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"If the Church should address you (Donatists) gently, and say, Oh my children, what complaint do you bring against your mother? I wish now to hear from you why you have deserted me. You accuse your brethren, and I am sorely lacerated. When the Gentiles persecuted me, I endured many things in grief; many abandoned me, but they did it through fear; but no one has compelled you to rebel against me thus. You say that you are with me, but you see that it is false. I am called the Catholic Church, and you are on the side of Donatus."

T. ix. Psal. Contr. part. Donat. col. 51.
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"These testimonies do we produce from the Holy Scriptures, that it may be seen that it is not easy for anything to be more grievous than the sacrilege of schism: because there is no just necessity for severing unity, since the good may therefore tolerate the wicked, who will be of no spiritual injury to them, lest they be themselves spiritually separated from the good, when the consideration of preserving peace restrains or delays the severity of discipline; a severity however which a state of safety brings out, when it is seen that something may, by ecclesiastical judgment, be subjected to wholesome correction, without the wound of schism."

T. Lib ii. Contr. Ep. Parmeniani, n. 25, p. 103.
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The Apostle says, "I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." (1 Corinthians 13:2)

We have, therefore, to inquire here, who has charity: you will find it is they alone who love unity. . . . And as we are inquiring where the Church of Christ is, let us hear Him, who redeemed it with His own blood, declaring, "You shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth." (Acts 1:8) With this Church which is diffused throughout the whole earth, whosoever communicates not, with whom he communicates not thou seest, if thou dost but understand whose words these are. But what is more mad than to be partakers of the sacraments of the Lord, and not to be partakers of the words of the Lord? These in truth will have to say, "In Thy name have we eaten and drunk"; and they will have to hear, "I know you not": they eat and drink His body and blood in the sacrament, and they recognize not in the gospel, His members diffused over the whole world, and for this cause they are not numbered amongst them at the judgment."

T. L. ii. Contr. Litter. Petiliani, n. 126, p. 413, 414.
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"The question between us undoubtedly is, where is the Church? whether with us or with them (Donatists)? That Church assuredly is one, which our ancestors called the Catholic, that they might show, by the name itself, that it is through out the whole. For throughout (or, according to) the whole is expressed in Greek by (Catholic get Greek from Google). But this Church is the body of Christ, as the Apostle says, "For His body, which is the Church." (Colossians 1:24) Whence, assuredly, it is manifest, that he who is not in the members of Christ cannot have Christian salvation. Now the members of Christ are united to each other by the charity of unity, and, by the same, cohere to their own head, which is Christ Jesus."

Note: The writings of this father, those especially against the Donatists, are replete with arguments in support of the unity of the Church.

De Unitate Ecclesim, n. 2, pp. 538, 539.
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"By denying Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, you have denied all the rest. For this is the nature of the sacrament of the Church and of the Catholic faith, that the man who denies a part of the divine sacrament is disabled from confessing other part. For the whole is so connected and incorporated together, that one part cannot stand without the other; and whosoever has denied one point out of the whole, it profits him nothing to have believed all the rest."

L. vi. De Incarn. t. vii.p. 92, Bib. Max. SS. PP.
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"God, who is one, delivered one faith, spread one Church over the whole world: this Church He regards, this He loves, this He defends. Let a man hide himself under whatever name he pleases, if he be not associated with this Church, he is an alien; if he assail it, he is an enemy."

Histor. l. vii. c. 33, p. 4-13, t. vi. Bib. Maxim. SS. PP.
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"We are all brethren, and one body in Christ, under one head which is Christ, and under one Church, which is Christ."

De Libert. Arbitr. lb. p. 457.
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"Therefore do we say that the mystery of Christ must be celebrated in the churches of God, as in holy tabernacles. . . . In one house shall it be eaten, neither shall ye carry forth of the flesh thereof out of the house (Exodus 12) The many-minded heretics violate this will of God, fixing up for themselves, as they do, another tabernacle, besides that which is truly the holy tabernacle, and sacrificing the lamb without, and carrying it forth somewhere to a very great distance from that one house, and dividing the indivisible. For Christ is one, and perfect in all."

T. i. l. x. De Ador. in Sp. et Ver. p. 355.
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Applying Leviticus 17:3:

"It is therefore unlawful and a profanation, and an act the punishment of which is death, to love to associate with unhallowed heretics, and to unite one's self to their communion; for they sacrifice out of the holy tabernacle the victim which is offered for sins, and do not perform the sacred sacrifice within the holy places. For the Church is one, even as there was also one tabernacle of old, and one tabernacle which pointed out in a type the beauty of the Church."

T. i. Glaphyr. in Lev. l. i. p. 551.
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"Wherefore, as some beginning and way whereby we also might be partakers of the Holy Spirit, and of union with God, there was the mystery of Christ; for we are all therein sanctified, after the manner that has been already explained. Whence that we may have union with God and with each other, and be thoroughly blended together though kept distinct by that separation which is seen in our individual bodies and souls the only-begotten Son contrived a certain way, which was invented by that wisdom which befits Him, and by the will of the Father. For, by means of the mystic participation, blessing those who believe in Him with one body, His own, to wit, He makes them one body with Himself, and with each other."

T. iv. Comm. in Joan. l. xi.p. 998.
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"Concerning the intellectual Jerusalem, that is, the Church, it is written, "Whose participation is of the same thing." (Psalm 121) For all believers being one body and one spirit, one city in conversation, coming together unto the same place (or, agreeing in the same thing), in the bond of peace and of love, we partake in unanimity of the gifts of the Holy Ghost."

L. i. Epist. cclviii. p. 97.
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"But I, as a fruitful olive-tree in the house of the Lord." (Psalm 51), have never been stripped of blessed hope. Where fore, let us be a fruitful olive-tree, not in any other place— not in Gentilism, not in Judaism, not in an evil heresy,— but in the house of God, that is, in faith and godliness; for the ungodly in vain bring forth fruits without the Church."

L. iii. Ep. xxviii p. 304.
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"These heretics, abandoning the apostolic tradition, have followed teachers of a false faith (perfidy), and have, with the doctrines, changed the name of religion. For just as each of them took it into his fancy to lead astray the ignorant by his deceits and by this crime to gain honor for himself, was God taught to be believed in part, or to be totally denied: besides this, they called after their own names men who previously bore the name of Christ, that thus they who, after abandoning the name of Christ, took the name of their religion from a man, might in no particular be free from, sacrilege. For what difference does it make whether a man, who ceases to be called a Christian, take his designation from an idol or from a man? Accordingly, each heresy is now designated by the name of the individual through whom as its author it prevaricated; and to such a degree are they pleased with their peculiar nomenclature, as not even by this to perceive that they are cut off from the unity of religion, though even in name they have lost the faith. Hence, from Manes, the Manichees, etc. . . . They cease not to assail the Church and Christ. But as nothing is ever stronger than truth, the mighty ponderous mass remains immovable in the midst of the assaulting waves, which break tormented with their mutual violence; and the purpose of these apostates merely attains to this, that differing as they do from each other, while each desires to destroy our faith, they as a whole establish it."

L. ii. Consult. Zacc. et Apollon. c. xi. Galland. t. ix. p. 231.
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"Wherefore, because the faith, as the Apostle says, is one, that faith which has triumphantly prevailed, let us believe what it behooves us to teach, and teach what it behooves us to hold. Let nothing further be allowed to novelty, because it is fitting that nothing be added to antiquity. Let not the belief of our ancestors be troubled by any admixture of filth."

Ep. viii. ad Joan. Antioch. n. 7, t. ix. Galland, p. 529.
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"Bless the Lord, my soul" (Psalm 103:1) As in the preceding psalm, so also in this, which follows it, the voice is that of the members of Christ. It is one individual, with one heart and one soul, in one faith, moving and exciting itself to praise God."

In Ps. 103. col. 382.
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"By the animals of every kind gathered together in the ark of Noah, and by the vessel, seen in Peter's vision, let down from Heaven by four cords, filled with all manner of living things, nothing else is signified but that men from out the whole human race are to be gathered together in the unity of the Church."

In Ps. 103. col. 386.
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"O Lord, I am thy servant; I thy servant and the son of thy handmaid." (Psalm 115:16) As if he said, many call themselves martyrs, many profess themselves Thy servants, because they have Thy name, in the midst of vices, heresies, and errors. But because they are without Thy Church, they are not "the sons of Thy handmaid".

In Ps. 115, col. 430.
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"These men withdrawing, through pride, from the unity of the Church— who, as though scandalized by the mixture of chaff abandon the wheat before the fan of separation— shall receive their cities in vain (Psalm 118:20); that is, they shall assemble together into a reprobate fellowship, and into vain councils; for whosoever uses not Catholic charity, is scattered by heretical vanity."

In Psalm 118. col. 502.
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"Although the universal Church of God be ordered with distinct ranks, that so the integrity of the sacred body may subsist of divers members, yet all we, as the Apostle says, "are one (body) in Christ". Neither is anyone so divided from the office of another, as that the lowliness of any part whatsoever should cease to pertain to the connection of the head. In unity, therefore, of faith and baptism, is our fellowship undivided."

T. i. Serm. iv. De Natali. ordin. c. 1, pp. 14, 15.
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"A great safeguard is entire faith, true faith, in which neither anything whatever can be added by anyone, nor anything taken away: for unless faith be one, it is not faith, the Apostle saying, "One Lord, one faith, one baptism". . . in us all (Ephesians 4:4-6). To this unity, my beloved, adhere with unshaken minds; and in this pursue all holiness, in this obey the precept of the Lord, because without faith it is impossible to please God: and without it there is nothing holy, nothing pure, nothing living, for the just man lives by faith; which (faith) whosoever, deceived by the devil, shall have lost, while living he is dead."

T. i. Serm. xxiv. In Nativ. Dom. iv. c. 6,p. 82.
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"Wherefore, as, out of the Catholic Church, there is nothing perfect, nothing undefiled, the Apostle declaring that "all that is not of faith is sin", with those who are divided from the unity of the body of Christ we are in no way likened, we are by no communion commingled; which in fact is for us the fast, the most salutary and the most important. For there is nothing which more primarily pertains to the virtue of abstinence, than to abstain from error, because then do we at length walk well, when we journey in the way of truth."

T. 1, Serm. cxxix. De Jejun. Pent. ii. c. 2, p. 317.
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"The whole world shares in all the holy solemnities, and the piety of one faith demands that whatsoever is commemorated as having done for the salvation of all, be celebrated with joy by all. Yet is this day's festival (St. Peter and St. Paul), besides that reverence which it has deserved from the whole universe, to be venerated with special and peculiar exultation by this city, that, where the departure (death) of the chief Apostles was made glorious, there, on the day of their martyrdom, be pre-eminent gladness. For these, oh Rome! are the men through whom the Gospel of Christ shone upon thee, and thou that was the teacher of error, hast become the disciple of truth. . . . These are they who have advanced thee to this glory, to be a holy nation, a chosen people, a priestly and royal city; that by the See of blessed Peter, made the head of the universe, thou mightest rule more widely by divine religion, than by earthly empire. For although, enlarged by many victories, thou hast extended thy right of empire by land and sea, yet, what the toil of war has subdued to thee is less than what Christian peace has subjected to thee. . . For when the twelve Apostles, having received through the Holy Spirit the gift of speaking in all tongues, had, with the districts of the world distributed amongst them, undertaken to embrace the world with the Gospel, the most blessed Peter, the prince of the apostolic order, is assigned to the capital of the Roman empire, that the light of truth, which was being manifested for the salvation of all nations, might more effectually diffuse itself from that head throughout the whole body of the world. For of what nations were there not individuals then present in this city? or, what nations were ever ignorant of what Rome had learnt?"

T. 1, Serm. lxxxii. c. 1-3 (In Natal. App. Petri et Pauli), pp. 321-323.
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"For the connection of our union cannot be firm, unless the bond of charity bind us together into an inseparable solidness. . . . The connectedness of the whole body produces one healthfulness, one beauty; and this connection requires indeed the unanimity of the whole body, but demands especially concord amongst priests, whose dignity, though it be common to them all, yet is not their order uniform; since even amongst the most blessed Apostles, in likeness of honor there was a certain diversity of power; and whereas the election of them all was equal, to one, nevertheless, was it given to be pre-eminent over the rest. Out of which pattern also has arisen the distinction also amongst bishops, and by a mighty regulation has it been provided against, that all claim not all things to themselves, but that there be individuals in individual provinces, whose sentence should amongst the brethren be accounted the first: and again, that certain others, constituted in the greater cities, should take upon them a wider solicitude, through whom the universal Church might flow together to the one chair of Peter, and no part be anywhere at variance with its head."

Ep. xiv. ad Anastasium Thessalon. Episc. c. xi. pp. 691, 692.
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"Truth, which is simple and one, admits of no variety."

Ep. clxxii. ad Presby. et Diaconos Eccl. Alex. p. 1437.
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"For I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." (2 Corinthians 11) For that Church is a virgin, the bride of one husband Christ, which (Church) allows not herself to be violated by any error; that, throughout the whole world there may be for us one uncorruptedness of one chaste communion, wherein we embrace the fellowship of your friendliness."

Ep. lxxx. ad Anatol. Ep. CP. n. 1, p. 1039.
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Commenting on 1 Corinthians 1:

"To the church of God that is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that invoke the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, in every place of theirs and ours."

All the words here set down are remedies for that under which they suffered, for they reconcile that division which had miserably taken place. And first of all he calls them one Church, and the Church of God, and adds, "in Christ Jesus", not in this or that other individual. He likewise calls them [both elect and] saints, and joins them with those who had believed throughout the universe: teaching, that not only they ought to think alike, but that all they also who have believed the Gospel, have one mind, as having been perfected in the body of Christ our Lord."

T. iii. in Ep. ad Corinthians c.i. pp. 165, 166.
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"From the truth-teaching unity of which Fathers, that none dissent, the same Apostle very earnestly entreats, saying: "But I beseech you, brethren, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you, but be you perfect, in the same mind, and in the same judgment." (1 Corinthians 1:10) But if any separate from the communion of the judgment of those men, let him hear that of the same Apostle, "He is not the God of dissension, but of peace"; that is, not the God of him who falls away from the unity of consent, but of those who abide in the peace of consent,— "As I teach", saith he, "in all the churches of the Saints", that is, of the Catholics; which (churches) are therefore saintly, because they persevere in the communion of the faith. And lest any should, haply, overlooking the rest, arrogate to himself that he alone be heard, he alone be believed, he adds a little after, "Did the Word of God come out from you? or came it only unto you? (1 Corinthians 14:36) And lest this might be taken, as it were, slightly, he added: "If any", he says, "seem to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him know the things that I write to you, that they are the commandments of the Lord." What commandments indeed, but that if any man be a prophet, or spiritual, that is, a teacher of spiritual things, let him be, with the utmost zeal, a cultivator of equality and unity, so that, to wit, he neither prefer his own opinions before others, nor recede from the sentiments of all men. "The commandments of which things whosoever knows not", he says, "he shall not be known"; that is, he who learns not when he knoweth them not, or contemns them when known, "he shall not be known," that is, he shall be held unworthy to be one regarded of God amongst those united by faith, and equalled by humility; than which evil I know not whether anything can be conceived more grievous."

Comm. ad Hæres. n. xxviii.
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"Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, confirming the knowledge of the faith in His disciples, said, "My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you." (John 14), to the end that none may speak differently from his neighbor in the doctrines of true religion, but set forth alike to all the preaching of the truth. But since the wicked one does not cease from endeavoring by his tares to sow over the seeds of the true religion, and is ever finding out something new against the truth, for this cause the Lord, as is His wont, in His providence for the human race, has raised up to an (opposite) zeal, this religious and most faithful sovereign, and has called together unto Himself the chiefs of the priesthood from every side, in order that the charity of Christ, the Lord of us all, operating, they may remove every plague of falsehood from the sheep of Christ, and may fatten them with the fruits of truth."

Ep. Synod. Labb. t. iv. p. 562.
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"That by this spectacle it may be manifest to all men that the Church of Christ is truly one throughout all its parts, and indivisible; a Church which, knit together by the bond of concord, and the admirable woof of charity, might be shown to be the alone coat of Christ, seamless throughout, which not even the soldiers who crucified Christ would dare divide. And if this unity be violated and rent, through the perfidy of Peter (of Alexandria), and the tyrannical pride and impious presumption of Acacius, see, and wisely consider, into how grave a danger our conscience is cast, when breaking through so important an observance as this of our fathers. For will not each one act as seems fit to himself, if once a corrupt order pass into a custom? But if even the very thought of this is sacrilege, why should not the pattern left us by our fathers be adhered to with the most scrupulous observance, seeing that there is in this their method of acting, the evident and mighty mystery of an ineffable and undoubted unity? Are there two churches, and two pastors? God forbid. For He is one who hath made both one, removing the partition-wall of enmities, in His own body. . . . Let not then the names of Peter (of Alexandria) and of Acacius be interposed, to divide those whom the precious blood of so great a mediator has united."

Ep. viii. Galland. t. x. p. 677.
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"The Church of God is one. One is the Church in Heaven, the same also upon earth; in this Church the Holy Spirit abides. The heresies, which men hold, that are without this Church, are not the doctrines of our Saviour, or of the Apostles, but are Satan's, and of their father, the Devil."

Histor. Concil. Nicaen. c. xxx. p. 235.
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