Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/592

 SCHISM

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SCHISM

indicated its essential unity aad especially the hier- archical unity (Matt., xvi, 18). He expressed the same thought when He referred to the faithful as a Kingdom and as a flock: "Other sheep I have, that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear mv voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd" (John, x, 16). Unity of faith and worship is more explicitly indicated by the words out- lining the solemn mission of the Apostles: "Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost" (Matt., xx-^-iii. 19). These various forms of unity are the object of the prayer after the Last Sup- per, "when Christ prays for His own and asks "that they may be one" as the Father and the Son are one (John, xvii, 21, 22). Those who violate the laws of unity shall become strangers to Christ and his spirit- ual family: ".\nd if he will not hear the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and pubUcan" (Matt., XA'iii, 17).

In faithful imitation of his Master's teaching St. Paul often refers to the unity of the Church, describing it as one edifice, one body, a body between whose members exists the same solidarity as between the members of the human body (I Cor., xii; Eph., iv). He enumerates its various aspects and sources: "For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, . . . and in one Spirit we have all been made to drink" (I Cor., xii, 13); "For we, being many, are one bread, one body, all that partake of one bread" (ibid., x, 17). He sums it up in the follomng formula: "One body and one Spirit; . . . one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Eph., iv, 4-5). Finally he arrives at the logical conclusion when he anathematizes doctrinal novelties and the authors of them (Gal., i, 9), Ukewise when he writes to Titus: "A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, avoid" (Tit., iii, 10); and again when he so energetically condemns the dissensions of the community of Corinth: "There are contentions among you. . . . every one of you saith : I am indeed of Paul ; and I am of Apollo ; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? ^\'as Paul then crucified for you? Or were you bap- tized in the name of Paul?" (ICor.,i, 11-13). "Now, I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you; but that you be perfect in the same mind, and in the same judgment" (I Cor., i, 10). St. Luke speaking in praise of the primitive church mentions its unanimity of belief, obedience, and worship: "They were persevering in the doctrine of the apostles, and in the communication of the breaking of bread, and in prayers" (Acts, ii, 42). All the first Epi.stle of St. John is directed against contemporary innovators and schismatics; and the author regards them as .so foreign to the Church that in contrast to its members "the Children of God", he calls them "the children of the devil", (I John, iii, 10); the children "of the world" (iv, 5), even Antichrist (ii, 22; iv, 3).

The same doctrine is found in all the evidences of Tra^iition, beginning with the olde.st. Before the end of the first century St. Clement writing to the Church of Corinth in order to restore peace and harmony strongly inculcates the necessity of submission to the "hegoumenos" (I Cor., i, 3), "to the guides of our souls" (Ixiii, 1), and to the "presbyters" (xlvii, 6; liv, 2; Ivii, 1). It is, says he, a "grave sin" to dis- regard their authority as the Corinthians are doing (xliv, 3, 4, 6; xlvii, 6); it is a duty to honour them (i, 3; xxi, 6). There must be no division in the body of Christ, xlvi, 6. The fundamental reasf)n of all this is the Divinely instituted hierarchical order. The work of Chri.st is in fact continued by the Apo.stles, who are sent by Christ as He was sent by God (xlii, 1, 2). It was they who established the "epiacopi and deacons" (xlii, 4) and decided that others should succeed them

in their mmistry (xliv, 2). He thus explains the gravity of the sin and the severity of the reproaches addressed to the fomentors of the troubles: "Why should there be among you disputes, quarrels, dis- sensions, schisms, and war? Have we not one and the same God, one and the same Christ? Is it not the same spirit of grace that has been poured out upon us? Have we not a common vocation in Christ? Wherefore, divide and separate the members of Christ, be at war with our own body, be so foolish as to for- get that we are members of one another? " (xlvi, 5-7). St. Ignatius insists no less forcibly on the necessity of unity and the danger of schism. He is the first author in whom we find episcopal unity clearly out- hned, and he beseeches the faithful to range them- selves about the "presbyters" and the deacons and especially through them and with them about the bishop: "It is fitting that you be of one mind with the bishop, as you are, because your venerable presby- terium is attached to the bishop as the strings to the lyre" (Eph., vi, 1); "you must not take advantage of the age of your bishop, but, being mindful of the power of God the Father, you should show him every man- ner of respect, as do the holy priests" (Magn., iii, 1). The bishop is the centre and pivot of the Church: "Where he is there should the community be" (Smym., xi, 1). The duties of the faithful towards the hierarchy are summed up in one : to be united to it in sentiment, faith, and obedience. They must be always submissive to the bishop, the presbytcrium, and the deacons ("Eph.", ii, 2; v, 3; xx, 2; "Magn.", ii; iii, 1; vi, 1, 2; xiii, 2; "Trail.", ii, 1, 2; xiii, 2; "Philad.", vii, 1; "Smyrn.", viii, 1; "Polyc", vi, 1). Jesus Christ being the word of the Father and the bishop being in the doctrine of Christ ( fv I-ij<roO Xpi-a-ToO yvw/xri) it is fitting to adhere to the doctrine of the bishop (Eph., iii, 2; iv, 1); "Those who belong to God and Jesus Christ ally themselves with the bishop. Brethren, be not deceived; whosoever fol- lows a schismatic shall not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven" (Philad, iii, 2, 3). Finally, as the bishop is the doctrinal and disciplinary centre so he is the liturgical centre: "Let that Eucharist be lawful which is consecrated by the bishop or one deputed by him. . . . It is forbidden to baptize or celebrate the agape without the bishop; what he approves is what is pleasing to God, in order that all that is done may be stable and valid" (Smyrn., viii, 1, 2).

Towards the end of the second century St. Irenaeus lauds in glowing terms the unity of that universal Church "which has but one heart and one soul, whose faith is in keeping" and which seems "as the sole sun illuminating the whole world" (Adv. hajres., i, 10). He condemns all doctrinal division, basing his argu- ments on the teaching authority of the Church in general and of the Roman Church in particular. The doctrine of salvation, preached by the Apostles, is preserved in the Churches founded by them; but since it would take too long to question all the Apos- tolic Churches it is sufficient to turn to that of Rome: "For the entire Church, that is all the faithful in the world, should be in agn^ement with this Roman Church, because of its superior pre-eminence; and in it all the faithful have pnwerved the Apostolic tradi- tion" (iii, 2, 3). It is therefore of the utmost neces- sity to adhere to this Church because where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God, and where the Spirit of God is there is the Church, there is all grace and the spirit is tnith (iii, 24). But to adhere to this Church is to submit to the hierarchy, its living and infallible magistracy: "The priests of the Church are to be obeyed, those who are the successors of the Apo.stles and who with the episcopal su(ce.ssion have received an assured charisma of truth. . . . Those who leave the successors of the Apostles and assemble in any separated place must be regarded with sus- picion or as heretics, aa tnen of evil doctrines, or