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.

Whereas the Vatican Council, in proclaiming the dogma of the primacy and infallibility of the Pope, says that this doctrine of the Pope "has always been so understood by the Catholic Church" that this "so obvious teaching of Sacred Scripture" is contrasted with "impious opinions which, perverting the order of government established by Christ the Lord in His Church, deny that Peter alone, in contrast to the other Apostles, individually or together, was endowed with the true and real primacy of jurisdiction, ... asserting that this supremacy was not directly and directly given to Blessed Peter, but to the Church, and through her it was transmitted to him as a servant of this Church," let us turn to the Holy Fathers for clarification.

The most authoritative Father of the Latin Church, the revered Blessed Augustine in the West, says: "When all were questioned, Peter alone answered: 'Thou art the Christ,' and it was said to him: 'I will give thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven,' as if he alone had received the power to bind and loose. At the same time, he alone spoke those words on behalf of the whole Church, as if personifying unity, and it was said to him: "I give you that which has been given to all." Thus, one speaks for all, for unity is in all; thus, says Blessed Augustine, these keys were received not by one person, but by the unity of the Church. That is why Peter's superiority is proclaimed, because he personified the universality and unity of the Church, when he was told: "I give you that which was given to all." "When Christ addresses one, he indicates the need for unity... But did Peter get the keys and Paul didn't? Peter received, but John and James did not receive, and also the other Apostles? Or are these not the keys in the Church, where sins are forgiven daily? But since, in the inner sense, Peter personified the Church in this place, what was given to him was given to the Church." And again: "Thou art Peter," said the Lord, "and on this rock, which thou hast come to know, saying: 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,' I will raise up My Church, that is, upon Myself, the Son of the living God, I will build My Church. On Me, Not on You."

The earliest interpretation of the words about the stone is found in Tertullian. He believes that these words referred to Peter personally, but not to his successors, the bishops of Rome.

And Origen says that the word spoken to Peter refers to everyone who confesses Christ to be the Son of God. "If we also say," says Origen, "as Peter, 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,' and it is not the flesh or the blood that has revealed this to us, but the light has shone in our hearts from the Father who is in heaven, then we become Peter, and then the Word of God can say to us: 'Thou art Peter,' and so on. For every disciple of Christ is a rock... If you think that the whole Church was founded by God on this one Peter, then what will you say about John or about each of the Apostles? Or can we really dare to say that Peter alone will not be overcome by the forces of hell, but the other Apostles and saints will be overcome?" In the words of Christ, Origen sees a promise given to all Christians who truly believe in the Son of God, a promise given to the Church in its totality and unity.

In the same way, these words of the Savior are explained by St. Cyprian and the host of the Holy Eastern Fathers.

St. St. Cyprian of Carthage writes: "The Lord says to Peter: 'Thou art Peter,' etc. On one thing He builds the Church, and although He gave equal authority to all the Apostles after His Resurrection and said: 'As the Father sent Me, so I send you. Receive ye the Holy Spirit"... "To whom ye forgive sins, it shall be forgiven him, and to whom ye keep, to him shall they be held," – but in order to clearly show unity, He made it so by His power, that the beginning of this unity should be derived from one. Of course, the other Apostles were the same as Peter, endowed with the same measure of honor and authority, but the beginning is from unity, in order to show that the Church of Christ is one." Thus, according to St. Cyprian of Carthage, the Apostle Peter is only a symbol of the unity of the Church, and in power and honor the Apostle Peter does not surpass the other Apostles. That is why the Apostle Peter, in his dispute with the Apostle Paul in Antioch, does not ascribe primacy to himself and does not demand submission, but easily submits to the arguments of the Apostle Paul. "And," says St. Cyprian, "the Lord, founding the honor of the bishop and the building of His Church, thus says in the Gospel: 'Thou art a rock, and upon this rock I will build My Church...'" From this follows the consecration of bishops and the structure of the Church, the order according to which the Church is built on bishops, as it was originally built on "Peter"; "And every ecclesiastical action is governed by these bishops... therefore no bishop should be a ruler over other bishops," St. Cyprian asserts.

The great teacher of the Christian West, St. Ambrose of Milan, says: "What was said to Peter is also said to the rest of the Apostles: 'I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.'