308 THIRD PERIOD. A.D. 311-590.
other hand, like Cyprian and Jerome, he lays stress upon the essential unity of the episcopate, and insists .hat the keys of the kingdom of heaven were corainitted not to a single man, but to the whole church, which Peter was only set to repre* sent.' With this view agrees the independent position of the North African church in the time of Augustine toward Rome, as we have already observed it in the case of the a])peal of Apiarius, and as it appears in the Pelagian controversy, of which Augustine was the leader. This father, therefore, can at all events be cited only as a witness to the limited authority of the Roman chair. And it should also, in justice, be ob served, that in his numerous writings he very rarely speaks of that authority at all, and then for the most part incidentally ; showing that he attached far less importance to this matter than the Roman divines."
The later Latin fathers of the fourth and fifth centuries prefer the reference of the jpetra to Peter and his confession, and transfer his prerogatives to the Roman bishops as his successors, but produce no new arguments. Among them wo mention Maxevius of Turin (about 450), who, however, like Ambrose, places Paul on a level with Peter ; ' then Okosius, and several popes ; above all Lko, of whom we shall speak more fully in the following section.
2. As to the Greek fathers : Eusebius, Cyril of Jerusalem, Basil, the two Gregories, Ephraim Syrus, Asteritts, Cyril of Alexandria, Chrysostom, and Tueodoret refer the pei/ra now to the confession, now to the person, of Peter; sometimes
bishops ' sitting in Peter's chair. Practically, indeed, there was little to choose between the two theories." Comp. also the thorough exhibition of the Augustiuian theory of the Catholic church and her attributes by Dr. Rothe, in his work Die Anfange der christlichen Kirche, i. p. 679-711.
' De diversis serra. 108: "Has enim claves non homo unus, sed unitas accepit ecclesiffi. Hinc ergo Petri exeelleutia praedicatur, quia ipsius universit;iti3 et unitatia fifnjram gessit quando ei dictum est : tihi trado, quod omnibus traditum est," etc.
' Bellarmiue, in Proef. in Libr. de Pontif., calls this article even refm suinmam fdei Christiance I
* Horn, v., on the fea.st of Peter and Paul. To the one, says he, the keys of knowledge were committed, to the other the keys of power. "Eminent inter uni versos apostolos et peculiari quadam praerogativa prfficellunt. Verum inter ipBoa quis cui pra;pouatur, incertum est." The same sentence iu Ambrose, De Spir. S. ii. \%
g Gl. oiiNioNs or THE fatueks. o()9
to both. They speak of this apostle uniformly in very lofty terms, at times in rhetorical extravagance, calling him the "coryphaeus of the choir of apostles," the "prince of the apostles," the "tongue of the apostles," the "bearer of the keys," the " keeper of the kingdom of heaven," the " pillar," the "rock," the "firm foundation of the church." But, in the first place, they understand by all this simply an honorary primacy of Peter, to whom that power was but first committed, which the Lord afterward conferred on all the apostles alike ; and, in the second jjlace, they by no means favor an exclusive transfer of this prerogative to the bishop of Rome, but claim it also for the bishops of Antioch, where Peter, according to Gal. ii., sojourned a long time, and where, according to tradition, he was bishop, and appointed a successor.
So Chrtsostom, for instance, calls Ignatius of Antioch a " successor of Peter, on whom, after Peter, the government of the church devolved," ' and in another place says still more distinctly : " Since I have named Peter, I am reminded of another Peter [Flavian, bishop of Antioch], our common father and teacher, who has inherited as well the virtues as the chair of Peter. Yea, for this is the privilege of this city of ours [Antioch], to have first (eV apxv) had the coryphaeus of the apostles for its teacher. For it was proper that the city, where the Christian name originated, should receive the first of the apostles for its pastor. But after we had him for oui teacher, we did not retain him, but transferred him to imperia/ Rome." '
Theodoeet also, who, like Chrysostom, proceeded from the Antiochian school, says of the " great city of Antioch," that it has the " throne of Peter." ' In a letter to Pope Leo he speaks, it is true, in very extravagant terms of Peter and his successors
' In S. Ignat. Martyr., n. 4.
' Horn. ii. in Principium Actorum, n. 6, torn. iii. p. 70 (ed. Montfaucon). The last sentence {kWa. irpoa-exoopv'^ci.fjLiv rfj $a(TiAi5i Pii^ri) is by some regarded as a later inteq)olation in favor of the papacy. But it contains no concession of superiority Chrysostom immediately goes on to say : " We have indeed not retained the body of Peter, but we have retained the faith of Peter ; and while we retain his faith, we have himself."
' Epist. 86.