Regarding the link between the papal primacy and the Roman See, significant testimony is given by Ignatius of Antioch, who extols the excellence of the Church of Rome. In his Letter to the Romans this authoritative witness of the Church’s organizational and hierarchical development in the first half of the second century addressed the Church “which presides in the land of the Romans, worthy of God, worthy of honor, deservedly blessed, worthy of happy success, worthily chaste, which presides over charity” (Introduction). Charity (agápe) in St. Ignatius’ language refers to the ecclesial community. Presiding over charity expresses the primacy in that communion of charity which is the Church, and necessarily includes the service of authority, the ministerium Petrinum. In fact, Ignatius acknowledges the Church of Rome’s teaching authority: “You have never been jealous of anyone; you have taught the others. So I want those lessons that you give and enjoin in your teaching to be steadfast too” (3, 1).
The origin of this privileged position is indicated by those words regarding the significance of his authority as bishop of Antioch, which is also quite venerable because of its antiquity and relationship to the apostles: “Not as Peter and Paul do I command you” (4, 3). Rather, Ignatius entrusts the Church of Syria to the Church of Rome: “In your prayer remember the Church of Syria, which in my stead has God for its shepherd. Only Jesus Christ, and your charity, will rule it as a bishop” (9, 1).
In seeking to determine the apostolic succession of the churches, St. Irenaeus of Lyons in turn refers to the Church of Rome as the example and criterion par excellence of this succession. He writes:
“Since in this work it would take too long to list the successions of all the churches, we will consider the great and very ancient church known to all, the church founded and established in Rome by the two glorious apostles Peter and Paul. By showing the tradition received from the apostles and the faith proclaimed to men, which comes to us through the succession of bishops, we refute all who in any way, whether from madness or vainglory or blindness and mistaken thought, gather together beyond what is right. In fact, it is with this church, by reason of her more excellent origin, that every church [that is, the faithful who come from every area] must necessarily be in agreement–with this Church in which the tradition that comes from the apostles has always been preserved by everyone” (Adv. Haer., 3, 2).
The Church of Rome is acknowledged as having a “more excellent origin,” which is that of Peter and Paul, the greatest representatives of the authority and charism of the apostles: the “keybearer of the Church” and the “Doctor of the Gentiles.” The other churches can live and work only in agreement with her; agreement entails unity of faith, teaching and discipline, precisely what is contained in the apostolic tradition. The See of Rome is thus the criterion and measure of the apostolic authenticity of the various churches, the guarantee and principle of their communion in universal “charity,” the foundation (kephas) of the visible organism of the Church established and ruled by the risen Christ as the eternal shepherd of the entire sheepfold of believers.
