Elsie, do you not know that these same ECFs also speak of Peter himself being the Rock? Here are some examples.
St. Basil the Great (371 A.D.):
“The house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the foundations of which are on the holy mountains, for it is built upon the Apostles and prophets. One also of these mountains was Peter, upon which Rock the Lord promised to build His Church.” (Basil, T. i. Comment. in Esai. c. ii.).
“The soul of blessed Peter was called a lofty Rock ...” (Basil, Sermon 1 De Fide I.13).
St. John Chrysostom (387 A.D.):
“...and when I name Peter, I name that unbroken Rock, that firm foundation, the Great Apostle, the First of the disciples ...” (Chrysostom, T. ii. Hom. iii. de Paednit).
“Peter, the leader of the choir, that Mouth of the rest of the Apostles, that Head of the brotherhood, that one set over the entire universe, that Foundation of the Church.” (Chrysostom, In illud. hoc Scitote).
“Peter, ... that Pillar of the Church, the Buttress of the Faith, the Foundation of the Confession.” (Chrysostom, T. iii. Hom. de Dec. Mill. Talent)
St. Cyril of Alexandria (424 A.D.):
“He suffers no longer to be called Simon, exercising authoriy to rule over him already as having become His own. But by a title suitable to the thing, He changed his name into Peter, from the word petra (rock); for on him he was afterwards to found His Church.” (Cyril T. iv. Comm. in Joan.).
” ‘Blessed art thou ...,’ calling, I imagine, nothing else the Rock, in allusion to his name (Peter), but the immovable and stable faith of the disciple upon whom the Church of Christ is founded and fixed without danger of falling.” (Cyril, On the Holy Trinity).
“He promises to found the Church, assigning immovableness to it, as He is the Lord of strength, and over this He sets Peter as Shepherd.” (Cyril, Comm. on Matt., ad. loc.)
Origen (230-250 A.D.):
“See what the Lord said to Peter, that great foundation of the Church, and most solid Rock, upon which Christ founded the Church ...” (Origen, In Exodus. Hom. v. . 4 tom. ii).
“Look at [Peter], the great foundation of the Church, that most solid of rocks, upon whom Christ built the Church [Matt. 16:18]. And what does our Lord say to him? ‘Oh you of little faith,’ he says, ‘why do you doubt?’” [Matt. 14:31] (Homilies on Exodus 5:4 [A.D. 248]).
“Upon him (Peter), as on the earth, the Church was founded.” (Origen, Ep. ad. Rom. lib. v.c. 10, tom iv.)
“Peter, upon whom is built Christ’s Church, against which the gates of hell will not prevail.” (Origen, T. iv. In Joan. Tom. v.)
St. Hilary of Poitiers (356 A.D.)
“Blessed Simon who, after his confession of the Mystery, was set to be the foundation-stone of the Church and received the Keys of the Kingdom.” (Hilary, De Trinitate, 6:20).
“Peter, the first Confessor of the Son of God, the Foundation of the Church, ...” (Hilary, Tract in Ps. cxxxi.)
“And in truth Peter’s confession obtained a worthy recompense ....Oh! in thy designation by a new name, happy Foundation of the Church, and a Rock worthy of the building up of that which was to scatter the infernal laws of the gates of hell!” (Hilary, Comm. in Matt. c. xvi.)
St. Jerome (393 A.D.):
“Christ is not alone in being the Rock, for He granted to the Apostle Peter that he should be called ‘Rock’. “ (Jerome, Comm. on Jerimias 3:65).
“For what has Paul to do with Aristotle? Or Peter to do with Plato? For as the latter (Plato) was prince of philosophers, so was the former (Peter) prince of Apostles: on him the Lord’s Church was firmly founded, and neither rushing flood nor storm can shake it.”
(Jerome, Against the Pelagians 1:14a).
“’But,’ you [Jovinian] will say, ‘it was on Peter that the Church was founded’ [Matt. 16:18]. Well . . . one among the twelve is chosen to be their head in order to remove any occasion for division.” (Against Jovinian 1:26 [A.D. 393]).
“I follow no leader but Christ and join in communion with none but your blessedness [Pope Damasus I], that is, with the chair of Peter. I know that this is the rock on which the Church has been built. Whoever eats the Lamb outside this house is profane. Anyone who is not in the ark on Noah will perish when the flood prevails” (Letters 15:2 [A.D. 396]).
St. Augustine (410 A.D.):
“These miserable wretches, refusing to acknowledge the Rock as Peter and to believe that the Church has received the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, have lost these very keys from their own hands.” (Augustine, Christian Combat).
“...Why! a faggot that is cut from the vine retains its shape. But what use is that shape if it is not living from the root? Come, brother, if you wish to be engrafted in the vine. It is grievous when we see you thus lying cut off. Number the bishops from the See of Peter. And, in that order of fathers, see whom succeeded whom. This is the Rock which the proud gates of hades do not conquer. All who rejoice in peace, only judge truly.” —St. Augustine, Psalmus Contra Pertem Donati.
Source: http://www.catholicbridge.com/catholic/pope_peter_rock.php
It is that breed that integrated church and government into a monolithic breed of statist religion that was, and is, arraigned against the Scriptural New Testament churches practicing Biblical doctrine, as I see it.
I thank God for the Pilgrims, the Puritans, and the Baptists whose hearts were sold out to the separation of the state from churchism as its religious arm. May it always be so.
James 1:8
A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
How ever did they decide which side of the coin was going to be heads and which one tails?
Don’t try to use that as your escape clause when you stand for judgment.