The Lord said to Peter, “You are
of stone.” He received that name for the strength of his faith and for the
steadfastness of his profession, because he attached himself with firm mind to
Christ, who is called “stone” by the apostle Paul: “And I will build my Church
upon this stone,” that is, on that faith which you profess. All God’s Church is
built on that stone, that is, upon Christ, for he is the foundation of all the
buildings of his own Church. All God’s churches are considered as one
congregation, and that is constructed of chosen people, not of dead stones, and
all the building of those living stones is founded on Christ, for through that
faith we are considered his limbs, and he is the head of us all. Whoever builds
away from that foundation, his work falls to great destruction.
The savior said, “The gates of
hell can do nothing against my Church.” Sins and false doctrine are the gates
of hell, because they lead the sinful as if through a gate into the torment of
hell. The gates are many, but none of them can do anything against the holy
Church, which is built upon that fast sone, Christ; for the faithful one,
through Christ’s protection, avoid the dangers of diabolical temptations.
He said, “I will entrust you with
the key to the kingdom of heaven.” That key is not gold nor of silver, nor
forged of any material, but is the power which Christ gave him, that no one
comes into God’s kingdom unless the holy Peter opens the entrance for him. “And
whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you unbind on
earth will be unbound in heaven.” He gave this power now to Peter, and also
afterward, before his ascension to all his apostles when he blew on them,
saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit: the sins of those you forgive will be forgiven;
and from those from whom you withhold forgiveness, forgiveness will be
withdrawn.”
The apostles will not bind any
righteous person with their excommunication, nor mercifully, unbind the sinful
unless he returns with true repentance to the way of life. The almighty has
granted the same power to bishops and holy Mass priests, if they carefully hold
it according to the gospel decree. But the key is especially entrusted to
Peter, so that all peoples may certainly know that whoever deviates from the
unity of the faith which Peter professed to Christ, to him will be granted
neither forgiveness of sins nor entrance into the kingdom of heaven. (Aelfric, “The
Passion of the Apostles Peter and Paul,” in The Old English Catholic Homilies—The
First Series [trans. Roy M. Liuzza; Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 86; Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2024], 451, 453)
