St. Clement to the Corinthians

[HomeAtLast]

Why, then are there strifes, tumults, divisions, schisms, and wars among you? Have we not one God and one Christ? Is there not one Spirit of grace poured out upon us? And have we not one calling in Christ? Why do we divide and tear to pieces the members of Christ, and raise up strife against our own body and have reached such a height of madness as to forget that "we are members of one another" (Eph 4:25)? Remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, how He said, "woe to the man by whom offenses come! It were better for him that he had never been born, than that he should cast a stumbling-block before one of My elect. Yea, it were better for him that a millstone should be hung about his neck, and he should be sunk in the depths of the sea, than that he should cast a stumbling-block before one of My little ones" (cf. Mt 18:6-7). Your schism has subverted the faith of many, has discouraged many, has given rise to doubt in many, and has caused grief to us all. And still your sedition continues.

In my opinion this letter applies here today on this board as much as it did in the first century when St. Clement wrote it.

Blessings to you all,
Ann

[Pietro]

"You , therefore, who laid the foundation of the rebellion, submit to the presbyters and be chhastened to repentance, bending the knees in a spirit of humility."



And then Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons 180-200 A.D.

2. Since, however, it would be very tedious, in such a volume as this, to reckon up the successions of all the Churches, we do put to confusion all those who, in whatever manner, whether by an evil self-pleasing, by vainglory, or by blindness and perverse opinion, assemble in unauthorized meetings; [we do this, I say,] by indicating that tradition derived from the apostles, of the very great, the very ancient, and universally known Church founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul; as also [by pointing out] the faith preached to men, which comes down to our time by means of the successions of the bishops. For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church, on account of its pre- eminent authority,(3) that is, the faithful everywhere, inasmuch as the apostolical tradition has been preserved continuously by those [faithful men] who exist everywhere.

www.ccel.org/fathers/ANF-01/iren/iren3.html