Faith of Our Fathers - Fr. Hugh Barbour, O. Praem

Peter Has Spoken
The Fathers on the infallibility of the Bishop of Rome.

The infallibility of the pope in matters of faith and morals was defined as a dogma of the Catholic Faith in 1870 at the First Vatican Council. This teaching, however, had been held and taught and put into practice during the whole history of the Church. Whenever doubts or errors arise in Christian Faith or practice, the ultimate authority in the Church is that of the successor of St. Peter, for whom Our Lord prayed at the Last Supper, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren" (Luke 22:31-32).

There are many aspects to the biblical teaching on the primacy of St. Peter and his successors. In this article, we'll center in on just the one practical fact that historically, the see (office) of Peter at Rome has been the final authority in the Church, East and West, for resolving the controversies raised by heresies and confirming the faith of the orthodox. The Fathers of the Church themselves viewed the See of Rome as the standard and guarantee of their own teaching, even though they were already themselves teachers of great authority as priests and bishops, successors of the apostles under Peter, the chief apostle, whose faith and person are the rock on which Christ built His Church on earth (Matt. 16:18).

Here are witnesses from the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth centuries, from Rome and Italy, Constantinople and Asia Minor, Western Europe and Northern Africa, that is, from all of ancient Christendom, geographically and historically.

St. Irenaeus of Lyons
St. Irenaeus fought the earliest of the heresies, that of gnosticism, with a full-blown concept of tradition and apostolic authority as robust as any father of the First Vatican Council 1,700 years later. Notice how he does not make the Bible the sole source of the Church's faith, which is what the modern Protestant doctrine of sola scriptura teaches; a doctrine utterly unknown to the Christians of his day. Irenaeus does, however, make the judgement of the Apostolic See the standard of authentic faith.

"With this Church [of Rome] it is necessary that each church agree, on account of its superior origin . . . in which has been preserved the tradition which is from the apostles . . . it is not necessary to seek the truth among others which it is easy to obtain from the Church; since the apostles, like a rich man depositing his money in a bank, lodged in her hands most copiously all things pertaining to the truth: so that every man, whosoever will, can draw from her the water of life. For she is the entrance to life; all others are thieves and robbers. On this account we are bound to avoid them [the heretics], but to love the things pertaining to the Church with the utmost care, and to lay hold of truth's tradition. For how stands the case? Suppose there arise a dispute relative to some important question among us, should we not have recourse to the most ancient churches with which the apostles held constant intercourse, and learn from them what is certain and clear in regard to the present question? For how would it be if the apostles themselves had not left us writings? Would it not be necessary in that case to follow the course of the tradition which they handed down to those to whom they did commit the churches?" (Against Heresies, 3:3-4, A.D.180).

Tertullian
Tertullian meets an objection still offered today. Peter is corrected in Acts for avoiding the company of Gentile Christians in order not to offend the Jewish party. Peter's fault was in his sinful weakness, not his teaching. If, however, the heretics of Tertullian's day say that all have fallen away from the original gospel (as the Mormons contend today), then how is it they all strayed into the same faith all over the world? No, apostolic tradition based on the promise of Christ is the real answer.

"But if Peter was reproved because, after having lived with the Gentiles, he separated himself from their company out of respect for persons, surely this was a fault in his behavior, not in his teaching . . . But then, let's assume that all have fallen into some error, that the Apostle also was deceived in the testimony he gave in favor of some, that the Holy Spirit had regard to none of them so as to guide them into all truth, even though He was sent by Christ and asked of the Father for this, that He might be the Teacher of Truth. Let's assume that He, the Steward of God, the deputy of Christ, neglected His office, allowing the churches to think and believe differently in the meantime about what He Himself preached to the apostles. Is it then probable that so many and such great churches should have 'gone astray' into the same faith?" (On the Prescription of Heretics, 23-28, A.D. 200).

St. Cyprian of Carthage
Writing to Pope St. Cornelius about the Novatian schismatics, St. Cyprian mocks their idea that they will receive approval from Rome, since the Roman Faith cannot be corrupted.

The heretics dare to sail off and carry letters from profane schismatics to the chair of Peter, to the first of Churches from which first came the unity of the priesthood. Don't they know that they are Romans there, whose faith was praised by the preaching of the apostle, and among whom faithlessness can have no influence?" (Letter 59 to Pope Cornelius, 14, A.D. 252).

St. Augustine
The Protestant reformers were very partial to St. Augustine, and claimed his works as an authority for their teachings. But just as they misinterpreted the Sacred Scriptures, so they misinterpreted him. Let's hear him explain why he is a Catholic, and why he believes the Bible.

"There are many other things which most rightly keep me in the bosom of the Catholic Church. The consensus of peoples and nations keeps me, authority established by miracles, nourished on hope, increased by charity, made stable by antiquity keeps me, the succession of the priesthood, from the very see of Peter the Apostle to whom the Lord commended the care of His sheep after His resurrection up to the present pontificate keeps me, finally the very name Catholic keeps me, for it is not without reason that among so many heresies only this Church obtains it, so that even though all heretics want to call themselves "catholic," nevertheless when some visitor to a city asks 'Where is the Catholic Church?' no heretic would dare show him his own basilica or meeting house . . . Should you meet someone who does not yet believe the Gospel, how would you reply to him were he to say 'I do not believe'? For my part I would not believe the Gospel, except as moved by the authority of the Catholic Church" (Against the Letter of Mani called "Fundamental," 4-5, A.D. 397).

"My brothers and sisters, please share my anxiety and concern. Wherever you find such people, don't keep quiet about them, don't be perversely soft-hearted . . . Argue with them when they speak against grace, and if they persist bring them to us. You see, there have already been two councils about this matter, and their decisions sent to the Apostolic See, from there rescripts approving them have been sent back here. The case is finished, if only the error were finished too, sometime!" (Sermon 131, 10, A.D. 417).

St. Peter Chrysologus
When the heretic Eutyches tried to get some help from this Father of the Church, St. Peter just referred him to the pope, who, by the way, was St. Leo the Great, and was quite grateful for the saintly Father's support. The fathers had a way of helping each other out.

"In all things we exhort you, honorable brother, that you obediently attend to the things which have been written down by the Most Blessed Pope of the city of Rome, since Blessed Peter, seated and presiding in his own see, offers the truth of the faith to those who are seeking it. For we out of zeal for peace and for the faith cannot hear cases regarding the faith without the consent of the bishop of the city of Rome" (Letter to Eutyches, 2, A.D. 449).

St. Leo the Great
Even though the pope has the final word, he still depends on the advice and authentic teaching of the other successors of the apostles. St. Leo points out how his brother bishops confirm his judgement, and thus are one in Christ.

"The Lord has allowed us to endure no harm in the person of our brothers, but rather He has backed up with the irrevocable consent of the whole brotherhood what He had already laid down through our ministry, to show that what had been first formulated by the foremost See of Christendom, and had been received by the judgement of the whole Christian world, had truly proceeded from Himself: that in this too the members might be one with the Head" (Letter 120 to Theodoretus, 1, A.D. 453).

St. Fulgentius of Ruspe
This Northern African father fought a new outbreak of the by then old Arian heresy, and defended the reality of the incarnation and suffering of the Son of God. He was asked by some monks of the East in Constantinople to make a judgement on some dogmatic errors. He based his certainty not on his own authority, but on the pure faith of the Roman Church.

"That which the Roman Church, which has the loftiest place on the earth, teaches and holds, so does the whole Christian world believe without hesitation for their justification, and does not delay to confess for their salvation" (Letter 17, 21, A.D. 519).

St. Gregory the Great
Once again we see how the pope, even though he is the ultimate authority, still does not place himself above the Bible and the dogmas of the Church defined before him.

"I confess that I receive and revere as the four books of the Gospel so also the four Councils: the Nicene in which the perverse doctrine of Arius is overthrown, that of Constantinople also, in which the error of Eunomius and Macedonius is refuted, further the Council of Ephesus in which the impiety of Nestorius is condemned, and finally the Chalcedonian in which the depravity of Eutyches and Dioscorus is reprobated. These with full devotion I embrace and adhere to with the most entire approval, since on them as on a foursquare stone rises the structure of the holy faith, and whosoever, of whatever life and behavior he may be, does not hold fast to their solidity, even though he seem to be a stone, he lies outside the building . . . But all persons whom the aforesaid councils repudiate, I repudiate; those whom they venerate I embrace, since having been constituted by universal consent, he overthrows not them but himself who pretends to loose those whom they bind or to bind those whom they loose. Whosoever, therefore, thinks otherwise, let him be anathema" (Letter to John of Constantinople and the Other Patriarchs, 1:25, A.D. 578).

St. Maximus Confessor
One of the last ancient heresies was Monothelitism, which denied that Our Lord had a human as well as a divine will. St. Maximus suffered greatly in defense of the orthodox doctrine taught by Rome against some Eastern heretics. In the following passage, he refuses to accept the heretical and irregular patriarch Pyrrhus, until he is reconciled to the Holy See. This father is very much venerated by the modern day Eastern Orthodox as an authority on prayer and the mystical life. The Roman Church venerates him as well, and prays that someday all of the Eastern Churches will accept what he says as an Easterner about the teaching role of the popes of Rome.

"If the Roman See recognizes Pyrrhus to be . . . a heretic, it is certainly clear that everyone who condemns those who reject Pyrrhus condemns the See of Rome, that is he condemns the Catholic Church. I need hardly add that he excommunicates himself also . . . It is unjust that anyone who has been condemned and expelled by the Apostolic See of Rome for his errors should be honored at all, until he has been received by her, returning to her and to the Lord Himself, by a devout confession of the orthodox faith, by which alone he can receive holiness . . . Let him hurry to satisfy in everything the See of Rome, for if Rome is satisfied all will agree that he is orthodox. For he only speaks foolishly who thinks he can persuade people like me, without first satisfying and begging the most blessed Pope of the Romans, the Apostolic See which has received universal and supreme authority and power of binding and loosing over all the Holy Churches of God in the whole world from the Incarnate Son of God Himself, and also by the holy synods in their canons and definitions. With it the Word who is above the powers of heaven binds and looses in heaven also. Anyone who thinks he can satisfy others without imploring pardon of the most blessed Pope of Rome, is acting like someone who is accused of murder or some other crime and does not prove his innocence to the lawfully appointed judge, but to uselessly demonstrate his innocence to private persons who have no power to acquit him" (Letter to the Priest Marinus of Cyprus, A.D. 641).

St. Theodore the Studite
The Iconoclasts indirectly denied the reality of the incarnation of God the Son as true Man by forbidding the veneration of sacred images. St. Theodore was a great monastic teacher of Constantinople whose holy rule many Eastern monastics follow, just as Western monastics follow the rules of St. Benedict and St. Augustine. He argues that the doctrine of the Church cannot be judged by a secular court, but should be decided by the See of Rome, so that all can be certain of the true Faith. His words are all the more interesting because they were written in the same century which saw the schism of Patriarch Photius, and the beginning of the modern denial of the Papal office by the Eastern Orthodox.

"In no way can it be, Sir, that divine judgement be held equal to secular judgement . . . let him [the patriarch Nicephorus] make peace and unity by sending his synodical letters to the first see [of Rome], but if the emperor does not approve of this, and denies, as he already admits he does, the truth professed by Nicephorus, let a legation from each of the two parties be sent to the Roman See, and from thence will be received certitude in the faith" (Letter 129, A.D. 813).

Byzantine Liturgy
The liturgy of the Byzantine Church, so well known for its rich and explicit presentation of Catholic dogmas, has many expressions of the faith of the early and undivided Eastern Church in the teaching role of the successors of St. Peter. These two texts, which I translated from the Greek, speak of the doctrinal interventions of Pope St. Sylvester against Arianism and of Pope St. Leo against the Monophysites.

On the feast of Pope St. Sylvester, January 2 at Lauds:

"Endowed with the See of the leader of the apostles, you became an outstanding minister of God, enriching, establishing, and increasing the church with divine dogmas. You were the prince of the sacred council and you adorned the throne of the head of the disciples; like a divine prince over the holy Fathers you confirmed the most sacred dogma."

On the feast of St. Leo the Great, February 18 at Matins:

"The pillar of orthodoxy, as the successor of Peter, endowed with his precedence and primacy, gave the divinely inspired definition of faith, appearing to the people of God like a new Moses, who, moved by God, engraved the teachings of the faith upon divinely stamped tablets, and who like a true patriarch fixed his tent in the City where the primacy and seat and order of the patriarchs now stand."