Page:Guettée papacy.djvu/95

Rh sought to attribute to them. It was right that St. Cyprian should thank the Church of Rome for declaring in his favour against his adversaries. In order to do this, he recalls the memory of its two founders — of St. Peter, who was the type of unity in the apostolic, and, by consequence, of the Episcopal body; of St. Paul, who had praised the faith of the Romans. It must be observed, it is not to the Bishop of Rome that he gives this praise, but to the clergy and faithful of that Church, who, at his prayer, had read his letters, and before whom he had pleaded his cause. In his eyes the bishop is nothing without his clergy and the faithful, and he grants him no personal prerogative. This text of St. Cyprian, therefore, is contrary, not favourable to the system of a Papal autocracy. Any one will be convinced of this who reads entire the letters of the bishops of Rome and Carthage. They both act only in concert with the clergy of their Church and the bishops of their province; neither assumes any personal authority.