The first Christians had no doubts about how to determine which was the true Church and which doctrines the true teachings of Christ. The test was simple: Just trace the apostolic succession of the claimants.
Apostolic succession is the line of bishops stretching back to the apostles. All over the world, all Catholic bishops are part of a lineage that goes back to the time of the apostles, something that is impossible in Protestant denominations (most of which do not even claim to have bishops).
The role of apostolic succession in preserving true doctrine is illustrated in the Bible. To make sure that the apostles’ teachings would be passed down after the deaths of the apostles, Paul told Timothy, “And the things which thou hast heard of me by many witnesses, the same commend to faithful men, who shall be fit to teach others also.” In this passage he refers to the first three generations of apostolic succession—his own generation, Timothy’s generation, and the generation Timothy will teach.
The Church Fathers, who were links in that chain of succession, regularly appealed to apostolic succession as a test for whether Catholics or heretics had correct doctrine. This was necessary because heretics simply put their own interpretations, even bizarre ones, on Scripture. Clearly, something other than Scripture had to be used as an ultimate test of doctrine in these cases.
Thus the early Church historian J. N. D. Kelly, a Protestant, writes, "[W]here in practice was [the] apostolic testimony or tradition to be found? … The most obvious answer was that the apostles had committed it orally to the Church, where it had been handed down from generation to generation … Unlike the alleged secret tradition of the Gnostics, it was entirely public and open, having been entrusted by the apostles to their successors, and by these in turn to those who followed them, and was visible in the Church for all who cared to look for it" (Early Christian Doctrines, page 37).
For the early Fathers, “the identity of the oral tradition with the original revelation is guaranteed by the unbroken succession of bishops in the great sees going back lineally to the apostles … [A]n additional safeguard is supplied by the Holy Spirit, for the message committed was to the Church, and the Church is the home of the Spirit. Indeed, the Church’s bishops are … Spirit-endowed men who have been vouchsafed ‘an infallible charism of truth.’” (ibid.)
Thus on the basis of experience the Fathers could be “profoundly convinced of the futility of arguing with heretics merely on the basis of Scripture. The skill and success with which they twisted its plain meaning made it impossible to reach any decisive conclusion in that field.” (ibid., 41)
“The blessed apostles [Peter and Paul], having
founded and built up the church [of Rome] … handed
over the office of the episcopate to Linus.”
—Against
Heresies 3:3:3, A.D. 189
“[T]his is the way in which the apostolic churches
transmit their lists: like the church of the Smyrneans,
which records that Polycarp was placed there by John,
like the church of the Romans, where Clement was ordained
by Peter.”
—Demurrer
Against the Heretics 32:2, A.D. 200
“Victor … was the thirteenth bishop of Rome
from Peter.”
—The
Little Labyrinth, in Eusebius, Church History
5:28:3, A.D. 211
“The Lord says to Peter: ‘I say to
you,’ he says, ‘that you are Peter, and upon
this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell
will not overcome it … ’ [Matt. 16:18]. On
him [Peter] he builds the Church, and to him he gives the
command to feed the sheep [John 21:17], and although he
assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded
a single chair [cathedra], and he established by his own
authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity
… If someone [today] does not hold fast to this
unity of Peter, can he imagine that he still holds the
faith? If he [should] desert the chair of Peter upon whom
the Church was built, can he still be confident that he
is in the Church?”
—On
The Unity of the Church 4; first edition, A.D.
251
“Cornelius was made bishop by the decision of God
and of his Christ, by the testimony of almost all the
clergy, by the applause of the people then present, by
the college of venerable priests and good men, at a time
when no one had been made [bishop] before
him—when the place of [Pope] Fabian,
which is the place of Peter, the dignity of the
sacerdotal chair, was vacant. Since it has been occupied
both at the will of God and with the ratified consent of
all of us, whoever now wishes to become bishop must do so
outside. For he cannot have ecclesiastical rank who does
not hold to the unity of the Church.”
—Letters
55:[52]):8, A.D. 253
“With a false bishop appointed for themselves by
heretics, they dare even to set sail and carry letters
from schismatics and b.asphemers to the chair of Peter
and to the principal church [at Rome], in which
sacerdotal unity has its source.”
—ibid., 59:14
“Paul testifies that Crescens was sent to Gaul [2
Tim. 4:10], but Linus, whom he mentions in the Second
Epistle to Timothy [2 Tim. 4:21] as his companion at
Rome, was Peter’s successor in the episcopate of
the church there, as has already been shown. Clement
also, who was appointed third bishop of the church at
Rome, was, as Paul testifies, his co-laborer and
fellow-soldier [Phil. 4:3].”
—Church
History 3:4:9-10, A.D. 312
“[The] judgment [against Athanasius] ought to have
been made, not as it was, but according to the
ecclesiastical canon. . . . Are you ignorant that the
custom has been to write first to us and then for a just
decision to be passed from this place [Rome]? If, then,
any such suspicion rested upon the bishop there
[Athanasius of Alexandria], notice of it ought to have
been written to the church here. But now, after having
done as they pleased, they want to obtain our
concurrence, although we never condemned him. Not thus
are the constitutions of Paul, not thus the traditions of
the Fathers. This is another form of procedure, and a
novel practice … What I write about this is for
the common good. For what we have heard from the blessed
apostle Peter, these things I signify to
you.”
—Letter
on Behalf of Athanasius, contained in
Athanasius, Apology Against the Arians 20-35, A.D. 341
“[I]f any bishop loses the judgment in some case
[decided by his fellow bishops] and still believes that
he has not a bad but a good case, in order that the case
may be judged anew … let us honor the memory of
the apostle Peter by having those who have given the
judgment write to Julius, bishop of Rome, so that if it
seem proper he may himself send arbiters and the judgment
may be made again by the bishops of a neighboring
province.”
—Canon
3, A.D. 342
“You cannot deny that you are aware that in the
city of Rome the episcopal chair was given first to
Peter; the chair in which Peter sat, the same who was
head—that is why he is also called Cephas
[‘Rock’]—of all the apostles; the one
chair in which unity is maintained by all.”
—The
Schism of the Donatists 2:2, A.D. 367
“At Rome the first apostles and bishops were Peter
and Paul, then Linus, then Cletus, then Clement, the
contemporary of Peter and Paul.”
—Panarion
27:6, A.D. 375
“Likewise it is decreed: … [W]e have
considered that it ought to be announced that …
the holy Roman Church has been placed at the forefront
not by the conciliar decisions of other churches, but has
received the primacy by the evangelic voice of our Lord
and Savior, who says: ‘You are Peter, and upon this
rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will
not prevail against it; and I will give to you the keys
of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you shall have
bound on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you
shall have loosed on earth shall be loosed in
heaven’ [Matt. 16:18-19]. The first see [today],
therefore, is that of Peter the apostle, that of the
Roman Church, which has neither stain nor blemish nor
anything like it.”
—Decree
of Damasus 3, A.D. 382
“[Pope] Stephen … was the blessed
Peter’s twenty-second successor in the See of
Rome.”
—Dialogue
Against the Luciferians 23, A.D. 383
“Clement, of whom the apostle Paul writing to the
Philippians says ‘With Clement and others of my
fellow-workers whose names are written in the book of
life,’ the fourth bishop of Rome after Peter, if
indeed the second was Linus and the third Anacletus,
although most of the Latins think that Clement was second
after the apostle.”
—De Viris
Illustribus (Lives of Illustrious Men) 15, A.D.
396
“Since the East, shattered as it is by the
long-standing feuds, subsisting between its peoples, is
bit by bit tearing into shreds the seamless vest of the
Lord … I think it my duty to consult the chair of
Peter, and to turn to a church [Rome] whose faith has
been praised by Paul [Rom. 1:8]. I appeal for spiritual
food to the church whence I have received the garb of
Christ … Evil children have squandered their
patrimony; you alone keep your heritage
intact.”
—Letters
15:1, A.D. 396
“I follow no leader but Christ and join in
communion with none but your blessedness [Pope Damasus
I], that is, with the chair of Peter. I know that this is
the rock on which the Church has been built. Whoever eats
the Lamb outside this house is profane. Anyone who is not
in the ark of Noah will perish when the flood
prevails.”
—ibid., 15:2
“The church here is split into three parts, each
eager to seize me for its own … Meanwhile I keep
crying, ‘He that is joined to the chair of Peter is
accepted by me!’ … Therefore, I implore your
blessedness [Pope Damasus I] … tell me by letter
with whom it is that I should communicate in
Syria.”
—ibid., 16:2
“[T]hey [the Novatian heretics] have not the
succession of Peter, who hold not the chair of Peter,
which they rend by wicked schism; and this, too, they do,
wickedly denying that sins can be forgiven [by the
sacrament of confession] even in the Church, whereas it
was said to Peter: ‘I will give unto thee the keys
of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind
on earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever
thou shall loose on earth shall be loosed also in
heaven.’[Matt. 16:19]”
—Concerning
Repentance 1:7:33, A.D. 388
“If all men throughout the world were such as you
most vainly accuse them of having been, what has the
chair of the Roman church done to you, in which Peter
sat, and in which Anastasius sits today?”
—Against
the Letters of Petilani 2:118, A.D. 402
“If the very order of episcopal succession is to be
considered, how much more surely, truly, and safely do we
number them from Peter himself, to whom, as to one
representing the whole Church, the Lord said, ‘Upon
this rock I will build my Church’ … [Matt.
16:18]. Peter was succeeded by Linus, Linus by Clement,
Clement by Anacletus, Anacletus by Evaristus …
”
—Letters
53:1:2, A.D. 412
“Philip the presbyter and legate of the Apostolic
See said: ‘There is no doubt, and in fact it has
been known in all ages, that the holy and most blessed
Peter, prince and head of the apostles, pillar of the
faith, and foundation of the Catholic Church, received
the keys of the kingdom from our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Savior and Redeemer of the human race, and that to him
was given the power of loosing and binding sins: who down
even to today and forever both lives and judges in his
successors. The holy and most blessed pope Celestine,
according to due order, is his successor and holds his
place, and us he sent to supply his place in this holy
synod.’”
—Acts
of the Council, session 3, A.D. 431
“As for the resolution of the bishops which is
contrary to the Nicene decree, in union with your
faithful piety, I declare it to be invalid and annul it
by the authority of the holy apostle Peter.”
—Letters
110, A.D. 445
“Whereupon the blessed Peter, as inspired by God,
and about to benefit all nations by his confession, said,
‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living
God.’ Not undeservedly, therefore, was he
pronounced blessed by the Lord, and derived from the
original Rock that solidity which belonged both to his
virtue and to his name [Peter].”
—The
Tome of Leo, A.D. 449
“We exhort you in every respect, honorable brother,
to heed obediently what has been written by the most
blessed pope of the city of Rome, for blessed Peter, who
lives and presides in his own see, provides the truth of
faith to those who seek it. For we, by reason of our
pursuit of peace and faith, cannot try cases on the faith
without the consent of the bishop of Rome.”
—Letters
25:2, A.D. 449
“After the reading of the foregoing epistle [The
Tome of Leo], the most reverend bishops cried out:
‘This is the faith of the fathers! This is the
faith of the apostles! So we all believe! Thus the
orthodox believe! Anathema to him who does not thus
believe! Peter has spoken thus through Leo! … This
is the true faith! Those of us who are orthodox thus
believe! This is the faith of the
Fathers!’”
—Acts
of the Council, session 2, A.D. 451
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