Erroneous Petrine Primacy

Here is the Catholic Encyclopedia definition of Primacy:

The supreme episcopal jurisdiction of the pope as pastor and governor of the Universal Church.

Primacy of the Roman See

We have shown in the last section that Christ conferred upon St. Peter the office of chief pastor, and that the permanence of that office is essential to the very being of the Church. It must now be established that it belongs of right to the Roman See. The proof will fall into two parts:

• that St. Peter was Bishop of Rome, and

• that those who succeed him in that see succeed him also in the supreme headship.

Everything in Rome rests upon 3 assumptions:

Thus in Old Rome we have St. Peter's Square and Basilica; with the chair of St. Peter and statues of the Saint all over Vatican City.

With all the statues and paintings of St. Peter in Rome, it does seem convincing "proof" that St. Peter was actually in Rome except for 1 little FACT—the Greeks never heard a word about it.

Nobody heard of this Petrine Primacy at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D.

The Council of Chalcedon was the FOURTH Ecumenical Council held in Chalcedon near Constantinople and attended by over 600 bishops.

It is astonishing to learn that in the year 451—only 150 years from the patristic period— nobody had heard of St. Peter's bishopric in the city of Rome.

This is more fantastic when we realize that most of the Christians lived in the East where the Council was held. The Greeks preserved the New Testament, plus most of the practices of Apostolic Christianity such as baptism by triune immersion and leavened bread in the Eucharist.

If Jesus had made St. Peter head of the "church," surely the bishops or the Pope would have known something about it.

By a strange oversight, Pope Leo I (the GREAT!!) forgot to remind the Council that Rome had first place because Jesus gave the keys of the kingdom to St. Peter, who was subsequently bishop of Rome for at least 25 years.

In a rare display of humility, Leo completely forgot to tell the Council that he was Pope by divine appointment, and not because Rome was the Imperial city. Here is the text of Canon 28 of the Council of Chalcedon:

Following in every detail all the decrees of the holy fathers and knowing about the canon, just read, of the 150 bishops dearly beloved of God, gathered together under Theodosius the Great, emperor of pious memory in the imperial city of Constantinople, New Rome, we ourselves have also decreed and voted the same things about the prerogatives of the very holy Church of this same Constantinople, New Rome. The fathers in fact have correctly attributed the prerogatives [which belong] to the see of the most ancient Rome because it was the imperial city. And thus moved by the same reasoning, the 150 bishops beloved of God have accorded equal prerogatives to the very holy see of New Rome, justly considering that the city that is honored by the imperial power and the senate and enjoying [within the civil order] the prerogatives equal to those of Rome, the most ancient imperial city, ought to be as elevated as Old Rome in the affairs of the Church, being in the second place after it. Consequently, the metropolitans and they alone of the dioceses of Pontus, Asia and Thrace, as well as the bishops among the barbarians of the aforementioned dioceses, are to be ordained by the previously mentioned very holy see of the very holy Church of Constantinople; that is, each metropolitan of the above-mentioned dioceses is to ordain the bishops of the province along with his fellow bishops of that province, as has been provided for in the divine canons. As for the metropolitans of the previously mentioned dioceses, they are to be ordained, as has already been said, by the archbishop of Constantinople, after harmonious elections have taken place according to custom and after the archbishop has been notified. (L'Huillier, The Church of the Ancient Councils, pp. 267-268).

Obviously this Petrine Primacy is a complete MYTH and later fabrication, otherwise Pope Leo would have certainly mentioned it to the bishops who attended the Council of Chalcedon.

Rome and Constantinople share equal Primacy!!

Pope is a GREEK word meaning FATHER....According to the Council of Chalcedon, these 2 men share equal authority and jurisdiction over their followers.

Here is a quote about the Patriarch of Constantinople from Wikipedia:

The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is the Archbishop of Constantinople—New Rome—ranking as primus inter pares (first among equals) in the Eastern Orthodox communion, which is seen by followers as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. He has been historically known as the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople, as distinct from the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople. The current holder of the office is Bartholomew I. His title is not recognized by the Turkish government, who only recognize him as the spiritual leader of the Greek minority in Turkey, and refer to him only as the Greek (lit. Roman) Orthodox Patriarch of the Phanar (Turkish: Fener Rum Ortodoks Patrigi).

Obviously the Turkish Muslim government is just a secret adjunct to the Vatican....If the Italian government treated the Papacy like the Turks treat the Patriarch . . . all hell would break loose!!

The headquarters of the see of Constantinople is now a MUSEUM!!

Just imagine if Rome was invaded by a foreign army and they turned the Vatican into a MUSEUM....That gives you some idea of what the Moslem Turks did to the headquarters of the Patriarch of Constantinople.

Vital Link

Medieval Sourcebook, Council of Chalcedon, 451.

Reference

L'Huillier, Peter, The Church of the Ancient Councils. Saint Vladimir's Seminary Press, Crestwood, New York, 1996.

Copyright © 2009 by Niall Kilkenny

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