The following notes come from
Erick Ybarra, The Papacy: Revisiting the Debate Between
Catholics and Orthodox (Steubenville, Ohio: Emmaus Road, 2022)
Clement 1 (96)
Surveys of Papal Primacy usually
begin with the famous epistle of Pope St. Clement I written to the church of Corinth
in order to address the internal schism between rival presbyters. Rome had, “without
being asked, intervened on its own authority” to write a letter, “fraternal but
authoritative,” in order to admonish the Corinthians back to proper church order.
It is significant that the Eastern church in Corinth, located in Southern
Greece, just West of Athens, is a subject of concern for the church at Rome . Moreover,
the letter strikes one as written from the standpoint of one who is taking responsibility
to admonish the Corinthians to obedience to God. Be that as it may, it does not
arise to the level of evidence of papal primacy that would make it of any
conclusive value. While it stands as a considerable piece of historical data on
the leadership initiative of Rome, the conclusions to be drawn can go in more
than one direction. (pp. 127-28)
St. Ignatius of Antioch (107-110)
Another common reference is to the
holy martyr St. Ignatius of Antioch, whose letter to the church of Rome
described her as one who “presides over love.” This may have been used to
argue, having terms such as “preside” and “love,” for the presidency of St.
Peter’s successor over the universal Church, otherwise signified by the
community of the “agape” (love), that is, the universal Church. While this is
certainly possible, it can also mean something far less papal than this. With
that said, the majority of scholarship acknowledge that the Roman church was
active in coming to the aid of many other churches, even distant to itself.
But, like the letter of Pope St. Clement I, this letter of St. Ignatius can be
read in many more ways than one and should be disqualified from being
considered as strong and conclusive historical evidence on which to base papal
primacy. (p. 128)
