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{"id":1448,"date":"2024-04-03T11:50:53","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T16:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrossroads\/?p=1448"},"modified":"2024-04-03T11:52:31","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T16:52:31","slug":"the-donation-of-constantine-and-the-papacy-pope-st-leo-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thecrossroads\/2024\/04\/the-donation-of-constantine-and-the-papacy-pope-st-leo-i\/","title":{"rendered":"The Donation of Constantine and the Papacy (Pope St. Leo I)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

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In the previous article<\/a>, the 8th<\/sup> c. forgery known as the Donation of Constantine <\/em>was discussed.\u00a0 More specifically, a claim made by a Protestant debater that the papacy was established (seemingly ex nihilo<\/em>) on the basis of that document.\u00a0 There the Donation <\/em>was placed in its proper historical context, and a distinction was made between temporal and spiritual authority.\u00a0 It was argued that the Donation<\/em> is better seen through the lens of this distinction, on which the Popes from St. Gelasius<\/a> (d. A.D. 496) on have made.\u00a0 Furthermore, it was argued that the Donation<\/em> of Constantine <\/em>contains nothing with respect to papal primacy that was not being proclaimed by the Popes themselves centuries earlier, at least from the time of St. Damasus<\/a> (d. 384).<\/p>\n

Between the latter two Popes reigned one of the most well-known of all, St. Leo I<\/a> (r. A.D. 440 \u2013 461).\u00a0 The present article takes the \u201cnothing new\u201d argument from the previous one<\/a>, and focuses on Leo who was known to have a robust sense of the prerogatives attached to the bishopric of Rome<\/a>, by virtue of its connection to St. Peter the Apostle<\/a>.\u00a0 With this in mind, the present article raises the question:\u00a0 if, as the Protestant interlocutor claimed, papal authority was established by the 8th<\/sup> c. Donation<\/em>, how does one explain the view(s) taken by Pope St. Leo I in the 5th<\/sup> c.?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Spotlight on Pope St. Leo I<\/strong><\/p>\n

In one of his works on the primacy of the Bishop of Rome, Dr. James Likoudis quotes an early twentieth-century Russian Orthodox church historian (V.V. Bolotov) on St. Leo I\u2019s view of his own office.\u00a0 Keeping in mind the question just posed, here is what is written:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis primatus, this principatus, of the apostle Peter is not a temporary but permanent institution.\u00a0 He governs the Church visibly through his successor.\u00a0 The relation borne by Roman bishops to St. Peter, the chief of the Apostles, is a close reproduction, in its depths and in all it involves, of the consortium potentiae of St. Peter with Christ\u2026In the same way the whole construction of the Church reproduces, according to Leo the Great, the diversity of the relations that existed between the Apostles.\u00a0 Though all were chosen equally, there was not equality of authority amongst them; so in the same way the Bishops, equal amongst themselves in sacerdotal dignity, are not so in canonical rights, nor are they equal in their participation in the Government of the Church.\u00a0 This administration over all the Churches is incumbent upon the Bishop of Rome, principaliter, ex jure divine [principally, by divine right]\u2026The episcopatus universalis [universal bishopric] of the sovereign pontiff of Rome, as taught by St. Leo the Great, does not exclude the equality of the hierarchy, that is to say, the sacramental equality of all bishops but only the plenitude potestatis [the fullness of power]\u2026It could never become necessary to condemn a Bishop of Rome; he might have his shortcomings but they are compensated for and rectified by the merits of Peter.\u00a0 A Roman Pontiff can never really fail in any serious degree\u201d.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

However unwelcome V.V. Bolotov\u2019s analysis of Pope Leo\u2019s understanding of the papacy may be to his modern Eastern Orthodox co-religionists (if online amateur apologists be a useful standard), it is not an uncommon historical opinion, even among non-Catholic Christians.[2]<\/a>\u00a0 Even the Encyclopedia Brittanica\u2019s <\/em>entry on Pope Leo I affirms that he was \u201ca master exponent of papal supremacy\u201d, and that he \u201cwas devoted to safeguarding orthodoxy and to securing the unity of the Western church under papal supremacy\u201d.\u00a0 That being the case, why exactly is the Donation of Constantine<\/em> relevant to a discussion on the origins of the papacy?\u00a0 Can we really not all at least find common ground in the claim that Pope St. Leo I was \u201ca master exponent of papal supremacy\u201d?[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> In James Likoudis, The Divine Primacy of the Bishop of Rome and Modern Eastern Orthodoxy<\/em> (New Hope:\u00a0 St. Martin de Porres Lay Dominican Community, 2002), pp. 69-70.\u00a0 Brackets in Likoudis.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Cf. Bruce L. Shelley, Church History in Plain Language<\/em> (Nashville:\u00a0 Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), pp. 132-135, 137-139.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> For an analysis of Leo\u2019s understanding of the papacy through the lens of his own writings see Robert Eno, The Rise of the Papacy<\/em> (Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1990), pp. 102-117).\u00a0 The author is Catholic, but Leo\u2019s works are cited from by number.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 In the previous article, the 8th c. forgery known as the Donation of Constantine was discussed.\u00a0 More specifically, a claim made by a Protestant debater that the papacy was established (seemingly ex nihilo) on the basis of that document.\u00a0 There the Donation was placed in its proper historical context, and a distinction was made […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4756,"featured_media":1451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,25],"tags":[261,266,13,22,263],"class_list":["post-1448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catholicism","category-papacy","tag-donation-of-constantine","tag-eastern-orthodox","tag-papacy","tag-pope","tag-pope-leo-the-great"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Donation of Constantine and the Papacy (Pope St. Leo I)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" In the previous article, the 8th c. 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