strong and deeply-rooted convictions as to the prerogatives of the Roman
see, it was St. Gregory. His voluminous correspondence with Bishops, and
the most notable persons throughout the world, represents him to us as
guarding and superintending the affairs of the whole Church from the
watch-tower of St. Peter, the loftiest of all. Let one assertion of his
prove this. Writing to Natalis, Bishop of Salona in Dalmatia, he says,
"After the letters of my predecessor and my own, in the matter of Honoratus
the Archdeacon, were sent to your Holiness, in despite of the sentence of
us both, the above-mentioned Honoratus was deprived of his rank. _Had
either of the four Patriarchs done this, so great an act of contumacy could
not have been passed over without the most grievous scandal._ However, as
your brotherhood has since returned to your duty, I take notice neither of
the injury done to me, nor of that to my predecessor."[129] The following
words in another letter will elucidate his meaning here. "As to what he
says, that he (a Bishop) is subject to the Apostolical See, _I know not
what Bishop is not subject to it, if any fault be found in Bishops. But
when no fault requires it, all are equal according to the estimation of
humility._"[130] And again, writing to his own Defensor in Sicily, a part
of the Church most under his own control, "I am informed that if any one
has a cause against any clerks, you throw a slight upon their Bishops, and
cause them to appear in your own court. If this be so, we expressly order
you to presume to do so no more, because beyond doubt it is very unseemly.
For if his own jurisdiction is not preserved to each Bishop, what else
results but that the order of the Church is thrown into confusion by us,
who ought to guard it."[131] Gieseler says: "They (the Roman Bishops)
maintained, that not only the right of the highest ecclesiastical tribunal
in the West belonged to them, but the supervision of orthodoxy, and
maintenance of the Church's laws, in the whole Church; and they based these
claims, still, it is true, at times, upon imperial edicts, and decrees of
Councils, but most commonly upon the privileges granted to Peter by the
Lord."[132] And I suppose if the Primacy of Christendom has any real
meaning, it must mean this, that in case of necessity, such as infraction
of the Canons, an appeal may be made to it. So undoubtedly St. Gregory
understood his own rights. What his ordinary jurisdiction was, Fleury thus
tells us:--"The Popes ordained clergy only for the Roman (local) Church,
but they gave Bishops to the greater part of the Churches of Italy."[133]
"St. Gregory entered into this detail only for the Churches which specially
depended on the Holy See, and for that reason were named suburbican; that
is, those of the southern part of Italy, where he was sole Archbishop,
those of Sicily, and the other islands, though they had Metropolitans. But
it will not be found that he exercised the same immediate power in the
provinces depending on Milan and Aquileia, nor in Spain and the Gauls. It
is true that in the Gauls he had his vicar, who was the Bishop of Arles, as
was likewise the Bishop of Thessalonica for Western Illyricum. The Pope
further took care of the Churches of Africa, that Councils should be held
there, and the Canons maintained; but we do not find that he exercised
particular jurisdiction over any that belonged to the Eastern empire, that
is to say, upon the four patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem,
and Constantinople. He was in communion and interchange of letters with all
these Patriarchs, without entering into the particular management of the
Churches depending on them, except it were in some extraordinary case. The
multitude of St. Gregory's letters gives us opportunity to remark all these
distinctions, in order not to extend indifferently rights which he only
exercised over certain Churches."[134]
Now in St. Gregory's time a discussion arose, which served to draw forth
statements on his part most remarkably bearing on the present claims of the
See of Rome. In the year 589 Gregory, Patriarch of Antioch, accused of a
grievous crime, appealed to the Emperor and his Council. He accordingly
went to Constantinople, and was tried. All the Patriarchs of the East in
person, or by their deputies, attended this trial, the Senate likewise, and
many Metropolitans; and the cause having been examined in several sittings,
Gregory was absolved, and the accuser flogged through the city and
banished. At this Council John the Faster, Patriarch of Constantinople,
took the title of Universal Bishop. Immediately the Roman Pontiff Pelagius
heard of it, he sent letters by which, of St. Peter's authority, he
annulled the acts of this Council, save as to the absolution of Gregory,
and ordered his deacon, the Nuncio, not to attend the mass with John. But
he left the contest about the name Ecumenical, or Universal, Bishop or
Patriarch, to his successor Gregory. We have many letters of Gregory on the
subject, of which I will give extracts. The Pope foresaw the great danger
there was that the Patriarch of Constantinople would reduce completely
under him the other three Eastern Patriarchs, and perhaps attempt to gain
the Primacy of the whole Church; for this, among other reasons, neither St.
Leo, nor any of his successors, had ever allowed in the West the 28th Canon
of Chalcedon, giving him the next place to Rome. And now this title of
Ecumenical, combined with the fact that the Bishop of that See was, from
his position, the intermediary between all the Bishops of the East and the
imperial power, seemed to point directly to such a consummation. He was the
natural president of a Council continually sitting at Constantinople, which
might be said to lead and give the initiative to the whole East.
Accordingly St. Gregory appears in this matter the great defender of the
Patriarchal equilibrium. "Gregory to Eulogius, Bishop of Alexandria, and
Anastasius, Bishop of Antioch."[135]... "As your venerable Holiness is
aware, this name Universal was offered by the holy Synod of Chalcedon to
the Pontiff of the Apostolic See, a post which by God's providence I fill.
But no one of my predecessors ever consented to use so profane a term,
because plainly, if a single _Patriarch is called Universal, the name of
Patriarch is taken from the rest_. But far, far be this from the mind of a
Christian, that any one should wish to claim to himself that by which the
honour of his brethren may seem to be in any degree diminished. Since,
therefore, we are unwilling to receive this honour when offered to us,
consider how shameful it is that any one has wished violently to usurp it
to himself. Wherefore let your Holiness in your letters _never call any one
Universal, lest in offering undue honour to another you should deprive
yourself of that which is your due_.... Let us, therefore, render thanks to
Him, who, dissolving enmities, hath caused in His flesh, that in the whole
world there should be one flock and one fold under Himself the one
Shepherd.... For because he is near of whom it is written, 'He is king over
all the children of pride,' what I cannot utter without great grief, our
brother and fellow-Bishop John, despising the Apostolic precepts, the rules
of the Fathers, endeavours by this appellation to go before him in
pride.... So that he endeavours to claim the whole to himself, and aims by
the pride of this pompous language _to subjugate to himself all the members
of Christ, which are joined together to the one sole head, that is,
Christ_.... By the favour of the Lord we must strive with all our strength,
and take care lest by one poisonous sentence the living members of Christ's
body be destroyed. For if this is allowed to be said freely, _the honour of
all the Patriarchs is denied_. And when, perchance, he who is termed
Universal perishes in error, presently no Bishop is found to have remained
in the state of truth. Wherefore it is your duty firmly, and without
prejudice, to preserve the Churches as you received them, and let this
attempt of diabolic usurpation find nothing of its own in you. Stand firm,
stand fearless; _presume not ever either to give or receive letters with
this false title of Universal_. Keep from the pollution of this pride all
the Bishops subject to your care, that the whole Church may recognise you
for Patriarchs, not only by good works, but by your genuine authority. But
if perchance adversity follow, persisting with one mind, we are bound to
show, even by dying, that we love not any special gain of our own to the
general loss." So, likewise to the Bishops of Illyricum he says--"Because
as the end of this world is approaching, the enemy of the human race hath
appeared in anticipation, to have for his precursors through this name of
pride, those very priests who ought by a good and humble life to resist
him; I therefore exhort and advise that no one of you ever give countenance
to this name, ever agree to it, ever write it, ever receive a writing
wherein it is contained, or add his subscription; but, as it behoves
ministers of Almighty God, keep himself clean from such-like poisonous
infection, and give no place within him to the crafty lier-in-wait; _since
this is done to the injury and disruption of the whole Church, and, as we
have said, in contempt of all of you. For if, as he thinks, one is
universal, it remains that you are not Bishops_."[136] To Sabinianus, then
his Deacon, afterwards his successor--"For to consent to this nefarious
name, is nothing else but to lose our faith."[137] "Gregory to the Emperor
Mauricius"[138]... "Concerning which matter, my Lord's affection has
enjoined me in his commands, saying that scandal ought not to grow between
us, for the term of a frivolous name. But I beg your Imperial Piety to
consider, that some frivolities are very harmless, some highly injurious.
When Antichrist at his coming calls himself God, will it not be very
frivolous, but yet cause great destruction? If we look at the amount of
what is said, it is but two syllables, (_Deum_,) if at the weight of
iniquity, it is universal destruction. _But I confidently affirm that
whoever calls himself, or desires to be called, Universal Priest, in his
pride goes before Antichrist_; because through pride he prefers himself to
the rest. And he is led into error by no dissimilar pride, because like
that perverse one, he wishes to appear God over all men; so, _whoever he is
who desires to be called sole Priest_, he lifts up himself above all other
Priests. But since the Truth says, 'every one who exalteth himself shall be
abased,' I know that the more any pride inflates itself, the sooner it
bursts."
"Gregory to the Emperor Mauritius."[139] ... "But since it is not my cause,
but God's, and since not I only, but the whole Church, is thrown into
confusion, since sacred laws, since venerable synods, since the very
commands even of our Lord Jesus Christ are disturbed by the invention of
this haughty and pompous language, let the most pious Emperor lance the
wound, &c.... _For to all who know the Gospel, it is manifest that the
charge of the whole Church was entrusted by the voice of the Lord to the
holy Apostle Peter, chief of all the Apostles._ For to him is said, Peter,
lovest thou me? Feed my sheep. To him is said, Behold, Satan hath desired
to sift you, &c. To him is said, Thou art Peter, &c. _Lo he hath received
the keys of the kingdom of heaven, the power of binding and loosing is
given to him, the care of the whole Church is committed to him, and the
Primacy, and yet he is not called Universal Apostle._ And that holy man, my
fellow-priest, John, endeavours to be called Universal Bishop.... Do I, in
this matter, most pious Lord, defend my own cause? is it a private injury
that I pursue? the cause of Almighty God, the cause of the universal
Church. Who is he, who, in violation of the statutes of the Gospel, in
violation of the decrees of Canons, presumes to usurp a new name to
himself? _Would that he who desires to be called universal may exist
himself without diminution to others!_... If, then, any one claims to
himself that name in that Church, as in the judgment of all good men he has
done, the whole Church (which God forbid!) falls from its place, when he
who is called Universal falls. But far from Christian hearts be that
blasphemous name, in which the honour of all Priests is taken away, while
it is madly arrogated by one to himself! Certainly, to do honour to the
blessed Peter, chief of the Apostles, this was offered to the Roman Pontiff
by the venerable Synod of Chalcedon. But no one of them ever consented to
use this singular appellation, that all Priests might not be deprived of
their due honour by something peculiar being given to one. How is it, then,
that we seek not the glory of this name, though offered us, yet another
presumes to claim it, though not offered?"
John had been succeeded by Cyriacus at Constantinople: and he writes
further,[140] "Gregory to Anastasius, Bishop of Antioch.... I thought it
not worth while on account of a profane appellation to delay receiving the
synodical letter of our Brother and Fellow-Priest Cyriacus, that I might
not disturb the unity of the holy Church: nevertheless, I have made a point
of admonishing him respecting that same superstitious and haughty
appellation, saying that he could not have peace with me unless he
corrected the pride of the aforesaid expression, _which the first Apostate
invented_. But you should not call this cause of no importance; because, if
we bear this patiently, we corrupt the faith of the whole Church. For you
know how many, not only heretics, but even heresiarchs, have come forth
from the Church of Constantinople. And, not to speak of the injury done to
your honour, if one Bishop be called Universal, the whole Church tumbles to
pieces, if that one, being universal, falls.[141] But far be such folly,
far be such trifling, from my ears. But I trust in the Almighty Lord, that
what He hath promised, He will quickly perform: every one that exalteth
himself shall be abased." In another most interesting letter he
communicates to the Bishop of Alexandria, that "while the nation of the
English, placed in a corner of the world, was remaining up to this time in
unbelief, worshipping stocks and stones, by the help of your prayers I
determined that I ought to send over to it a monk of my monastery, by the
blessing of God, to preach there. After permission from me, he has been
made a Bishop by the Bishops of Germany, and, assisted by their kindness,
reached the aforesaid nation at the end of the world; and even at this
present moment I have received accounts of his safety and labours; for
either he, or those who have gone over with him, are distinguished among
that nation by so great miracles, that they seem to imitate the powers of
Apostles by the signs which they show forth. On this last feast of the
Lord's Nativity more than ten thousand English are reported to have been
baptized by this our brother and fellow-bishop, which I mention that you
may know what you are doing among the people of Alexandria by your voice,
and in the ends of the world by your prayers."[142]--"Your Blessedness has
also taken pains to tell me that you no longer write to certain persons
those proud names, which have sprung from the root of vanity, and you
address me, saying, _as you commanded_, which word _command_ I beg you to
remove from my ears, because I know who I am, and who you are. For in rank
you are my Brother, in character my Father. I did not, therefore, command,
but took pains to point out what I thought advantageous. I do not, however,
find that your Blessedness was willing altogether to observe the very thing
I pressed upon you. For I said that you should not write any such thing
_either to me or to any one else_, and lo! in the heading of your letter,
directed to me, the very person who forbad it, you set that haughty
appellation, _calling me Universal Pope_. Which I beg your Holiness, who
are most agreeable to me, to do no more, because _whatever is given to
another more than reason requires is so much taken away from yourself_. It
is not in appellations, but in character, that I wish to advance. Nor do I
consider that an honour by which I acknowledge that my brethren lose their
own. For my honour is the honour of the Universal Church. My honour is the
unimpaired vigour of my brethren. Then am I truly honoured, when the true
honour is not denied to each one in his degree. _For if your Holiness calls
me Universal Pope, you deny that you are yourself what you admit me to be,
Universal._ But this God forbid. Away with words which inflate vanity, and
wound charity. Indeed, in the holy Synod of Chalcedon, and by the Fathers
subsequently, your Holiness knows this was offered to my predecessors. Yet
none of them chose ever to use this term; that, while in this world they
entertained affection for the honour of all Priests, in the hands of
Almighty God they might guard their own."
As to what Gregory says about the Council of Chalcedon offering this title,
Thomassin says,[143] "It authorized at least by its silence the title of
Ecumenical (Patriarch), which was given to Pope Leo in several requests
there read." It appears these requests really were the complaints of two
Alexandrian Deacons against Dioscorus.[144] How very different it was to
pass over without reprobating a title bestowed in documents which came
before it, from itself conferring that title, is plain at once. In just the
same way it had been given at the Latrocinium to Dioscorus. However, the
title Ecumenical has been constantly since, and is now, borne by the
Patriarch of Constantinople; no doubt a very innocent meaning may be given
to it. The remarkable thing is, that Gregory has pointed out in such
precise unmistakeable language a certain power and claim, which he
inferred, rightly or wrongly, would be set up on this title Ecumenical, and
which he pronounces to be a corruption of the whole constitution of the
Church.
Perhaps, however, the most remarkable passage remains yet to be quoted. It
is in a letter to the Patriarch John himself. "Consider, I pray you, that
by this rash presumption the peace of the whole Church is disturbed, and
the grace, poured out upon all in common, contradicted. And in this,
indeed, you yourself will be able to increase just so much as you purpose
in your own mind; and become so much the greater, as you restrain yourself
from usurping a proud and foolish name. And you profit in the degree that
you do not study to arrogate to yourself by derogating from your brethren.
Therefore, most dear brother, with all your heart love humility, by which
the harmony of all the brethren and the unity of the holy universal Church,
may be preserved. Surely the Apostle Paul, hearing some say, I am of Paul,
I of Apollos, I of Cephas, exclaimed, in exceeding horror at this rending
of the Lord's Body, by which His members attached themselves, as it were,
to other heads, saying, Was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in
the name of Paul? If he then rejected the members of the Lord's Body being
subjected to certain heads, as it were, besides Christ, and that even to
Apostles themselves, as leaders of parts, what will you say to Christ, _who
is, as you know, the Head of the Universal Church, in the examination of
the last judgement_,--_you, who endeavour to subject to yourself under the
name of Universal, all His members_? Who, I say, in this perverse name, is
set forth for imitation but he, who despised the legions of angels joined
as companions to himself, and endeavoured to rise to a height unapproached
by all, that he might seem to be subject to none, and be alone superior to
all. Who also said, 'I will ascend into heaven: I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation,
on the sides of the North. I will ascend above the height of the clouds: I
will be like the Most High.'
"For what are all your brethren, the Bishops of the Universal Church, but
the stars of heaven? Whose life and language together shine amid the sins
and errors of men, as among the shades of night. And while you seek to set
yourself over these by a proud term, and to tread under foot their name, in
comparison with your own, what else do you say, but 'I will ascend into the
heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.' Are not all the
Bishops clouds, who rain down the words of their preaching, and shine with
the light of good works? And while your brotherhood despises them, and
endeavours to put them under you, what else do you say but this, which is
said by the old enemy: 'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds?' And
when I see all these things with sorrow, and fear the secret judgments of
God, my tears increase, my heart contains not my groans, that that most
holy man, the Lord John, of such abstinence and humility, seduced the
persuasion of those about him, hath proceeded to such pride, that in
longing after a perverse name, he endeavours to be like him, who, desiring
in his pride to be as God, lost even the grace of that likeness to God
which had been given him; and so forfeited true blessedness, because he
sought false glory. _Surely Peter, the first of the Apostles, a member of
the holy universal Church, Paul, Andrew, John, what else are they but the
heads of particular communities? and yet all are members under one head._
And to comprehend all in one brief expression, the saints before the law,
the saints under the law, the saints under grace, all these making up the
body of the Lord, are disposed among members of the Church, and no one ever
wished to be called Universal. Let, then, your Holiness acknowledge how
great is your pride, who seek to be called by that name, by which no one
has presumed to be called who was really holy."[145]
Now had these passages occurred in the writings of some ancient saint, who
was generally opposed to the authority of the Roman See, had they belonged
to a Patriarch of Antioch, or Constantinople, jealous of his own rights,
they would surely have had their weight, as testimonies to a fact, not mere
opinions of the speaker. They would have borne witness to no such thing as
they reprobate having, till then, been allowed or thought of. Or, had they
been isolated statements, not borne out by contemporaneous or antecedent
documents, but standing alone, uncontradicted indeed, but unsupported, they
would still have told. How, then, are we to express their weight, or the
full assurance of faith which they give us, as being the deliberate,
oft-repeated, official statements of a Pope, than whom there never was one
more vigorous in defending or in exercising the rights of his See? As being
supported and borne out, and in every possible way corroborated by the
facts of history, the decrees of Councils, the innumerable testimonies of
all parts of the world, the everyday life of the living, breathing Church
for six hundred years? In an early work, Mr. Newman had said, "What there
is not the shadow of a reason for saying that the Fathers held, what has
not the faintest pretensions of being a Catholic Truth, is this, that St.
Peter, and his successors, were and are universal Bishops; that they have
the whole of Christendom for their own diocese, in a way in which other
Apostles and Bishops had and have not."
In his last work he has retracted, saying, "Most true, if, in order that a
doctrine be considered Catholic, it must be formally stated by the Fathers
generally from the very first: but, on the same understanding, the doctrine
also of the Apostolic succession in the Episcopal order has not the
faintest pretensions of being a Catholic truth."[146]
Now these words of Mr. Newman seem to imply that the expressions of
Fathers, or the decrees of Councils, look towards this presumed Catholic
truth, tend to it, and finally admit it, as a truth which they had been all
along implicitly holding, or unconsciously living upon, and at last
recognised and expressed. On the contrary, to my apprehension, they hold
another view about the See of Rome, and express it again and again. It is
not a point on which there is variation or inconsistency among them. I have
as clear a conviction as one can well have that St. Augustine did _not_
hold the Papal theory. I think the words that I have quoted from him prove
this. Moreover, the Fathers generally express a view about other Bishops
which is utterly incompatible with this theory as now received, which by no
process of development can be made to agree with it. And I confess that I
am unable to understand the meaning of words, if this so-called "Catholic
truth" of the Pope being the universal Bishop, is not distinctly considered
in these passages of St. Gregory, formally repudiated for himself as well
as for others, and the very notion declared to be, in any case whatsoever,
_that of the Pope being specially named_, blasphemous and antichristian.
Could heretics say any thing of the kind against the doctrine of the
Apostolical succession, out of the first six centuries, they would have an
advantage against the Church, which, thank God, they are far from
possessing.