Rock, Stones and the Pope

Armodoxy for Today: Rocks, Stones and the Pope

The Conclave to elect the next Pope has begun. The person they select will be the next successor of St. Peter, one of the Apostles of Jesus Christ.

During the last few weeks, since the passing of Pope Francis, I’ve been asked many times about how the Armenian Church “fits into” the picture of the Christian Church? Especially because right after Easter and leading to his funeral, I shared some thoughts about the Pontiff, and his legacy, under the banner of Armodoxy and these daily messages.

Some questioned the phrase in the confession of Faith, that is, in the Nicene Creed, “We believe in one, catholic and apostolic holy Church.” Let’s begin there. The term “catholic” means universal. In print, it is easy to make a distinction between the catholic, with a lower case “c” as meaning universal, and upper case “C” as pertaining to the Roman Catholic Church. The office of the Pope is the head of the Catholic (upper case “C”) Church. In the Nicene Creed we confess that the Church is universal (lower case “c”) catholic. It is apostolic because it traces its origin to one of the apostles.

As I shared with you in those earlier daily messages, in the case of the Armenian Church, it was the Apostle Thaddeus that brought the Good News, the Gospel, of Jesus’ Resurrection, to Armenia, just as Peter took the message to Rome.

In Matthew 16, we read that Jesus asks his Disciples, first “Who do people say that I am?” After they threw out some names such as Isaiah, John the Baptist and Jeremiah, Jesus turned the question to them, “Who do you say that I am?” One of the twelve, Simon, answers “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus responds, “Blessed are you Simon Bar-Jonah [son of Jonah], for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build My church, and the gates of Hell shall not be victorious against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Jesus renames Simon, “Peter” which is a play on the Greek word for “stone” or “rock.” Here is where some explanation is necessary. The Roman Catholic Church says the Church is built upon Peter, the Rock, whereas the Armenian Church and other Orthodox Churches say that the Rock is the profession of Faith that “You are the Christ, the son of the Living God.” The Church is built upon that profession.

Thaddeus, Bartholomew, James, John and the other disciples, joined St. Peter in this profession. As for Judas, his vacancy was the first one to be filled. Tomorrow we’ll look at that scriptural reference.

As the Roman Catholic Cardinals pray and deliberate for the next successor of St. Peter, we pray a prayer we extract from the First Letter of St. Peter (chapter 2), We come to You, Lord Jesus, the living stone, rejected by men but precious and chosen by God. Keep away from me all malice, guile, insincerity, envy and slander, so my prayers may join the prayers of others to fortify your Holy Church in bringing glory and honor to God. Amen.

Cover: KTN 2025