H
Hegesippus
Guest
Do schismatic bishops retain the authority of binding and loosing?
This authority was given singularly to St. Peter, and as a group to the rest of the apostles. Since the schismatics have broken away from the group then they no longer participate in this authorityDo schismatic bishops retain the authority of binding and loosing?
St. Matthew 16:18-19 NAB
And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
Therefore bishops retain the authority even if not in union with the see of Peter. However this debate has gone on for a long long time, but the sacraments come from Christ, to the bishops through apostolic succession, or if you prefer episcopal lineage (which I think is an improper term but that’s for a different topic).St. Matthew 18:vs 1 (for clarity) and vs 18 NAB
At that time the disciples approached Jesus and said…
Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Mark 9:38-40 NAB
John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons (baptising, absolving sins, marrying people, ordaining priests etc…) in your name , and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.”
Jesus replied, "Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.
Isn’t that adding to scripture? After all in the above passage Christ does not confer any authority on the person in question he just says “whoever is not against us is for us”The authority was FIRST given to Peter and later was given to ALL the apostles.
Therefore bishops retain the authority even if not in union with the see of Peter. However this debate has gone on for a long long time, but the sacraments come from Christ, to the bishops through apostolic succession, or if you prefer episcopal lineage (which I think is an improper term but that’s for a different topic).
ALL of the sacraments were given by Christ to the Apostles, the FIRST bishops, and through the succession ALL bishops, even those not in union with Rome have full authority to confect ALL the sacraments including absolution at confession.
At least that is my take on it. And I wonder how Jesus Himself would view it in light of the following passage. Comments added by me are in blue.
Mark 9:38-40 NAB
John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons (baptising, absolving sins, marrying people, ordaining priests etc…) in your name , and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.”
Jesus replied, "Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.
No I am not adding to scripture, which is why I specified that I put my own personal comment in blue. But perhaps it was a bit confusing to do so and I probably shouldn’t.Isn’t that adding to scripture?
Christ does not stop the person, if you are not prohibited, then that must mean you are allowed and thereby have the authority. I mean it’s the argument used all the time by those who do the orans position during the our father as well as any other new and innovative wacky things they are doing inside the modern catholic churches these days.After all in the above passage Christ does not confer any authority on the person in question he just says “whoever is not against us is for us”
By the same token given above it seems appropriate to give those same binding and loosing priveliges to any christian denomination, even mormons etc. After all they all began from the catholic church (some via protestantism). From this arguement it appears this ability cannot be lost. They all began from the same catholic roots no matter how far they have gone astray
I am talking about groups who have bishops with valid episcopal lineages, and there are a LOT of groups who have valid bishops with valid lineages. The one you have mentioned doesn’t and there are a lot of groups that don’t. I think we all agree that to confect the sacrament one must be validly ordained by a bishop with valid episcopal lineage.Logically, from the above arguement, that must be ones take on it.
Furthermore, this would be an illogical consequence.Do schismatic bishops retain the authority of binding and loosing?
It this case we are talking about the absolution of sins. You will find very few “schismatic” bishops (there are a few nutcases) who stray far from the teachings of the church prior to Vatican I. After Vatican I and especially after Vatican II is where you will find most (not all) of the “schismatic” groups sprouted up. Yes, the group I belong to has broken away from Rome, but we have not broken away from what was taught by the church prior to Vatican I and we don’t exclude everything that came out of Vatican I or Vatican II, but we believe and we have been told that all of our sacraments are indeed valid although to Rome they are not licit. We don’t encourage Roman catholics to join us, in fact we warn them of the fact that we are not in union with Rome.Furthermore, this would be an illogical consequence.
The schismatics might try to “Bind and Loose” something contradictory to the original apostles intent for “Binding and Loosing”.
So which dogma would get “Bounded and Loosed”, given that the two could be contradictory? This is why I don’t believe that the schismatics retain that authority. It would be illogical.
Chipper
Hmmm very interesting.To summarize, the power to forgive sins came from Jesus to the bishops and that in turn got passed down from bishop to bishop. Rome is the only one to say that you need authority from her for absolution, but don’t need it for other sacraments to be valid. Seems to me that that is putting a human limitation on a power given to the apostles by Jesus and passed down through episcopal lineage.
If going by this logic, than the Orthodox would not have valid sacraments, but the Catholic Church does indeed recognize that their sacraments are valid.Hmmm very interesting.
It seems to me that this is proposing a conflict for “Binding and Loosing”. Since you have your group essentially trying to “Bind and Loose” an authority to themselves, and then we have Rome “Binding and Loosing” in a different direction.
Remember the authority to Bind and Loose was given as a group, not as individuals. So when individuals break away from a group, then why should these individuals retain the group given authority?
Regards,
Chipper
Oh now I see where you’re coming from. I didn’t think “Binding and Loosing” had anything to do with providing valid sacraments. It seems to me that these are two different categories.If going by this logic, than the Orthodox would not have valid sacraments, but the Catholic Church does indeed recognize that their sacraments are valid.