"[A]ll the churches throughout the known world, from Arabia, Osrhoene, and Cappadocia to the extreme west, felt the incessant influence of Rome in every respect, whether as to faith, discipline, administration, ritual [i.e. liturgical matters], or works of charity. She was, as St. Irenaeus says, 'known everywhere and respected everywhere, and her guidance was universally accepted." No competitor, no rival stands up against her; no one conceives the idea of being her equal. Later on there will be patriarchs and other local primates, whose first beginnings can be but vaguely perceived during the course of the third century. Above these rising organizations, and above the whole body of isolated churches, the Church of Rome rises in supreme majesty, the Church of Rome represented by the long series of her bishops, which ascends to the two chiefs of the apostolic college; she knows herself to be and is considered by all, the center and organ of unity. Her position is so evident that even pagans themselves remark [about] it..."
-L. Duchesne in The Churches Separated from Rome.
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