with Peter ; ^ then Orosius, and several popes ; above all Leo, of whom we shall speak more fully in the following section. 2. As to the Greek fathers : Eusebius, Cyril of Jerusalem, Basil, the two Gregories, Ephraim Syrus, Asterius, Cyril of Alexandi'ia, Chrysostom, and Theodoret refer the jpetra now to the confession, now to the person, of Peter ; sometimes bishops ' sitting in Peter's chair. Practically, indeed, there was little to choose be- tween the two theories." Comp. also the thorough exhibition of the Augustinian theory of the Catholic church and her attributes by Dr. Rothe, in his work Die An- fange der christlichen Kirche, i. p. 6*79-711. * De diversis serm. 108 : " Has euim claves non homo unus, sed unitas accepit occlesiae. Hinc ergo Petri excelleutia prcedicatur, quia ipsius universitatis et unitatia figuram gessit quaudo ei dictum est : tihi trado, quod omnibus traditum est," etc. " Bellarmine, in Praef. in Libr. de Pontif., calls this article even rem summam fidei Christiana; f ' Hom. v., on the feast of Peter and Paul. To the one, says he, the keys of Icnowledge were committed, to the other the keys of power. "Eminent inter uni- versos apostolos et peculiar! quadam prterogativa prscellunt. Yerum inter ipsos quis cui praepouatur, Incertum est." The same sentence in Ambrose, De Spir. S. ii. 12. § 61. OPINIONS OF THE FATHERS. 309 to both. They sj^eak of this apostle uniformly in very lofty terms, at times in rhetorical extravagance, calling him the "coryphaeus of the choir of apostles," the "prince of the apostles," the " tongue of the apostles," the " bearer of the keys," the " keeper of the kingdom of heaven," the " pillar," the " rock," the " firm foundation of the church." But, in the first place, they understand by all this simply an honorary primacy of Peter, to whom that power was but first com- mitted, which the Lord afterward conferred on all the apostles alike ; and, in the second place, they by no means favor an exclusive transfer of this prerogative to the bishop of Rome, but claim it also for the bishops of Antioch, where Peter, ac- cording to Gal. ii., sojourned a long time, and where, accord- ing to tradition, he was bishop, and appointed a successor. So Cheysostom, for instance, calls Ignatius of Antioch a " successor of Peter, on whom, after Peter, the government of the church devolved," ^ and in another place says still more distinctly : " Since I have named Peter, I am reminded of another Peter [Flavian, bishop of Antioch], our common father and teacher, w^ho has inherited as well the virtues as the chair of Peter. Yea, for this is the privilege of this city of ours [Antioch], to have first (eV «pxi^) had the coryphaeus of the apostles for its teacher. For it was proper that the city, where the Christian name originated, should receive the first of the apostles for its