On the Unity of the Church. -St. Cyprian of Carthage

When the Lord, for our instruction, says, “Ye are the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13), and when He commands us, though guileless, to be prudent, joining wisdom to simplicity (Matthew 10:16), is it not most fitting, dearest brethren, that we should foresee the snares of the wicked enemy, and with anxious care and vigilance discern and avoid them? For, having put on Christ, the Wisdom of God the Father, let us not be found foolish in guarding our own salvation.

We must not only fear that persecution which, by open assault, seeks to strike down and cast down the servants of God. It is easier to keep watch where the danger is evident, and the spirit prepares itself for battle when the enemy reveals himself. Far more ought we to fear and beware of the enemy when he creeps upon us in secret—when, beguiling us with the appearance of peace, he draws near unseen by hidden paths. For this reason he has gained the name of “the creeping one,” or the serpent¹. Such is ever his cunning! Such is the hidden and crafty pretense with which he deceives men! Thus, at the very beginning of the world, he seduced by fair but lying words the heedless credulity of simple souls. He even attempted to tempt the Lord Himself, and for this reason came stealthily, seeking to surprise and beguile Him unawares; yet he was recognized and repelled—repelled because he was recognized and exposed.

In this, an example is given to us—to avoid the path of the old man and steadfastly follow in the steps of Christ, the Life-giver, that we may not, through carelessness, fall once more into the snare of death, but, by foreseeing the danger, may attain unto immortality.

But how shall we attain to immortality unless we keep the commandments of Christ, by which death is conquered and vanquished? The Lord, for our instruction, says: “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17); and again: “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you: henceforth I call you not servants, but friends” (John 15:14–15). He calls such as these strong and steadfast, founded upon the firm and weighty rock, surrounded by an unshakable and immovable bulwark against all the storms and tumults of the world: “Every one,” saith He, “that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock” (Matthew 7:24–25).

Therefore, we must hold fast to His words; we must learn what He taught and do what He did. For how can he call himself a believer in Christ who does not fulfill what Christ has commanded? Or how shall he attain the reward of faith who will not keep the faith in the commandments? Of necessity he will waver, be cast about, and, carried away by the spirit of error, be tossed like chaff which the wind driveth away: not holding to the truth of the saving path, he will not attain unto salvation.

We must beware, dearest brethren, not only of open and manifest deceit, but also of that which is veiled in subtle cunning and craftiness. After the enemy was exposed and overthrown by the coming of Christ—when the Light appeared unto the Gentiles and the saving Sun arose for the happiness of mankind, so that all could hear the grace of the Spirit more deeply, the blind opened their eyes unto God, the infirm received eternal healing, the lame hastened with speed into the Church, and the dumb lifted up their voices in loud prayer—after he saw the idols forsaken, and his temples and shrines emptied by the multitude of those who had come to believe, in what does the enemy’s craft and guile now chiefly consist, if not in the invention of a new deceit: namely, to beguile the unwary by the very name of Christian?

He devised heresies and schisms, so as to subvert the faith, to corrupt the truth, and to rend asunder unity. Those whom he cannot hold in the old way by blinding them, he misleads and deceives by a new path. He snatches people out of the very Church itself, and, when they have visibly come near to the light and have escaped the darkness of this world, he spreads over them again, unbeknownst to them, a new night, so that, not adhering to the Gospel nor keeping the law, yet still calling themselves Christians, they wander in darkness, imagining that they walk in the light.

Such are the deceitful snares of the enemy, who, as the Apostle says, “transforms himself into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14), and makes his ministers appear as ministers of righteousness, though in truth they proclaim night for day, destruction for salvation, despair under the guise of hope, treachery under the pretense of faith, antichrist in the name of Christ, and by covering falsehood with a semblance of truth, destroy the truth by their cunning craft.

This comes to pass, dearest brethren, because men do not return to the origin of truth, nor seek the Head, nor keep the teaching of the heavenly Master. There is no need here for long arguments or proofs; it is enough to consider the matter and examine it, and then the truth will become clear even by a brief exposition.

The Lord says to Peter: “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:18–19). And again, after His resurrection, He says to him: “Feed my sheep” (John 21:16). Thus He establishes His Church upon one.

And though, after His resurrection, He endows all the apostles with equal authority, saying: “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you… Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained” (John 20:21–23), yet, that He might manifest the unity [of the Church], He has willed that unity should take its beginning from one.

Assuredly, the other apostles were the same as Peter, sharing with him equal honor and authority; but the origin is pointed out as one, that the Church of Christ might be shown to be one. Of this one Church the Holy Ghost speaks in the Song of Songs, in the person of the Lord: “My dove, my undefiled, is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her” (Song of Songs 6:9).

Can he who does not hold to this unity of the Church imagine that he still holds the faith? Can he who opposes and resists the Church trust that he is within the Church, when the blessed Apostle Paul, speaking of the same mystery and showing us the bond of unity, says: “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all” (Ephesians 4:4–6)? This unity we ought firmly to maintain and defend, especially we bishops, who preside in the Church, that we may show that the episcopate itself is also one and undivided.

Let none deceive the brethren with a lie! Let none undermine the truth of faith by treacherous betrayal! The episcopate is one, and each bishop holds his full part therein. So too the Church is one, though she be widely extended and multiplied by the increase of her fruitfulness. For even as the sun has many rays, yet one light; and a tree many branches, yet one trunk, fast rooted in the ground; and out of a single spring flow many streams, though the multitude of waters seems to be poured forth in abundance, yet the unity is preserved at the source.

Sever a ray from the sun—its unity will not allow the separated light to exist; break a branch from the tree—it cannot bud again; cut off a stream from its fountain, and the stream dries up. So also the Church, illumined with the light of the Lord, spreads her rays over the whole earth, yet the light everywhere diffused is one, and the unity of the body is not divided. She stretches forth her branches in rich abundance over the whole earth; she pours forth her bountiful streams far and wide—yet the head is one, the source is one, the mother abounding in fruitful offspring is one.

From her are we born, by her milk we are nourished, by her Spirit we are enlivened. The Bride of Christ cannot be defiled: she is pure and incorrupt, knows but one home, and chastely preserves the sanctity of the single bed. She keeps us for God and prepares those born of her for the kingdom. Whoever separates himself from the Church is joined to an adulteress and becomes alien to the promises of the Church; whoever forsakes the Church of Christ deprives himself of the rewards destined by Christ. He is a stranger, a castaway, and an enemy to her. He can no longer have God for his Father who does not have the Church for his mother. One could be saved outside the Church only as one could have been saved outside the ark of Noah.

The Lord thus instructs us: “He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth” (Matthew 12:30). The breaker of Christ’s peace and concord acts against Christ. He who gathers elsewhere than in the Church, scatters the Church of Christ. The Lord says: “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). And again, concerning the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, it is written: “And these three are one” (1 John 5:7). Who can believe that this unity, which is rooted in divine immutability and joined with heavenly mysteries, can be divided in the Church or broken by discordant wills? No, whoever does not keep such unity does not observe the law of God, does not keep faith in the Father and the Son, does not walk the true path of salvation.

This mystery of unity, this bond of inseparable concord, is prefigured in the Gospel account of the Lord Jesus Christ’s tunic. The tunic was not divided or torn, but came whole to him on whom it fell by lot, and remained in his possession undamaged and undivided. The divine Scripture speaks thus: “Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be” (John 19:23–24). It had a unity from above, coming down from heaven from the Father, and so could not be torn by those who gained possession of it; but, once for all, it retained its strong and undivided integrity. Therefore, he who rends the Church of Christ cannot possess the garment of Christ.

On the contrary, when, after Solomon’s death, his kingdom and people were to be divided, the prophet Achia, meeting Jeroboam the king in the field, tore his own garment into twelve pieces and said: “Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the Lord… Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee: and two tribes shall be his, for my servant David’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there” (3 Kings [1 Kings] 11:31–32, 36). Thus, when the twelve tribes of Israel were to be divided, the prophet Achia tore his garment. But since the people of Christ ought not to be divided, the tunic of Christ, woven throughout and bound together, was not torn by those who took possession of it: by the unbroken strength of its unity, it signifies the undivided harmony of us all who have put on Christ. In this way, the Lord by a mystical sign in His garment prefigured the unity of the Church.

Who, then, is so wicked and faithless, who is so inflamed with the spirit of division, as to think it possible or to dare to tear asunder the unity of God—the garment of the Lord, the Church of Christ? The Lord Himself warns us in the Gospel and instructs us, saying: “And there shall be one fold, and one shepherd” (John 10:16). Who can believe that in one place there could be many shepherds, or many flocks? The Apostle Paul, teaching us the same unity, exhorts and beseeches us, saying: “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10). And elsewhere he says: “Forbearing one another in love; endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:2–3).

And do you think you can stand and live apart from the Church, fashioning for yourself other diverse dwellings? Yet to Rahab, who prefigured the Church, it was said expressly: “Thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father’s household, home unto thee. And it shall be, that whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his own head” (Joshua 2:18–19). And the mystery of the Passover, according to the law set forth in Exodus, also required that the lamb, which was slain as a type of Christ, be eaten in one house. God says: “In one house shall it be eaten… thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house” (Exodus 12:46). The flesh of Christ, the holy thing of the Lord, cannot be carried outside; and for the faithful there is no other home but the one Church. This house, this dwelling of unity, is signified by the Holy Ghost in the Psalms, saying: “God setteth the solitary in families” (Psalm 67[68]:7). Only those who are of one mind, concordant and single-hearted, dwell and abide in the house of God, in the Church of Christ.

It was for this reason, too, that the Holy Ghost appeared in the form of a dove. This gentle and meek creature, without bitter gall, neither wounds nor tears with savage talons, loves the homes of men and knows but one nest in common. When rearing their young, the pairs bring them forth together, never part in flight, dwell together in harmony, greet each other with kisses as a sign of their agreement and peace, and in all things observe the law of unity. In the Church there ought to be the same simplicity of heart, the same love: the brotherhood should imitate the doves in charity, and equal the lambs and sheep in meekness and quietness. What breeds in the heart of a Christian the savagery of wolves, the rage of dogs, the deadly poison of serpents, and in general the bloodthirsty ferocity of wild beasts? It is cause for rejoicing when such men, like them, are separated from the Church, lest by their fierce and poisonous contagion they destroy the doves and sheep of Christ. Bitterness cannot be mingled with sweetness, darkness with light, storm with fair weather, war with peace, barrenness with fruitfulness, drought with the living fountain, tempest with calm.

Let no one imagine that the good can be separated from the Church. The wind does not carry away the wheat, nor does the storm uproot the tree growing from a solid root. Only the empty chaff is driven off by the whirlwind; only weak trees fall when the tempest comes. These it is whom the Apostle John condemns and curses, saying: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us” (1 John 2:19). Heresies have arisen, and do often arise, because a stubborn mind has no peace within itself, and a faithless treachery that sows discord does not keep to unity. The Lord, preserving our free will, allows this to happen, so that through the testing of our hearts and minds in the struggle for truth, the genuine faith of the worthy might shine forth in clear light. The Holy Ghost foretells this through the Apostle, saying: “For there must also be heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you” (1 Corinthians 11:19). Thus, the faithful are tested, and the treacherous are exposed; thus, even before the day of judgment, the souls of the righteous are separated from the unrighteous, and the chaff is divided from the wheat! Those are separated who, without divine appointment, of their own will seize leadership over thoughtless gatherings, who appoint themselves as leaders without lawful ordination, and assume the name of bishop when no one has granted them the episcopate.

The Holy Ghost in the Psalms calls them “sitting in the seat of the scornful” (Psalm 1:1), a plague and infection to the faith; men who deceive with serpent’s tongues, skillful in distorting the truth; a destructive tongue that pours out deadly poison; men whose words spread as a cancer (2 Timothy 2:17), and whose speech brings deadly infection to every heart. Against them the Lord cries out; from them He warns and turns away His erring people, saying: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, for they deceive you: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. They say unto them that despise me, ‘The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace;’ and they say unto everyone that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, ‘No evil shall come upon you.’… I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings” (Jeremiah 23:16–17, 21–22).

The Lord describes and identifies them also, saying: “They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13). Whereas, outside the one, there can be no other baptism, they think they can baptize. Having forsaken the source of life, they promise the grace of the life-giving and saving water. There, men are not washed, but only become more defiled; sins are not cleansed, but only increased. Such a birth produces children not for God, but for the devil. Those born of falsehood do not attain the promises of truth. Those brought forth by treachery destroy the grace of faith. Those who have broken the peace of the Lord with reckless strife cannot attain the reward of peace.

Let not some deceive themselves with the words spoken by the Lord: “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). Perverters of the Gospel and false interpreters quote these words, but they cite only what follows and cunningly suppress what goes before; they recall one part and treacherously keep silence about another. Just as they have separated themselves from the Church, so do they rend the wholeness of the very passage.

The Lord, instructing His disciples to keep unity and peace among themselves, says to them: “Verily I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:19–20). “If two of you shall agree on earth,” He says. Thus, the Lord first commands agreement, points to unity, and teaches that they must truly and firmly be in accord among themselves. How, then, can anyone be in agreement with another who is not in accord with the very body of the Church and with the whole brotherhood? How can two or three be gathered in the name of Christ, who are known to have separated themselves from Christ and His Gospel? For it is not we who have departed from them, but they from us. After they established various assemblies for themselves, heresies and schisms arose among them, and they left the head and the origin of truth.

The Lord speaks about His Church, and to those within the Church He says that if they agree, if, according to His admonition and instruction, two or three are gathered together with one accord, then, although they be but two or three, they may obtain what they ask from the majesty of God. “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them”—that is, in the midst of the simple and peaceable, those who fear God and keep His commandments. Among such He promised to be, just as He was with the three youths in the fiery furnace, refreshing them with the spirit of dew in the midst of the flames, for they were devoted to God and of one mind among themselves (Daniel 3:50); and just as He was present with the two apostles shut up in prison, and, because they were simple and united in heart, He opened the prison doors and led them out, that they might proclaim to the people the word which they faithfully preached (Acts 5:19).

So, when the Lord, in His commandments, ordains and says, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them,” He who founded and established the Church does not separate men from the Church, but, reproving those who fall from the faith and exhorting the faithful to peace, shows by His words that He is more ready to be with two or three praying in unity than with a larger number praying with division, and that more can be obtained by the concordant prayer of a few than by the discordant supplications of many.

Therefore, in prescribing the law of prayer, He added: “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses” (Mark 11:25). But He does not allow him who approaches the altar with enmity against anyone to offer the sacrifice, but commands him first to be reconciled with his brother, and then, returning in peace, to offer his gift to God (Matthew 5:23–24). God did not accept the sacrifices of Cain, because he could not have God merciful to him, who, out of envy and hatred, did not have peace with his brother.

What peace, then, do the enemies of their brethren promise themselves? What offerings do the envious bring, who are hostile to the priests? Can they truly imagine, when they assemble, that Christ is present with them, when they gather outside the Church of Christ? Even if such persons should endure death itself for confessing His name, yet the stain upon them will not be washed away, not even by their own blood. The indelible and grievous guilt of schism is not cleansed even by suffering. He cannot be a martyr who is not in the Church; he cannot attain the kingdom who abandons the Church destined to reign. Christ granted us peace; He commanded us to be of one mind and heart, charged us to keep unbroken and firm the bond of affection and love. Whoever has not preserved brotherly love cannot become a martyr. Of this the Apostle Paul teaches and assures us, saying: “Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth” (1 Corinthians 13:2–5, 7–8). “Charity never faileth”: it shall remain forever in the Kingdom of Heaven, enduring eternally in the unity of brotherly fellowship.

Schism cannot be counted worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven or of the reward from Christ, who said: “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12). He does not belong to Christ who, by faithless discord, has broken the love of Christ: whoever has not love does not have God. The blessed Apostle says: “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). Therefore, those who refused to be of one mind in the Church of God cannot remain with God, even if, being delivered up, they were burned in the flame or cast to the beasts; even this would not be for them a crown of faith, but a penalty for their faithlessness—not the glorious end of a pious struggle, but the outcome of despair. Such a one may be slain, but he cannot be crowned. Indeed, he calls himself a Christian as falsely as the devil often calls himself Christ, according to the very word of the Lord: “For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matthew 24:5). As the devil is not Christ, though he deceives in His name, so neither can he be counted a Christian who does not abide in the truth of His Gospel and faith.

It is, of course, a great and admirable thing to prophesy, to cast out devils, and to do mighty works on earth; yet whoever does all this shall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless he walks in the straight path. The Lord declares: “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:22–23). Righteousness is needed to obtain favor from God the Judge; we must obey His commands and instructions if we are to be rewarded. The Lord, summarizing the way of our faith and hope in the Gospel, says: “The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Mark 12:29–31; Matthew 22:37–40). In this teaching He gave both unity and love; in two commandments He included the law and all the prophets. What unity, what love does he observe, or of what love does he even think, who, yielding to the impulse of division, rends the Church, destroys faith, disturbs peace, uproots charity, and defiles the sacrament?

This evil began long ago, dearest brethren, but the destructive force of this deadly evil has now grown, and the venomous plague of heretical corruption and schism is being revealed and spreading more and more. Yet the Holy Ghost foretold through the Apostle that it would be so at the end of the age. “In the last days,” He says, “perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof… Of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was” (2 Timothy 3:1–9).

The prophecy is fulfilled: as the end of the age draws near, such men appear, and such times are upon us. As the rage of the enemy increases, error deceives, arrogance swells, envy inflames, lust blinds, impiety corrupts, pride puffs up, discord hardens, and anger destroys. But let not the extreme and unexpected treachery of many unsettle or disturb us; rather, let the truth of the prophecy strengthen our faith. Just as some have become such as was foretold, so let the rest of the brethren beware of them, for this too is forewarned in the teaching of the Lord: “But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things” (Mark 13:23). Flee, I beseech you, from such men, and, as from a deadly plague, keep far from yourselves and from your hearing their ruinous words, as it is written: “Hedge your ears with thorns, and do not listen to a wicked tongue” (Sirach 28:28), for “evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33). The Lord Himself teaches and commands us to avoid such men: “They be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Matthew 15:14). We ought to turn away from and flee every man who has separated himself from the Church: “Knowing that such a one is perverted, and sinneth, being self-condemned” (Titus 3:11).

Can anyone imagine that he is with Christ, who acts against the priests of Christ, separates himself from the fellowship of His clergy and people? Surely, such a one sets himself against the Church, resists the divine dispensation, is an enemy of the altar, a rebel against the sacrifice of Christ, a betrayer of the faith, a sacrilegious man in regard to piety; a disobedient servant, a lawless son, an unbrotherly brother: despising bishops and abandoning God’s priests, he dares to set up another altar, to compose another prayer out of unlawful words, to profane the truth of the Lord’s sacrifice with false sacrifices, and does not even know that anyone who acts contrary to God’s appointment is punished for his presumptuous daring as God sees fit.

Thus, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who rose up against Moses and Aaron the priest and sought to usurp the right of sacrifice, were immediately punished for their attempt: the earth, breaking its bonds, opened a great abyss and with a yawning chasm swallowed them up alive as they stood; and not only did the wrath of God strike down the ringleaders, but a fire went out from the Lord and quickly consumed, among two hundred and fifty others, all those who joined and aided them in their madness (Numbers 16:1–35), showing by this that all attempts of the wicked made by their own will to overturn the divine ordinance are against God Himself. So also King Uzziah, when he took a censer in his hand and, contrary to the law of God, sought to claim the right of offering sacrifice, refused to obey and yield to the priest Azariah, who forbade him, and was shamed by the anger of God and struck with leprosy on his forehead—the very place on which those who please the Lord receive their mark (2 Chronicles 26:1–19). Likewise, the sons of Aaron, who brought strange fire to the altar, which the Lord had not commanded, were at once consumed before the face of the avenging God (Leviticus 10:1–2). Such are those who imitate and follow them—those who, despising the commandments of God, are led away by foreign doctrine and introduce ordinances set up by men. The Lord reproves and rebukes such men in His Gospel, saying: “For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men” (Mark 7:8).

This offense is worse than that which is visibly committed by those who fall, for those, when later repenting of their sin, beseech God with full and adequate repentance. Here, men seek the Church and beg her mercy; there, they oppose the Church. Here, necessity may have driven a man to sin; there, it is done by free will. Here, the fallen has harmed only himself; there, one who has stirred up heresy or schism deceives and leads many astray. Here is injury to a single soul; there, peril for very many. The one recognizes his sin, weeps for it, and is contrite; the other, prideful in his sin and delighting in his very transgressions, separates sons from their mother, steals sheep from the Shepherd, destroys the sacraments of God, and whereas the fallen sins but once, the schismatic sins daily. Finally, the fallen one, if found worthy of martyrdom, may also attain the promise of the kingdom; but he who suffers death outside the Church cannot attain the Church’s rewards.

Let no one be surprised, dearest brethren, that even some confessors may fall into this same grievous impiety and sin. Confession does not free a man from the snares of the devil, and as long as one remains in this world, he is not always protected from temptations, dangers, assaults, and blows of the age. Nevertheless, we have never seen such deceptions, disorder, and fornication among the confessors afterwards as we now witness among certain men—over which we grieve and sorrow. Whatever a confessor may be, he is not higher, better, or more pleasing to God than Solomon. For as long as Solomon walked in the ways of the Lord, he possessed also the grace given him by God; but when he departed from the way of the Lord, then too he lost the grace of the Lord, as it is written: “And the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon” (3 Kings 11:14). Therefore, Scripture says: “Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown” (Revelation 3:11). The Lord would not have threatened the loss of the crown of righteousness unless the loss of righteousness could lead of necessity to the loss of the crown. Confession is only the beginning of glory, not its completion: it does not finish the contest, but only begins the claim. The Scripture says: “He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved” (Matthew 10:22). Therefore, whatever occurs before the end is only a step by which one ascends toward the summit of salvation, not the pinnacle itself. He is a confessor, but after confession lies even greater danger, because there the enemy is even more enraged. He is a confessor, and for that reason should all the more cling to the Gospel of the Lord, for by the Gospel he received his honor from the Lord. The Lord says: “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more” (Luke 12:48). Let no one, then, be ruined by the example of a confessor! Let no one learn falsehood, pride, or faithlessness from a confessor’s deeds! He is a confessor: let him be meek and gentle; let him measure his actions by good order and be modest; let him, being called a confessor of Christ, imitate Christ, Whom he confesses. Christ says: “Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted” (Matthew 23:12); and He Himself was exalted by the Father because, though He was the Word, the Power, and the Wisdom of God the Father, He humbled Himself upon the earth (Philippians 2:8–9). How, then, can He love pride, Who has enjoined humility in His law and received from the Father a most glorious name as a reward for humility? He is a confessor of Christ, but only if through him the majesty and dignity of Christ are not later blasphemed. The tongue that confessed Christ must not be slanderous or quarrelsome, must not utter evil or reviling words, must not, after words of praise, pour out serpentine venom upon brethren and the priests of God. But if a confessor later becomes depraved and dishonorable, if he disgraces his confession by his conduct, pollutes his life with shameful deeds, if, finally, having left the Church in which he was made a confessor and broken the bond of unity, he substitutes faithlessness for his former faith, then such a one cannot deceive himself that he is chosen for a glorious reward by reason of his confession; rather, because of this very thing, he has earned greater punishment. The Lord also chose Judas to the number of apostles, yet Judas betrayed the Lord. And just as the faith and steadfastness of the apostles were not shaken because Judas the traitor was separated from their fellowship, so neither here is the dignity and holiness of confessors diminished because some of them have turned faithless. “For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:3–4). The greater and better part of the confessors stand firm in the faith and in the truth of the Lord’s law and order. Those who remember that in the Church they received grace by God’s good pleasure do not depart from the Church’s peace, and by withdrawing from the faithlessness of those with whom they shared the confession, they have thereby escaped the contagion of sin. Enlightened by the true light of the Gospel, illumined by the pure and bright radiance of the Lord, they, victorious over the devil in their struggle, are all the more worthy of praise for preserving the peace of Christ.

I desire, dearest brethren, I counsel and exhort, that none of the brethren, if it be possible, should perish, and that the mother, rejoicing, may clasp within her embrace one body made up of one harmonious people. But if the saving counsel cannot bring back to the path of salvation certain leaders of schism and authors of discord, who persist in blind and stubborn madness, then at least you who have been ensnared by simplicity, or drawn in by deceit, or misled by some cunning device, break the deceitful snares, free your wavering steps from error, and learn the straight path of the heavenly way. The Apostle says: “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us” (2 Thessalonians 3:6). And in another place: “Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them” (Ephesians 5:6–7). One must keep away from those who sin deliberately; indeed, one must flee from them, lest, joining with those who walk disorderly and following with them in the paths of error and vice, straying from the true way, one should become guilty of the same sin himself.

God is one, and Christ is one, and His Church is one, and faith is one, and there is one people, united in the oneness of the body by the bond of concord. Unity must not be divided; neither must the one body be rent asunder by breaking the bond—nor torn to pieces by the rending of its inner parts. Whatever is separated from the source of life cannot live and breathe apart, having lost the substance of salvation. The Holy Ghost, admonishing us, says: “What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it” (Psalm 33:13–15). The son of peace must desire and seek peace; he who has known and loved the bond of charity must restrain his tongue from evil discord.

The Lord, drawing near to His Passion, among other instructions and saving counsels, gave also this: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you” (John 14:27). Behold what inheritance Christ has granted us! In the keeping of peace He has included all the gifts and rewards of His promises. Therefore, if we are heirs of Christ, we must abide in the peace of Christ; if we are sons of God, we must be peacemakers: “Blessed,” He says, “are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9). The sons of God must be peacemakers, meek in heart, simple in word, harmonious in mutual affection, truly united to one another by the bond of unanimity. Such unanimity once existed among the apostles: the earliest Christians, keeping the commandments of the Lord, maintained mutual love. This the divine Scripture attests, which says: “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul” (Acts 4:32). And in another place: “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren” (Acts 1:14). Therefore, their prayer was effective, and so they could hope to receive whatever they asked from the merciful Lord.

But among us, unanimity has faded, and generosity in almsgiving has diminished. In those days, they sold their houses and lands and, laying up treasure in heaven, brought the proceeds to the apostles for distribution to those in need. But we do not even give a tenth part of our possessions now, and when the Lord commands us to sell them, we are all the more eager to buy and to increase them. Thus has the power of faith dwindled among us! Thus has the strength of believers waned! And therefore, the Lord, foreseeing our times, says in His Gospel: “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8). We see that what He foretold is coming to pass. We have no faith, whether in the fear of God, or in the law of righteousness, or in love, or in deed. No one, out of fear for the future, gives thought to the day of the Lord and the wrath of God; no one reflects upon the coming punishments for the unbelieving and the eternal torments appointed for the faithless. Our conscience would fear these things if it believed them, but because it does not believe, it does not fear. If it believed, it would beware; and being wary, it would avoid danger.

Let us, then, dearest brethren, rouse ourselves as much as we can, and, shaking off the slumber of former idleness, let us be vigilant in keeping the commandments of the Lord. Let us strive to be as the Lord Himself commanded us, saying: “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching” (Luke 12:35–37). So ought we to be girded, that the day of reckoning, when it comes, may not find us in confusion or unprepared. Let our light shine forth and gleam in good works, that it may guide us out of the night of this world into the light of eternal glory.

Let us ever await, with constant care and watchfulness, the sudden coming of the Lord, so that when He knocks, our faith may be awake, expecting to receive the reward from God for its vigilance. If we keep these commands, if we observe these instructions and precepts, then by no means shall we be overtaken unawares, lulled to sleep by the devil’s deception; and being servants that watch, we shall reign with Christ our Lord.

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