Apostles and Brothers

Legimus in libro qui apostolorum Actibus inscribitur, tantam sub memoratis viris devotionem plebis fuisse, ita populi Christiani floruisse primitas, ut post acceptam fidem nemo domum propriam defenderet, et nemo suum aliquid vindicaret, sed jure fraternitatis essent illis cuncta communia; scilicet, ut qui eodem consortio religionis tenebantur, eodem consortio fruerentur et vita; hoc est, ut quibus  erat una fides, esset et una substantia; et quibus erat communis Christus, communis esset et sumptus. Nefas enim putabant religioso viri eum sibi participem non asciscere in substantia, qui particeps esset in gratia, atque ideo fraternitatis caritate omnibus communiter utebantur, nisi quod major esset fraternitas Christi quam sanguinis; sanguinis enim fraternitas similitudinem tantummodo corporis refert: Christi autem fraternitas unanimitatem cordis demonstrat: sciut scriptum est: 'Erat autem credentium cor et anima una. Vere ergo ille frater est qui non tam corpore quam unanimitate germanus est: verus, inquam, est frater, cujus idem spiritus et voluntas in fratre est; melior igitur est, sicut dixi, fraternitas Christi quam sanguinis. Sanguinis fraternitas interdum sibi inimica est, Christi autem fraternitas sine intermissione pacifica est; illa inter se communia cum aemulatione dividit, haec etiam propria cum gratulatione communicat; illa in consortio despicit saepe germanum, haec assumit frequenter alienum. Tanta ergo, sicut dixi, illo tempore Christianae plebis devotio fuit, ut nemo domum suam diceret, nemo proprium aliquid vindicaret; sicut ait S. Lucas: Et nemo quidquam ex eo quod possidebat suum esse dicebat; sed erant illis omnia communia; nemo enim, inquam, erat egens inter ipsos. Beata igitur plebs, quae dum plures in Christo habet divites, nullum in saeculo habuit indigentem; et quae dum aeternas cogitat divitias, a fratribus temporalem repulit paupertatem. Sanctus Maximus Taurinensis, Homilia CVIII

We read in the book which is entitled the Acts of the Apostles, that such was the devotion of the people in the memory of men, that when the first Christian people flourished, after the reception of the faith no one held back his own house and no one laid claim his own things, but beneath the law of fraternity everything was common among them, 1 so that as they held to the same association in faith, so the same company was benefited in life, that is, as there was among them one faith, so there was one substance, as to them Christ was in common, so goods were common among them. For it is wrong to think concerning the pious man that he is no sharer of goods, who is a sharer of grace; and therefore by love of brotherhood they use everything in common, for greater is the fraternity of Christ than blood; for fraternal blood bears similar relation to the body, as the brotherhood of Christ to unanimity of heart; as it is written, 'There was of the faithful one heart and soul.' 1 Truly, therefore, he is a brother who is not so much in body but in unanimity. The true brother, I say, is the brother of whom the same spirit and will is in his brother. Better, then, so I say, is the brotherhood of Christ than of blood. Fraternal blood may at times be hostile, the brotherhood of Christ is ever peaceful; in the former things in common are divided amid envy, in the latter these things of one's own are given with joy; the first association often despises a sibling, the second frequently embraces a stranger. Such then was in that time, I say,  the devotion of the Christian people, that no one spoke up for his own house, no one laid claim to his own property, as Saint Luke says, 'And no one from what he possessed named his own, but everything was common to all.'  1 For no one, I say, was needy among them. Blessed then the people who while they have much wealth in Christ, no one in the world has need, and while he thinks of eternal things from brothers he wards off temporal poverty. Saint Maximus of Turin, from Homily 108 1.Acts 4.32