The Popes And Saint Peter: Separating Facts From Fiction!!! - Religion - Nairaland
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| The Popes And Saint Peter: Separating Facts From Fiction!!! by Nobody: 12:16pm On Oct 06, 2015 |
[b] “You are Peter and on this rock I shall build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail over it”. The words of Jesus Christ to Simon Peter and thus the coronation of the first pope of the church. But is that what Jesus Christ really meant? Did Simon Peter hold any special privilege or primacy over the other Apostles because of the statement of Jesus Christ? Was Peter ever a pope? Did he even set foot in Rome? All these have been debated for over 2000 years with no common ground insight. For many (myself inclusive), the rise of the bishop of Rome and thus Roman Catholic church had more to do with politics than any special spiritual favours gotten from Simon Peter. The early church was divided into two;Church of the east (the Greek church) and church of the west (the Latin church) with four main centres of Christianity namely; Rome, Antioch, Alexandra and Jerusalem. Each of these centres had a bishop known as Patriarch (like pope), so invariably there were four popes who were viewed as Co equals. It should be noted that the privileges bestowed on this Patriarch were because of the fact that the had the largest Christian populations in the Roman empire and were also the biggest cities. Rome was the capital of the empire and thus it was expected that it’s bishop would command respect as the leader of Christians in the most famous city in the world at that time,the city of Augustus Caesar. This privilege was therefore political and had nothing to do with Simon Peter. The so called “popes" at those times were okay with that, they didn’t see they need to remind any one of the words of Jesus to Peter. At the same time Antioch,Alexandra and Jerusalem lost their preeminence in the empire leaving Rome and thus it’s bishop unchallenged. Despite this there was never a universal synod of the church until over 300 years after Christ because there was no bishop who was the absolute leader of the church as later popes began to claim. All these changed when in the year 312 AD, Emperor Constantine embraced Christian and made it the empires foremost religion thereby beginning the illicit union between church and state. The bishops of Rome as expected became political figures as well as spiritual leaders but Constantine did the unthinkable and shifted the capital of the empire from Rome to Constantinople leading to the birth of a new rival to the bishop of Rome for the role of most important personality in Christendom. I mean, if the bishop of Rome claimed preeminence because he was bishop of the capital of the empire, the bishop of Constantinople could also do same since it (Constantinople)was the new capital (the new eternal city). These events/changes began the struggle between Rome and Constantinople for primacy that culminated in the great schism of 1054 and thus the formal separation of the church of the east (Constantinople )and the church of the west (Rome).Yes the western pope excommunicated the eastern pope and vice versa. It was at this point the western popes decided to abandon their claim of primacy from the political point of view (because let’s face it the Roman empire was already crumbling and stopped being an attractive angle.) and adopted the talk of them being heirs to the throne of Peter. Constantinople on the other hand was constantly under siege from the Muslims and thus the Patriarch and the eastern Christians were more after their lives and how Islam won’t override them. With time Islam conquered Jerusalem,North Africa,Asia minor (present day turkey) relegating the once large eastern church to a small sect while the western church and the Pope in Rome sought the help of barbarians for support and protection (Rome was far from the reach of the all conquering Muslims).In 1452 Constantinople was conquered after a 28 day siege. It was a bloody day for eastern Christians,many were killed including the Patriarch of Constantinople. Many Christians converted to Islam in the face of torture. Constantinople is present day Istanbul. Meanwhile the popes were busy strengthening their claimed to primacy over all Christians. Eastern Christians are presently the Orthodox church,the are similar to Roman Catholic church but reject the primacy of the bishop of Rome over all Christendom. Protestant disagreement with Catholics is a matter of doctrines but that is another story of its own. In conclusion,Don’t you think the reverse would have been the case if the eastern church and the Patriarch of Constantinople didn’t have the bad luck of proximity to the heart of Islam?Am not in any way trying to discredit Catholics or the papacy, am just stating facts and driving through history.[/b] 1 Like |
| Re: The Popes And Saint Peter: Separating Facts From Fiction!!! by FabioPeter: 5:14am On Oct 07, 2015 |
Good read. Thank you. 1 Like |
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