Digital Continent Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul 2016 | Page 18

11

By 376 the Western
Emperor Gratian had by means
of civil law recognized the right
of the bishop of Rome to hear
appeals from various
metropolitans or those who did
not receive justice under their
metropolitans. The Emperor
Theodosius in the year 380
named both Damasus and Peter
of Alexandria as guardians of orthodoxy. Pope Damasus himself described the Roman See as
“Apostolic” and referred to his fellow bishops as “sons”. A few years later in the year 382, he
called a council in Rome which issued a document that explained the Roman Church as elevated
not by conciliar decree but as one whose primacy came from Christ. The Apostle Peter was
called the rock by Christ. Both he and Paul were martyred in the Roman capitol under the
Emperor Nero, consecrating the Roman Church to Christ by their blood and their presence.
Succession from Peter and Paul is what established the primacy of the Bishop of Rome and
hierarchy of church sees.18 Pope Innocent I during his reign as pontiff at the beginning of the
fifth century stated that the rules to be observed were not something new but were rooted in the
traditions of the Apostles and the Fathers of the Church. Greater causes were to be referred to
Rome because Rome was the founder of Christianity in the West.19

18

Leo Donald Davis, S.J., The First Seven Ecumenical Councils: 325-787 (1983, repr., Collegeville, MN:
The Liturgical Press, 1990), 129-30.