Apostle Peter and the «Acacian schism»

Abstract

The article analyzes the ideological foundation of the exceptional position of papacy within the Universal Church, as it was revealed during the conflict between the papacy and the Church of Constantinople at the end of the 5th century. The perception of a specifi c role of Apostle Peter as a presumed first bishop of Rome found its application as a keystone of the argumentation, which pope Felix III (483–492) developed for a justifi cation of his political actions, which in their turn lead to the uncanonical condemnation of patriarch of Constantinople Acacius and the beginning of a long-termed schism between Rome and the Orient. This argumentation, or rather an ecclesiological concept, styled by many scholars as ‘petrine discourse’, both presented an underlying structure of papal ideology and was a primary motivation for concrete actions on the field of ecclesiastical policy of the popes.

Keywords

• Acacius of Constantinople
• Pope Felix III
• Pope Gelasius I
• Church Politics
• Schism
• Petrine Discourse