The Primacy of Peter: Essays in Ecclesiology and the Early Church

Publication Data: Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1992
Format: softcover
Number of Pages: 182
Dimensions (l × w × h): 22.9 cm × 15.2 cm × 1.4 cm
ISBN: 0‒88141‒125‒6

   
Edited by John Meyendorff

“Published originally in English almost three decades ago (1963), the present collection of studies is being reprinted—with the addition of a new article by Veselin Kesich—to meet the needs of a continuing ecclesiological debate. [...]All the articles touch upon the issue which originated the fundamental and scandalous divisions in Christendom: the schism between East and West. Historians have shown that the exact date of the schism cannot really be established. There were conflicts as early as the fourth century, and the break in 1054 was itself followed by centuries of union attempts. Thus a gradual estrangement began very early, and culminated in the high Middle Ages. But the real extent of the tragedy is not taken with enough seriousness even today. Most contemporary historians and theologians view Christianity exclusively in the light of its history in the West, and overlook the importance of the split between Rome and Byzantium. For them, Eastern Christianity is a forever marginalized antique, not substantially different from Roman Catholicism, except for its provincialism, its dependence upon emperors, tsars and dictators and its rabid ritualism. And yet—recognizing the many ambiguities in the successive historical episodes—East and West were debating the issue which is at the root of all earlier and later Christian divisions: what comes first, the institution guaranteeing the truth, or Truth itself? A common mind on this issue could not be found, and the issue itself was often lost in the pettiness of the debates.”
—“Introduction”

CONTENTS

   Introduction
   Nicholas Koulomzine
1 Peter’s Place in the Primitive Church
   Veselin Kesich
2 Peter’s Primacy in the New Testament and the Early Tradition
   John Meyendorff
3 St Peter in Byzantine Theology
   Nicholas Afanassieff*
4 The Church Which Presides in Love
   Alexander Schmemann*
5 The Idea of Primacy in Orthodox Ecclesiology
   Contributors
   Index
   Index of Biblical References
   Essays 4 and 5 translated by Katharine Farrer