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Chapter Two
Unity of the Faith
From the aforementioned
sources, the certitude of all doctrines depends on their being contained
in the Truth of Christ, a Truth handed down by Him to His Apostles, and from
them to their successors, and so forth. Yet, as Clement, Ignatius, and the
writer of the Epistle of Barnabas explain, the devotion to the Faith requires
more than just an assent of the mind to a certain set of beliefs; it requires
a unity in that belief that takes a visible form, and a submission to the
rightful authorities who have been granted the responsibility of disseminating
the traditional Faith. In his Epistle to the Philadelphians (ca. A.D. 110),
St. Ignatius again stresses the necessity of this unity and the inseparability
of it from belief in Christ: "It was the Spirit Who kept preaching these
words: 'Do nothing without the bishop . . . , love unity, flee from divisions.
. . . [W]herever there is division and anger, God does not dwell. The Lord,
however, forgives all who repent, if their repentance leads to the unity
of God and to the council of the bishop."1
This unity is not to be seen as existing within the individual boundaries
of individual churches, each holding the same faith, but otherwise autonomous,
for, according to Ignatius, Christ established that "by means of His resurrection
He might raise aloft a banner for His saints and believers in every age,
whether among the Jews or among the gentiles, united in a single body in
His Church."2 This banner, raised aloft by Christ, and carried dutifully
by the bishops appointed under the auspices of the Apostolic succession through
His power and providence, would portray for all time the insignia of the
Faith that, through the believing in which, men can attain eternal salvation.
In short, wherever this banner flies, there is Christ, and "wherever Jesus
Christ is, there is the Catholic Church."3
We also find the recognition of the indispensable and clearly defined "Church"
- in which all who desire the Faith of Christ must receive it, through the
devoted adherence to the teachings of the Apostolic authorities, the bishops,
as the teachings of Christ Himself - reflected in the modes of address and
prayer of the early Church. The written account of the martyrdom of St. Polycarp
(ca. A.D. 155), related by the Smyrnaeans to the rest of the Catholic Church,
is addressed as follows: "The Church of God which sojourns in Smyrna, to
the Church of God which sojourns in Philomelium, and to all the dioceses
of the holy and Catholic Church…"4 Clement and Ignatius likewise address
their letters in this fashion, which is, moreover, the uniform method of
address among all the Early Fathers.
Just as the Faith is simple, consisting of exact beliefs and practices, the
nature of the Church's perceptible structure is likewise simple. It is not
an ethereal organization that defies definition, but rather, at least in
its visible character, is, for the Early Fathers as much as for the Fathers
of any other time period in the Church, an easily understood concept. It
was never perceived in a fragmented sense, but only in the sense that St.
Polycarp, awaiting his imminent death, expressed, as recounted in The
Martyrdom: "When finally Polycarp had finished his prayer, in which he
remembered everyone with whom he had ever been acquainted, the small and
the great, the renowned and the unknown, and the whole Catholic Church throughout
the world . . ."5 Just as the exact Faith in Christ must be universal, the
union of His followers, in order to follow that Faith, must be universal,
thus necessitating the term "Catholic," which means, precisely, "that which
is universal."
This universality of Church and Faith, inextricably linked in the same way
that the Apostles, when sitting at the feet of the Savior, could never separate
their Faith in Him from their union under Him, not only stretches across
all distances, but also through all time. The concepts of the "Church Militant"
and "Church Triumphant" are every bit as recognizable in the words of the
Early Church Fathers as in those of the doctors and saints of later centuries.
Hermas, the brother of Pope St. Pius I, wrote in his work The Shepherd (ca.
A.D. 140), "(The lady, who is the Church, addressed herself to Hermas and
said): 'Listen now concerning the stones which go into the building. The
stones which are square and white and which fit neatly into place, these
are the apostles and bishops and teachers and deacons who walked according
to the majesty of God. . . . Some of them have fallen asleep and some are
still alive. They always agreed among themselves . . . and that is why in
the building of the tower they fit neatly into place."6
Some have sought to portray the Early Church as a kind of melting pot of
ideology, wherein various understandings of belief and of the nature of the
Church coalesced into a cohesive body of thought, upon which the uniformity
of later eras was founded. As dominant as this theory has become in academic
circles, the historical record demonstrates a different reality. As is apparent
from the works cited above, the Early Church Fathers zealously held to the
doctrine that all who yearned for the kingdom of heaven must, without exception,
submit to the authority of one Faith and one government, both of which existing
as an unchanging and timeless foundation. Thus it must be, because it is
Christ Himself Who, according to the Early Fathers, operates through that
government and Faith. His authority exists in the authority of the bishops.
His Truth is the very same that is proclaimed and passed down throughout
the Church. St. Irenaeus treats this marriage of belief and authority throughout
his masterpiece, Against Heresies (ca. A.D. 190):
The Church, having
received this preaching and this faith, although she is disseminated throughout
the whole world, yet guarded it, as if she occupied but one house. She likewise
believes these things just as if she had but one soul and one and the same
heart; and harmoniously she proclaims them and teaches them and hands them
down, as if she possessed but one mouth. For, while the languages of the
world are diverse, nevertheless, the authority of the tradition is one and
the same. Neither do the churches among the Germans believe otherwise or
have another tradition, nor do those among the Iberians, nor among the Celts,
nor away in the East, nor in Egypt, nor in Libya. . . . But just as the sun,
that creature of God, is one and the same throughout the whole world, so
also the preaching of the truth shines everywhere. . . . Nor will any of
the rulers in the churches, whatever his power of eloquence, teach otherwise,
for no one is above the teacher; . . . [T]he faith is one and the same, and
cannot be amplified by one who is able to say much about it.7
The authority of
the Church receives both its potency and its unity from the reception and
safeguarding of the Faith held by those who came before. Only in holding
this "tradition" in "one and the same" manner can the Church maintain itself
as such. Not by their own wisdom or insight into the faith, but only in holding
the inherited "tradition" with "one soul" with their predecessors, can the
rulers of the Church possess the Faith, for it is only in this unity with
tradition that, through a continual process back to the beginning, the rulers
of the Church can be in unity with the teaching of Christ, and speak with
His same words. Given this proper adhesion to tradition, Irenaeus states,
"It is necessary to obey those who are the presbyters [priests] in the Church,
those who, as we have shown, have succession from the Apostles; those who
have received, with the succession of the episcopate, the sure charism of
truth according to the good pleasure of the Father. But the rest, who have
no part in the primitive succession and assemble wheresoever they will, must
be held in suspicion."8
Footnotes:
1 St. Ignatius of Antioch Epistle to the Philadelphians (ca. A.D.
110) 7.2 - 8.1
2 St. Ignatius of Antioch Epistle to the Smyrnaeans (ca. A.D.
110) 1.2 3 St. Ignatius of Antioch Epistle to the Smyrnaeans (ca. 110 A.D.)
8.2
4 The Martyrdom of Saint Polycarp (ca. A.D. 155) Address
5 The Martyrdom of Saint Polycarp (ca. A.D. 155) Address
6 Hermas The Shepherd (ca. A.D. 140) 3.5.1
7 St. Irenaeus Against Heresies (ca. A.D. 190) 1.10.2
8 St. Irenaeus Against Heresies (ca. A.D. 190) 4.26.2
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