This St.Gregory quote about the papacy

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yesss people, you guessed it right. This quote gets dished out fast by the Greek orthodox in their Reddit group. There are differing opinions on what it means and many have tried to push it to their agenda against the pope. How should i understand this quote.

“Now I confidently say that whosoever calls himself, or desires to be called, Universal Priest, is in his elation the precursor of Antichrist, because he proudly puts himself above all others. Nor is it by dissimilar pride that he is led into error; for, as that perverse one wishes to appear as above all men, so whosoever this one is who covets being called sole priest, he extols himself above all other priests.”
 
tablecorner said:
“Now I confidently say that whosoever calls himself, or desires to be called, Universal Priest, is in his elation the precursor of Antichrist, because he proudly puts himself above all others. Nor is it by dissimilar pride that he is led into error; for, as that perverse one wishes to appear as above all men, so whosoever this one is who covets being called sole priest, he extols himself above all other priests.”
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The title “universal bishop” implied that said bishop was the only bishop with ordinary power, the rest being his vicars/delegates. Bishops, rather, are Christ’s delegates or vicars–which is why one bishop claiming that role for himself would be tantamount to being an antichrist.

For example in the same controversy, St. Gregory notes how the entire Church was committed to St. Peter’s care, but he was not called the “universal Apostle.” The same is said of the bishop of Rome:

St. Gregory
For to all who know the Gospel it is apparent that by the Lord’s voice the care of the whole Church was committed to the holy Apostle and Prince of all the Apostles, Peter. For to him it is said, Peter, do you love Me? Feed My sheep John 21:17. To him it is said, Behold Satan has desired to sift you as wheat; and I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith fail not. And thou, when you are converted, strengthen your brethren Luke 22:31. To him it is said, You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever you shall bind an earth shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven Matthew 16:18.

Lo, he received the keys of the heavenly kingdom, and power to bind and loose is given him, the care and principality of the whole Church is committed to him, and yet he is not called the universal apostle; while the most holy man, my fellow priest John, attempts to be called universal bishop. I am compelled to cry out and say, O tempora, O mores!
CHURCH FATHERS: Registrum Epistolarum, Book V, Letter 20 (Gregory the Great)
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Later use in the Church of the term “universal” was not given this meaning, but expressed the successor of Peter’s pastoral responsibility for the whole Church (like St. Gregory said of St. Peter above)–an important part of that is defending the authority of his brother bishops.

Catholic doctrine is clear on this. See CCC 894-895.
 
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hello there,

it took me many re-reads to understand this. Simplified, does it mean that the pope and his bishops should not be seen with a dictatorship mindset but as a system that works in communion with each other?

I don’t quite understand the sentence below.
“The title “universal bishop” implied that said bishop was the only bishop with ordinary power, the rest being his vicars/delegates.”

What does “only bishop with ordinary power” mean?
 
Ill will there. Universal Priest is Christ. The Pope, other bishops and all priests act in persona Christi. The various Orthodox are fractured and have been in schism with each other almost since the schism with Rome. As well, a fdw of them (seen here) express animus toward Rome. I mistook one for a fundamentalist Protestant, based on attitude.

That tells me who is correct in all of this.
 
Yep… the particular polemic is really addressing a caricature of the Catholic doctrine of papal primacy. Vatican II re-emphasized the constant teaching of the Church that every bishop is a true vicar of Christ.
Now that being said, I feel many Catholics innocently fall into the trap of seeing the Pope as “the universal bishop” and their local bishop as his mere deputy. This is heresy, and the Orthodox are right to be wary of it.
 
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