Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/388



382 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.

just as it is necessary that the authority of Peter should be perpetuated in the Roman Pontiff, so, by the fact that the bishops succeed the apostles, they inherit their ordinary power, and thus the episcopal order necessarily belongs to the essential constitution of the Church. Al- though they do not receive plenary, or universal, or supreme authority, they are not to be looked upon as vicars of the Roman Pontiffs; because they exercise a power really their own, and are most truly called the ordinury pastors of the peoples over whom they rule.

But since the successor of Petgr .ig^ one, and those of the .apostles a re many, It "is necessary to examine into the jfilations wju di exist_betwMi h^^^ them according to

the divine constitution of the Church. Above all things the need of union b etween the bishops and the successors of Peter is clear and imdeniable. This bond once broken, Christians would be separated and scattered, and would in no wise form one body and one flock. "The safety of the Church depends on the dignity of the chief priest, to whom if an extraordinary and supreme power is not given, there are as many schisms to be expected in the Church as there are priests." ^ It is necessary, therefore, to bear this in mind, viz., that nojthing wasjcqnf erred on J,he apostles apartfrom Peterj but that several^ jthings were^onTerrecr upon Peter apart ^pm_the apostles. St. John ChrysostomTTn explaining the words of CEfist asks: "Why, passing over the others, does He speak to Peter about these things?" And he replies unhesitatingly and at once, "Because he was pre-eminent am.ong the apostles, the mouthpiece of the disciples, and the head of the college." ^ He alone was designated as the founda- tion of the Church. To him He _gave the power of bindirig . ^nd loosing; to him alone was given the power of feeding. On the other hand, whatever authority and office the apostles received, they received in conjunction with

' S. Hieronymus, Dialog, contra Luciferianos, n. 9.
 * Horn. Ixxxviii. in Joan., n. 1.