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Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

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206 THE FIRST AGE OF THE MARTYR CHURCH.each other, but herself distinguished and unmistakableamong them all ? We think the epistles<strong>of</strong> S. Ignatius furnish us with a reply to this ques-tion. As we have seen above, he views the Churchin each place as a community closely bound togetherunder a spiritual government which issummed up in the bishop, while the bishops intheir several dioceses are as closely linked toeach other, and all form one society, wherein isJesus Christ. And these two truths are not separatedIfrom each other, but the unity <strong>of</strong> thepart is deduced from the unity <strong>of</strong> the whole, andis subordinate to it. See, first, with what forcehe states the unity <strong>of</strong> the diocese.30 " Avoid divisions,as the beginning <strong>of</strong> evils. Follow all <strong>of</strong>you the bishop as Jesus Christ the Father, andthe presbytery as the Apostles, and reverence thedeacons as God's command. Let no one withoutthe bishop do aught <strong>of</strong> what appertains to theChurch. Let that be deemed a sure Eucharistwhich is under the bishop, or under him"whohas the bishop's authority for it. Wherever thebishop appears, there let the multitude (<strong>of</strong> thefaithful) be." But this strict unity <strong>of</strong> the dioceseis derived from that <strong>of</strong> the whole Church ; ffor he adds as the reason <strong>of</strong> the foregoing, "justas wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the CatholicChurch."31 This is the first time when the word30 Ad Smyrn. vii.31 Compare with this expression <strong>of</strong> S. Ignatius that <strong>of</strong> the Church <strong>of</strong>

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