ter groups,
and as such had had and still possessed the right and duty of watching
over the unity of the whole. Cyprian himself no doubt took a further
step at the time of his correspondence with Cornelius, and proclaimed
the special reference of Matt. XVI. to the _cathedra Petri_; but he
confined his theory to the abstractions "ecclesia," "cathedra." In him
the importance of this _cathedra_ oscillates between the significance of
a once existent fact that continues to live on as a symbol, and that of
a real and permanent court of appeal. Moreover, he did not go the length
of declaring that any special authority within the collective Church
attached to the temporary occupant of the _cathedra Petri_. If we remove
from Cyprian's abstractions everything to which he himself thinks there
is nothing concrete corresponding, then we must above all eliminate
every prerogative of the Roman bishop for the time being. What remains
behind is the special position of the Roman Church, which indeed is
represented by her bishop. Cyprian can say quite frankly: "owing to her
magnitude Rome ought to have precedence over Carthage" ("pro magnitudine
sua debet Carthaginem Roma praecedere") and his theory: "the episcopate
is one, and a part of it is held by each bishop for the whole"
("episcopatus unus est, cuius a singulis in solidum pars tenetur"),
virtually excludes any special prerogative belonging to a particular
bishop (see also "de unit." 4). Here we have reached the point that has
already been briefly referred to above, viz., that the consolidation of
the Churches in the Empire after the Roman pattern could not but
endanger the prestige and peculiar position of Rome, and did in fact do
so. If we consider that each bishop was the acknowledged sovereign of
his own diocese--now Catholic, that all bishops, as such, were
recognised to be successors of the Apostles, that, moreover, the
attribute of priesthood occupied a prominent position in the conception
of the episcopal office, and that, the metropolitan unions with their
presidents and synods had become completely naturalised--in short, that
the rigid episcopal and provincial constitution of the Church had become
an accomplished fact, so that, ultimately, it was no longer communities,
but merely bishops that had dealings with each other, then we shall see
that a new situation was thereby created for Rome, that is, for her
bishop. In the West it was perhaps chiefly through the cooeperation o