St. Peter's chair at Antioch

St. Peter's Chair at Antioch (ca. 36-43)

We are called upon, a second time, to honor St. Peter's chair: first, it was his pontificate in Rome; today, it is his episcopate at Antioch. This picture is called 'The Great Chalice of Anitoch'. It is said that this is the one used by Peter himself while there. Antioch was the first city in Asia to receive the Faith. Jerusalem was doomed to destruction for having not only refused to acknowledge, but even crucify the Messiah. It was time for Peter to deprive that faithless city of the honor she had enjoyed, of possessing with her walls the chair of the Apostolate. Accordingly, it is in Antioch, the third capital of the Roman Empire (after Rome and Alexandria), that Peter first places the throne, where he was to preside over the universal Church. NOTE: This is not a physical chair, but the office, because, as St. Ambrose says: "Where Peter is, there is the Church." And again from Evodius, the successor of Peter in Antioch, says: "...but that see is not to inherit the headship of the Church, which goes wherever Peter goes."

That Saint Peter, before he went to Rome, founded the see of Antioch is attested by many Saints of the earliest times, including Saint Ignatius of Antioch and Saint Clement, Pope. It was just that the Prince of the Apostles should take under his particular care and surveillance this city, which was then the capital of the East, and where the Faith so early took such deep roots as to give birth there to the name of 'Christian'. There his voice could be heard by representatives of the three largest nations of antiquity - the Hebrews, the Greeks and the Latins. Saint Chrysostom says that Saint Peter was there for a long period; Saint Gregory the Great, that he was seven years Bishop of Antioch. He did not reside there at all times, but governed its apostolic activity with the wisdom his mandate assured.

If as tradition affirms, he was twenty-five years in Rome, the date of his establishment at Antioch must be within three years after Our Savior's Ascension, for he would have gone to Rome in the second year of Claudius. He no doubt left Jerusalem when the persecution which followed Saint Steven's martyrdom broke out (Acts 8:1), and remained in Antioch until he escaped miraculously from prison and from the hands of Herod Agrippa, while in Jerusalem in 43 at the time of the Passover. (Acts 12) Knowing he would be pursued to Antioch, his well-known center of activity, he went to Rome.

In the first ages it was customary, especially in the East, for every Christian to observe the anniversary of his Baptism. On that day each one renewed his baptismal vows and gave thanks to God for his heavenly adoption. That memorable day they regarded as their spiritual birthday. The bishops similarly kept the anniversary of their consecration, as appears from four sermons of Saint Leo the Great on the anniversary of his accession to the pontifical dignity. These commemorations were frequently continued by the people after their bishops' decease, out of respect for their memory. The feast of the Chair of Saint Peter was instituted from very early times. Saint Leo says we should celebrate the Chair of Saint Peter with no less joy than the day of his martyrdom, for as in the latter he was exalted to a throne of glory in heaven, by the former he was installed 'Head of the Church on earth.'

Our beloved Abbot Gueranger chimes in with his prayer:

Glory be to thee, O Prince of the Apostles, on thy chair at Antioch, where thou didst for seven years preside over the Universal Church! How magnificent are the stations of thy apostolate! Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria (by the disciple Mark), and Rome, these are the cities which have been honored by thy august chair. After Rome, Antioch was the longest graced by its presence: justly, therefore, do we honor this Church, which was thus made, by thee, the mother and mistress of all the other Churches.