St. Ignatius of Antioch said; “Since, also, there is but one unbegotten Being, God, even the Father; and one only-begotten Son, God, the Word and man; and one Comforter, the Spirit of truth; and also one preaching, and one faith, and one baptism;
Eph. iv. 5. and one Church which the holy apostles established from one end of the earth to the other by the blood of Christ, and by their own sweat and toil; it behoves you also, therefore, as “a peculiar people, and a holy nation,” Tit. ii. 14; 1 Pet. ii. 9 to perform all things with harmony in Christ.”
Do we sound unified? It doesn’t to me. The early fathers of the Church would know how Christians should live and worship.
Again he says; “Take ye heed, then, to have but one Eucharist. For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup to [show forth904904 Literally, “into.” ] the unity of His blood; one altar”
The message here is unity. There was no “reformation” in the 1500’s but a great schism, where many left the Church of Christ.
St. Irenaeus also; "The Church, though dispersed through our the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith: [She believes] in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations “Of God” is added from the old Latin of God, and the advents, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and His [future] manifestation from heaven in the glory of the Father “to gather all things in one,” Eph. i. 10. and to raise up anew all flesh of the whole human race, in order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Saviour, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, “every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess” Phil. ii. 10, 11. to Him, and that He should execute just judgment towards all; that He may send “spiritual wickednesses,” Eph. vi. 12. and 331 the angels who transgressed and became apostates, together with the ungodly, and unrighteous, and wicked, and profane among men, into everlasting fire; but may, in the exercise of His grace, confer immortality on the righteous, and holy, and those who have kept His commandments, and have persevered in His love, some from the beginning [of their Christian course], and others from [the date of] their repentance, and may surround them with everlasting glory.
- As I have already observed, the Church, having received this preaching and this faith, although scattered throughout the whole world, yet, as if occupying but one house, carefully preserves it. She also believes these points [of doctrine] just as if she had but one soul, and one and the same heart, and she proclaims them, and teaches them, and hands them down, with perfect harmony, as if she possessed only one mouth. For, although the languages of the world are dissimilar, yet the import of the tradition is one and the same."
The Church of the New Testament did not end with the end of the Scriptures. The Church is the one who brought us the Scriptures, safe from the heresies of the day. The recurring theme in most all the writings is unity. There is but one Church that can trace it’s lineage all the way back to Christ and there have been no departures from the faith along that line. This is the unity that Christ wanted, the One True Church, established by Christ on the rock of St. Peter.
ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.v.vi.iv.html
ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.ix.ii.xi.html