Past And Present Divisions

Nemo existimet bonos de Ecclesia posse discedere: triticum non rapit ventus, nec arborem solida radice fundatam procella subvertit; inanes paleae tempestate jactantur, invalidae arbores turbinis incursione evertuntur. Hos execratur et percutit Joannes apostolus dicens: Ex nobis exierunt, sed non fuerunt ex nobis: si enim fuissent ex nobis, mansissent utique nobiscum. Hinc haereses et factae sunt frequenter et fiunt, dum perversa mens non habet pacem, dum perfidia discordans non tenet unitatem. Fieri vero haec Dominus permittit et patitur, manente propriae libertatis arbitrio, ut, dum corda nostra et mentes nostras veritatis discrimen examinat, probatorum fides integra manifesta luce clarescat. Per Apostolum praemonet Spiritus sanctus et dicit: Oportet haereses esse, ut probati manifesti sint in vobis. Sic probantur fideles, sic perfidi deteguntur. Sic et ante judicii diem hic quoque jam justorum atque injustorum animae dividuntur, et a frumento paleae separantur. Hi sunt qui se ultro apud temerarios convenas sine divina dispositione praeficiunt, qui, se praepositos sine ulla ordinationis lege constituunt, qui, nemine episcopatum dante, episcopi sibi nomen assumunt; quos designat in Psalmis Spiritus sanctus sedentes in pestilentiae cathedra, pestes et lues fidei, serpentis ore fallentes, et corrumpendae veritatis artifices, venena lethalia linguis pestiferis evomentes; quorum sermo ut cancer serpit, quorum tractatus pectoribus et cordibus singulorum mortale virus infundit. Sanctus Cyprianus, Liber De Unitate Ecclesiae Source: Migne PL 4.507a-c

Let no one think that those who are good can depart from the Church. The wind does not carry off the wheat, nor does the storm uproot the tree which has a firm root. Light straws are thrown about by the tempest, weak trees are overthrown by the blows of the gale. The Apostle John execrates and strikes these, saying, 'They went forth from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, certainly they would have remained with us.' 1 Hence heresies have not only often been made, but are made, while the perverse mind has no peace, while a discordant faithlessness does not hold to unity. But the Lord permits and suffers these things to be, while the choice of one's own liberty remains, so that while the discrimination of truth is examining our hearts and minds, the sound faith of the approved may shine forth with manifest light. Through the Apostle the Holy Spirit gives forewarning and says, 'It is necessary that there be heresies, so that the approved may be made manifest among you.' 2 Thus the faithful are approved, thus the perfidious are exposed. Thus even here, before the day of judgment, the souls of the righteous and of the unrighteous are already divided, and the chaff is separated from the wheat. These are men who of their own accord, without any Divine arrangement, set themselves up to preside over reckless assemblies, who appoint themselves prelates without any law of ordination, who assume to themselves the name of bishop although no one gives them the episcopate, who in the Psalms the Holy Spirit points to as sitting in the seat of pestilence, 3 of plagues and corruptions of the faith, deceiving with the serpent's tongue and adept in the corruption of the truth, vomiting forth deadly poisons from toxic tongues, whose speech creeps like a cancer, 4 whose sermons pour into the hearts and breasts of each one a deadly poison. Saint Cyprian of Carthage, On The Unity Of the Church 1 1 Jn 2.19 2 1 Cor 11.19 3 Ps 1.1 4 2 Tim 2.7