Topic: Chair of Peter
Question:
I searched my Church Fathers CD-ROM and cannot find anyone saying the phrase "Chair of Peter" has a local or regional sense. Do you have a citation for this?
Answer:
Well, the only citation I can provide, Scott, would be the sense in which Cyprian, Firmilian, Dionysius of Alexandria, and other 3rd Century fathers use the term. For them, as with the Chair of Moses in Matt 23, the "Chair of Peter" was the teaching authority of the Church itself, with Rome being the ultimate expression of it. Thus, in their understanding, all bishops shared in the Chair of Peter, yet despite how the Eastern Orthodox and some others wish to characterize it, it is more than clear that these early fathers DID NOT believe that all bishops shared in the Chair of Peter in the same way - thus my use of terms like "local authority" and "regional authority," which are my terms. While the fathers did not speak this way, this is clearly what they meant, expressing this in more organic terms. There is nothing unCatholic about this ecclesial view today.
For example, if we accept that the "Chair of Peter" is the teaching authority of the Church --the ministry to preserve unity and orthodoxy among the faithful, then I can say that, on the parish level, the Chair of Peter is held by the pastor of my parish. Yet, on the diocesian level, the Chair of Peter is held by the Bishop of my diocese; whereas, on the universal level, the Chair of Peter is held by the Bishop of Rome. This was the understanding of someone like Cyprian, a metropolitan himself, who held authority over other bishops. In some African city-church, that bishops held and shared in the Chair of Peter. Cyprian clearly says this. Yet, since Cyprian was metropolitan of all Africa and Numidia, with authority over all other African bishops, it was he who held the Chair of Peter in the diocese of Africa itself. Yet, Cyprian also speaks of the Bishop of Rome holding the Chair of Peter on the universal level when he writes to Cornelius about some African heretics (members of Cyprian's own flock) setting sail from Africa to appeal to the Chair of Peter at Rome which Cyprian also calls "the principal church, in which priestly unity has its source."
Mark Bonocore
Catholic Apologist
July 25, 2001