the Bishop of Rome, and that those whom he separated from his communion communicated with the rest of the Church. Those only were considered out of the Church, upon whom excommunication was declared by the Church itself in general council, or in particular councils to which the rest of the Church adhered.
The criticism made by St. Cyprian upon the title of bishop of bishops leads one to think that the Bishop of Rome endeavoured even then to assume it, and recalls a remark of Tertullian.[1]
This learned priest of Carthage said ironically of a Roman bishop whose teaching he censured: "I learn that an edict has been given, even a peremptory edict, the Sovereign Pontiff, that is, the Bishop of Bishops has said: 'I remit the sins of impurity and of fornication to those who do penance.' O edict! not less then can be done than to ticket it — Good work. But where shall such an edict be posted? Surely, I think upon the doors of the houses of prostitution." ... Tertullian equally ridicules the titles of Pope and apostolic which had been taken by the Bishops of Rome. Men like Zephyrinus and Callistus his successor,[2] could well appropriate pompous titles that they did not deserve; but the Church, instead of recognizing their legitimacy, and regarding them as emanating from a divine right, censured them by her most learned doctors, and looked upon them as the evil fruit of pride and ambition. St. Cyprian would not have been consistent with himself
- ↑ Tertull. de Pudicitia, § 1.
- ↑ See the work entitled Φιλοσοφούμενα upon the scandal of these two unworthy bishops, which with justice has been attributed to St. Hippolytus, Bishop of Ostia, or to the learned priest Caius. It is certain at any rate that this book is the work of a writer contemporary with the events recorded, and one who enjoyed great authority in the Roman Church. Tertullian reproaches a bishop of Rome with having adopted, owing to the seductions of Praxeas, the heresy of the Patripassians, (Lib. adv. Prax. § 1.) The author of Φιλοσοφούμενα attributes this heresy to Zephyrinus and to Callistus, Bishops of Rome at that time. He did not believe, it is evident, in their infallibility.
