The Emergence and Further Development of the Idea of Papal Primacy

The author analyses how the idea of the papal primacy was formed and developed, papal primacy meaning the particular way in which the place of the bishop of Rome was conceived within the Universal Church. The period in question began with the second century and the emergence of a tradition regarding Peter’s martyrdom in Rome and continued through the papacy of Leo I (440–461). It was Leo who summed up the idea of an exclusive ministry of the Roman pontiff within the Church. The author reviews early testimonies (stretching from the second to the fourth century) which note the presence of Peter in Rome, and view him first as a Roman martyr, later as the founder of the Roman episcopal see, and finally as Rome’s first bishop. The idea of the position of Peter in the Church of Rome may be viewed as gradually evolving. The author demonstrates how a rather unreliable ancient tradition connecting the death of Peter with Rome evolved during the fourth and fifth centuries into the idea of Peter as the prince of the apostles (princeps apostolorum), who transmitted his authority or power over the Universal Church to his supposed successors, the bishops of Rome, — an idea which was fully developed by Leo I. The author also wishes to describe the way the Church of Rome was conceived during the first centuries of its existence and underlines the limits of its powers and its susciperent ampliorem, per quos ad unam Petri sedem universalis Ecclesiae cura conflueret, et nihil usquam a suo capite dissideret. Qui ergo scit se quibusdam esse praepositum, non moleste ferat aliquem sibi esse praelatum; sed obedientiam quam exigit, etiam ipse dependat...» (Leonis epistula XIV // PL. T. 54. Col. 676). canonical jurisdiction. It is clear that the concept of the Roman papacy’s universal ministry affording it the possibility to extend its universal jurisdiction over the entire Church within the Roman Empire are based on principles of ecclesiastical administration diametrically opposed to those, which were commonly defended by the rest of the Imperial Church and were founded on the decisions of ecumenical and local Church Councils

Economics · Epistemology · Political science · Positive economics · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity · Theology and Canon Law Studies

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