so many references to the fact that Calixtus already claimed for himself
a position of primacy, in other words, that he associated with his own
personal position as bishop the primacy possessed by the Roman Church,
which pre-eminence, however, must have been gradually vanishing in
proportion to the progress of the Catholic form of organisation among
the other communities. Moreover, that is evident from the form of the
edict he issued (Tert. I. c., I: "I hear that an edict has been issued
and that a decisive one," "audio edictum esse praepositum et quidem
peremptorium"), from the grounds it assigned and from the opposition to
it on the part of Tertullian. From the form, in so far as Calixtus acted
here quite independently and, without previous consultation, issued a
_peremptory_ edict, that is, one settling the matter and immediately
taking effect; from the grounds it assigned, in so far as he appealed in
justification of his action to Matt. XVI. 18 ff.[334]--the first
instance of the kind recorded in history; from Tertullian's opposition
to it, because the latter treats it not as local, Roman, but as pregnant
in consequences for all Christendom. But, as soon as the question took
the form of enquiring whether the Roman _bishop_ was elevated above the
rest, a totally new situation arose. Even in the third century, as
already shown, the Roman community, led by its bishops, still showed the
rest an example in the process of giving a political constitution to the
Church. It can also be proved that even far distant congregations were
still being bound to the Roman Church through financial support,[335]
and that she was appealed to in questions of faith, just as the law of
the city of Rome was invoked as the standard in civil questions.[336] It
is further manifest from Cyprian's epistles that the Roman Church was
regarded as the _ecclesia principalis_, as the guardian _par excellence_
of the _unity_ of the Church. We may explain from Cyprian's own
particular situation all else that he said in praise of the Roman Church
(see above p. 88, note 2) and specially of the _cathedra Petri_; but the
general view that she is the "matrix et radix ecclesiae catholicae" is not
peculiar to him, and the statement that the "unitas sacerdotalis"
originated in Rome is merely the modified expression, necessitated by
the altered circumstances of the Church, for the acknowledged fact that
the Roman community was the most distinguished among the sis