"Go to any dictionary of the English language and look up the term "week." You will not find that it means a "year.""
Didn't say a week meant a year. Week means a period of seven and I used *shock* the Bible to interpret the passage. It is that way in the Bible. Now if you want to use the english dictionary to perform scriptural interpretation thats fine by me, but it will seriously hamper any real study of the Word.
JM
Out of curiosity, I did a little research in order to determine how the two of you could come to different conclusions of St. Cyprian's attitude towards the "Chair of Peter" and equality of the Bishops.
As is not uncommon, it depends on the source.
AC, I suspect you have concentrated on Catholic Apologist sources. I viewed about 1/2 dozen sites and found
not one site which will credit the notion that St. Cyprian argued "equality" for the Apostles/Bishops with Peter though they are prepared to argue against it..
TRD, Orthodox sites will indicate St. Cyprian, at a later time, argued for the equality of the Apostles and their successors (Bishops) with Peter. (This appears to be a developed position).
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Note: Who do you trust?
[There are two editions of what follows, the second of which tones down the first in view of Cyprian's argument with the papacy. Papal primacy is clear in the first edition written about 251 A.D., but merely implicit in the second effort written about 255 or 256 A.D.]
First Edition: "And again He says to him [Peter] after His resurrection: 'Feed my sheep' (John 21:17). On him He builds the Church, and to him He gives the command to feed the sheep; and although He assigns a like power to all the Apostles, yet He founded a single chair, and He established by His own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity. Indeed, the others were that also which Peter was; but a primacy is given to Peter, whereby it is made clear that there is but one Church and one chair. So too, all our shepherds, and the flock is shown to be one, fed by all the Apostles in single-minded accord. If someone does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he desert the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he still be confident that his is in the Church?"
Second Edition: "It is on the one man that He builds the Church; and although He assigns a like power to all the Apostles after His resurrection, when He says, 'As the Father has sent me, so also do I send you; receive the Holy Spirit: If you forgive any man his sins, they shall be forgiven; and if you retain any man's sins, they shall be retained" (John 20: 21-23) Nevertheless, in order that unity might be clearly shown, He established by His own authority a source for that unity, which takes its beginning from one man alone. Indeed, the other Apostles were that also which Peter was, being endowed with an equal portion of dignity and power; but the origin is grounded in unity, so that it may be made clear that there is but one Church of Christ. Indeed this oneness of the Church is indicated in the Song of Songs, when the Holy Spirit, speaking in the Lord's name, says, 'One is my dove, my perfect one, to her mother the only one, the chosen of her that bore her." If someone does not hold fast to this unity of the Church, can he imagine that he holds the faith? If he resists and withstands the Church, can he still be confident that he is in the Church, when the blessed Apostle Paul teaches this very thing and displays the sacred sign of unity when he says: 'One body and one spirit, one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one Baptism, one God' (Eph 4:4-6). [5] Let no one mislead the brotherhood with a lie, let no one corrupt the faith by a faithless perversion of the truth. The episcopate is one, of which each bishop holds his part within the undivided structure. The Church also is one, however widely she has spread among the multitude through her fruitful increase. . . . The Church is bathed in the light of the Lord , and pours her rays over the whole world; but it is one light that is spread everywhrere , and the unity of her structure is undivided."
Obviously, St. Cyprian didn't write two different versions. Which is correct?
Here ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another Interesting Site
IOW We will not know the truth from written history.