§ 51. The Unity of the Church

As there is one head of the Church, Jesus Christ, so the Church, which is His body, must be one. Spread throughout the whole world, she presents to us today several regional churches, composed of different peoples with their own particular national characteristics and under different political arrangements, and consequently also many regional churches differing in the form of their local organization and having independent administration. This difference among the regional churches has existed since the first times of Christianity, and will always exist, because the Church, by her institution, is destined for all peoples of all times and places. But despite all this, she is nonetheless today just as one as she was in the apostolic age. That unity of the Church, by its very essence, can only be spiritual. If the Church, as indeed she is, is a spiritual kingdom, then her unity too can and must be only spiritual, and it will express itself visibly in the unity of the faith, which all who wish to be in the Church must unconditionally confess; it will express itself in the unity of the spirit, which must equally animate all; it will express itself further in the equality of authority, which the superiors of the regional churches will exercise, in one spirit and according to the common laws of the universal Church; and finally in this, that they must all act in concord and in one determined direction in their own churches. As a spiritual kingdom, the Church cannot have one earthly head, in whom all ecclesiastical authority would be concentrated, for the Founder of the Church gave to all His apostles equal rights of authority, and hence, of necessity, that authority must be divided among those who succeeded the apostles and who are the superiors of the various regional churches.[1] In the unity, then, of the faith among the regional churches, in the unity of spirit among them, in their mutual intercourse conducted according to laws and ecclesiastical practice, in their concordant action along a canonically prescribed course—in this consists the unity of the universal Church. The patristic teaching on this, and the practice of the Church of all ages, confirms this. The most authoritative teacher on the question of the unity of the Church is Cyprian of Carthage of the 3rd century. In his treatise “de unitate ecclesiae”, after setting forth the chief marks of the unity of the Church as the Apostle Paul teaches on this, we read: “This unity we must firmly hold and defend, especially we bishops, who preside in the Church, so as to show that the episcopate itself is one and undivided. Let no one deceive the brethren with a lie; let no one undermine the truth of the faith by a faithless betrayal of his duty. The episcopate is one, of which each and all together hold a full part; so too the Church is one, even though by the increase of her fruitfulness she spreads and divides into parts.”[2] “Christ founded one Church, though it is divided into many parts throughout the whole world; hence too comes the one episcopate, which is composed of many bishops who think alike.”[3] “The catholic Church is one, indivisible and undivided, and accordingly must be joined into one whole by the mutual bond of the hierarchs.”[4] Irenaeus of Lyons says: “The superiors of the Church, to whom the whole world is entrusted, firmly guard the apostolic tradition, and thereby show us that all hold one and the same faith, that all confess one and the same Father, that they acknowledge one and the same purpose of the Incarnation, one and the same spiritual gifts; they are guided by one and the same laws in ecclesiastical administration and in the performance of the respective ecclesiastical offices.”[5] Alexander of Alexandria, in his encyclical letter to all bishops, writes: “To all of us together, and to each of us separately, is entrusted one body of the universal Church, and it is commanded to us that we all be united among ourselves by the bond of peace and love.”[6]

In this sense, that is, acknowledging Christ as the head of the Church, and that the episcopate is one, in which each has an equal full share, the unity of the Church is preserved by the superiors of the regional churches through those means which the Church herself has established for this purpose. And in the first place this occurs through the intercourse among the regional churches—not so much that one informs another of local affairs, or for the sake of mutual respect, but chiefly so that, with a common and general voice, they may pronounce their judgment on more important matters that may concern all the churches. Already in the apostolic age such intercourse took place, although the apostles were the supreme and independent administrators of their respective churches, which they themselves, one or another, had founded. By means of such intercourse we know that the laws established at the councils of one or another regional church were spread throughout all the churches. Disagreements on questions of faith, canonical questions, matters that could concern the whole Church, and even the election and installation of church superiors—especially in more important places—all this was the occasion for the respective regional churches at once to enter into relations with one another. Newly installed senior bishops, after their ordination, sent encyclical letters to other bishops, so as to attest thereby their spiritual communion with them, confessing the same faith and preserving the fundamental laws of the Church. This was done in the first centuries of the Church, and it is done today as well. But when these relations among the regional churches become especially important, and where the unity of the Church is especially vividly shown, is in questions that arise in matters of faith, and when the voice of the universal Church needs to be heard. If a universal (ecumenical) council cannot be convened, then the respective regional church takes the first step in the question raised, and the other churches express their assent, and the respective answer, expressed in the name of the whole episcopate, appears as the common voice of the whole Church.[7] Besides this, the unity of the Church is also emphasized and preserved by the fact that the rights, institutions, and lawful acts of each individual regional church are recognized and honored by all the other churches. He who is baptized in one Orthodox regional church becomes a member of all the others, and thereby a member of the universal Church, for everywhere he is received into communion and everywhere he has the right to be made worthy of the holy mysteries. On the contrary, he who is excommunicated in one church cannot be received into another, and he who has fallen away from his own church is considered an apostate from the universal Church as well.[8] The precepts of the general ecclesiastical legislation, the customs and traditions preserved from apostolic times—all these all the regional churches are bound in common to preserve without distinction, and every departure from these general precepts on the part of one church is at once exposed, even should it touch only such questions as do not even concern faith and morals, but only disciplinary or ritual matters.[9] Only under the condition of this unity does the universal Church recognize self-government for the respective regional churches, which for their part, under oath, bind themselves to preserve it according to the canonical precepts.[10]

CHAPTER TWO. The Church Organism.