Cyprian, On the Unity of the Church, pt 4

5. And this unity we ought firmly to hold and assert, especially those of us that are bishops who preside in the Church, that we may also prove the episcopate itself to be one and undivided.  Let no one deceive the brotherhood by a falsehood: let no one corrupt the truth of the faith by perfidious prevarication. The episcopate is one, each part of which is held by each one for the whole.

The Church also is one, which is spread abroad far and wide into a multitude by an increase of fruitfulness. As there are many rays of the sun, but one light; and many branches of a tree, but one strength based in its tenacious root; and since from one spring flow many streams, although the multiplicity seems diffused in the liberality of an overflowing abundance, yet the unity is still preserved in the source.  Separate a ray of the sun from its body of light, its unity does not allow a division of light; break a branch from a tree,—when broken, it will not be able to bud; cut off the stream from its fountain, and that which is cut off dries up.

Thus also the Church, shone over with the light of the Lord, sheds forth her rays over the whole world, yet it is one light which is everywhere diffused, nor is the unity of the body separated. Her fruitful abundance spreads her branches over the whole world. She broadly expands her rivers, liberally flowing, yet her head is one, her source one; and she is one mother, plentiful in the results of fruitfulness: from her womb we are born, by her milk we are nourished, by her spirit we are animated.

In par. 4 of the treatise, Cyprian argued that the unity of the church was made manifest in the unity which began with Jesus' saying to Peter:  on this rock I will build my church.  But lest you think that Cyprian unambiguously supported a further primacy of Peter (and hence of the bishop of Rome), he then wrote of how there is an equality among the Apostles after Pentecost:

...to all the apostles, after His resurrection, He gives an equal power, and says, “As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you: Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they shall be remitted unto him; and whose soever sins ye retain, they shall be retained;” yet, that He might set forth unity, He arranged by His authority the origin of that unity, as beginning from one.

Assuredly the rest of the apostles were also the same as was Peter, endowed with a like partnership both of honour and power; but the beginning proceeds from unity.

So suppose you call yourself a catholic Christian, or you are at least a bit taken with the idea that the church on earth has some sort of structure which you believe Jesus would like it to have.  A good part of that would have to do, in Cyprian's eyes (and the eyes of many early Christians) with the unity to be found in the bishops of the churches.  Yet one might bluntly ask:  so are the Anglican bishops united?  In Cyprian's day he saw it as important:  "And this unity we ought firmly to hold and assert, especially those of us that are bishops who preside in the Church, that we may also prove the episcopate itself to be one and undivided."  Well, it might be one and undivided on paper, but surely there were "divisions", no?  In many ways there were divisions, there were opinions, and there were personalities. 

But there was something else:  a visible unity and mutual recognition of office, authority and ministry.  Sometimes we hear that "a bishop is a bishop for the whole church".  Some of the thinking behind that can be seen in Cyprian:  "The episcopate is one, each part of which is held by each one for the whole."  That is to say, being a bishop in a particular church context does not mean that you are autonomous.  It does not mean that you need not respond to, be accountable to, and even occasionally challenge, your fellow bishops.  In Cyprian's language, the bishop holds his office "for the whole" - that is, for the whole church, the whole people of God.  A bishop is not merely a local governor.  If a bishop (or a fellowship/Communion) is to be 'catholic' in that sense of the word, its bishops must first and foremost consider their ministry to be "for the whole" of the church.

Now I'm not nearly as smart as many Anglicans who think and write deeply on these things.  But it seems to me that this is one area where some bishops in the Anglican Communion could, by the grace of God, do a little better.  Or perhaps, they might ask themselves, how am I serving the whole of the church?  It seems to me that we have remade episcopal ministry along the lines of contemporary political models.  A bishop governs a state, or a province, or a municipality, and is answerable only to "his own" constituents.

But to Cyprian at least, the bishop's "constituents" are in one important sense, the whole people of God, where ever they might be found.

previous posts:  intro, part 1, part 2, part 3

Comments

[Tom]

Thanks Joe for this series on Unity & the church - lots to ponder over especially with us folks in the Diocese of New West at this time.

Dr. Jim Packer wrote an interesting essay prior to Lambeth 98 "Unity and Truth: The Anglican Agony"*

"Summary
The older Anglican churches of the Western world are deeply divided and starting to split over questions of truth raised by the policies and pressures that flow from their mainly liberal leadership.The historic concept of Anglican comprehensiveness as liberty of opinion on secondary matters within a stable framework of worship, discipline and agreement on fundamentals has ceased to apply. The New Testament ascribes to the church a given unity in Christ that is bounded by Christ-centred truth, but within Anglicanism this is being eroded. The only hope for recovery lies in a moratorium on hasty constitutional changes where concensus is lacking,sustained adherence to the hitoric orthodoxy that centres on the Trinity and the incarnation, and co-operative labour in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ."

Dr. Packer then expands under sections titled Crisis,Ambiguity, Agony, Unity, Truth and Hope
"The Anglican family is in a state of internal schism, and there can be no recovery of biblical unity among us further than there is a recovery of the biblical truths that are unity's basic bond."

Well said Dr. Packer!

* "Grace & Truth in the secular age" edited by Timothy Bradshaw c1998 Wm. B. Erdmans Publishing Co. Grand Rapids Michigan ISBN 0-8028-4343-3
Regent College Vancouver bookstore had a number of copies

[Preston]

"A bishop is not merely a local governor."

Ouch.

[Tom]

On the other hand the Anglican Journal has an editorial by Keith Knight & a report from ++Fred that all is ok and this kurfluffel is just a speed bump on the journey of the Anglican Church (my words).
I must ponder all this conflicting information.