Didymus
the Blind
How powerful
is Peter’s faith and his confession that Christ is the only-begotten God, the
word, the true Son of God, and not merely a creature . . . he recognized the
consubstantial and coeternal branch of God, thereby glorifying that uncreated
root . . . Peter believed that Christ was one and the same deity with the
Father . . . Upon this rock the Church was built, the Church which the gates of
hell—that is, the arguments of heretics—will not overcome. The keys to the
kingdom of heaven were given to Peter in order that . . . he might open the
gates of God’s kingdom to those whose faith agreed both with his own confession
and with those things which he and the other apostles heard from Christ. (De Trinitate 1.30 [PG 39:417])
Theodore
of Mopsuestia
[The “rock”]
is not the property of Peter alone, but it came about on behalf of every human
being. Having said that his confession is the rock he [i.e., Jesus] stated that
upon this rock I will build my church. This means he will build his church on
the same confession and faith (Fragmenta
in Mattaeum 92)
[The proper
confession of Christ, found in the Church alone is the very] key to the kingdom
of heaven, . . . [so that] he who is counted as belonging to the Church and is
recognized as its member is a partaker and an inheritor of heaven. (Ibid.)
John
Chrysostom
Thou art
Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church; that is, on the faith of his
confession. (Homilies on Matthew 54.3)
Gregory
of Nyssa
We do not
extend our praises to Simon for his fishing, but rather for his firm faith,
which is at the same time the foundation of the whole Church. (Altera Laudatio S. Stephani Protomartyris)
Maximus
the Confessor
The God of
all pronounced that the catholic church was the correct and saving confession
of the faith in him when he called Peter blessed because of the terms in which
he had made proper confession of him. (Letter
to Anastasius)
Basil
of Seleucia
Christ
called this confession a rock, and he named the one who confessed it “Peter”
perceiving the appellation which was suitable to the author of this confession.
(Oratio 25.4 [PG 85, 297])
John
Damascus
O blessed
mouth! O richly privileged lips! O soul that speaks of God! O mind inspired by
God, worthy of sharing divine mysteries! O instrument on which the Father plays
his son! This is the upright unshakeable faith on which—as on a rock—the Church
is established; you have been rightly named for it. (Oration on the Transfiguration)
Ambrosiaster
The Lord
said to Peter: On this rock I will build
My Church, which means, “On this confession of the catholic faith I
establish believers in life.” (Commentary
on Ephesians 2:20)
Hilary
of Poitiers
Upon this
rock of this confession [i.e., Jesus’ divine nature] hat the building of the
Church rests. (The Trinity 6.36)
This faith
is the foundation of the Church, and therefore the gates of hell are powerless
against her. This faith possesses the keys of the kingdom of heaven. What this
faith bound and loosed on earth will also be bound or loosed in heaven . . .
[T]his is the revelation of the Father, this is the foundation of the Church. (The Trinity 6.37)
