Anthony Pritchard
Well-Known Member
The Rise of Rome: The Eclipse of Apostolic Faith
How the Roman ecclesiastical hierarchy emerged long after the Apostles
The churches founded by Christ and the Apostles were simple, local congregations gathered under the headship of Christ. The earliest churches were led by a pastor, assisted by deacons, and supported by older, respected men in the congregation, rooted in Scripture, and connected to one another through fellowship rather than centralized authority. No apostolic writer ever describes a universal bishop. No apostolic writer ever describes a church with political power. No apostolic writer ever describes Rome as possessing jurisdiction over other churches. The earliest churches were communities of believers, not an institution.After the deaths of the Apostles and the eyewitnesses who had known them, the churches entered a period of irregular development. Some congregations adopted a single bishop as a practical means of maintaining order. Others retained plural elders. All remained local. Rome was respected as a large urban congregation, but it was not a governing authority. Its influence was moral and historical, not jurisdictional. Ignatius of Antioch wrote strong words about unity, but he did not teach Roman supremacy. Irenaeus spoke of Rome as a witness church, not a monarch. The second and third centuries show diversity of practice, but no central government.
Everything changed when Christianity encountered imperial power. In 313, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, granting legal toleration to Christians. This was not the creation of a state church. It was the beginning of imperial favor. Bishops gained civil authority. Basilicas were funded. Church councils were convened by imperial summons. The emperor presided at Nicaea. The church was no longer a persecuted minority. It was becoming an institution with political connections.
The decisive moment came later. In 380, Theodosius issued the Edict of Thessalonica, declaring Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. This act transformed the church into a state church and a state religion. Bishops became imperial administrators. Ecclesiastical decisions carried civil consequences. Rome’s bishop gained prominence because Rome was the capital of the empire. The rise of Roman primacy was not an apostolic development. It was a political development. It was shaped by imperial geography, imperial authority, and imperial expectation.
As the centuries passed, Rome’s bishop moved from being a local elder to being a political figure. The identification of Peter’s primacy with Rome’s primacy was not a first century belief. It was a later construction. Historians dispute whether early bishops of Rome possessed any primatial rights at all. The New Testament is almost silent about Peter in Rome. It gives no indication that he ruled the church. It gives no indication that he held jurisdiction over other congregations. It gives no indication that he was a pope. Early history outside Rome’s own writings does not support papal claims. The rise of the papacy is a fourth century story, not a first century one.
This is why the Roman Catholic Church cannot be the church Christ built. Christ founded His church in the first century. Rome’s ecclesiastical hierarchy arose in the fourth century. Christ’s church was local, plural, and under His headship. Rome’s church became political, centralized, and under imperial authority. The teachings of Christ stand against the later doctrines Rome adopted. The claim that Rome is the church Christ built is historically impossible. The claim that Peter was the first pope is unsupported by Scripture and contradicted by early history.
The rise of Rome is not the story of apostolic succession. It is the story of political recognition, imperial establishment, and institutional development. It is the story of how a local congregation in the first century became a state church in the fourth century. It is the story of how ecclesiastical authority replaced apostolic simplicity. It is the story of how the church of Christ was overshadowed by the church of empire.
This is the historical record. It is clear, it is documented, and it is not in dispute among serious historians. The Roman Catholic Church arose through the power of emperors, not through the authority of Christ. The papacy arose through political development, not through apostolic mandate. The church Christ built remains what it always was. A body of believers under the headship of Christ, guided by Scripture, and rooted in the gospel.
Roma surgens, fides cadens - Rome rising, faith falling.
~Tony
© A.K. Pritchard 1979, 2026 – Free to use with proper attribution.