Counsel And Reason

Non est autem de consuetudine praescribendum, sed ratione vincendum. Nam nec Petrus, quem primum Dominus elegit, et super quem aedificavit Ecclesiam suam, eum secum Paulus de circumcisione postmodum disceptaret, vindicavit sibi aliquid insolenter aut arroganter assumpsit, ut diceret se primatum tenere et obtemperari a novellis et posteris sibi potius oportere. Nec despexit Paulum quod Ecclesia prius persecutor fuisset, sed consilium veritatis admisit, et rationi legitimae quam Paulus vindicabat facile consensit, documentum scilicet nobis et concordia et patientia tribuens, ut non pertinaciter nostra amemus, sed quae aliquando a fratribus et collegis nostris utiliter et salubriter suggeruntur, si sint vera et legitima, ipsa potius nostra ducamus.  Sanctus Cyprianus, Epistula LXXI, Ad Quintum Migne PL 4.410

It must not be commanded by custom, rather reason must prevail. For Peter, whom the Lord first chose and upon whom he built his Church, 1 when Paul disputed with him about circumcision, 2 did not vindicate himself insolently or arrogantly assume, so as to say that he held primacy and that those newer and later than him should obey. Nor did he look down on Paul because he used to persecute the Church, but he admitted the counsel of truth and with right reason he easily concurred with what Paul asserted, which provides us with an example of harmony and patience, that we should not pertinaciously cling to what is ours, but that sometimes by the useful and wholesome counsel of brothers and colleagues, if it be true and right, we should by them rather than by ourselves be guided. Saint Cyprian, from Letter 71, To Quintus  1 Mt 16.18 2 Gal 2. 11-14