Peter & Andrew

SYMEON PETER
For if the lineal succession of bishops is taken into account, with how
much more certainty and benefit to the Church do we reckon back till we
reach Peter himself, to whom, as bearing in a figure the whole Church, the
Lord said: ‘Upon this rock will I build my Church, and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it!’ The successor of Peter was Linus, and his
successors in unbroken continuity were these: - Clement, Anacletus,
Evaristus, Alexander, Telesphorus, Iginus, Anicetus, Pius, Soter,
Eleutherius, Victor, Zephirinus, Calixtus, Urbanus, Pontianus, Antherus,
Fabianus, Cornelius, Lucius, Stephanus, Xystus, Dionysius, Felix,
Eutychianus, Gaius, Marcellinus, Marcellus, Eusebius, Miltiads, Sylvester,
Marcus, Julius, Liberius, Damasus, and Siricius, whose successor is the
present bishop Anastasius. In this order of succession no Donatist bishop
is found.
Here, Augustine is arguing much like Tertullian in his treatise Prescription
Against Heretics. Augustine is challenging the Donatists to prove their
credentials. He is basically stating that the church of Rome has apostolic
roots; he can trace the current bishop of Rome all the way back to Peter
himself. Therefore, the doctrine of the church can be trusted, for it is an
apostolic gospel that is being preached. By arguing in this manner, it is
clear that Augustine views the popes as Peter’s legitimate heirs. Moreover,
Augustine quoted Matt 16:18 as a proof-text for this succession list.
However, it is important to note that in the text, Augustine is not referring
to Peter as the “rock”; instead, he refers to Peter as “a figure
[representative] of the whole Church”. This is an important distinction that
is prevalent in Augustine’s writings on the subject. Although he has a very
high view of both Rome and Peter, the apostle basically serves as the
character who is representative of the universal Church of Christ; he is not
the “rock” that sustains the Church. That position belongs to Jesus alone.
This is confirmed in many of Augustine’s sermons. In The Retractations,
he states the following:
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