The Damasine Primacy of Rome (The seeds of Great Schism)

The Damasine Primacy of Rome (The seeds of Great Schism)

• refers to a crucial shift in 382 AD when Pope Damasus I formally asserted that the Roman Church’s authority was based on its foundation by the Apostle Peter[i].
• This declaration was a direct reaction to the Council of Constantinople in 381 AD, which had elevated the Bishop of Constantinople to a rank second only to Rome because it was the "New Rome", effectively basing church status on political importance rather than apostolic history [ii].
• Damasus was the first bishop of Rome to consistently refer to the church of Rome as the "Apostolic See" to emphasise its unique spiritual lineage. [iii]
• He argued that Rome’s pre-eminence was not granted by any church council or historical accident but was given directly by Jesus Christ through the words of the Gospel: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church." [iv]
• As part of this assertion, Damasus proposed a new hierarchical order for the major sees:
• Rome was first as the site of Peter’s martyrdom.
• Alexandria was second because it was founded by Peter’s disciple Mark.
• Antioch was third because Peter had resided there before moving to Rome [v].
• To further strengthen the distinct Latin identity of the Western Church, Damasus also commissioned the scholar Jerome to produce the Vulgate, a fresh and authoritative Latin translation of the Bible. [vi]
• The significance of this event lies in its role as a foundational moment for the mediaeval papacy, as it rejected the Eastern principle of "political accommodation" in favour of the principle of apostolicity [vii].
• This fundamental disagreement over the source of church authority served as one of the early seeds of division that eventually led to the Great Schism between the East and the West [viii].
• The Damasine Primacy was like a family claiming ownership of a historic estate because of their bloodline (apostolicity) rather than their current bank balance (political power).
• While the neighbours in the East were choosing their leaders based on who held the most influential jobs in the city, Rome insisted that its authority was an unchangeable inheritance from its founding father, Peter, that no new political shift could ever revoke.

(Both Oriental Orthodox churches and the Eastern Orthodox Church do not  believe in the primacy of the pope of Rome or any other pope, but any Pope is frist among equals.) 

[i] Everett Ferguson, Church History, Volume One: From Christ to Pre-Reformation: The Rise and Growth of the Church in Its Cultural, Intellectual, and Political Contexts, p. 1946.

[ii] IBID

[iii] Tim Dowley, A Lion Handbook: The History of Christianity, p. 841.

[iv] Nick R. Needham, 2,000 Years of Christ’s Power Vol 1: The Age of the Early Church Fathers, p. 44.

[v] Bruce Shelley, Church History in Plain Language, p. 1169

[vi] Tomi Karttunen, Nicaea 325: The Legacy of the Undivided Church in the 21st Century, p. 2431.

[vii] Nick R. Needham, 2,000 Years of Christ’s Power Vol 1: The Age of the Early Church Fathers, p. 70

[viii] Nick R. Needham, 2,000 Years of Christ’s Power Vol 1: The Age of the Early Church Fathers, p. 79