Jerome's Letter 15 to Pope Damasus: A Proof for the Papacy?

 

Many of Rome's defenders have appealed to the following statements from Jerome's letter to Pope Damasus (letter 15) prove the papacy and Roman authority:

"I think it my duty to consult the chair of Peter, and to turn to a church whose faith has been praised by Paul....My words are spoken to the successor of the fisherman, to the disciple of the cross. As I follow no leader save Christ, so I communicate with none but your blessedness, that is with the chair of Peter. For this, I know, is the rock on which the church is built! Matthew 16:18 This is the house where alone the paschal lamb can be rightly eaten. Exodus 12:22 This is the Ark of Noah, and he who is not found in it shall perish when the flood prevails." (https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001015.htm)

There are few things to know regarding the background of this letter which will help us to better interpret the meaning of Jerome's words here:

1). At the time of this letter's writing, Jerome had only been a Christian for about 9 years.

2) Jerome was baptized in Rome.

3) In this letter, Jerome was addressing the issue of which person (Meletius or Paulinus) was the true claimant to being the bishop of Antioch. 

Edward Denny makes the following comments about this letter:

"Yet exaggerated as is its language, the letter itself bears witness against Papalism. If St. Jerome had believed St. Damasus held the position alleged to belong to the Bishops of Rome by the institution of Christ, he would have adopted a different method. He would have appealed to him as the Supreme Pastor of the One Flock, having full and supreme jurisdiction over the whole Church, whose special office it was, according to the Divine Constitution of the Church, to preserve its unity, to declare to him with the final authority inherent in his office of Supreme judge of all the faithful, which of the claimants to the Antiochene throne was its rightful occupant. This he did not do, but as one who followed ‘none as his chief but Christ,’ he merely asks the Catholic Bishop with whom he, as a ‘man of Rome,’ was ‘associated in communion,’ to give him that guidance which, as a member of the flock of which he was the shepherd, he had a right to expect in his perplexity, so that having been informed by him which of the rivals was the one with whom he, his Bishop, as a Catholic was in communion, he would know who was the canonical Bishop." (Edward Denny, Papalism, pg. 224)

The reason why Jerome was appealing to Rome was not because Rome possessed some special divine authority from Christ that was unique to itself. Rather it was because, as Jerome himself says in the letter, "in the West the Sun of righteousness Malachi 4:2 is even now rising; in the East, Lucifer, who fell from heaven, Luke 10:18 has once more set his throne above the stars", meaning that Rome was remaining Orthodox in its doctrine of Christ whilst Arianism was causing all sorts of trouble in the Eastern churches. This is why Jerome wrote to the bishop of Rome. 

Jerome, elsewhere in his writings, gives a view of apostolic churches and Rome (and related matters), which is very "non-papist":

"For what function, excepting ordination, belongs to a bishop that does not also belong to a presbyter? It is not the case that there is one church at Rome and another in all the world beside. Gaul and Britain, Africa and Persia, India and the East worship one Christ and observe one rule of truth. If you ask for authority, the world outweighs its capital. Wherever there is a bishop, whether it be at Rome or at Engubium, whether it be at Constantinople or at Rhegium, whether it be at Alexandria or at Zoan, his dignity is one and his priesthood is one. Neither the command of wealth nor the lowliness of poverty makes him more a bishop or less a bishop. All alike are successors of the apostles." (Letter 146 to Evangelus)

"But you say, Matthew 16:18 the Church was founded upon Peter: although elsewhere the same is attributed to all the Apostles, and they all receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the strength of the Church depends upon them all alike, yet one among the twelve is chosen so that when a head has been appointed, there may be no occasion for schism. " (Against Jovinianus, 1.26)