Śrutwa, Jan (Wydawnictwo Naukowe Papieskiej Akademii Teologicznej w Krakowie, 1995)
During the great debate on the validity of baptism dispensed by heretics, which flared up in the Church in the second half of 3rd century, Stephen I, Roman Bishop (254—257), quoted — as the successor of Peter — the promise of primacy in St. Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 16, verses 16—19. The letters were lost but we have the response of St. Cyprian of Carthage (†258). Firmilian, Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, in his answer to St. Cyprian, Epist. 75, presented a better evidence in support of Stephen’s biblical argumentation. This epistle determined the first chronological non controversial argument that the biblical reasoning for the Roman Primacy in the Church was used by the popes before the year 313.
