Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/383



THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 377

together, groweth up in a holy temple in the Lord,^ placed Peter as it were a_stone \g support the Chuich. "When he heard thou art a rock, he was ennobled by the announce- ment. Although he is a rock, not as Christ is a rock, but as Peter is a rock. For Christ is by His very being an immovable rockj__ Peter only through this rock. Christ "Imparts His gifts, and is not exhausted ... He is a priest, and makes priests. He is a rock, and constitutes a rock." ^ He who is the King of His Church, who hath the key of David, who openeth and no man shutteth, who shutieth and no 7nan openeth,^ having delivered the keys to Peter declared liim Prince of the Christian common- wealth. So, too. He, the Great Shepherd, who calls Himself the Good Shepherd, constituted Peter the pastor of His lambs and sheep. Feed My lambs, feed My sheep. Wherefore Chrysostom says: "He was pre-eminent among the apostles: He was the mouthpiece of the apostles and the head of the apostolic college ... at the same time showing him that henceforth he ought to have confidence, and as it were blotting out his denial. He commits to him the government of his brethren. . . He saith to him: 7/ thou lovest Me, be over My brethren.'" Finally He who confirms in every good work and word* commands Peter to confirm his brethren. "Rightly, therefore, does St. Leo the Great say: "From the whole world Peter alone is chosen to take the lead in calling all nations, to be the head of all the apostles and of all the Fathers of the Church. So that, although in the people of God there are many priests and many pastors, EÂ§ter_^Q.u_ld by right rule all of those over whom Christ Himself is thVcKgr ruler." ^ And^so St. Gregor}^ the Great, wTiting to the Emperor Maurice Augustus, says;

Â» Eph. ii. 21.

^ Horn, de Poenitentia, n. 4 in Appendice opp. S. Basilii.

' Apoc. iii. 7.


 * 2 Thess. ii. 16.

' Seimo iv., cap. 2.

^