What is the unity of the church?

Cyprian of Carthage, answered from the texts and cited to the page.

Cyprian of Carthage answers

The unity of the Church is the unity of God, shown forth in a body of men. The episcopate is one, each part of it held by each bishop for the whole; the Church is one, though she spreads into a multitude by her fruitfulness.1 Think of the sun, which has many rays and one light, or the tree, which has many branches and one strength in its root, or the spring, from which many streams flow while the unity is kept in the source.

Cut the ray from the body of light and it gives none; break the branch and it cannot bud; sever the stream from its fountain and it dries up.1 She is one mother. From her womb we are born, by her milk we are nourished, by her spirit we are animated.2 She is the spouse of Christ, and the spouse cannot be adulterous; she knows one home and guards the sanctity of one couch.

Whoever is parted from her and joined to an adulteress is parted from her promises, and he can no longer have God for his Father who has not the Church for his mother. As none escaped who was outside the ark of Noah, so none escapes who is outside the Church.2 The ground of this is not a rule of order but the divine nature itself. The Lord says, "I and the Father are one," and of Father, Son and Holy Spirit it is written, "these three are one." Does any man believe that a unity which comes from the divine strength and coheres in the heavenly sacraments can be divided by the parting asunder of opposing wills?2

The Lord's robe, woven and united throughout, was not divided even by those who possessed it, and by the sign of His garment He declared the unity of the Church.3 Who is so insane with the madness of discord as to dare to rend that garment? There is one flock and one shepherd, and no one can believe that in one place there are many flocks or many shepherds.3

This unity has a visible shape. The Church is a people united to its priest, a flock adhering to its pastor, and therefore the bishop is in the Church and the Church in the bishop; whoever is not with the bishop is not in the Church. She is not cut nor divided, but bound together by the cement of priests who cohere with one another.4 The figures of the Law say the same.

The lamb, which designates Christ, is eaten in one house, and its flesh is not carried abroad. Rahab, in whom the Church was prefigured, gathered her whole household into one house, and whoever went out of the door, his blood was upon his own head.5 The flesh of Christ cannot be sent abroad, nor is there any home for believers but the one Church.3

The schismatic, therefore, does not hold the faith merely because he holds the creed. He who does not hold this unity does not hold God's law, nor the faith of the Father and the Son, nor life and salvation.2

Sources

  1. The episcopate is one, each part of which is held by each one for the whole. The Church also is one, which is spread abroad far and wide into a multitude by an increase of fruitfulness.
    Treatise I, On the Unity of the Church
  2. He can no longer have God for his Father, who has not the Church for his mother. If any one could escape who was outside the ark of Noah, then he also may escape who shall be outside of the Church.
    Treatise I, On the Unity of the Church
  3. But because Christ's people cannot be rent, His robe, woven and united throughout, is not divided by those who possess it; undivided, united, connected, it shows the coherent concord of our people who put on Christ.
    Treatise I, On the Unity of the Church
  4. the bishop is in the Church, and the Church in the bishop; and if any one be not with the bishop, that he is not in the Church
    The Epistles
  5. In one house shall it be eaten: ye shall not carry forth the flesh abroad out of the house.
    The Epistles