THE PROVING OF THE CATHOLIC DOCTRINE OF THE PRIMACY OF THE POPE BY THE UKRAINIAN POLEMICIST THEODORE SKUMYNOVYCH

Abstract

The article reveals the arguments of the primacy of the Pope in the universal church given by the Ukrainian Catholic polemicist Theodore Skumynovych in the work "Przyczyny porzucenia Disuniey przezacnemu narodowi ruskiemu podane" (1643). Justifying the supremacy of the Roman cathedra, the writer gave an "argument from history" that Pope Sylvester I, having elevated the bishop of Byzantium Mitrophan to the patriarchal title, founded the Patriarchate of Constantinople. In the context of the history of the Byzantine Church, the Catholic writer raised the question of the legality of the Patriarchs of Constantinople use of the title "oecumenicus episcopus", which the bishops of the Eastern Churches called Pope Leo I at the Council of Chalcedon (451). It is revealed the details of the dispute between Pope Gregory the Great and Patriarch John IV the Faster concerning the naming of the Patriarch of Constantinople as an "oecumenicus episcopus". Theodore Skumynovych considered the historical facts of the appointment and displacement of the first hierarchs of the East to be proof of the judicial supremacy of Rome. In particular, the polemicist talked about the restoration of Athanasius the Great and Paul I in the episcopal cathedra by Pope Julius I. From the "Poluustav" of the Vilnius Holy Spirit Monastery the writer cited the story of the appointment of St. Hippolytus of Rome by the Pope as bishop of Portuen. Proving the primacy of the Roman Church, Theodore Skuminovych relied on the facts of the anathematization of the Byzantine emperors and first hierarchs by the bishops of Rome. The most persuasive example of this was the story of the exile of John Chrysostom from the Constantinople's cathedra. The article provides some details of the episcopal ministry of John Chrysostom, such as: the gist of church reforms, relations with the imperial court and Theophilus of Alexandria and also the appeal to Pope Innocent I. The focus of Theodore Skuminovich's attention is the anathema pronounced by Pope Innocent I against Emperor Arcadius, Eudoxia and the dead at that time Patriarch Arsakiy. The return by Pope Nicholas I to the patriarchal cathedra in Constantinople of Patriach Ignatius served to the polemicist as an argument in favor of the primacy of the Pope. In the story about the displacement of Patriarch Photius, the writer mentioned the Fourth Council of Constantinople (869), which in the Catholic Church is considered the Eighth Ecumenical Council. The Other proofs of the supremacy of the Pope were the information from the lives of Maxim the Confessor, Stephen the New and Theodorit the Studite.