Cyprian and the Bishops of Rome: Questions of Papal Primary in the Early Church: 11 (Early Christian Studies)

During the ten years that Cyprian was bishop of Carthage (A.D. 249-258) there were five bishops of Rome (Fabian Cornelius Lucius I Stephen I and Sixtus II). Cyprians literary output deals with some of the most challenging issues faced by pre-Nicene Christianity: the Decian persecution and the problem of lapsed Christians and the subsequent so-called rebaptism controversy. This book investigates the history of Cyprians interactions with and attitudes towards each of those Roman bishops. Many previous attempts at explaining Cyprians point of view with regard to the role and position of the church of Rome have concentrated on Cyprians use of terms like cathedra Petri primatus and ecclesia principalis in De unitate. This book argues that Cyprians understanding of these terms and of papal primacy in general is best determined from the wider context of his actual interactions with the bishops of Rome as illustrated in his letters.After a thorough re-examination of Cyprians treatises and letters it is concluded that Cyprian often regarded the support of the Roman church as crucial for him to manage the affairs of his own church in Carthage and the other churches of North Africa because Rome was a large prestigious and influential church. However Cyprians disagreement with a number of Romes positions reveals that he did not believe it had a jurisdictional primacy over churches outside its own prouincia. Cyprians ecclesiology was a collegial one where frequent letter-writing and synodal gatherings were the means by which decisions could be reached and implemented.