Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VIII/The Decretals/The Epistle of Pope Urban First/Chapter 5

V.

That no one should have intercourse with those with whom the bishop has no intercourse, or receive those whom he rejects.

These things, then, we have set before you, most dearly beloved, in order that ye may understand the power of your bishops, and give reverence to God in them, and love them as your own souls; and in order that ye may have no communication with those with whom they have none, and that ye may not receive those whom they have cast out.&#160; For the judgment of a bishop is greatly to be feared, although he may bind one unjustly, which, however, he ought to guard against with the utmost care.