There must be a point that you’re trying to make...
Good reminder, TC. Thanks!
Orthodox ping
Thank you for posting this incredibly important document!
I learned that the prohibition does not apply to judging the patriarchs of the West: their missionaries are called "men of reprobate minds" (8); the papal letter is likened to a "plague", by which his holiness "desires to deceive the more simple into apostasy from Orthodoxy" (9). Further His Holiness' intention is judged to be "not [to offer] words of peace, as he affirms (p. 7,1.8), and of benevolence, but words of deceit and guile, tending to self-aggrandizement" (10).
Alright; maybe the Patriarchs of the East knew something about Pius IX and his designs for self-aggrandizement that I don't.
But I read on and found this passage:
unless the Church of Christ was founded upon the immovable rock of St. Peter’s Confession, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God (which was the answer of the Apostles in common, when the question was put to them, Whom say ye that I am? (Matt. xvi. 15,) as the Fathers, both Eastern and Western, interpret the passage to us), the Church was built upon a slippery foundation, even on Cephas himself, not to say on the Pope, who, after monopolizing the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, has made such an administration of them as is plain from history. But our divine Fathers, with one accord, teach that the sense of the thrice-repeated command, Feed my sheep, implied no prerogative in St. Peter over the other Apostles, least of all in his successors. It was a simple restoration to his Apostleship, from which he had fallen by his thrice-repeated denial. St. Peter himself appears to have understood the intention of the thrice-repeated question of our Lord: Lovest thou Me, and more, and than these?. (John xxi. 16;) for, calling to mind the words, Thou all shall be offended because of Thee, yet will 1 never be offended (Matt. xxvi. 33), he was grieved because He said unto him the third time, Lovest thou Me? But his successors, from self-interest, understand the expression as indicative of St. Peter's more ready mind.
This is something I can fact-check.
Do the fathers interpret Matthew 16:15 as an answer the Apostles give in common? This is what St. John Chrysostom has to say:
What then says the mouth of the apostles, Peter, the ever fervent, the leader of the apostolic choir? When all are asked, he answers. And whereas when He asked the opinion of the people, all replied to the question; when He asked their own, Peter springs forward, and anticipates them, and says, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Matthew 16:16What then says Christ? Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you. Matthew 16:17
Yet surely unless he had rightly confessed Him, as begotten of the very Father Himself, this were no work of revelation; had he accounted our Lord to be one of the many, his saying was not worthy of a blessing. Since before this also they said, Truly He is Son of God, Matthew 14:33 those, I mean, who were in the vessel after the tempest, which they saw, and were not blessed, although of course they spoke truly. For they confessed not such a Sonship as Peter, but accounted Him to be truly Son as one of the many, and though peculiarly so beyond the many, yet not of the same substance.
And Nathanael too said, Rabbi, You are the Son of God, You are the King of Israel; John 1:49 and so far from being blessed, he is even reproved by Him, as having said what was far short of the truth. He replied at least, Because I said unto you, I saw you under the fig-tree, do you believe? you shall see greater things than these. John 1:50
Why then is this man blessed? Because he acknowledged Him very Son.
True, St. Peter is called "the mouth of the apostles", which may imply a common answer. But what are St. John's other thoughts on St. Peter? He is called also the "leader of the apostolic choir" who "anticipated" the rest. Next, St. John the Chrysostom poses the question: given that Nathaniel also confessed something similar, and earned but a rebuke from Jesus, what made the confession of Peter "worthy of a blessing"? The answer is, that St. Peter "begotten of the very Father Himself". Very well. But -- I am coming to the point of the controversy now -- whose faith does St. John the Chrysostom offer as a contrast to the faith of St. Peter beside Nathaniel? Why, all the rest of the apostles' "who were in the vessel after the tempest, which they saw, and were not blessed, although of course they spoke truly. For they confessed not such a Sonship as Peter, but accounted Him to be truly Son as one of the many, and though peculiarly so beyond the many, yet not of the same substance." The confession of the Apostles is likened to the inferior confession of Nathaniel.
So, is it really accurate for the Eastern Patriarchs to say that St. Peter is, according to "Fathers, both Eastern and Western", a mere spokesman for the "apostolic choir"?
Is, perhaps, the monopolization (whatever that means) of the Keys something the Fathers universally objected to? Not according to St. Cyril:
According to this promise of the Lord, the Apostolic Church of Peter remains pure and spotless from all leading into error, or heretical fraud, above all Heads and Bishops, and Primates of Churches and people, with its own Pontiffs, with most abundant faith, and the authority of Peter. And while other Churches have to blush for the error of some of their members, this reigns alone immovably established, enforcing silence, and stopping the mouths of all heretics; and we, not drunken with the wine of pride, confess together with it the type of truth, and of the holy apostolic tradition
How about the Charge to Peter in John 21, is that "a simple restoration to his Apostleship"? Truning to St. John the Chrysostom again, we read:
He says unto him, Feed My sheep.And why, having passed by the others, does He speak with Peter on these matters? He was the chosen one of the Apostles, the mouth of the disciples, the leader of the band; on this account also Paul went up upon a time to enquire of him rather than the others. And at the same time to show him that he must now be of good cheer, since the denial was done away, Jesus puts into his hands the chief authority among the brethren;
Chief authority among the brethren. Later in the same homily, St, John writes "He appointed Peter teacher, not of the chair (in Jerusalem), but of the world." Are the popes, St. Peter's successors, really so far off the mark understadning the episode as "indicative of St. Peter's more ready mind"?
It would be fine, albeit surprising, for the Eastern Patriarchs to disagree with Sts Cyril and John the Chrysostom on this vexing issue of the primacy of St. Peter and the Pope. But what compelled them to assure their trusting flock that "our divine Fathers, with one accord, teach" something they don't? Or am I being judgmental?