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.'

And Blessed Jerome, although he says that the Lord made Peter the head of the Apostles, acknowledges that the promise given to the Apostle Peter was given to all the other Apostles. "You say," he writes, "the Church was founded on Peter; this is true, but in another place it is said about all the Apostles, that it was built on them, and they all received the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven... In equal measure, the strength of the Church is established on them."

Thus, contrary to the assertion of the Vatican Council, from the point of view of the Apostles and according to the teaching of the Church from the earliest times, the stone that gives the Church strength and steadfastness, who gives Her invincibility through the gates of hell, is only the incarnate Son of God. All others are only living stones from which the house of God, the Church, is formed, and the Apostles and prophets are also the historical foundation on which the Church is built (Eph. II, 20), and in this historical first layer-foundation, the Apostle Peter undoubtedly plays an honorable and visible role. But the Stone, which gives strength and inviolability, is Christ alone. No one else, not even the greatest Apostle, is for the Church an unshakable and invincible foundation, therefore "the transfer of these qualities to the first in importance in the then undivided universal Church of Christ, the Bishop of Rome, is nothing else than the transfer to the creation and disciple of that which belongs only to the divine Teacher, belongs to the head of the new humanity – the Son of God," in which the Church is rooted in such a way, that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, for its foundation is the Conqueror of hell Himself.

2) "Simone! Simone! Behold, Satan has asked to sow you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith may not fail; and thou shalt be converted and strengthen thy brethren" (Lk. XXII, 31–32).

"Every word here is important," writes the defender of the Vatican's teaching about the Pope, W. Johnson, in his work "One Lord, One Faith." – "Satan asked to sow you as wheat": a cruel test falls on the entire small corporation. "But I pray for you, that your faith may not fail." Our Lord singles out one from a small corporation and He prays for him specifically. "And when thou art converted, though he may fall partially, Divine Intercession shall preserve him, strengthen thy brethren"; and after the trial, St. Peter is to be the pillar and leader of the rest of the Apostles." "Our Lord consciously singles out St. Peter from a small corporation and emphasizes the fact that, as much as James and John would seem fit to be 'first and second,' the position of leadership is given to St. Peter..." What can be said about this interpretation of the words of the Savior? "A pitiful stretch! To interpret the words of the Savior in this way is a great impiety in the eyes of the Apostle Peter himself.

Poor little corporation! The Lord leaves it without His Divine Intercession at the onset of a severe trial, and, "singling out one from a small corporation – the Apostle Peter – He specifically prays for him"... And yet, in the presence of the Divine Intercession for one Peter, the "ordinary" members of the small corporation only fled at the onset of trials, and the Apostle Peter, who was singled out to be "the pillar and leader of the rest" of the members of the corporation, denied his Intercessor.

A special danger is approaching the ardent-hearted, impetuous Apostle Peter, which requires a special prayer for him: all eleven will flee, but only Peter will renounce the eleven. And this was the work of Satan: having received Judas, Satan decided to receive Peter as well, and only the deliberate prayer of Jesus Christ saved Peter from eternal destruction. To deduce from the quoted text (Lk. XXII, 31-32) to prove the superiority of the Roman throne is a strange and unnatural stretch. Restored through the prayer of Christ, the Apostle Peter, who has gone through severe trials, is called upon to "strengthen his brethren," and much later, instructing his brothers in the faith, Peter prays to God: "That He may strengthen, that He may make them immovable" (1 Pet. V, 10). The words of the Apostle Luke clearly state that the Apostle Peter was the first among the Apostles, but the first not in authority, not in office, but the first in temptations and dangers from Satan, and that only the prayer of Jesus saved him from the fate of Judas.

3) It is natural to see in the threefold words of the confession of Love for the Lord a counterbalance to the threefold denial, and in the threefold words of the Lord – the restoration of Peter to the apostolic calling and dignity (Jn. XXI, 15–20). And this passage of Holy Scripture does not provide a basis for papal claims to dominion in the Church, much less to infallibility. Let us also draw our attention to the following: a) Jesus Christ Himself does not call Peter by his apostolic name, but calls him three times by his pre-apostolic name – Simon, son of Jonah – why? b) And the angel says to the women: "Go and tell His disciples and Peter" (Mk. XVI, 7), placing Peter outside the disciples – why? But because after the threefold denial from Jesus (1st: "I do not know and do not understand what you say", 2nd: denial with an oath, 3rd: denial with an oath and godliness), the disciple of Jesus, one of the twelve, the Apostle Peter, did not appear in the courtyard of the high priest. In the courtyard of the high priest, a stone torn from the Rock ("petra") – Christ falls down to the simple fisherman Simon, son of Jonah; and on the shore of the Lake of Galilee, Simon the son of Jonah gradually rises, through a threefold question and his humble answer, to the former height of the Apostle: the fallen stone (petros) is reunited with its Rock (petra).