Page:The Church, by John Huss.pdf/134

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82
THE CHURCH

other hand, St. Dionysius,[1] de divinis nominibus, 3, calls St. Peter the peak, that is, the capital or captain. And in his book which he wrote on the death of the apostles Peter and Paul, he thus addresses Titus: "As Peter and Paul were being led to the place of martyrdom and were about to be separated, one from the other, Paul addressed to Peter these words: 'Peace be to thee, O foundation of the churches and shepherd of Christ's sheep and lambs!'" In the same way Augustine, in his Questions on the Old and New Law, says that "Peter was the first among the apostles." So likewise Pope Marcellus, 24: 1, Rogamus [Friedberg, 1: 970],[2] says: "We beseech you, brethren, that ye teach no otherwise than as ye have received from St. Peter and the other apostles, for he is the head of the whole church, to whom the Lord said: 'Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.'" Likewise Pope Anacletus, Dist. 21,[3] in novo [Friedberg, 1: 69]: "In the New Testament after Christ's death, the priestly order began with Peter, because to him as the first was given the pontificate in Christ's church even as the Lord said to him: 'Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.' He, therefore, was the first to receive from the Lord the power of binding and loosing and he was the first to lead the people to the faith by the power of his preaching. And truly the other apostles received with him in virtue of equal fellowship honor and power." Likewise, it is commonly said that Peter was the head of the church because he was called Cephas, which by interpretation is head.

  1. Dionysius the Areopagite, once identified with St. Denis and regarded as first bishop of Athens, wrote probably about 500, as he is first quoted 533, and shows the influence of Alexandrian neo-Platonism. He was much quoted in the Middle Ages and has a strong mystical vein. His Eccles. Hierarchy and his Heavenly Hierarchy were issued by John Colet and reissued by Lupton with trsl., London, 1869.
  2. Marcellus, pope, 308-309. The quotation is from Pseudo-Isidore.
  3. Anacletus, 79?–091?, placed by the Catholics in the list of popes second after Peter. Linus, Anacletus, Clement were probably contemporary presbyters in Rome, as Lipsius says. This quotation is from Pseudo-Isidore. Thirty quotations are ascribed to Anacletus in the Corp. jur. can.