Many Orthodox Christians say the early Church gave Rome only a "primacy of honor," and that real papal authority came later. Is that what the first thousand years show?
Short answer: Yes; the real question is what kind of primacy. Catholic and Orthodox theologians agree that Rome held "the first place" and that its bishop was "the protos among the patriarchs." The record shows more than honor: popes intervened in other churches, received appeals from the East, and Eastern councils hailed papal letters as the voice of St. Peter. Rome usually acted in crises rather than in daily governance, but restraint is not absence: the pope's full, universal jurisdiction is Catholic dogma, defined at the Council of Florence (1439) and the First Vatican Council (1870).
Key verses on St. Peter's primacy
- "first, Simon called Peter" (Matthew 10:2)
- "you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18)
- "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 16:19)
- "once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers." (Luke 22:32)
- "Feed my sheep." (John 21:17)
- "let the greatest among you be as the youngest, and the leader as the servant." (Luke 22:26)
Scripture quotations are from the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
What Catholics Actually Teach
"The Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the 'rock' of his Church," and "instituted him shepherd of the whole flock." This office "is continued by the bishops under the primacy of the Pope" (CCC 881). The pope has "full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church" (CCC 882). The Council of Florence (1439) defined this primacy as dogma, and the First Vatican Council (1870) renewed that definition.
Vatican II admits the first millennium looked different: East and West were "linked in a brotherly union of faith and sacramental life; the Roman See by common consent acted as guide when disagreements arose between them over matters of faith or discipline" (Unitatis Redintegratio 14). Pope St. John Paul II asked for help "to find a way of exercising the primacy which, while in no way renouncing what is essential to its mission, is nonetheless open to a new situation" (Ut Unum Sint 95).
What both sides agree on
In 2007 the official Catholic-Orthodox theological commission stated in the Ravenna Document (the Moscow Patriarchate's delegation had walked out) that both sides "agree that Rome, as the Church that 'presides in love' according to the phrase of St Ignatius of Antioch (To the Romans, Prologue), occupied the first place in the taxis, and that the bishop of Rome was therefore the protos among the patriarchs. They disagree, however, on the interpretation of the historical evidence from this era regarding the prerogatives of the bishop of Rome as protos" (Ravenna 41).
The 2016 Chieti Document states the Orthodox side fairly. In the West, Rome's primacy was understood "with reference to Peter's role among the Apostles," but "This understanding was not adopted in the East, which had a different interpretation of the Scriptures and the Fathers on this point" (Chieti 16).
What these documents do not settle. Ravenna and Chieti are study documents of the joint Catholic-Orthodox theological commission. They describe how the primacy was understood and exercised in the first millennium, when Rome seldom intervened in the internal administration of the Eastern churches. They are not magisterial teaching, and they change no Catholic doctrine. Rome's restraint in day-to-day administration was a way of exercising its authority, not evidence that the authority was absent. The Catholic Church teaches that the pope "has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered" (CCC 882).
That teaching is defined dogma. In 1439 the Council of Florence, in the decree Laetentur Caeli, issued with the agreement of the Byzantine emperor and the deputies of the Eastern patriarchs and signed by Latin and Greek bishops, defined "that the holy apostolic see and the Roman pontiff holds the primacy over the whole world" and that "to him was committed in blessed Peter the full power of tending, ruling and governing the whole church" (Florence, Session 6). The union was later rejected in the East, but the definition stands. The First Vatican Council renewed it in 1870 and condemned the claim that the pope has "merely an office of supervision and guidance, and not the full and supreme power of jurisdiction over the whole church" (Pastor Aeternus, ch. 3). No dialogue document can contradict Florence or Vatican I, and none settles anything against a defined dogma. Where first-millennium practice was lighter, the Catholic Church still holds that the primacy of jurisdiction is Christ's gift to St. Peter and his successors, exercised in different ways in different ages.
What Catholics do not teach:
- That early popes ran the Eastern churches day to day. The East governed itself through its patriarchs and synods.
- That popes were never resisted or never wrong. Infallibility applies only when the pope "proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals" (CCC 891).
- That primacy means domination. "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them... but among you it shall not be so" (Luke 22:25–26).
The Biblical Case
1. St. Peter is first
The list of the Twelve begins: "first, Simon called Peter" (Matthew 10:2). Jesus renames him Rock and gives him alone "the keys to the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 16:18–19). Full case: Is the Papacy in the Bible?
2. St. Peter strengthens the others
"Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers" (Luke 22:31–32). Satan targets "all of you"; Jesus prays for St. Peter, so that St. Peter can steady the rest.
3. St. Peter shepherds the flock
The risen Lord tells St. Peter three times: "Feed my lambs," "Tend my sheep," "Feed my sheep" (John 21:15–17). The Orthodox Church's own St. John Chrysostom asked why Jesus, "having passed by the others," speaks to St. Peter here, and answered: "He was the chosen one of the Apostles, the mouth of the disciples, the leader of the band," and "Jesus puts into his hands the chief authority among the brethren" (Homily 88 on John 1).
4. St. Peter speaks, and the council listens
At Jerusalem, "After much debate had taken place, Peter got up," and when he finished, "The whole assembly fell silent" (Acts 15:7, 12). The apostles and presbyters decided together, but St. Peter's word turned the debate.
5. The office outlives the man
The keys of Matthew 16 echo Isaiah 22, where God removes Shebna from the royal steward's office and gives it to Eliakim: "I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; what he opens, no one will shut, what he shuts, no one will open" (Isaiah 22:19–22). The steward's office passed from one man to the next. So does St. Peter's. That is why the first-millennium Church kept looking to his see. St. Peter himself writes from "Babylon," which the NABRE note identifies as "the code name for Rome" (1 Peter 5:13).
Objections Answered
(a) "Rome was first only because it was the imperial capital."
At its strongest: The Council of Chalcedon's canon 28 says: "For the Fathers rightly granted privileges to the throne of old Rome, because it was the royal city," and gave "equal privileges" to Constantinople as New Rome (Chalcedon, canon 28).
Answer: The imperial-city reasoning was the canon's, not Rome's, and Rome rejected it. Scripture never grounds St. Peter's role in a city; Jesus grounds it in His own word to one man: "you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18). The papal legates protested, and Pope St. Leo the Great annulled it "by the blessed Apostle Peter's authority" (Letter 105). The council itself had asked St. Leo "to accept as your own wish" what it decided, calling him "the mouthpiece unto all of the blessed Peter" (Letter 98). Its bishops had already cried, "Peter has spoken thus through Leo." Rome's claim was Petrine long before. Around 340, Pope St. Julius I asked Eastern bishops: "Are you ignorant that the custom has been for word to be written first to us, and then for a just decision to be passed from this place?" (Athanasius, Apologia Contra Arianos 35). Still, the East kept canon 28. The disagreement was real.
(b) "Eastern bishops resisted popes and even condemned one."
At its strongest: When Pope St. Victor I (c. 190) "attempted to cut off from the common unity the parishes of all Asia," bishops wrote words "sharply rebuking Victor," St. Irenaeus among them (Eusebius, Church History 5.24). In 681 the Third Council of Constantinople anathematized "Honorius who was some time Pope of Old Rome" (Session XIII).
Answer: Resisting a pope's decision is not denying his office. St. Paul says of St. Peter, "I opposed him to his face" (Galatians 2:11), yet the same St. Paul had gone up to Jerusalem to present his gospel to "those of repute" so that he "might not be running, or have run, in vain" (Galatians 2:2), and he never denied St. Peter was first. St. Irenaeus urged St. Victor not to cut off churches, which assumes his sentence carried weight, and the same St. Irenaeus wrote that "every Church should agree with this Church, on account of its preeminent authority" (Against Heresies 3.3.2). Pope Honorius I erred in a letter, not in a definitive act. And the council that condemned him told the emperor that "Peter spoke through Agatho," the pope whose letter had guided it (Prosphoneticus to the Emperor), and wrote to Pope St. Agatho: "Therefore to thee, as to the bishop of the first see of the Universal Church, we leave what must be done" (Letter of the Council to St. Agatho). A council that condemns one pope and defers to the next is not denying the office. It is obeying it.
(c) "Even the joint Chieti Document says Rome had no authority over the East."
At its strongest: Chieti 19 says "the bishop of Rome did not exercise canonical authority over the churches of the East." Vatican I's definition came in 1870, long after the split and without the East.
Answer: Scripture first: Christ did not give St. Peter a routine; He gave him the keys and a charge, "strengthen your brothers" (Luke 22:32), which by its nature comes into play when brothers are shaken. In ordinary matters the Eastern patriarchs governed, and Catholics grant it freely. But not exercising a power routinely is not the same as not having it. The same paragraph records "appeals ... made to the bishop of Rome, also from the East," and notes that the Synod of Sardica (343) let a condemned bishop appeal to Rome, a rule "received at the Council in Trullo (692)." What was exercised mainly in crises was later defined, much as Nicaea defined the Son's full divinity. Nor was that definition only Western or only modern: Florence defined it in 1439 in a decree Greek bishops signed, and Vatican I renewed it in 1870. St. John Paul II invited dialogue on how the primacy is exercised, "while in no way renouncing what is essential to its mission" (Ut Unum Sint 95). Its full jurisdiction is defined dogma, not a point for negotiation.
The Early Church Agrees
- Pope St. Clement I (St. Clement of Rome) (c. AD 96): the Roman Church writes to settle a schism in Corinth, while St. John by tradition was still living in Ephesus, and warns: "But if certain persons should be disobedient unto the words spoken by Him through us, let them understand that they will entangle themselves in no slight transgression and danger" (ch. 59, Lightfoot translation).
- St. Ignatius of Antioch (c. AD 110), an Eastern bishop, greets the Roman Church as the one "which also presides in the place of the region of the Romans" and "which presides over love" (Letter to the Romans, salutation). He greets no other Church this way.
- St. Irenaeus of Lyons (Against Heresies 3.3.2, c. AD 180), raised in Asia Minor: "For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church, on account of its preeminent authority" (newadvent.org).
- St. Cyprian of Carthage (Epistle 54 14, c. AD 252): schismatics sailed "to the throne of Peter, and to the chief church whence priestly unity takes its source" (newadvent.org).
- Theodoret of Cyrrhus (Letter 113, AD 449), deposed by a council at Ephesus, wrote to Pope St. Leo the Great: "If Paul... hastened to the great Peter... much more do we, men insignificant and small, hasten to your apostolic see in order to receive from you a cure for the wounds of the churches" (newadvent.org).
- St. Maximus the Confessor (seventh century), as quoted in the Catechism: "all Christian churches everywhere have held and hold the great Church that is here [at Rome] to be their only basis and foundation" (CCC 834).
Conclusion
The first millennium shows neither a pope governing the East like a Latin diocese nor a mere honorary chairman. It shows St. Peter's see receiving appeals, settling crises, and being hailed by Eastern councils as the voice of St. Peter. Rome's restraint in ordinary governance was a way of exercising its primacy, not proof that it lacked jurisdiction. The Church has since defined that primacy as dogma at Florence and Vatican I: full and universal power over the whole Church, Christ's gift to St. Peter and his successors, exercised in different ways in different ages.
If you are Orthodox, we agree that Rome was first. The question between us is what Christ meant when He gave St. Peter the keys and told him to strengthen his brothers. We pray for the day that service unites us again. See also What Is the Difference Between Catholic and Orthodox?
Come home. The primacy that the first-millennium Church recognized in St. Peter's see, when Eastern bishops appealed to Rome and Eastern councils heard St. Peter speak through its bishop, still lives today in the Catholic Church. You already possess true sacraments and much of the apostolic faith, in "a certain, although imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church" (CCC 838). Those gifts draw their power "from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church" and "are in themselves calls to 'Catholic unity'" (CCC 819). The Eucharist is the sacrament of the Church's unity, yet your true Eucharist is celebrated apart from the successor of St. Peter, on whom Christ built His Church (Matthew 16:18). We invite you into full communion with St. Peter's successor, the bishop of Rome, in the Catholic Church.
Your next step: Come to Mass or Divine Liturgy at your local Catholic church. You can find one near you at MassTimes.org. When you're ready, call the parish office and ask to speak with the priest about entering full communion with the Catholic Church. Read our guide: How Do I Become Catholic? Not ready yet? Get our free pocket guide below and keep learning.
FAQ
Did the Orthodox accept papal primacy before 1054? They accepted Rome's first place, and Eastern bishops appealed to Rome. Catholics and Orthodox today read the evidence on Rome's prerogatives differently (Ravenna 41), but for Catholics the question is settled: the pope's universal jurisdiction is Christ's gift to St. Peter, defined at Florence (1439) and Vatican I (1870).
What is a "primacy of honor"? Rome ranks first in dignity but has no authority over other churches. Catholics hold that St. Peter's successor has far more than honor: "full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church" (CCC 882).
Would reunion mean making the Orthodox Latin? No. Vatican II affirmed the Eastern Churches' power "to govern themselves according to the disciplines proper to them" (Unitatis Redintegratio 16). Reunion means full communion with St. Peter's successor, not Latinization.
Sources
Scripture (NABRE, bible.usccb.org): Isaiah 22:19–22; Matthew 10:2; Matthew 16:18–19; Luke 22:25–26, 31–32; John 21:15–17; Acts 15:7, 12; Galatians 2:2, 11; 1 Peter 5:13 (with NABRE note).
Catechism of the Catholic Church (vatican.va): 819, 834, 838; 881, 882, 891.
Church documents: Council of Florence, Session 6 (1439), Laetentur Caeli (EWTN Library); First Vatican Council, Session 4 (1870), Pastor Aeternus, ch. 3 (papalencyclicals.net); Second Vatican Council, Unitatis Redintegratio 14, 16; Pope St. John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint 95 (1995).
Catholic-Orthodox dialogue (Joint International Commission, christianunity.va): Ravenna Document (2007), 41; Chieti Document (2016), 16, 19.
Church Fathers and councils (newadvent.org unless noted): Clement of Rome, Letter to the Corinthians 59 (Lightfoot translation, earlychristianwritings.com); Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Romans; Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3.2; Cyprian, Epistle 54; Eusebius, Church History 5.24 (ccel.org); Athanasius, Apologia Contra Arianos 35 (letter of Julius; st-takla.org, NPNF); Theodoret, Letter 113; John Chrysostom, Homily 88 on John; Council of Chalcedon (451), Session II and canon 28 (sacred-texts.com, NPNF); Leo the Great, Letter 98 and Letter 105; Third Council of Constantinople (680–681): Session XIII, Prosphoneticus to the Emperor and Letter of the Council to St. Agatho (ccel.org). Maximus the Confessor as quoted in CCC 834.
History: Wikipedia, "Ravenna Document".