THE HISTORIC EPISCOPATE AS THE GUARDIAN OF CHRISTIAN UNITY

By Cheryl H. White, Ph.D.

"He that holds not the unity of the Church, does he believe that he holds the faith? He who strives against and resists the Church, is he confident that he is in the Church?" — St. Cyprian of Carthage, Third Century

In the above text, St. Cyprian is writing about the episcopal office — the bishop — and his duty to represent the unity of the Body of Christ. Today, the latest discussions arising from the divisiveness within the Episcopal Church reverberate again, not surprisingly, with a lack of understanding or appreciation for history.

The early Church insisted upon the episcopacy as a means of administering the growing church catholic and preserving a common orthodoxy. St. Ignatius of Antioch, writing at the end of the first century, told the faithful that no Eucharist or Baptism could be performed if the bishop was not present. St. Ignatius urged bishops to be "inseparable from Jesus Christ and the ordinance of the Apostles."

St. Cyprian wrote that the bishop, his sacrifices and prayers, were effectual only as long as "he remains faithful and leads a holy life." He stressed that the bishops themselves represent the unity to be enjoyed within the whole Body of Christ, noting this unity was manifested in "united conferences and mutual recognition."

If the very essence of Christian unity requires the common consent of the greater communion of the faithful, then we face troubles today of historic and epic proportions. The Episcopal Church and the greater Anglican Communion has been divided, not united, over recent developments.

Whatever form future rhetoric in this debate may take, there is one logical conclusion that surely all can agree upon — what divides us cannot unite us.

Dr. Cheryl White is a professor of history at Louisiana State University in Shreveport. Her major fields of study are church history and the history of dogmatic theology.

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