The Unity of the Church

In the mid-third century, the Roman empire carried out a great persecution against the Church, which lasted for years. Many were martyred, while others apostatized openly. After the persecution subsided, those who lapsed asked that the Church grant them forgiveness. The faithful got divided in their respect. Some accepted them immediately. Some ruled that their apostasy was unforgivable. There were also some, with whom was Saint Cyprian of Carthage, who thought that they should be left some span of life to prove their repentance. From the legacy of those years, there is Cyprian’s treatise “On the Unity of the Church”, in which he responded to those who were driven by their opposition to him to separate themselves from the catholic church, and declare themselves to be the "Pure Church”. In his book, he said: “No one can have God for his Father, who has not the Church for his mother”. He also said: “he who has no love, has no God”. Who would grant us the eloquence of the saints as salvation for every day?