Saturday, May 30, 2015

13 Things you didn't know about the Papacy

13 Things you didn't know about the Papacy over at Triablogue:









Carl Vehse said...

Martin Luther beat Triablogue to the punch in his 1536 Smalcald Articles, Part II, Article IV: Of the Papacy. Philip Melanchthon followed it up in 1537 with the Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope.

Gabriel said...

The Early Church Fathers spoke about the successors to Peter. For example St. Irenaeus who knew the Apostle John explained:


Ken said...

Hi Gabriel,
Why doesn't Peter mention him (Linus) in 2 Peter 1:12-19?

Why doesn't Peter write, "Look to Linus, my successor, he will be able to guide you and be your living voice and he will be able to stir up your sincere minds to be reminded of the truth" ??

The evidence that Irenaeus gives us of a mono-episcopacy seems to contradict earlier writings of 1 Clement (Clement says elders and episcopas are the same and plurality for each church), Ignatius (Ignatius does not address a single bishop in his letter to Rome), the Shepherd of Hermas (uses plurality of elders for the Roman Church), and the Didache (only 2 offices, not three).

Ignatius starts mentioning the mono-episcopate in other churches, but not in Rome.

So it seems Irenaeus, by the time of 180-220 AD, is trying to guess who the "bishop" was, based on Hegessipus, and because by that time, the mono-episcopate had become custom, but it is not consistent with the earlier writings, nor the NT.

Ken said...

The New Testament laid down principles for a plurality of elders for each church.
Acts 14:23

Titus 1:5 ff

Acts 20:17, 28

Ken said...

Also, if Peter was a mono-bishop or even bishop in Rome, why doesn't Paul address him in his letter to the Romans, around 57-58 AD?

Peter was an apostle, evangelist and probably not there much - he was traveling back and forth, etc.

I Peter 5:1-6 indicates that there was a plurality of elders in the churches. Peter calls himself "fellow-elder" in 1 Peter 5:1. (no evidence of any heirarchy or mono-episcopate or "bishop over bishops", etc.

Kevin Failoni said...

Every time I read in Acts where the man bowed down to Peter, and Peter told him to get up that he was a man just like him is a reminder to me of how Roman Catholicism has bewitched the gullible world. One thing we know, a man in a diamond tiara hat who calls himself Holy Father is as far from Peter as anyone could ever be. K