Papacy in early Christianity

The life and actions of many early popes remain shrouded in mystery, such as St. Linus, said to have been the second pope, whose life is unknown and his attitudes as Bishop of Rome uncertain.[1] The controversy among historians about the role of the early popes is remarkable, while some claim that they did not in fact possess primatial rights and privileges, denying several pivotal events in papal history, others contrarily claim that papal primacy can be identified in these centuries. The most accepted view among historians,[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] regardless of religious orientation, is that the Roman Church possessed a prominence in the litigation of the universal Church in this period, and mainly, that this role changed and became more pronounced in subsequent centuries.[9]

In this period of Christianity, new schisms and heresies often arose,[10] which the Bishops of Rome tried to solve, although factors such as geographical distance limited their authority.[10] Besides the Roman Church, the Churches of Alexandria and Antioch were also important centers for Christianity, and their bishops had jurisdiction over certain territories. Many historians have suggested that their special powers came from the fact that all three communities were headed by St. Peter (Rome and Antioch were, according to Holy Scripture and Tradition, founded by Peter and in Alexandria by his disciple St. Mark).[11][12]

The books of the lives of the saints of Rome state that due to the persecution of the Roman Empire, all the Popes of that time were martyred,[13] although there is uncertainty about the death of many Bishops of Rome, whose accounts of martyrdom emerged long after their death, in the likes of a legend, such as St. Clement I, who lived in the late 1st century, but whose story of martyrdom goes back only until the 4th century.[14]

The end of the early papacy is commonly placed in late antiquity, in 313, when Emperor Constantine I published the Edict of Milan in which he granted freedom to all religions, beginning the Peace in the Church. Constantine began to interfere in many ecclesiastical matters, giving rise to Caesaropapism, and a relationship of "difficult entanglement between Church and State."[15] This caused the beginning of the period of interaction between the popes, the Roman, and the Byzantine emperors.[16]

Cyprian provided the first written evidence of a papal election.

The first record of the methods of an early papal election date to 236, regarding the choice of Pope Fabian, reported by Eusebius of Caesarea: A dove landed on Fabian's head and "then all the people as if impelled by a divine spirit, with a united and anxious voice cried out that he was worthy, and immediately placed him in the episcopal seat."[41] This episode evidences that "the choice of bishop was a concern of the Christian public, of the whole community of Rome."[41] More evidence is available during the schism between Novatian and Cornelius, in which St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, wrote: "Moreover, Cornelius was made bishop by the choice of God and Christ, by the favorable testimony of almost all the clergy, by the votes of the laity present, and by the assembly of the bishops."[41]

Niches in the catacomb of Callixto.

Most of the early popes from the 2nd to 4th century were buried in the Roman Catacomb of Callixtus,[42][43] on the Via Appia, which is said to have been founded by the future Pope Callixtus I while he was still a deacon of Rome under Pope Zeferinus, extending the pre-existing hypogeum. Greek language inscriptions discovered in the catacomb known as the Crypt of the Popes, indicate it to be the catacomb of Callixtus, Anicetus, Soter, Zeferinus, Urban I, Pontian, Anterus, Fabian, Lucius I, Sixtus II, Alexander I, Eutychian, and Miltiades. A long inscription made in the period of Pope Sixtus III (around 440) outside the catacomb, in the area of Saints Gaius and Eusebius, might indicate the tomb of Pope Caius and Eusebius; in another area, there is a tomb attributed to Pope Cornelius, which bears the inscription "cornelivs martyr."[44] The catacomb was abandoned in the 9th century, being rediscovered in 1854 by the Italian archaeologist Giovanni Battista de Rossi.[42]

Some popes were buried in other Roman catacombs, such as the Catacomb of Priscilla in the Via Salaria (Pope Marcellinus and Marcellus I), and of Calepodius in the Via Aurelia (Callixtus I, who was not buried in the cemetery that bears his name.)[42] Pope Felix I, according to legend, was buried in the "Catacomb of the Two Felixes," which has never been located.[42]

The first document provided by a pope is from Clement I in the late 1st century, in which he wrote an epistle to the church in Corinth, Greece, intervening in an important dispute,[45] and apologizing for not having taken earlier action.[7] Clement was the first Church Father,[46] thus founding the patristic ecclesiastical period, which would last until the 8th century. A few years later in the early second century, St. Ignatius praises the purity of Rome's faith.[47] In the second century, Roman bishops erected monuments to the apostles Peter and Paul and gave alms to poor churches.[7] Pope Pius I later condemns and excommunicates the heretics Valentinus and Marcion,[48] who had visited Rome to consult him, beginning the struggle against Gnostics and Montanists in Anatolia.[7]

Later in the same century, the popes became involved in the Quartodeciman controversy, in which the Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna visited Pope Anicetus around 155 AD, and they argued over the divergence in customs. The meeting was ineffective and ended peacefully, the difference became in fact an ecclesiastical controversy when Pope Victor I attempted to declare the practice of excommunicating all who followed Nisan 14 (considered by him heresy).[37][49] However, the excommunication of Asians by Victor was revoked and the two sides reconciled as a result of the interventions of other bishops.[49]

In the 3rd century, the other prelates commonly appealed to the bishop of Rome for problems they could not solve.[8] Between 199 and 217, Zeferinus was appointed pope, but was unable to condemn the heresies of his day. After his death, Callixtus I was elected pope, the Roman cleric Hippolytus judged him incompetent like his predecessor, causing a schism,[50] and over ten years, Hippolytus commanded a separate congregation, and was, therefore, the first antipope. From 222 to 230, Emperor Alexander Severus disregarded the laws of persecution of Christians. At this time, Pope Urban I was appointed, who regulated the use of tithes for ecclesiastical purposes.[51]

In 250, Pope Fabian sent missions to evangelize the province of Gaul,[52] being martyred when Emperor Decius began a new persecution in which some Christians apostatized to save their lives.[53] In early 251, the persecution diminished, and two schools of thought emerged, led by two candidates for the papacy: One side, advocated by Novatian, believed that apostates could not be forgiven even if they repented;[54] the opposite side, advocated by Cornelius, professed that sinners would be forgiven if they showed repentance.[54]

Attempting to provoke a crisis in the Church, Decius prevented the election of a new pope, however, when he was forced to leave the area to fight the Goth invaders, elections were held,[53] and Cornelius was elected in March 251.[55] Soon after, Novatian proclaimed himself antipope and led a schism.[55] Cornelius convened a synod in Carthage of 60 bishops that reaffirmed him as the legitimate pope and excommunicated Novatian, as well as anathemizing Novatianism. The verdict of the synod was sent to the Christian bishops, their letters being proof of the size of the Roman Church in the third century, counting with approximately fifty thousand worshipers.[54]

In 254, Stephen I became Bishop of Rome, and quickly rivaled St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, over the deposition and replacement of Marcian, bishop of Arles.[56] Later their rivalry was renewed when the controversy over the use of baptism began; Stephen I defended the Roman tradition that baptism is effective even if done by apostates (the lapsi); while Cyprian defended the African and Asian belief that baptism administered by heretics is invalid, rebaptism being necessary. The issue did not cause a schism because Stephen and Cyprian were martyred during the conflict in Diocletian's persecution.[9] The next pope, Sixtus II, was more conciliatory than Stephen and restored relations and communion with these Churches, although, like his predecessor, disapproved of rebaptism.[57]

Several apocryphal documents have been attributed to early popes, the most famous and notable being the "Decrees of Pseudo-Isidore" or "False Decretals,"[58] a collection of sixty letters containing canonical laws composed in the mid-ninth century by an author using the pseudonym Isidorus Mercator, attributed to popes St. Clement (88-97) or Melchias (311-314), and which was considered authentic until the fifteenth century.

Many other legends, myths, and tales were also later developed about the lives of many of these popes. The Liber Pontificalis, which relates the history of the bishops of Rome since St. Peter, compiled in the 5th or 6th century,[59] is also extremely inaccurate about the early papacy and took in many inauthentic documents in its content.[note 1][60]

The Anchor or Cross of St. Clement, iconography of Pope Clement I.

Since all early popes were considered saints by the Church, they are often depicted with their iconography, such as Saint Clement represented by having an anchor by his side, since according to legend, he was martyred by drowning with an anchor tied around his neck; or Saint Cornelius, represented by the horn (reference to the origin of his Latin name meaning "horn" or "horn").[61][62]

It is common for these characters to be anachronistically depicted wearing papal robes, including the pallium, and often the papal tiara or mitre, ornaments that came into use long after early papacy.

Although the characteristics of the early papacy developed over time, the period from 30 to 313 is a rough approximation used by scholars as a likely date to characterize this period. There were 32 popes at this time and most pontificates were short, since, due to occasional Roman persecutions, many popes were martyred shortly after being elected.

• History of the papacy
• Papacy in late antiquity
• Papal titles