This is a questions I have as well.
Nice chart!
So, if I understand this correctly, Evodius inherited Peter’s
episcopal but not his
apostolic authority.
A
Haha thanks
That’s close to, but not
quite what I’m saying. I’m referring to Peter’s authority, but only indirectly. What I’m really referring to is his
position, his particular apostolic
office.
Forget about Peter, Evodius, and anyone else from the 1st century for a minute. Let’s talk about Cardinal O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, and Archbishop Wuerl, the archbisho of Washington DC.
Both of these men are bishops, and so they have the same authority. Now in addition to these two men, we’re also dealing with their particular bishoprics here. There is the bishopric of Boston, and the bishopric of Washington. Today, we tend to call bishoprics ‘dioceses.’ So currently, Cardinal O’Malley is filling the bishopric of Boston and Abp. Wuerl the bishopric of Washington DC.
Now there’s nothing about these men or about their episcopal power that makes them be the bishop of these two places. These are just two seperate offices - literally. Think of the Church as a giant office building, and each diocese as a room - an office - in it. There’s a bishop in each of those offices. But they don’t have to be in the particular ones they’re in. They could swap, and often do. Cardinal O’Malley used to bishop of Fall River, when Cardinal Law was abp. of Boston. Abp. Wuerl used to be in Pittsburgh.
The point I’m trying to get across here is that the Church is made up of many different offices - bishoprics of diocese - which are filled by various men. The men aren’t tied to the offices - they are just like rooms in an office building being filled by executives. If the company expands, more offices can be added. When the Church expanded into the new world, many new bishoprics were added, the first being, for example, the bishopric of Baltimore.
So the early Church was made up of two distinct kinds of offices: apostolic offices, and bishoprics. The apostolic offices were those 12/13 instituted by Christ. The bishoprics were allll those offices that the apostles created for the oversight of various cities and areas. Timothy was bishop of Ephesus. When he died, someone else filled that office - that “slot.”
While was in Antioch for about a decade or so, he oversaw it. He was an apostle who was overseeing a city. He was overseeing - episcopating - there. He was the bishop of Antioch. He was
also an Apostle at this same time. He held two offices at once. When he left, Evodius took over the bishopric of Antioch but Peter retained his office as Apostle. He went off to continue his apostolic work elsewhere while Evodius continued his episcopal work in Antioch.
Eventually, Peter became bishop of and died in Rome, leaving both the bishopric of Rome
and his Apostolic office empty. Linus suceeded him in
both. In the same way, the bishop of Rome today is the unique sucessor of Peter in his apostolic office, but also in his office as bishop of Rome. He doesn’t
only do the “pope thing.” He is also the bishop of Rome in the same way Cardinal O’Malley is the bishop of Boston. He’s filling two offices, two slots - the office of bishop of Rome, and the apostolic office of Peter.
So, for example, during the time of the Avignon papacy, you had popes that really weren’t being the bishops of Rome. They maintained their apostolic office, but they weren’t overseeing Rome at the time. It’s two seperate offices.
So, after typing all that, I think I basically said the same thing you did, but I wanted to make sure I was clear. Hopefully I was.
Peace and God bless