The Hierarchy in the Acts of the Apostles
The Book of Acts is the Church’s first organizational biography. The apostles stood as the only leaders at the outset, but Christ designed this authority to be transmitted. Acts 6:1–6 gives the clearest account of the diaconate: seven men were chosen, presented to the Apostles, and received the imposition of hands with prayer. Stephen and Philip among the seven went on to preach and baptize — the diaconate was never merely administrative. In Acts 14:23, Paul and Barnabas appointed presbyteroi — elders — in every church. In Acts 20:17–28, Paul summons those same elders and calls them episkopoi — overseers, bishops — charged to shepherd the flock. The Council of Trent (Session XXIII, Canon VI) declared that this threefold order of bishop, priest, and deacon owes its existence to divine institution.
The Council of Jerusalem — Acts 15
Acts 15 is the prototype of every ecumenical council that followed. Some from Judea had taught that circumcision according to the Mosaic practice was necessary for salvation, provoking a crisis that reached the entire Church. The Apostles and elders convened, deliberated, and issued a binding decision — one they ascribed not only to themselves but to the Holy Spirit: “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” (Acts 15:28). Peter spoke first, settled the doctrinal question, and the whole assembly fell silent. James, bishop of Jerusalem, then applied the decision pastorally. Doctrine was defined by Peter; discipline was governed locally by James — the precise distinction between papal and episcopal office visible in its most original form.
Judas and Matthias — Acts 1:15–26
Peter — not John, not James, not the group collectively — rose, addressed the 120, quoted the Psalms, and initiated the replacement of Judas. The number Twelve was not incidental: it corresponded to the twelve tribes of Israel, signaling the Church as the New Israel. The office outlived the officeholder. Peter specified the requirements: continuous companionship with Jesus from the baptism of John to the Ascension, and witness to the Resurrection. Two candidates were proposed — Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias. The community prayed and cast lots, surrendering the decision entirely to God, in the manner of Proverbs 16:33: “The lot is cast into the lap, but its decision is from the Lord.” The lot fell to Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven. The Catechism declares: “Just as the office which the Lord confided to Peter alone, as first of the apostles, destined to be transmitted to his successors, is a permanent one, so also endures the office, which the apostles received, of shepherding the Church.” (CCC 882)
“Go and Tell His Disciples — and Peter” — Mark 16:7
Mark alone records these two words. Matthew reports only “tell His disciples.” Mark adds Peter’s name — separately, deliberately. By Easter morning, Peter carried not merely the grief the other disciples carried but the specific weight of having denied his Lord three times, publicly, with oaths and curses, at the very moment Christ needed him most. The angel’s message reached into that specific wound. The inclusion of his name was forgiveness made personal — not a general amnesty but a named restoration, and simultaneously a re-commissioning. The very Gospel that preserves these two words is the one most closely associated with Peter’s own testimony, suggesting Peter himself insisted his failure be recorded — because his failure and the mercy shown to it together proclaimed the Gospel. What followed in John 21 — the charcoal fire, the three questions, “Do you love me?” — was the completion of what began in two words at the empty tomb.
Moses and Peter — Two Great Intercessors
Moses and Peter stand as the two towering intercessors of their respective covenants, and the parallels between them are the fingerprints of divine authorship across both Testaments. At Sinai, while the mountain still smoked, Israel fashioned the golden calf. God offered Moses a way out — a fresh Israel descended from him alone. Moses refused, interceding on the honor of God among the nations, the covenant with the patriarchs, and finally offering himself: “If you would only forgive their sin! But if you will not, then blot me out of the book that you have written.” (Exodus 32:32). Scripture records that “the Lord relented in the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people.” (Exodus 32:14). Moses interceded again in Numbers 12, when Miriam was struck with leprosy: “Please, God, heal her!” — one of the shortest intercessory prayers in Scripture. In Numbers 14, after the spy report, when God threatened to disinherit Israel entirely, Moses stood in the gap again. Peter’s intercessory commission came in the Upper Room: “Simon, Simon, behold Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31–32). In Acts 3, Peter healed the lame man at the Beautiful Gate in the name of Jesus Christ. In Acts 8, he and John laid hands on the Samaritans and the Holy Spirit descended. In Acts 9, he knelt over the dead body of Tabitha, prayed, and she rose. In Acts 12, the Church prayed for Peter in prison, and an angel struck his chains loose. Both Moses and Peter were broken men — Moses a murderer and fugitive; Peter a denier — and both were chosen precisely in their brokenness, restored by grace, and sent back to stand in the gap for others.
“You Have Come to Mount Zion” — Hebrews 12:22–24
Hebrews 12:18–21 first describes Mount Sinai — blazing fire, darkness, gloom, a tempest, a voice whose words made hearers beg to hear no more. Even Moses trembled. That was the Old Covenant. Then comes the reversal: “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” The Greek verb proseleluthate is a perfect indicative — completed, ongoing reality. Not a future hope. Already accomplished. The angels in festal gathering are not spectators of Christian worship but participants. The ekklesia of the firstborn enrolled in heaven is the Church in her fullness — across time and eternity. The spirits of the righteous made perfect is the Communion of Saints made explicit. At the center stands Jesus, Mediator of the New Covenant. And His blood does not cry out for vengeance, as Abel’s did — it speaks mercy. Every Mass enacts precisely what Hebrews 12 describes: the faithful truly come to angels, saints, God, and the blood of Christ.
Did Anyone Call Rome the “Headquarters”?
Not that word — but something far stronger. Ignatius of Antioch, writing around AD 110, addressed Rome as the Church which “holds the presidency” — prokathēmenē — among all the others. Irenaeus of Lyon, around AD 180, directed all who would determine true doctrine to “the greatest and most ancient church known to all, founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul” — calling Rome the church of potentior principalitas, preeminent authority. Cyprian of Carthage, around AD 252, directed schismatics “to the chair of Peter and to the principal Church, in which sacerdotal unity has its source.” Optatus of Milevus wrote in AD 367: “In the city of Rome the episcopal chair was given first to Peter; the chair in which Peter sat, the same who was head — that is why he is also called Cephas — of all the apostles, the one chair in which unity is maintained by all.” Augustine, writing in AD 397, declared: “The succession of priests keep me, from the very seat of the apostle Peter (to whom the Lord after his resurrection gave charge to feed his sheep) down to the present episcopate.” Pope Damasus I, in AD 382, declared: “The first see, therefore, is that of Peter the apostle, that of the Roman Church, which has neither stain nor blemish nor anything like it.” At the Council of Ephesus in AD 431, the legate Philip declared that “the holy and most blessed Peter, prince and head of the apostles, pillar of the faith, and foundation of the Catholic Church, received the keys of the kingdom from our Lord Jesus Christ.” Columbanus of Ireland, writing from the far ends of the earth, declared: “Rome is the head of the whole world, and of the Churches.” The language across four centuries is consistent: not headquarters — but head, chair, source, capital, apostolic see. Because Christ gave the keys not to a city but to a person — and that person’s office never died.
More resources:
https://4marksofthechurch.com/apologetics-primacy-of-peter/
https://catholicismexplained.com/how-counterfeit-churches-devalue-christianity-part-i/
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