The sin of the papacy is to encroach on that which belongs only to God, that which belongs to the Holy Spirit who lives in the Church.

Thus, in the book of Bishop Bougaud "The Church", published in 1922, the pope is equated with the Sacrament of the Eucharist; just as in the Sacrament of the Eucharist Christ is really present under the cover of bread and wine, so Christ is really present in the Pope. "In the sacrament of the Eucharist," says Bishop Bugaud, "we have, so to speak, only a 'half' of Christ, for He is 'dumb' in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Where to look for the second "half" of Jesus Christ, who really dwells in the Church? She's in the Vatican: she's in the Pope. The Pope is the second way of the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Church." Jesus Christ "created for himself two modes of real presence, quite different; both are inexplicable and, being united together, form the fullness of His incarnation. Oh, the great mystery of the two veils under which Jesus Christ is hidden in His entirety!" "Go to Jesus, saying, Go to the Pope." "This is the mystery of Christianity: it is the miracle of the real presence of the Incarnation, proposed and spread under two veils. What Jesus Christ did not put under one of these coverings, He put under the other; and it is possible to possess Him in fullness only if one is able to pass from the Eucharist to the Pope and from the Pope to the Eucharist in a fervent impulse of the heart. Apart from these two mysteries, which actually form one mystery, we have only a diminished Jesus Christ (He Himself established this), Who is insufficient for the needs of both individual souls and society, Who is not even able to defend Himself." "The mystery of faith! This is the word that must be said about the Pope after we have said it about the Holy Eucharist, for the Pope is Jesus Christ, hidden under a veil and continuing through the human organ his public ministry among men." "Therefore, the Church, which is more sensitive than we are to Divine things, does not know how to talk about the Pope. No expression seems to her too strong to express this mutual penetration, which makes of Jesus Christ and the Pope her Head, at once visible and invisible, and her only Consort. She attributes to him all the love she has for the Lord. She surrounds him with the same reverence."

"Oh, the sweetness of the feelings that one experiences before the tabernacle and at the feet of the Pope," in which Jesus Christ "took and condensed the whole Church," and moreover: He "created the Pope before." "This is a great mystery: the Church is the unceasing and constant creation of the Pope. He creates the Church; and in it and through it he enlightens and sanctifies souls."

There is no doubt that Bishop Bugaud reflected in his work the official teaching of the Roman Church on the Pope. Announcing the election of Pope Pius XI to the world, the Vatican wrote in 1922: "Happy Rome: for she alone possesses both tabernacles: the tabernacle of the Eucharist, in which Jesus Christ gives Himself to all hearts, and the Vatican, where Jesus, through the mouth of the Pope, teaches the word of Truth, unchanging and infallible."

This is the pit by which the Church of Rome separated herself from the Catholic Orthodox Church, which remains faithful to the teaching of Christ and the Apostles. This teaching about the Church and the Pope is absolutely unacceptable to us Orthodox. A non-Christian spirit breathes from him. We are in danger of replacing Christ with man, replacing the Church, this great living organism, with the Pope.

History has clearly shown us how gradually and persistently, over the course of centuries, this striving of the Bishop of Rome for supremacy in the universe grew, how the theory of the papacy, nourished by the spirit of pride and carnal understanding of the Church, nourished by intrigues and politics, grew.

Part 2

The Roman Catholics support their theory of successive infallibility and supremacy in the Church – it would be more accurate to say the Vatican – with the following passages from the Holy Scriptures.

1) The words of Christ to the Apostle Peter in the Gospel of Matthew (XVI, 13-19). The Lord asks His disciples: "Whom do people say I am?" and then, "And whom do you say that I am?" "And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Then Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah; for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father who is in heaven; and I say unto thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it; and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

"Upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." This promise about the Church is definitely related to the Apostle Peter: "You are Peter (the rock), and on this rock I will build my church." How are we to understand this connection between Peter and the Church, founded on the stone ("petra"), irresistible to the gates of hell? Is Peter the bearer of the infallibility of the Church, is he the cornerstone on which the Church is founded, which makes her indestructible and immovable in the Truth? The quoted words of the Savior in no way mean that Peter is the source and bearer of the inviolability and invincibility of the Church; let us put the emphasis on the words "I" and "Mine," and we will get the true meaning of Christ's words: He, the Son of God, created His Church, therefore it is both unshakable and insurmountable. Our questions are also answered by the Apostle Peter himself, whose words can be considered as a commentary of the Apostle himself on the words of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew: "You have known that Christ is Lord..." Approaching Him, a living stone, rejected by men, but chosen by God, precious, and yourselves, like living stones, build yourselves a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, in order to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it is said in the Scriptures, Behold, I set in Zion a cornerstone, a chosen one, a precious one; and he who believes in Him will not be ashamed. Therefore He is a jewel to you who believe, but to those who do not believe He is a stone which the builders rejected, but which has become the head of the corner." (I Pet. II, 4-7). And the Apostle Paul also testifies to the fundamental cornerstone of the Church, which gives her steadfastness: "Therefore you are no longer strangers or strangers, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God, having been established on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, having Jesus Christ Himself as the cornerstone, on which the whole edifice, being built up in order, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, on which you are built up in the habitation of God by the Spirit" (Eph. II, 19–22); the same Apostle writes to the Corinthians: "No one can lay any other foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (I Cor. III, 11).

Christ is the Head of the Body – the Church, He is also the source of her strength and her indestructible standing in the truth, for He Himself is the Truth, He Himself is the cornerstone of the Church. This is what the Chief Apostles teach, and this is how the Founder of the Church, Christ Himself, teaches: "Have you never read in the Scriptures: the stone which the builders rejected became the head of the corner?"

But the word "stone" is applied to Simon, who became Simon-Peter. How should we understand this close connection between the Peter Stone and the rock on which the Church is built?

The Church is composed of those who believe in Christ as the Son of God; from us as living stones ("yourselves, like living stones, build yourselves a spiritual house"), the Church is being built, but it is being built "on the foundation of the Apostle and Prophet, who is the cornerstone of Jesus Christ Himself." The Church was born at the moment when the Apostle Peter confessed in the name of all the Apostles: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," and it is in this that the great dignity and great honor were conferred upon Peter: the Apostles and Prophets represent in the structure the first row, the foundation of the Church, its historical foundation, and the first place in this historical foundation of the Church belongs to the first confessor of the Divinity of Christ in the name of all the Apostles. – to the fiery Peter. But Peter is not the foundation of the Truth for the Church, for he is not the source of the Truth, he even erred and fell. Nor is Peter the foundation of the invincibility of the Church, which is not promised to Peter, who after this promise renounced Christ, but is promised to the Church, for Christ said: The gates of hell shall not prevail against her (and not you, Peter). And again Christ said, Behold, I am with you (not with you, Peter, but with you) all the days to the end of the age.