THE INVESTITURE OF PETER.
Our Lord has hitherto, while on earth,[1] ruled as its visible head
that body of disciples which He had chosen out of the world, and
which His Father had given Him. And this body He for the first time
called the Church in that famous prophecy[2] wherein He named the
person, who, by virtue of an intimate association with Himself, the
Rock, should be its foundation, and the duration of which until the
consummation of the world, He pronounced at the same time, in spite
of all the rage of "spiritual wickedness in high places" against it,
because it should be founded upon the rock which He should lay.
Secondly, He had, at that period of His ministry when He thought it
meet, the second year, selected out of the rest of His disciples,
after ascending into a mountain and continuing the night long in
prayer, twelve whom He named Apostles--as before and above all sent
by Him--for "He called whom He would Himself, and they came to Him,"
to whom "He gave authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out,
and to heal every disease and every weakness," whom He chose also
"to be with Him," His personal attendants, "and to send them to
preach;" to whom, moreover, He subsequently made a promise that
whatever they should bind on earth, should be bound in heaven, and
whatever they should loose on earth should be loosed in heaven.[3]
Thirdly, as at a certain time in His ministry, that is the second
year, He had selected twelve to be nearer His person than the rest
of His disciples, so at a yet later time, the third year of His
ministry, He had set apart one out of the twelve, to whom from the
very first, and before either he, or any one, had been called to be
an Apostle, or even, as it would seem, a disciple, He had given a
prophetic name; whom by word and deed, in correspondence with that
name, He designated to be the future Rock of His Church, to be the
Bearer of the keys, which opened or shut the entrance to His
mystical Holy City, to be endued with power _singly_ to bind and to
loose; and whom at last, on the very eve of His being taken away
from His disciples, He pointed out as the future "First one,"
"Greater one," or "Ruler," among them, having, as such, had given to
him a _special_ and _singular_ charge, after the departure of the
Head, to "confirm his brethren."
It is manifest that this was all which, before His offering Himself
up for the sin of the world, and the withdrawal of His visible
presence thereupon ensuing, He could do for the government of His
Church. For as long as He was there, the Son of Man among men, seen,
felt, touched, and handled, the sacred voice in their ears, and the
divine eyes gazing bodily upon them, He was not only the fountain of
all headship and rule, but He exercised in His own person the
highest functions of that headship and visible rule. He daily
encouraged, warned, corrected, taught, united them; in short, to use
His own words, "while He was with them, He kept them in His Father's
name."[4]
But now another time, and other dangers were approaching. The sword
was drawn which should "strike the shepherd," there was a fear that
"the sheep would be scattered," not only for a moment, but for ever.
To meet this the care of the divine guardian was necessary in a
further disposition of those powers which He received at His
resurrection from the dead. For henceforth His visits, as of a risen
King, were to be few and sudden, when He pleased, and at times they
expected not, "for forty days appearing to them and speaking of the
kingdom of God," and as soon as His final injunctions had been thus
royally given, "the heavens were to receive Him till the time of the
restoration of all things." The Apostles could no longer "be with
Him," as before, nor He "keep them," as in the days of His flesh.
How, then, does He complete the ministerial hierarchy which sprung
from His own divine Person on earth, and which is to rule His Church
and represent that Person from His first to His second coming?
Now, first, we must remark, that while great care is taken to make
known to all the Apostles the resurrection of the Lord, yet a
special solicitude is shown with regard to that one who was to be
"the Ruler." Thus the angels, announcing the fact to the holy women
at the sepulchre, "He is risen, He is not here, behold the place
where they laid Him," add, "but go, tell His disciples _and Peter_,
that He goeth before you into Galilee."[5] The expression indicates
his superior place, as when Peter, himself delivered from prison,
recounted to the disciples at the house of Mark his escape, and
added, "Tell these things to James and to the brethren," where no
one fails to see the pre-eminence given to James, by such a mention
of him, that apostle being the Bishop of Jerusalem, and so put over
the brethren, and, with himself, one of those who "seemed to be
pillars." Again, to Peter our Lord appeared first among the
Apostles. S. Paul exhibiting a sort of sum of Christian doctrine, as
he says "the Gospel which I preached unto you," begins, "I
delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that
He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, according to
the Scriptures; and that He was seen by Cephas, and after that by
the eleven." By him alone, first, then by them in conjunction with
him. And further, St. Paul's words seem to express a sort of
descending ratio, "Then was He seen by more than five hundred
brethren at once, of whom many remain until this present, and some
are fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the
Apostles. And last of all He was seen also by me, as by one born out
of due time. For I am the least of the Apostles."[6] And while they
were yet in doubt, and for joy could not receive the marvellous
tidings, when brought by the women, as soon as our Lord appeared to
Peter, their hesitation was removed, and the two disciples returning
from Emmaus--themselves full of His wonderful conversation with
them--"found the eleven gathered together and those that were with
them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon,"
as the Church in her exultation repeats, where philologists tell us
that the Greek _and_ bears what is often the Hebrew meaning, and
signifies "for," as if no doubt could remain any longer of their
happiness, when Peter had become a witness of it.
These are indications of superiority, slight perhaps in themselves,
if they stood alone, but not slight as bearing tacit witness to a
fact otherwise resting on its own explicit evidence. If one of the
Apostles was destined to be the head of the rest, this is what we
should have expected to happen to that one, and this did happen to
Peter, who is elsewhere made the head of the Apostles.
But now we come to those most important injunctions which our Lord
gave to His Apostles after His resurrection, concerning the
government of His Church. And here it becomes necessary to mark with
the utmost accuracy what He said and what He gave to all the
Apostles in common, and what to Peter in particular.
First of all, then, we may remark our Lord's care to redeem the
promises which He had made to the Twelve, and to convey to them
their legislative, judicial, and executive powers. These are
mentioned by each of the four Evangelists, in somewhat different
terms, but alike involving the distinctive apostolic powers of
immediate institution by Christ, and universal mission; as Apostles
they are _sent_, and they are sent _by Christ_. The form recorded in
S. Matthew is, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.
Go ye, therefore, and make disciples all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you;
and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the
world."
The form of S. Mark is, "Go ye into the whole world, and preach the
gospel to every creature."
S. Luke refers specially in two passages to the descent of the Holy
Ghost, as being Himself as well the Divine "Gift," and the immediate
worker of all graces in man, as the principle of the ecclesiastical
hierarchy. "And I send the promise of My Father upon you, but stay
you in the city till you be endued with power from on high." And
again, "Eating together with them, He commanded them that they
should not depart from Jerusalem, but should wait for the promise of
the Father, which you have heard," saith He, "by My mouth; for John,
indeed, baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy
Ghost not many days hence." "You shall receive the power of the Holy
Ghost coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto Me in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost
part of the earth."
The form recorded by S. John is, "As the Father hath sent Me, I also
send you. When He had said this, He breathed on them; and He said to
them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins you shall forgive, they
are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are
retained."[7]
Now, it may be remarked that these passages of the several
evangelists are _identical_ in their force; that is, they each
convey all those powers which constitute the Apostolate. These are
received by all the Apostles in common, and together; and in the
joint possession of them consists that _equality_ which is often
attributed by the ancient writers to the Apostles, as notably by S.
Cyprian, "He gives to all the Apostles an equal power, and says, 'as
the Father sent Me, I also send you.'" And again, "Certainly the
other Apostles also were what Peter was, endued with an equal
fellowship, both of honour and power."[8]
And these Apostolic powers, legislative, judicial, and executive,
are afterwards referred to as exercised; as in Acts ch. xv., where
the first council passes decrees which bind the Church, nay, which
go forth in the joint name of the Holy Ghost, and the rulers of the
Church, "It hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us;"--which
are delivered by S. Paul to the cities to be kept: Acts xvi. 4--as
in Acts xx. 28, where bishops are charged to rule the Church, each
over his flock, wherein the Holy Ghost has placed him--as in 1 Cor.
v. 1-5, where S. Paul, "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,"
excommunicates--as in 2 Cor. x. 6, where he sets forth his
apostolic power--as in the Epistles to Titus and Timothy, where he
sets them in authority, enjoins them to ordain priests in every
city, and commands them to "reprove," or "rebuke."
And all these powers S. Peter, of course, as one of the Twelve, had
received in common with the rest. The limit to them would seem to
lie in their being shared in common by twelve; as, for instance,
universal mission dwelling in such a body must practically be
determined and limited somehow to the different members of that
body, or one would interfere with the other. But there is nothing in
these powers which answers to the images of "the rock," on which the
Church is built, the single "bearer of the keys," and "confirmer" of
his brethren, which Christ had appropriated to one Apostle.
In like manner, then, as our Lord fulfilled His promises to the
Twelve, so did He those to S. Peter, and we find written the
committal of an authority to him exactly answering to these images;
an authority, which expresses the full legislative, judicial and
executive power of the head, which can be executed by one alone at a
time, and is of its own nature supreme, and responsible to none save
God. It remained for our Lord to find an image setting forth all
this as decisively as that of the Rock, the Bearer of the keys, and
the Confirmer of his brethren.
Once, as He passed along the shores of the lake of Galilee, He had
seen two fishermen casting their net into the sea, and had "said to
them, Come after Me, and I will make you fishers of men, and
immediately leaving their nets, they followed Him." Once again, too,
He had gone into the ship of that same fisherman, and sitting,
taught the multitudes out of it. And then He bade that fisherman,
"who had laboured all the night and taken nothing, to launch out
into the deep," and in faith, "let down his nets for a draught,"
whereupon "he enclosed so great a multitude of fishes that the net
brake."[9] And, again, in after times, when the fisherman had become
an Apostle, that same ship waited on His convenience, and carried
Him across the lake. It was there He was asleep when the storm
raged, and His disciples in little faith awoke Him, saying, "Master,
save us, we perish," not yet knowing that the ship which carried the
Lord might be tost, but could not sink.[10] From it they beheld Him
walking on the sea, in the fourth watch of the night, when Peter, in
his fervour, desired to join Him, and going to meet his Lord on the
waves, his faith failed him, and he began to sink, till the Almighty
hand supported him, and drew him with it to the ship, which
"presently was at the land to which they were going."[11] And now,
Peter, and Thomas, and Nathaniel, and the sons of Zebedy, and two
others, were once more on that same ship and sea, but no longer with
Him who had commanded the winds, and walked on the waves. Once more,
too, they[12] toiled all the night, but "caught nothing:" when, lo,
in the morning light, Jesus stood on the shore, but yet unknown to
them, and bade them cast the net on the right side of the ship, "and
now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes." Thus
He revealed Himself to them, and invited them to eat with Him of the
fishes which they had caught. "Then Simon Peter went up, and drew
the net to land, full of great fishes, one hundred fifty-three. And
although there were so many, the net was not broken:" for, indeed,
that draught of great fishes, gathered by Peter at Christ's command,
betokened God's elect, whom the Church is to gather out of the sea
of this world, who cannot break from the net, which net, therefore,
Peter drew to land, even the everlasting shore whereon Christ
welcomes His own. And after that marvellous banquet of the disciples
with their Lord, betokening the never ending marriage feast, wherein
"the roasted fish is Christ in His passion,"[13] our Lord proceeds
to crown all that series of distinctions, wherewith, since imposing
the prophetic name, He had marked out Simon, the son of Jonas, to be
the Leader of His disciples; and thus He fulfils by the side of the
lake of Galilee what He foreshadowed when He first looked upon
Peter, what He promised in the quarters of Cesarea Philippi, and
what He repeated on the eve of His passion.
It was His will to appoint one to take His place on earth. Now He
had assumed to Himself specially a particular title, under which of
old time His prophets had foretold His advent among men, and which
above all others expressed His tender love for fallen man. It had
been said of Him, "I will set up one shepherd over them, and He
shall feed them, even my servant David: He shall feed them, and He
shall be their shepherd." And again: "Say to the cities of Judah,
behold your God.--He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall
gather together the lambs with His arm, and shall take them up in
His bosom, and He Himself shall carry them that are with young."
And, once more, in the very prophecy by which the chief priests and
scribes declared to Herod that He must be born at Bethlehem, "For
from thee shall go forth the ruler, who shall feed (or shepherd) My
people Israel." Appropriating these predictions to Himself, the Lord
had said: "I am the good shepherd.[14] The good shepherd giveth His
life for His sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this
fold; them also I must bring; and there shall be one fold and one
shepherd." And now it was His pleasure to give this particular
title, so specially His own, to Peter, and to Peter alone, and to
Peter in most marked contrast even with the best beloved of His
other disciples, and to Peter, thrice repeating the charge, and
varying the expression of it so as to include the term in its utmost
force. "When, therefore, they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter,
Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me more than these? He saith to Him,
Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee. He saith to him, Feed My
lambs. He saith to him again, Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me? He
saith to Him, Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee. He saith to
him, Feed My lambs. He saith to him the third time, Simon, son of
John, lovest thou Me? Peter was grieved because He had said to him
the third time, lovest thou Me? And he said to Him, Lord, Thou
knowest all things: Thou knowest that I love Thee. He said to him,
Feed My sheep."
Our Lord had before addressed the seven disciples present in common,
"Children, have you any meat?" "Cast the net, and you shall find."
"Bring hither of the fishes which you have now caught." "Come and
dine." But now, turning to one in particular, He singles him out in
the most special manner, by his name, by asking of him a love
greater than that of any others towards Himself, by conferring on
him a charge, which, as we shall see, from its extension excludes
its being held in joint possession by any other, and by a prophecy
concerning the manner of his death, which is wholly particular to
Peter. If it is possible by any words to convey a power and a charge
to a particular person, and to exclude the rest of the company from
that special power and charge, it is done here.
But, secondly, it is a charge of a very high and distinguishing
nature indeed, for our Lord before conferring it demands of Peter,
as a condition, greater love towards His own person than that felt
for Him by any of the Twelve--even by the sons of Zebedy, whom from
their zeal He surnamed Boanerges, sons of thunder--even by the
disciple whom He loved, and who lay on His breast at the last
supper. What must that charge be, the preliminary condition for
which is a greater love for Jesus than that of the beloved disciple?
What shall be a fitting sequel to "Simon, son of John, lovest thou
me _more_ than these?" What, again, the importance of that office,
in bestowing which our Lord thrice repeats the condition, and thrice
inculcates the charge? The words of God are not spoken at random,
nor His repetitions without effect. What, again, are the _subjects_
of the charge? They are "My lambs," and "My sheep," that is, the
fold itself of the Great Shepherd. As He said, "If I wash thee not,
thou shalt have no part with Me," so those who are not either His
lambs or His sheep, form no part of His fold. Others, too, in Holy
Writ, are addressed as shepherds, but with a limitation, as, "Take
heed to the whole flock _wherein_ the Holy Ghost hath placed you
bishops," or "feed the flock of God _which is among you_." And, more
largely far it was said, "Go ye, therefore, and make disciples all
nations;" and "Go ye into the whole world and preach the Gospel to
every creature."[15] But they to whom this was said were yet
themselves sheep of the Great Shepherd, and in committing the world
to them, He did not commit _them_ to each other. Whereas here, they
too, as His sheep, are committed to one, even Peter; and very
expressly, in the persons of James and John, and the rest present,
"lovest thou Me more than these?" A particular flock is never
termed absolutely and simply "the flock," or "the flock of God," but
"the flock _which is among you_," "_in which the Holy Ghost hath
made you bishops_." And, again, the Apostles are sent in common to
the whole world, to preach to all nations, and to form one flock;
but they are twelve, and "power given to several carries its
restriction in its division, whilst power given to one alone and
over all, and without exception, carries with it plenitude, and, not
having to be divided with any other, it has no bounds save those
which its terms convey."[16] What are the terms here? "Feed," and
"be shepherd over" or "rule" "My lambs and My sheep." The terms have
no limit, save that of salvation itself. Such, then, are the
_persons_ indicated as subjects of this charge. But what is the
nature of the charge? Two different words of unequal extent and
force in the original, but both rendered "feed" in the translation,
convey this. One means "to give food" simply, the other, of far
higher and nobler reach, embraces every act of care and providence
in the government of others, under an image the farthest removed
from the spirit of pride and ambition. Such is even its heathen
meaning, and the first of poets termed Agamemnon by this word,
"Shepherd of the people." By this word, S. Paul, and S. Peter[17]
himself, express the power of the bishop over his own flock. And so
our Lord, here instituting the Bishop of Bishops, the one Shepherd
of the one fold, gives to Peter over all his flock, the very word
given to _Him_ in the famous prophecy, "Thou, Bethlehem, the land of
Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee
shall come forth the captain that shall _rule_ My people Israel:"
the very word, which used of Himself in Psalm ii. to express all His
power and dominion, in His revelation to S. John, is spoken of His
own triumphant career, as the Word of God going forth to battle, "He
shall _rule_ them with a rod of iron;" and, again, in the same book
is applied by Himself to set forth the honour which He will give "to
him that shall overcome and keep My works unto the end."[18] Thus,
just as in the _persons_ pointed out, the _subject_ of this charge
is _universal_, so in the _terms_ by which it is expressed, the
_nature_ of the power is _supreme_. What the bishop is to his own
flock, Peter is made to "the flock of God:" and this at once, in the
most simple, as well as in the most absolute and emphatic manner, by
institution from the chief Shepherd Himself, at the close of His
ministry, and by associating Peter singly with Himself in His most
distinctive title. If the fold of Christ is equivalent to "the
Church of Christ," and "the kingdom of heaven," so to feed and to
rule the lambs and the sheep of that fold is equivalent to being
"the Rock" of that Church, and "the Bearer of the keys," as well as
_the First, the Greater one, and the Ruler_ in that kingdom of
heaven.
Again, looking at the circumstances under which this charge is
received by Peter, it either conveys that special and singular
honour and power which we have here set forth, or _none at all_. For
Peter had _already_ received the full Apostolic authority: he had
heard together with the rest of the Apostles those words of power,
"As My Father sent Me, I also send you," and the charge following,
to bind and to loose. It could not therefore be this power which was
given him, for he had it already. All which James and John, the sons
of thunder, ever had given them, he also had before these words were
uttered. Besides a power which was to be shared by James and John,
and the rest of the Apostles, could not be given in terms which
distinguished him from them, "lovest thou Me _more than these_?" It
could not be the mere forgiveness of his denial, for not only did
the Apostolate, since conferred, carry that, but when our Lord
appeared to him first of all the Apostles after His resurrection, it
was a token of such forgiveness. There remained nothing else to give
him, but presidency over the Apostles themselves, the reward of
superior love, as was prophesied and promised to him in reward for
superior faith. For these two oracles of our Lord exactly correspond
to each other as promise and performance. Their conditions and their
terms shed a reciprocal light on each other. In the one there is the
great confession, "Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God;"
in the other as singular a declaration, "Lovest thou Me more than
these? Yea, Lord." In the one there follows the reward, "And I say
to thee, that thou art Peter," &c.: and in the other a like reward,
"Feed My lambs, be shepherd over My sheep." The one is future, "I
will build, I will give, thou shalt bind, thou shall loose:" the
other present, "Feed and be shepherd." What concerns "the Church and
the kingdom of heaven" in the one, concerns "the fold" in the other.
And the promise and performance are singularly restricted to
Peter--"I say unto thee, Thou art Peter"--"Simon, son of John,
lovest thou Me more than these?"
As then Peter received the promise of the supreme episcopate _before
all_ and _by himself_, under the terms that he should be the Rock,
by being built on which the Church should never fall, that he should
be the Bearer of the keys in the kingdom of heaven, and that
_singly_ he should bind and loose in heaven and in earth; so _after_
his own Apostolate, and that of the rest had been completed, _by
himself_, and as the crown of the divine work, he received the
fulfilment of that supreme episcopate, under the terms, "Feed My
lambs, be shepherd over My sheep." And as a part out of that
magnificent promise made to him _singly_, was afterwards taken and
made to the Apostles _jointly_ with him, for so "it was the design
of Jesus Christ to put first in one alone what afterwards He meant
to put in several; but the sequel does not reverse the beginning,
nor the first lose his place. That first word, 'Whatsoever thou
shalt bind,' said to one alone, has already ranged under his power
each one of those to whom shall be said, 'Whatsoever ye shall
remit;' for the promises of Jesus Christ, as well as His gifts, are
without repentance; and what is once given indefinitely and
universally is irrevocable:"[19] so when Peter and the rest already
possessed the whole Apostolate, the commission to go and preach to
the whole world, and to make disciples of all nations, a power was
added to Peter to make up what was promised to him originally; the
Apostles themselves, with the whole fold, were put under his charge;
he represented the person of the Great Shepherd: and the divine work
was complete.
Thus the powers of the Apostolate and the Primacy are not
antagonistic, but fit into, and harmonise with each other. In the
college of the Twelve, as before inaugurated, and sent forth into
the whole world, something had been wanting, save that, "by the
appointment of a head, the occasion of schism was taken away:"[20]
and Satan would have shaken the whole fabric, but that there was one
divinely set to "confirm the brethren." He who "kept them" once,
when "with them," by His personal presence, now kept them for
evermore by the word of His power, issued on the shore of the lake
of Galilee, but resounding through every age, clear and decisive,
amid the fall of empires, and the change of races, and heard by all
His flock to the utmost of the isles of the sea, till the day of the
Son of Man comes,--"Simon, son of John, lovest thou Me more than
these? Feed My lambs: Feed My sheep."
And that the universal and supreme authority over the Church of
Christ, was in these words committed to Peter by the Lord, is the
belief of antiquity. Thus, S. Ambrose, in the west: "It is not
doubtful that Peter believed, and believed because he loved, and
loved because he believed. Whence, too, he is grieved at being asked
a third time, Lovest thou Me? For we ask those of whom we doubt. But
the Lord does not doubt, but asks not to learn, but to teach him
whom, on the point of ascending into heaven, He was leaving, _as it
were, the successor and representative of His love_.[21] It is
because he alone out of all makes a profession, that _he is
preferred to all_. Lastly, for the third time, the Lord asks him, no
longer, _hast_ thou _a regard_ (diligis me) for Me, but _lovest_
(amas) thou Me: and now he is ordered to feed, not the lambs, as at
first, who need a milk diet, nor the little sheep, as secondly, but
the more perfect sheep, _in order that he who was the more perfect
might have the government_."[22] In the East, S. Chrysostome, "Why,
then, passing by the rest, does He converse with him on these
things? _He was the chosen of the Apostles, and the mouthpiece of
the disciples, and the head of the band._ Therefore, also Paul once
went up to see him rather than the rest. It was, besides, to shew
him, that for the future he must be bold, as his denial was done
away with, that _He puts into his hands the presidency over the
brethren._ And He does not mention the denial, nor reproach him with
what had past; but He says, if thou lovest Me, _rule the brethren_,
and show now that warm affection which on all occasions thou didst
exhibit, and in which thou didst exult, and the life which thou
didst offer to lay down for Me, now spend for My sheep." Again,
"thrice He asks the question, and thrice lays on him the same
command, showing at how high a price He sets _the charge of His own
sheep_." Again, "he was put in charge with the direction of his
brethren." "He made him great promises _and put the world into his
hands_." Thus John and James, and the rest of the Apostles were
committed to Peter, but never Peter to them: and he adds, "But if
any one asks, How then did James receive the throne of Jerusalem? I
would reply that He elected Peter _not to be the teacher of this
throne, but of the whole world_." And in another place, "Why did He
shed His blood to purchase those sheep _which He committed to Peter
and his successors_? With reason then said Christ, 'who is the
faithful and prudent servant whom his Lord hath set over His own[23]
house?'" Theophylact repeated, seven hundred years later, the
perpetual tradition of the East. "He puts into Peter's hands the
headship over the sheep of the whole world, and to no other but to
him gives He this; first, because he was distinguished above all,
and the mouth-piece of the whole band; and secondly, showing to him
that he must be confident, as his denial was put out of account."
And if S. Leo, a Pope, declares that "though there be among the
people of God many priests and many shepherds, yet Peter rules all
by immediate commission, whom Christ also rules by Sovereign
power,"[24] the great Eastern, Saint Basil, assigned an adequate
reason for this near a century before, when he viewed all pastoral
authority in the Church as included in this grant to Peter,
declaring that the spiritual "ruler is none else but one who
represents the person of the Saviour, and offers up to God the
salvation of those who obey him, and this we learn from Christ
Himself _in that He appointed Peter to be the shepherd of His Church
after_[25] _Himself_."
But especially must we quote S. Cyprian, because to that equality of
the Apostles as such, before referred to by us, by considering which
without regard to the proportion of faith some have been led astray,
he adds the full recognition of the Primacy, and urges its extreme
importance. Thus quoting the promise and the fulfilment, "Thou art
Peter, &c." and "Feed My sheep," he goes on, "Upon him being one He
builds His Church; and _though_ He gives to all the Apostles an
equal power, and says, "As the Father sent Me, I also send you,
&c.," yet in order to manifest unity He has, by His own authority,
so placed the source of the same unity as to begin from one.
Certainly the other Apostles also were what Peter was, endued with
an equal fellowship both of honour and power, but a commencement is
made from unity, that the Church may be set before us as one."[26]
That is, the Apostles were equal as to the powers bestowed in John
xx. 23-5, but as to those given in Matt. xvi. 18-19, Luke xxii.
31-3, and John xxi. 15-18, "the Church was built upon Peter alone,"
and he was made the source and ever-living spring of ecclesiastical
unity.
Yet clearly as our Lord in this charge associates Peter with
Himself, puts him over his brethren, the other Apostles, and fulfils
to him all that He ever promised, as to making him "the first," "the
greater one" and "the ruler or leader," by that one title of "the
Shepherd," in which is summed up all authority over His Church, and
the very purpose of His own divine mission, "to seek and to save
that which was lost," still a touch of tenderness is added by the
Master's hand, which brings out all this more forcibly, and must
have told personally on Peter's feelings and those of his
fellow-disciples, as the highest and most solemn consecration to his
singular office. For when the Lord spoke that parable, "I am the
good shepherd," He added, as the token of the character, "the good
shepherd giveth His life for His sheep." And so now, appointing
Peter to take His place over the flock, He adds to him this token
also: "Amen, amen, I say to thee, when thou wast younger, thou didst
gird thyself, and didst walk where thou wouldst, but when thou shalt
be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird
thee, and lead thee whither thou wouldst not." "When thou wast
younger, thou didst gird thyself," alluding, perhaps, to that
impulse of affection with which, just before, as soon as Peter heard
from John that it was the Lord standing on the shore, "he girt his
coat about him and cast himself into the sea," for his love waited
not for the slowness of the boat. Thus He taught Peter that the
chiefship to which He was appointing him, that "care of all the
Churches," as it required a different spirit to fulfil it from that
which prevailed among "the kings of the nations," so it led to a
different end, the last crowning act of a lifelong self-sacrifice,
which began by being the servant of all, ran through a thousand acts
of humiliation and anxiety, and was to be completed in the martyrdom
of crucifixion. And so in his death, as well as in his charge of
visible head of the Church, he was to be made like his Lord, and
after the manner of the Good Shepherd, whom he succeeded, should lay
down his life for his sheep. For "this He said signifying by what
death he should glorify God. And when He had said this, He saith to
him, Follow Me." With far deeper meaning now than when those words
of power were first uttered to him beside that lake. Then it was,
"Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." Now it is, "Follow
Me, and I will associate thee with My life and with My death, with
My charge and with its reward. This shall be the proof of thy
greater love, to be obedient even to death, and that the death of
the cross." Such was the anointing which the first Primate of the
Church received to the triple crown. "Follow thou Me." Like his
divine Master, he was during the whole of his ministry to have the
cross set before his eyes, and laid upon his heart, as the certain
end of his course. And thus Peter "received power and sacerdotal
authority over all, from the very God for our sakes incarnate:"[27]
thus he followed in the steps of the Good Shepherd, as he succeeded
to His office. And, therefore, having accomplished his mission and
triumphed on the Roman hill, from Rome he speaks through the undying
line of his spiritual heirs, and feeds the flock of Christ.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Passaglia, p. 93.
[2] Matt. xvi. 16.
[3] Matt. x. 1; Mark iii. 13-15; Luke vi. 12-13; Matt. xviii, 18.
[4] John xvii. 12.
[5] Mark xvi. 6.
[6] 1 Cor. xv. 1-9.
[7] Matt. xxviii. 18; Mark xvi. 15; Luke xxiv. 49; Acts i. 4-8;
John. xx. 21.
[8] De unitate ecclesiae, 3.
[9] Mark i. 16; Luke v. 3.
[10] Mark iv. 38; Luke viii. 24.
[11] John vi. 21.
[12] John xxi. 1-14.
[13] St. Augustine's 122nd discourse on St. John, who has thus set
forth this chapter: "Piscis assus Christus est passus."
[14] Ezech. xxiv. 33; Isai. xl. 9-11; Mich. v. 2; Matt. ii. 6; John
x. 11, 14, 16.
[15] Acts xx. 28; 1 Pet. v. 10; Matt. xxviii. 19; Mark xvi. 15.
[16] Bossuet, sermon on unity.
[17] Acts xx. 28; 1 Pet. v. 10; Ps. ii. 9; Apoc. xix. 15; ii. 27.
[18] Poimahinein used in the text of John, and in all
these.
[19] Bossuet, sermon on unity.
[20] St. Jerome.
[21] Amoris sui veluti vicarium.
[22] In Lucam, Lib. 10, n. 175.
[23] St. Chrys. in Joan. Hom. 88, p. 525-7; and De Sacerdot. Lib. 2,
Tom. 1. p. 372.
[24] St. Leo. Serm. 4.
[25] St. Basil, Constit. Monas. xxii. Tom. 2, p. 573.
[26] St. Cyprian, de unit. 3.
[27] Stephen of Dora, in the Lateran Synod, A.D., 649. Mansi, x.
893.