3. According to the conception of the Church of the first centuries, unity was locally constituted by association in acts of communion with God (especially in the Eucharistic synaxis), and by recognition of the authority representing the discipline of the Church ; cecumenically, it was constituted by intercom- munion, evidenced by reception on the part of each local community of the formatoe (commendatory letters) of the rest, by homologation of each other's discipline, by the encyclical
letters of their respective chief pastors, and later by common Conciliar action. It was jealously a unity in the faith, but not necessarily in identity of expression of the faith ; the Creed, as repeated in different Churches, was not in all verbally the same. It was a unity in moral obedience, but not a uniformity in ceremony or custom : each Church ordered its own liturgy, and determined its own ritual and usage ; wide differences might exist in practices, e.g. of fast and festival (Eus. v. 24 — Polycarp and Anicetus, IreniBus and Victor). Such differences were held only to demonstrate identity in the faith : ' in una lide nihil ofticit sanct* ecclesiaj consuetude diversa' (Greg, ad Leandi:, quoted by Bingham ; see also his letter to Aug. of Cant, in Bede, Hist.). For the sojourner or incomer to scruple at local custom in things indifferent, or to abstain from the common worship on account of unfamiliar details, was in itself a schis- matic act (Aug. ad Januar., ib.).
In the earlier stages of the Church's life, government by bishops and presbyters in one local conununity could coexist with government by college of presbyters in another, without offence to either ; Antioch, Ephesus, Smyrna communicated with Rome and Corinth. Ignatius addresses the collegiate Church at Rome as cordially as he does the monepiscopal else- where. Clement has no criticism for the absence of a bishop at Corinth, but only for insubordination to its presbyters. Churches autocephalous (externally independent of each other) might exercise large discretion in internal arrangement, yet recognize each other's sacraments and discipline. The centre of unity was in heaven, not on earth. It was a unity as that of Hellas, rather than as that of the Empire. Local Churches were ' as bays of the one sea.' Unity was essentially maintained when interconmiunion was maintained. Schism was the inter- ruption of communion : ' schismaticos facit, non diversa fides, sed disrupta communionis societas' (Aug., quoted by Sprott, Macleod Led. ' Schism,' p. 2).
As for local unity, the safeguard of that was the recognized principle that only one valid ecclesiastical authority could exist in the same community ; latterly, that only one bishop could validlj' occupy one seat, that presbyters could not act validly without him, and that the flock should communicate with him in sacraments and prayer. The worst form of schism was held to be the violation of this rule, as it produced sect within the same area, and led to the setting up of ' altar against altar '^a greater evil than interruption of communion between one local Church and another, as civil war is a greater evil than war between State and State. The converse responsibility was equally recognized : that no uncatholic or heretical term of communion should be locally imposed or required between Church and Church. In the case of that being done, the schism was held to be on the part of the authoritj- imposing such terms, or of the Church requiring them. Thus Firmilian writes (with reference to the excommunication by Stephen of Rome of those who disallowed the baptism of heretics) : ' While thou thinkest that all may be excommunicated by thee, thou hast excommunicated thyself alone from all ' (Epp. of Cyprian, Ixxv., Oxf. tr. p. 284).
4. It was to this latter principle that the Reformers generally appealed, as justifying in Catholic order their action in reclaim- ing the autonomy of national Churches, and in continuing their administration independently of the Roman See ; which they regarded as a ' tyranny,' under which impossible terms of com- munion were schismatically demanded. As to schism generally, the Reformers maintained the traditional doctrine, and Calvin's view may be taken as typical : ' Such is the value which the Lord sets on the communion of His Church, that all who con- tumaciously alienate themselves from any Christian society in which the true ministry of His word and Sacraments is main- tained, He regards as deserters of religion ' (Inst. iv.).
5. The modern tendency is to recognize that responsibility for divisions has generally been a diffused responsibilitj', and that a distinction is to be drawn between that of the authors of separation and of the inheritors of positions of confusion which personally they have not created ; to accept the essential validity of the conceptions of unity which guided the Church in its inception, while recognizing the difficulty of return to their practice ; and to welcome the efforts of those who desire to be called ' repairers of the breach, restorers of paths for men to dwell in.' See, further, artt. Church, Communion, Oneness.
Literature. — Augustine, de unitate Ecclesice ; Ambrose, Epistles; Calvin, Institutes, iv. ; Bacon, Essays, 'Of Unity in Religion'; Barrow, Of the Unit>/ of the Church; Bingham, Ant. xvi.; Archp. Wake, Letters; Walker, Scot. Theol.; Durham, on 'Scandal,' 16.59, Com. on Revelation, 1660 ; Boston, Serm. on 'Schism'; Wood of St. Andrews, Works, 1664; Ferguson, 'Sermon before the Synod of Fife,' 1653; Rutherford, 'Due right of Presbyteries,' 1644 ; Bp. A. P. Forbes, A'icene Creed ; Sprott, Macleod Lecture, 1902 ; Lightfoot, Apostolic Fathers ; Gore, Body of Christ; Dale, 'The Idea of the Church' in Essays and Addresses, and ' The Unity of the Church ' (Led. XV.) in Ephesians ; Fairbairn, Christ in Modern Theology, 513 ff. ; Denney, Stud, in Theol. 186 ff. ; Lindsay, Church and Ministry, ion. H. J. WOTHERSPOON.