88 " FEED MY SHEEP " APPLICABLE TO ALL PASTORS. 6. Neither could St Peter's charge be more extensive than was that of the other apostles, for they had a general and unlimited care of thewhole church, that is, according to their capacity and oppor- tunity,none being exempted from it who needed or came into the way oftheir discharging pastoral offices for them. " They were oecumenical rulers," as St Chrysostom says, " ap- pointed by God; who did not receive several nations or cities, but all of them in common were intrusted with the world."' Hence particularly St Chrysostom calls St John " a pillar of the churches over the world ;" and St Paul " an apostle of the world," who "'had the care, not of one house, but of cities and nations, and of the whole earth ;" who " undertook the world, and governed the churches;" to whom " the whole world did look," and " on whose soul the care of all the churches everywhere did hang; into whose hands were delivered the earth, and the sea, the inhabited and un- inhabited parts of the world. "' And could St Peter have a larger flock committed to him? Could this charge, " Feed my sheep," more agree to him than to those who no less than he were obliged to feed all Christian people every- where ? 7. The words, indeed, are applicable to all Christian bishops and governors of the church, according to that of St Cyprian to Pope Stephen himself, " We being many shepherds do feed one flock, and all the sheep of Christ :"3 for they are styled pastors; they, in terms as indefinite as those in this text, are exhorted " to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood," Acts xx. 28; to them, as the Fathers commonly suppose, this injunction reaches, our Lord, when he spake thus to St Peter, intending to lay a charge on them all to express their love and piety toward him in this way, by feeding his sheep and people.' " Which sheep," says St Ambrose, "and which flock, not only ep ' 'Apxovris f(OIV V9YÓ r,Ó ea pcuporovnei ras of &,rt,rroX, äpxovrts oúz fAvn zai srá,Lno O/a0Ópous xafttávoresç, &xxà areivTES 'cm; ri)Y Obcovizivnv iptaTaa'revAÉVrte.Cihrys., tom. viii. p. 115. 2 'O avirxas Tmv zará rily oizatq.46 v iz,cxneamv.Chrys. Prcef., Comment. ad Joh. Kai yáp rp aizouptivns «vrúa'rnxas ñv Chrys. in 1 Cor. ix. 2. Oú7,4 á oúx oixias (.cant, á'a.á zai troxísly, zai Vwdy, zai ii, ,, zai óaoza.ñpou rrit cizoupoivns gpomíSa ïxay.Chrys. in 2 COT xi. 28. Tim oizoupivns rivraxapoCárara arácns, zai SaazuCipva ,rá; izzxnoias. Chrys., tom. viii. p. 115. it olvcau¡,í,e cräo'a arpós auróv äixaarw, ai fpovriaas Tmv v'avraxaú rñs yñs izzxnseprmv r-ns izeivau M1j.uxñs >Tv [,nprnpAcivay &c. (Chrys., tom. v. Or. 59. '0 Maxañx rÓ Tr-iv 'Ioilah.,, £Avon ivaxfrpíOAn' rlaixas Oi yYV, zai Káxarrav, aal r1,, aa.Sa U,aivs,, aai 'nìa ri,znrov.Chrys., tom. viii. p. 39. Pastores multi sumus, unum tarnen gregem, et oves Christi universas pascimus. Cypr., Ep. Ixvii., adP. Stepp. 4 Quanto magis debent usque ad mortempro'veritate certare, et usque ad sanguinem adversus peccatum, quibus oves ipsas pascendas, hoc est docendas regendasque corn. mittitAug. in Joh., tract. 123. " Howmuch more ought they to contend for the truth even unto death, and against sin even unto blood, to 'whomhe commits his sheep to be fed; that is, to be taught and governed."
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=