jco2004: Correction: at the request of Victor, local councils were established, all of which agreed with Victor except Asia Minor (led by Polycrates, of course). In other words, the entire Church didn’t eventually adopt these Easter dates at some later date, they had already done so by the time this whole controversy with the Asian Churches had gotten underway. I believe it is important to note that Victor requested local councils, everyone obliged, and everyone but the churches of Asia Minor conformed to Victor’s opinions. When was the last time the bishop of Antioch requested local councils, and everyone obliged,conforming to the opinion of the bishop of Antioch? I can count on less than one hand.
Well, “everyone but the churches of Asia Minor…”, that’s a big “but” (excuse the pun). I accept your point that the Bishop of Rome had the preeminent authority in the early Church, what we disagree on is universla jurisdiction and supremacy.
I also believe you misinterpret Eusebius. I will type out the quote you are referring to and show you why. Now I picked up a few things in their which were seemingly overlooked. First, read the last sentence. Does Ireneaus question Victor’s authority to excommunicate so many churches? No, he does not. It says, “…he should not cut off entire churches of God…”. I’m not a grammarian, but “should not” is entirely different than “could not”. Should not implies that one has the ability to do the act in the first place. For instance, “I should not jump of a cliff” implies that I have the ability to jump of a cliff, whereas “I could not jump of a cliff” implies that I do not have the ability to do so. So when I see Ireneaus telling Victor that he “should not cut off entire churches”, I take from it that Victor has the ability to do so if he wanted to.
Well, you have to take into account the first sentence, “attempted to…” That pretty clearly implies Pope Victor didn’t have the power. Right afterwards, Eusebius says “this wasn’t to the taste of the other bishops” i.e. the attempt. Again, sounds like their assent was needed.
And again, there is the attitude of the Asian bishops; clearly they did not acknowledge universla jurisdiction.
Then there is the language you cite, “should not”. That cuts the other way. I think the whole tone of the passage is that Pope Victor wanted to excommunicate the bishops, but failed to get agreement of the other bishops. You may differ. But I think one thing that can be said is that the universal jurisdiction of the Pope was not clearly and universally held at this point in time.
I would be interested in your opinion re: my comments on the epsitle to the Corinthians which I gave above. Joe
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