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." 4
Because the word "Peter" means "rock," the Catholic Church has long interpreted Jesus to be teaching that Peter is the foundation of the Church and that Peter has spiritual authority over it.5 The Matthew 16 passage is also the basis for the imagery of St. Peter guarding the gates of heaven.
Additional biblical support for the primacy of Peter over the church has been found in the Gospel of John, in which the resurrected Jesus commands Peter: "Feed my sheep." 6
In the early history of Christianity, five cities emerged as important centres of Christianity: Rome, Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople. Although the Roman church was always highly respected, the churches in the East generally had more numbers and more authority than those of the West. 7
After the Edict of Milan granted Christianity legal status, the church adopted the same governmental structure as the Empire: geographical provinces ruled by bishops. These bishops of important cities therefore rose in power.
Rome was not the only city that could claim a special role in Christ 's Church. Jerusalem had the prestige of being the city of Christ 's death and resurrection, and an important church council was held there in the first century. 8Antioch was the place where Jesus ' followers were first called "Christians"9 and, with Alexandria, was an important early centre of Christian thought. Constantinople became highly important after Constantine moved his capital there in 330 AD.
By the fifth century, however, the bishop of Rome began to claim his supremacy over all other bishops, and some church fathers also made this claim for him.
But there were political reasons for the upsurge in the pope 's authority as well. First, Rome was the historical capital of the empire and an important city politically, so it was natural that the bishop of that city would also be important. And when Constantine moved the capital of the empire to Constantinople in 330, the pope was the most powerful figure that remained in Rome.
Also influential were the barbarian invasions of the fifth century. Leo I, who is regarded by many as the first pope in the modern sense, was instrumental in persuading Attila the Hun not to attack Rome in 452. When the city finally fell to the Vandals in 455, Leo convinced their leader not to burn the city. These accomplishments added to the prestige to the bishop of Rome.
Moreover, when Rome fell to the barbarians in 455 AD, the church became the defender of order, justice, and what was left of ancient civilization. The Roman bishop was instrumental in regaining the unity and stability that had been shattered by the invasions. 10 In the East, on the other hand, the empire survived for another 1000 years, so the bishops there did not have the same opportunity for political importance as their Roman counterpart.
Another factor that must not be overlooked in analysing the rise of the papacy is the personalities who held the office of bishop of Rome. These men - some of which were worldly, some of which were very devout - regarded themselves as holding a special place in Christendom and did not hesitate to claim this supremacy.
Damasus I (366-384)
An important early figure in the rise of the papacy is Damasus I. A Spaniard, Damasus came to the chair of Rome amid great scandal. He was elected in October 366, but an Arian group wished to see Ursinus as bishop instead. In 367, the Emperor Valentinian recognized Damasus and banished Ursinus from Rome. 11
During his reign as bishop of Rome, Damasus contended against the heresies of Apollinarianism and Arianism, presiding over two Roman synods in 368 and 369 and sending his legates to the important Council of Constantinople in 381, all of which condemned these and other heresies. He also commissioned the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible, which became the standard translation used by the church throughout the Middle Ages, and built a marble monument in honour of Peter and Paul. 12
Damasus was the first to declare himself the “Apostolic See.” St. Jerome, Damasus ' secretary and the translator of the Vulgate, clearly agreed with this designation. The church father wrote in a letter to Damasus:
As I follow no leader save Christ, so I communicate with none save your Beatitude, that is, with the chair of Peter. For this, I know, is the Rock on which the Church is built. This is Noah 's ark, and he who is not found in it shall perish when the flood overwhelms all. ... 13
In 381, during Damasus ' reign, the Council of Constantinople granted the bishop of Constantinople "primacy of honour next after the Bishop of Rome." 14
Siricius (384-399)
Siricius was the first to apply the term "pope" to himself and the first to issue a formal decretal - a ruling with binding legal precedent - on disputes in the Church.15 It remains the Catholic view today that "in all his decrees the pope speaks with the consciousness of his supreme ecclesiastical authority and of his pastoral care over all the churches." 16
Innocent I (402-416)
During Innocent 's pontificate, the Emperor Honorius moved the capital of the Western Empire from Rome to Ravenna, in northwest Italy, in 402. Rome was no longer a strong political centre, and it would not regain its political strength until the rise of the Papal States in the 8th century. 17 Taking advantage of this weakness and the absence of a strong emperor, Alaric and the Visigoths sacked Rome in 410. As would not be the case later, the pope was powerless to stop the barbarian invasion.
However, Innocent did advance the idea of the supremacy of the pope further by introducing the concept of "primacy of jurisdiction.” Replying to African bishops who had appealed to the pope to support them against Pelagianism, Innocent wrote:
...nothing which was done even in the most remote and distant provinces should be taken as finally settled unless it came to the notice of this See, that any just pronouncement might be confirmed by all the authority of this See, and that the other churches might from thence gather what they should teach. 18
Pope Leo the Great (440-461)
Leo I has been called "the master builder of the papacy."19 He is considered by many to be the first pope in the modern sense of the term, for he put the idea of primacy of jurisdiction fully into practice. Leo was ideal for the task; by all accounts he was a good man, highly disciplined, and a true Christian.
Leo took the title Pontifex Maximus, "chief priest," which had been used by the Roman emperors in reference to the state cult. In his writings appeared all the traditional arguments for papal authority, including the idea that Jesus had made Peter and his successors the rock on which the church would be built, and that the bishop of Rome is the successor of Peter.20
Several important events for the development of the papacy occurred during Pope Leo 's reign. In 445, Emperor Valentinian said the Bishop of Rome was the law for all. In 451, Pope Leo convened the important Council of Chalcedon although that job had traditionally been reserved for emperors.21
But most important of all, Pope Leo was instrumental in saving Rome from Attila the Hun. In 45222, the Huns had taken a nearby Italian city, the road to Rome was open to them, the Western emperor was weak in character and resources, and the East gave no indications it would help. It seemed certain the Huns would sack Rome, but Leo left Rome and marched to meet Attila himself. We do not know what was said between the two men – legend has it that Attila saw Saints Peter and Paul marching with Leo and threatening the barbarian. In any case, Attila decided not to attack Rome. He turned to the north instead, and died shortly thereafter.
Three years later, Pope Leo saved Rome from the Vandals. This time he couldn’t stop them from invading, but he led negotiations with the Vandal leader and prevented the burning of the city.23
So far we have looked at former “Bishops of Rome” who have had an influence on the development of Papal primacy. There were of course others outside of the church who also had an immense influence in this regard. The most obvious of these was probably the Roman emperor Constantine. The church under his rule underwent a remarkable reversal of fortune.24 He identified the Church as a source of unity for the Empire and it now became the favoured religion of state, though not the only one. As Duffy says:
A stream of edicts granted religious freedom ‘to Christians and all others’ (the order of the words here was crucial). Confiscated Church property was returned (without compensation to the purchasers), Christian clergy were exempted from the responsibilities of public office and public funds were allocated for the work of the church. [Sic] 25
This was a golden age for the church as Constantine built many churches so as to give the church an Imperial image and bequeathed lands to the church to help finance its new found glory. The Church now came to be at the centre of state politics and its new found respectability attracted many new converts from the upper classes. This was a remarkable change from a few years earlier when the Christian church was made an outcast and suffered its worst state wide pogrom under the emperor Diocletian.
The Church in Rome benefited greatly from this and its prestige grew. Ironically the church also benefited when Constantine moved his capitol to Constantinople. This move was to eventually lead to a power vacuum into which the papacy stepped as was shown above by for example by Leo the Great.26
In conclusion then we can see that there is some biblical reference to the position of Peter within the Hierarchy of the Church. This has been put forward as the “charter” for the primacy of the Roman papacy, however it has to be said that this is not a universally accepted interpretation of these texts and indeed would lead to schisms in future years. That said it did gain wide acceptance and helped Rome assert its primacy. This event was further enhanced as we have seen by some very influential personalities and historical events within the first five hundred years or so of the Christian churches history and which would be built upon further in the following years.
Bibliography
Holy Bible New Standard Revised Version.
(1989). Peabody ; MA: Hendrickson Publishers Marketing.
Duffy, E. (1997). Saints and Sinners. Wales: S4C.
Frend, W. (1986). The Rise of Christianity. london: Darton,Longman & Todd.
Gonzalez, J. L. (1999). The Story of Christianity: The Early Church to the Present Day. Washington: Prince Press.
Henry Bettenson (Editor), C. M. (2011). Documents of the Christian Church. USA: Oxford University Press.
Lapple, A. (1982). The Catholic Church a Brief History. New York: The Paulist Press.
Latourette, K. S. ( 1975). A History of Christianity, Volume 1: Beginnings to 1500 (Revised). New York: HarperOne.
Maxwell-Stuart, P. G. ( 1997). Chronicle of the Popes: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Papacy over 2000 Years. London: Thames & Hudson.
Shahan, T. ( 2009). The Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved April 10, 2013, from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04613a.htm
Word count
2456