e a monarchical one, exercising authority over the Church in
all its relations;[135] and after the bishops had proved themselves the
strongest supports of the communities against the attacks of the secular
power and of heresy.[136] In Irenaeus and Tertullian, however, we only
find the first traces of this new theory. The old notion, which regarded
the _Churches_ as possessing the heritage of the Apostles in so far as
they possess the Holy Spirit, continued to exercise a powerful influence
on these writers, who still united the new dogmatic view with a
historical one, at least in controversies with the heretics. Neither
Irenaeus, nor Tertullian in his earlier writings,[137] asserted that the
transmission of the _charisma veritatis_ to the bishops had really
invested them with the apostolic office in its full sense. They had
indeed, according to Irenaeus, received the "locum magisterii
apostolorum" ("place of government of the Apostles"), but nothing more.
It is only the later writings of Tertullian, dating from the reigns of
Caracalla and Heliogabalus, which show that the bishop of Rome, who must
have had imitators in this respect, claimed for his office the full
authority of the apostolic office. Both Calixtus and his rival
Hippolytus described themselves as successors of the Apostles in the
full sense of the word, and claimed for themselves in that capacity much
more than a mere guaranteeing of the purity of Christianity. Even
Tertullian did not question this last mentioned attribute of the
bishops.[138] Cyprian found the theory already in existence, but was the
first to develop it definitely and to eradicate every remnant of the
historical argument in its favour. The conception of the Church was
thereby subjected to a further transformation.

2. The transformation of the idea of the Church by Cyprian completed the
radical changes that had been gradually taking place from the last half
of the second century.[139] In order to understand them it is necessary
to go back. It was only with slowness and hesitation that the theories
of the Church followed the actual changes in her history. It may be said
that the idea of the Church always remained a stage behind the condition
reached in practice. That may be seen in the whole course of the history
of dogma up to the present day.

The essential character of Christendom in its first period was a new
holy life and a sure hope, both based on repentance towards God and
faith in J