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Dear Michael,
I can sympathize with your position, because I have considered the very same matters myself. As an Eastern Catholic, while I believe that Orthodoxy has much to commend it, and I have great respect for the churches, I have studied this topic extensively and come to the very firm conclusion that papal primacy was a doctrine just fundamentally believed by the Early Church Fathers well before the schism.
We know Peter held authority over the other Apostles from Scripture and Tradition. The verse where Jesus renames Simon "Rock" (i.e. Peter or Cephas) goes on to say,
“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven.”
(Matthew 16:19, RSV2CE). |
- What are the keys of the kingdom?
W.F. Albright, in his Anchor Bible Commentary on Matthew speaks about the keys of the kingdom that Jesus entrusted to Peter. Here's what he says,
| "Isaiah 22, verse 15, undoubtedly lies behind this saying of Jesus. The keys are the symbol of authority and Father Roland DeVoe rightly sees here the same authority vested in the vicar, the master of the house, the chamberlain of the royal household in ancient Israel. In Isaiah 22 Eliakim is described as having the same authority." |
Other Protestant scholars admit it too, that when Jesus gives to Peter the keys of the kingdom, Peter is receiving the Prime Minister's office, which means dynastic authority from the Son of David, Jesus, the King of Israel, but also an office where there will be dynastic succession.
He goes on to say some other things.
| "It is of considerable importance," Albright says, "that in other contexts, when the disciplinary affairs of the community are discussed, the symbol of the keys is absent, since the saying applies in these instances to a wider circle. The role of Peter as steward of the kingdom is further explained as being the exercise of administrative authority as was the case of the Old Testament chamberlain who held the keys." |
Other evidence that Peter had authority over the Apostles is in
- John 21:15-17, where he commissions him to "feed his sheep".
- In Luke 22:31-34, Jesus says, ““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, RSV2CE)
The first "you" is plural, meaning the Apostles, but the remaining "you “s are singular, indicating that Peter is the one whose faith will not fail, the one that Jesus is praying for, who will strengthen the brethren. We see that when the Resurrection happens and Peter and John run to the tomb and John outruns him, he defers to Peter to enter first (John 20:4-6). Every list of the Apostles begins with Peter and ends with Judas.
For more information, read:
No organization can be run equally by multiple people successfully (see Matthew 6:24); many have tried and failed. I challenge your assertion that,
"It seems more logical that all the apostles be equal to each other in authority".
- What company do you know that's successfully run by multiple CEOs?
Orthodoxy is in a difficult position right now. The two top patriarchs aren't in communion with each other. The church is split.
- Who's right, Moscow or Constantinople?
- How do they determine who's right?
They haven't had an ecumenical council in over 1,000 years. Not for want of trying; the last time they tried to do one it failed miserably.
- How can they engage the modern world with all its questions?
Here are some patristic quotes that may help. I also recommend reading the book "Answering Orthodoxy" by Michael Lofton (from shop.catholic.com) and watching his videos (Reason and Theology). He outlines several instances where eastern bishops, well before the schism, acknowledged the primacy of the Pope over the whole Church during ecumenical councils or in exchanges of letters between the East and the West. Check out:
Magazine
The Church
How Eastern Orthodoxy Made Me Catholic
Eastern Orthodoxy demands adherence to the first seven ecumenical councils . . .
so what exactly is in those councils?
Michael lofton • 2/9/2022
St. Ephraim (d. 373), Homilies, 4,1:
Simon, My follower, I have made you the foundation of the holy Church. I betimes called you Peter, because you will support all its buildings. You are the inspector of those who will build on earth a Church for Me. If they should wish to build that is false, you, the foundation, will condemn them. You are the head of the fountain from which My teaching flows, you are the chief of My disciples. Through you I will give drink to all peoples. Yours is that life-giving sweetness which I dispense. I have chosen you to be, as it were, the first-born in My institution, and so that, as the heir, you may be executor of my treasures. I have given you the keys of my kingdom. Behold, I have given you authority over all my treasures! |
Tertullian, Modesty, 21,9
I now inquire into your opinion, to see whence you usurp this right for the Church.
- Do you presume, because the Lord said to Peter,
"On this rock I will build my Church, I have given you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven", or
"Whatever you shall have bound or loosed on Earth will be bound or loosed in Heaven,"
that the power of binding and loosing has thereby been handed on to you, that is, to every Church akin to Peter?
- What kind of man are you, subverting and changing what was the manifest intent of the Lord when He conferred this personally upon Peter?
On "you" He says, I will build my Church; and I will give to "you" the keys, not to the Church; and whatever "you" shall have bound or "you" shall have loosed, not what "they" shall have bound or "they" shall have loosed." |
St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 180 A.D., 3,3,2
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 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. |
Letter of Pope Leo I to Anastasius, Bishop of Thessalonica, 14, 11, c. 446 A.D.:
If in your view, in regard to a matter to be handled and decided jointly with your brothers, their decision was other than you wanted, then let the entire matter, with a record of the proceedings, be referred to us. . . . Although bishops have a common dignity, they are not all of the same rank. Even among the most blessed Apostles, though there were alike in honor, there was a certain distinction of power. All were equal in being chosen, but it was given to one to be preeminent over the others. From this formality there arose also a distinction among bishops, and by a great arrangement it was provided that no one should arrogate everything to himself, but in individual provinces there should be individual bishops whose opinion among their brothers should be first; and again, certain others, established in larger cities, were to accept a greater responsibility. Through them the care of the universal Church would converge in the one See of Peter, and nothing should ever be at odds with this Head. |
Pope St. Leo I, Sermons, 4, 2, ante 461 A.D.:
From the whole world only one, Peter, is chosen to preside over the calling of all nations, and over all the other Apostles, and over the Fathers of the Church. Thus, although among the people of God there are many priests and many pastors, it is really Peter who rules them all, of whom, too, it is Christ who is their chief ruler. Divine condescension, dearly beloved, has granted to this man in a wonderful and marvellous manner the aggregate of its power; and if there was something that it wanted to be his in common with other leaders, it never gave whatever it did not deny to others except through him. |
Gregory the Great, Registrum Epistolarum, 5.18, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: A Select Library of the Christian Church, ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, vol. 12 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson 2004), 167:
Certainly Peter, the first of the Apostles, himself a member of the holy and universal Church, Paul, Andrew, John — what were they but heads of particular communities? And yet all were members under one head. |
For more quotes, see:
Eric Ewanco
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