St. John of Damascus
Chief of the Apostles, St. Peter, Shepherd
“The Master has appointed you [Peter] as director not of tabernacles, but of the Church throughout the whole world. Your disciples, your sheep, the Good Chief Shepherd has put into your hands.” (St. John of Damascus, Homily on the Transfiguration [c. A.D. 675-749]).
“But why did He [Jesus] take along Peter and James and John? Peter, because he wanted to show him that the witness, which [Peter] had truly borne, was now confirmed by the witness of hte Father, and to make credible His [i.e. Jesus’] own statement that the heavenly Father had revealed this to him [i. e. Peter]; and because as president he was also receiving the oars of the entire Church.” (St. John of Damascus, Homily on the Transfiguration #9; J.P. Migne, Patrolgoia Graeca, 96:560).
“Christ did not give to kings the power to bind and to loose, but to the apostles, (Mt. 18.18) and to their successors and pastors and teachers.” (Apolgoia Against Those Who Decry Holy Images).
