Primacy of Peter

Moreover, Cornelius was made bishop by the judgment of God and of His Christ, by the testimony of almost all the clergy, by the
suffrage of the people who were then present, and by the assembly of ancient priests and good men, when no one had been made so
before him, when the place of Fabian, that is, when the place of Peter and the degree of the sacerdotal throne was vacant; which being
occupied by the will of God, and established by the consent of all of us, whosoever now wishes to become a bishop, must needs be
made from without; and he cannot have the ordination of the Church who does not hold the unity of the Church.

CYPRIAN, Epistle 51:8 [A.D. 200-258]

Nevertheless, Peter, upon whom by the same Lord the Church had been built, speaking one for all, and answering with the voice of the
Church, says, "Lord, to whom shall we go?

CYPRIAN, Epistle 54:7 [A.D. 200-258]

After such things as these, moreover, they still dare--a false bishop having been appointed for them by, heretics--to set sail and to bear
letters from schismatic and profane persons to the throne of Peter, and to the chief church whence priestly unity takes its source;....

CYPRIAN, Epistle 54:14 [A.D. 200-258]

And the Lord also in the Gospel, when disciples forsook Him as He spoke, turning to the twelve, said, "Will ye also go away?" then
Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the word of eternal life; and we believe, and are sure, that Thou art the
Son of the living God." Peter speaks there, on whom the Church was to be built,....

and the Church founded by Christ the Lord upon Peter,....

CYPRIAN, Epistle 69:3 [A.D. 200-258]

For neither did Peter, whom first the Lord chose, and upon whom He built His Church,....

CYPRIAN, Epistle 70:3 [A.D. 200-258]

For first of all the Lord gave that power to Peter, upon whom He built the Church,....

CYPRIAN, Epistle 72:7 [A.D. 200-258]

4. If any one consider and examine these things, there is no need for lengthened discussion and arguments. There is easy proof for
faith in a short summary of the truth. The Lord speaks to Peter, saying, "I say unto thee, that thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will
build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and
whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven." And again to the same He says, after His resurrection, "Feed nay sheep." And although to all the apostles, after His
resurrection, He gives an equal power, and says, "As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you: Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose
soever sins ye remit, they shall be remitted unto him; and whose soever sins ye retain, they shall be retained;" yet, that He might set
forth unity, He arranged by His authority the origin of that unity, as beginning from one. Assuredly the rest of the apostles were also
the same as was Peter, endowed with a like partnership both of honour and power; but the beginning proceeds from unity. Which one
Church, also, the Holy Spirit in the Song of Songs designated in the person of our Lord, and says, "My dove, my spotless one, is but
one. She is the only one of her mother, elect of her that bare her." Does he who does not hold this unity of the Church think that he
holds the faith? Does he who strives against and resists the Church trust that he is in the Church, when moreover the blessed Apostle
Paul teaches the same thing, and sets forth the sacrament of unity, saying, "There is one body and one spirit, one hope of your calling,
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God?"

9...Peter also, upon whom by the Lord's condescension the Church was founded, lays it down in his epistle, and says, "Christ suffered
for us, leaving you an example, that ye should follow His steps, who did no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth; who, when He
was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, threatened not, but gave Himself up to him that judged Him unjustly."

CYPRIAN, The Unity of the Church, Treatise 1:4, 9 [200-258]

As to the rest of his followers, Paul testifies that Crescens was sent to Gaul; but Linus, whom he mentions in the Second Epistle to
Timothy as his companion at Rome, was Peter's successor in the episcopate of the church there, as has already been shown. Clement
also, who was appointed third bishop of the church at Rome, was, as Paul testifies, his co-laborer and fellow-soldier.

EUSEBIUS, Church History, Book 3, Chapter 4 [A.D. 260-341]

And at the same time Papias, bishop of the parish of Hierapolis, became well known, as did also Ignatius, who was chosen bishop of
Antioch, second in succession to Peter, and whose fame is still celebrated by a great many.

EUSEBIUS, Church History, Book 3, Chapter 36 [A.D. 260-341]

... I think it my duty to consult the chair of Peter, and to turn to a church whose faith has been praised by Paul.

As I follow no leader save Christ, so I communicate with none but your blessedness, that is with the chair of Peter. For this, I know, is the
rock on which the church is built!

JEROME, Letter 15:1, 2 [A.D. 342-420]

The church is rent into three factions, and each of these is eager to seize me for its own. The influence of the monks is of long standing, and
it is directed against me. I meantime keep crying: "He who clings to the chair of Peter is accepted by me." Meletius, Vitalis, and Paulinus all
profess to cleave to you, and I could believe the assertion if it were made by one of them only. As it is, either two of them or else all three are
guilty of falsehood. Therefore I implore your blessedness, by our Lord's cross and passion, those necessary glories of our faith, as you hold
an apostolic office, to give an apostolic decision.

JEROME, Letter 16:2 [A.D. 342-420]

Moreover, that thou mayest know that it is after His Manhood that He entreats, and in virtue of His Godhead that He commands, it is
written for thee in the Gospel that He said to Peter: "I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." To the same Apostle, again, when on
a former occasion he said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," He made answer: "Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock will I
build My Church, and I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven." Could He not, then, strengthen the faith of the man to whom,
acting on His own authority, He gave the kingdom, whom He called the Rock, thereby declaring him to be the foundation of the Church?

AMBROSE, On The Christian Faith, Book 4, Chapter 1 [A.D. 340-397]

It is Peter, chosen by the Lord Himself to feed His flock, who merits thrice to hear the words: "Feed My little lambs; feed My lambs; feed
My sheep."

AMBROSE, On The Christian Faith, Book 5, Chapter 2 [A.D. 340-397]

For if the lineal succession of bishops is to be taken into account, with how much more certainty and benefit to the Church do we reckon back
till we reach Peter himself, to whom, as bearing in a figure the whole Church, the Lord said: "Upon this rock will I build my Church, and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it!" The successor of Peter was Linus, and his successors in unbroken continuity were these: -- Clement,
Anacletus, Evaristus, Alexander, Sixtus, Telesphorus, Iginus, Anicetus, Pius, Soter, Eleutherius, Victor, Zephirinus, Calixtus, Urbanus,
Pontianus, Antherus, Fabianus, Cornelius, Lucius, Stephanus, Xystus, Dionysius, Felix, Eutychianus, Gaius, Marcellinus, Marcellus,
Eusebius, Miltiades, Sylvester, Marcus, Julius, Liberius, Damasus, and Siricius, whose successor is the present Bishop Anastasius.

AUGUSTINE, Letter 53, Chapter 1:2 [A.D. 354-430]

However, if all men throughout all the world were of the character which you most vainly charge them with, what has the chair done to you of
the Roman Church, in which Peter sat, and which Anastasius fills to-day; or the chair of the Church of Jerusalem, in which James once sat, and
in which John sits today, with which we are united in catholic unity, and from which you have severed yourselves by your mad fury? Why do
you call the apostolic chair a seat of the scornful?

AUGUSTINE, Answer to the Letter of Petilian, The Donatist, Bishop of Cirta, Book 2, 118 [A.D. 354-430]

Philip the presbyter and legate of the Apostolic See said: "There is no doubt, and in fact it has been known in all ages, that the holy
and most blessed Peter, prince (exarchos) and head of the Apostles, pillar of the faith, and foundation (themelios) of the Catholic
Church, received the keys of the kingdom from our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Redeemer of the human race, and that to him
was given the power of loosing and binding sins: who down even to today and forever both lives and judges in his successors.

THE COUNCIL OF EPHESUS, Session 3 [A.D. 431]

Wherefore the most holy and blessed Leo, archbishop of the great and elder Rome, through us, and through this present most holy
synod together with the thrice blessed and all-glorious Peter the Apostle, who is the rock and foundation of the Catholic Church,
and the foundation of the orthodox faith, hath stripped him of the episcopate, and hath alienated from him all hieratic worthiness.
Therefore let this most holy and great synod sentence the before mentioned Dioscorus to the canonical penalties.

THE COUNCIL OF CHALCEDON, Session 3 [A.D. 451]

From Christ and through S. Peter the priesthood is handed on in perpetuity. Although, therefore, dearly beloved, we be found both weak
and slothful in fulfilling the duties of our office, because, whatever devoted and vigorous action we desire to do, we are hindered by the
frailty of our very condition; yet having the unceasing propitiation of the Almighty and perpetual Priest, who being like us and yet equal
with the Father, brought down His Godhead even to things human, and raised His Manhood even to things Divine, we worthily and
piously rejoice over His dispensation, whereby, though He has delegated the care of His sheep to many shepherds, yet He has not
Himself abandoned the guardianship of His beloved flock. And from His overruling and eternal protection we have received the support
of the Apostles' aid also, which assuredly does not cease from its operation: and the strength of the foundation, on which the whole
superstructure of the Church is reared, is not weakened by the weight of the temple that rests upon it. For the solidity of that faith which
was praised in the chief of the Apostles is perpetual: and as that remains which Peter believed in Christ, so that remains which Christ
instituted in Peter. For when, as has been read in the Gospel lesson, the LORD had asked the disciples whom they believed Him to be amid
the various opinions that were held, and the blessed Peter bad replied, saying, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living GOD," the LORD
says, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona, because flesh and flood hath not revealed it to thee, but My Father, which is in heaven. And I
say to thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will
give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever
thou shall loose on earth, shall be loosed also in heaven." III. S. Peter's work is still carried out by his successors. The dispensation of
Truth therefore abides, and the blessed Peter persevering in the strength of the Rock, which he has received, has not abandoned the helm
of the Church, which he undertook.

POPE LEO I THE GREAT, Sermon 3:2,3 [A.D. 461]

The solidarity of the Church built upon the rock of S. Peter must be everywhere maintained. ...But this mysterious function the LORD wished
to be indeed the concern of all the apostles, but in such a way that He has placed the principal charge on the blessed Peter, chief of all the
Apostles: and from him as from the Head wishes His gifts to flow to all the body: so that any one who dares to secede from Peter's solid rock
may understand that he has no part or lot in the divine mystery. For He wished him who had been received into partnership in His undivided
unity to be named what He Himself was, when He said: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church :" that the building of the
eternal temple by the wondrous gift of GOD'S grace might rest on Peter's solid rock: strengthening His Church so surely that neither could
human rashness assail it nor the gates of hell prevail against it. ...

POPE LEO I THE GREAT, Letter 10 [A.D. 461]