On the Unity of the Catholic Church · §5 · Cyprian of Carthage

The Church's unity shown by natural images

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, is addressing the bishops who preside in the Church, urging them to hold and defend the Church's unity.

We must hold firmly to this unity and defend it, especially we bishops who preside in the Church, so that we may prove that the episcopate itself is also one and undivided. Let no one deceive the brotherhood with a lie; let no one corrupt the faith of truth by a treacherous violation. The episcopate is one, and each bishop holds his part in solidum. The Church is one, yet she extends into a multitude more widely by the increase of her fruitfulness. Just as there are many rays of the sun but one light, and many branches of a tree but one trunk grounded in a tenacious root, and just as many streams flow from one spring—though the number seems spread out by the abundance of the overflowing plenty, unity is still preserved in the source—so it is with the Church. Tear a ray from the body of the sun: the unity of the light does not admit a division of its light. Break a branch from the tree: once broken, it will not be able to sprout. Cut a stream from the spring: once cut, it dries up. In the same way, the Church of the Lord, flooded with light, stretches out her rays through the whole world. Yet there is one light that is poured out everywhere, and the unity of the body is not separated. She extends her branches over the whole earth in the abundance of her richness, and spreads her flowing streams far and wide. Yet there is one head and one source and one mother, rich in the successes of her fruitfulness. From her womb we are born; by her milk we are nourished; by her Spirit we are given life.

Latin

Quam unitatem tenere firmiter et uindicare debemus, maxime episcopi qui in ecclesia praesidemus, ut episcopatum quoque ipsum unum adque indiuisum probemus. nemo fraternitatem mendacio fallat, nemo fidem ueritatis perfida praeuaricatione corrumpat. episcopatus unus est, cuius a singulis in solidum pars tenetur. ecclesia una est quae in multitudinem latius incremento fecunditatis extenditur, quomodo solis multi radii sed lumen unum, et rami arboris multi sed robur unum tenaci radice fundatum, et cum de fonte uno riui plurimi defluunt, numerositas licet diffusa uideatur exundantis copiae largitate, unitas tamen seruatur in origine. auelle radium solis a corpore, diuisionem lucis unitas non capit: ab arbore frange ramum, fractus germinare non poterit: a fonte praecide riuum, praecisus arescit. sic et ecclesia Domini luce perfusa per orbem totum radios suos porrigit: unum tamen lumen est quod ubique diffunditur, nec unitas corporis separatur. ramos suos in uniuersam terram copia ubertatis extendit, profluentes largiter riuos latius pandit: unum tamen caput est et origo una et una mater fecunditatis successibus copiosa: illius fetu nascimur, illius lacte nutrimur, spiritu eius animamur.

About this text

Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, writes in 251 against the Novatian schism: the Church Christ founded is one and cannot be divided.

Cyprian of Carthage (c. 200–258) wrote this treatise as bishop of Carthage, addressing the faithful brethren and especially the bishops who preside in the Church. He composed it in 251 to warn Christians against schism and heresy, which he regarded as a subtler and more dangerous attack by the devil than open persecution, and to defend the unity of the Church against those who had broken away from it.

The immediate occasion was the schism of Novatian, which had been stirred up in part by Novatus and other presbyters of Cyprian's own church. Cyprian wrote to keep the Carthaginians from following the breakaway movement. He argues that the Church is one and indivisible, founded by Christ upon Peter as the single source of its unity, and that this unity is preserved through the one episcopate. Schismatics and heretics, even if they claim the name of Christian and suffer death, are cut off from the Church and cannot be saved.

A reader will meet Peter, the apostle upon whom Christ founded the Church, and Paul and John, whose letters and Gospel are quoted on unity, love, and those who went out from the Church. Old Testament figures such as Korah, Dathan, Abiram, Uzziah, Aaron, Ahijah, Rahab, Solomon, and Judas appear as examples of rebellion, division, or prefigurations of the Church. The Lord, Paul, John, the Holy Spirit, Ahijah the prophet, and Scripture all speak in the treatise.

New English from the Latin base text; no published English used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from CSEL 3.1 (1868) (Latin)

This work has passed this project's source check. This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.