The bishops of the council acknowledged that Pope Leo guided and ruled them.
“It is you who through your legates * have guided and ruled the whole gathering of the fathers, as the head rules the members, by showing them the true meaning of the dogma [of the hypostatic union].”
(synod of Chalcedon to Pope St. Leo. Ep. xcviii, PL. liv, 951. Mansi vi, 147-148)
They also called Pope Leo their head and chief.
“…You are set as an interpreter to all of the voice of blessed Peter and to all you impart the blessings of that faith. And so we too, wisely taking you as our guide in all that is good, have shown to the sons of the Church their inheritance of the truth. … For if where two or three are gathered together in his name, he has said that he is in the midst of them, must he not have been much more particularly present with 520 priests who preferred to their country and their ease the spread of knowledge about him? Of all these you were the chief, as head to members, showing your goodwill in matters of organization. …”
That was from Jacque-Benigne Bousset,a 17th century Catholic apologist. Of course the council first examined Pope Leo’s letter before approving it. That was the ordinary thing to do. It is not an argument against the authority of Pope Leo over the council,nor is it an argument that a council must approve a doctrine defined by the pope in order for it to be valid. Some councils were heretical,but no pope taught heresy.
The Eastern bishops never used the phrase “first among equals”. It doesn’t even make sense. If someone is first among others as in “most important”,then the others are not his equals.
- St. Ignatius of Antioch (ca. 98-117 A.D.):
“Ignatius, also called Theophorus, to the Church that has found mercy in the transcendent Majesty of the Most High and… which presides in the chief place of the Roman territory, a church worthy of God, worthy of honor… presiding in love, maintaining the law of Christ, and bearer of the Father’s name: her do I therefore salute… who imperturbably enjoy the full measure of God’s grace and have every foreign stain filtered out of them.”
(Letter to the Romans, preface)
- Irenaeus of Lyons (ca. 175-189 A.D.):
"Since, however, it would be very tedious, in such a volume as this, to reckon up the successions of all the Churches, we do put to confusion all those who, in whatever manner, whether by an evil self-pleasing, by vainglory, or by blindness and perverse opinion, assemble in unauthorized meetings; [we do this, I say,] by indicating that tradition derived from the apostles, of the very great, the very ancient, and universally known Church founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul; as also [by pointing out] the faith preached to men, which comes down to our time by means of the successions of the bishops. For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church, on account of its preeminent authority [propter potentiorem principalitatem] – that is, the faithful everywhere – inasmuch as the Apostolic Tradition has been preserved continuously by those who are everywhere.”
(Adversus Haereses 3:3:2)
Pope Leo the Great:
Code:
"Although bishops have a common dignity, they are not all of the same rank. Even among the most blessed Apostles, though they were alike in honor, there was a certain distinction of power. All were equal in being chosen, but it was given to one to be preeminent over the others . . . the care of the universal Church would converge in the one See of Peter, and nothing should ever be at odds with this head."
(Letter to Bishop Anastasius of Thessalonica, c.446 A.D., 14:11; in Jurgens, FEF, vol. 3, p. 270)
Before the Edict of Toleration,the church of Rome was illegal and persecuted. Shortly after the Edict,Rome ceased to be the capitol of the empire. It was sacked by barbarians and was reduced to the level of a squalid provincial town. That the church of Rome was supported by some of the emporors does not mean that it had its primacy over the whole Church from the secular government. Its primacy was from its foundation by Peter.*
Be careful going down the Primacy of Honour vs Primacy of Authority road, it is a long and twisted road that will have you both throwing writings from the Church Fathers at each other.both positions CAN be supported fairly easily with the writings of the Fathers and the first 7 Councils, neither can claim to be the ONLY one with groundings in the Early Church as it appears both positions were held.
What it boils down to is what it means for St Peter to be giving the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, not the Kepha & Petros/Petra debate. but alas, greater men then I are trying to reconcile the Eastern and Western Church, let us pray that they are able to reunite us in our entirety. So that the 5 Apostolic Patriarchs (Rome, Jerusalem, Alexandria, Antioch & Constantinople) are once again in union.
Theotokos is a perfectly acceptable and indeed needed term for the Lords mother, because it conveys who he is. I don’t debate this. But more modern dogmas and possible future ones is where I begin to disagree as having a basis in tradition or as supported by scripture.