Peace And Unity

Firmilianus Cypriano fratri, in Domino salutem.  Accepimus per Rogatianum charissimum nostrum diaconum a vobis missum litteras quas ad nos fecisti, frater delictissime; et gratias propter hoc Domino maximas egimus quod contigerit ut qui corpore ab invicem separamur sic spiritu adunemur quasi non unam tantum regionem tenentes, sed in ipsa atque in eadem domo simul inhabitantes. Quod et decet dicere, quia et spiritalis domus Dei una est. Erit enim in novissimis, ait Propheta, diebus manifestus mons Domini et domus Dei super vertices montium. In quam convenientes cum jucunditate adunantur, secundum quod et in Psalmo hoc posulatur a Domino inhabitare in domo Dei per omnes dies vitae. Unde et in alio loco manifestum est esse apud sanctos magnam voluntatis charitatem in unum convenire. Ecce inquit, quam bonum et voluptabile est ut habitent fratres in unum.  Adunatio enim et pax et concordia, non solum hominibus fidelibus et cognoscentibus veritatem, sed et angelisipsis coelestibus voluptatem maximam praestat, quibus dicit sermo divinus esse gaudium in uno peccatore poenitentiam agente et ad unitatis vinculum revertente. Quod utique non diceretur de angelis conversationem in coelis habentibus, nisi ipsi quoque essent nobis adunati, qui nostra adunatione laetantur; sicut e contrario utique contristantur, quando vident diversas quorumdam mentes et scissas voluntates, quasi non tantum unum et eumdem Deum simul invocent, sed separatis et divisas ab invicem nec confabulatio jam possit esse aut sermo communis. Epistola Firmilani Episcopi Caesarae Cappadociae ad Cyprianum Source: Migne PL 3.1154-56

Firmilian to his brother Cyprian, greetings in the Lord. We have received by Rogatian, our beloved deacon, the letter you wrote and sent to us, well-beloved brother, and on account of it we gave the greatest thanks to the Lord, because thus it may be that we who are separated from one another in body are thus united in spirit, as if we were not only occupying the same country, but living together in the same house. Which it is also fitting for us to say because the spiritual house of God is one. 'For it shall come to pass in the last days,' says the Prophet, 'that the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, and the house of God above the tops of the mountains.' 1 Those that come together into this house are united with gladness, according to what is asked from the Lord in the Psalm: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of one's life. 2 Whence in another place it is made clear that among the saints there is great loving wish to come together as one. 'Behold,' he says, 'how good and pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together as one.' 3 For unity and peace and concord, not only to faithful men who know the truth, but even to the angels of heaven themselves, give the greatest pleasure, to whom the Divine word says it is a joy when one sinner repents and returns to the bond of unity. But certainly this could not be said of the angels who have their dwelling place in heaven, unless they themselves were also united to us, who rejoice in our unity, as, on the other hand, they are certainly distressed when they see the diverse minds and the divided wills of some, who not only fail to invoke one and the same God together, but as if separated and divided from one another, cannot even have a common conversation or discourse. From the letter of the bishop Firmilian to Saint Cyprian of Carthage 1 Isai 2.2 2 Ps 22.6 3 Ps 132.1