Schism
When the Church tears not over doctrine but over who holds the keys
Schism is a breach of the Church's visible unity over discipline or jurisdiction rather than over doctrine. The Novatianist and Donatist controversies forced the Fathers to clarify the nature of the Church's unity and whether sacraments given outside it remained valid. Cyprian's On the Unity of the Church and Augustine's anti-Donatist writings became foundational, distinguishing schism from heresy and wrestling with how the one Church relates to those who break away.
How it traveled
- The Epistles of Cyprian.Carthage · 258explains
- The First Ecumenical Council: The First Council of NiceNicaea · 325applies
- The Church History of EusebiusCaesarea · 339explains
- The Life of Constantine with Orations of Constantine and EusebiusCaesarea · 339explains
- The Canons of the Councils of Ancyra, Gangra, Neocæsarea, Antioch and Laodicea, which Canons were Accepted and Received by the Ecumenical Synods— · 360applies
- Defence Against the Arians. (Apologia Contra Arianos.)Alexandria · 373explains
- The LettersCaesarea (Cappadocia) · 379explains
- Concerning RepentanceMilan · 397explains
- Homilies on First CorinthiansConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- The Commentary and Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Galatians and EphesiansConstantinople (Istanbul) · 407explains
- Jerome and Gennadius. Lives of Illustrious MenBethlehem · 420explains
- To Pammachius against John of JerusalemBethlehem · 420applies
- The Dialogue Against the LuciferiansBethlehem · 420applies
- Letters of St. AugustinHippo Regius · 430explains
- Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the DonatistHippo Regius · 430explains
- On Baptism, Against the DonatistsHippo Regius · 430explains
- Expositions on the Book of PsalmsHippo Regius · 430applies
- The Correction of the DonatistsHippo Regius · 430explains
- Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of JohnHippo Regius · 430explains
- Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. JohnHippo Regius · 430applies
- Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New TestamentHippo Regius · 430applies
- The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates ScholasticusConstantinople (Istanbul) · 439explains
- The Commonitory of Vincent of Lérins, For the Antiquity and Universality of the Catholic Faith Against the Profane Novelties of All HeresiesLérins · 445applies
- The Ecclesiastical History of SozomenConstantinople (Istanbul) · 450explains
- The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of TheodoretCyrrhus · 458explains
- The Letters and Sermons of Leo the GreatRome · 461applies
- The Book of Pastoral Rule, and Selected Epistles, of Gregory the GreatRome · 604explains
- Selected Epistles of Gregory the GreatRome · 604applies
- The Canons of the Synods of Sardica, Carthage, Constantinople, and Carthage Under St. Cyprian, Which Canons Were Received by the Council in Trullo and Ratified by II. NiceConstantinople (Istanbul) · 692explains
- Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90)Paris · 1274applies
- Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic ChurchGeneva · 1564applies
Key passages(20)
On Baptism, Against the Donatists · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 6.—7. What then, ye Donatists, what have ye to say to this? If our opinion about baptism is true, yet all who thought differently in the time of Cyprian were not cut off from the unity of the
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Letters of St. Augustin · Augustine of Hippo
Letter LXXXVII. (a.d. 405.) To His Brother Emeritus, Beloved and Longed For, Augustin Sends Greeting. 1. I know that it is not on the possession of good talents and a liberal education that the sal
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The Church History of Eusebius · Eusebius of Caesarea
17. Since therefore thy devotedness perceives that this command of ours is most explicit, do thou make haste to restore to them, as quickly as possible, everything which formerly belonged to the said
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The Treatises of Cyprian. · Cyprian
The Treatises of Cyprian. ———————————— Treatise I. On the Unity of the Church. Argument.—On the Occasion of the Schism of Novatian, to Keep Back from Him the Carthaginians, Who Already Were Not Av
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Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist · Augustine of Hippo
46. And when we ask of you which of your party you can prove to have been slain by us, I indeed can remember no law issued by the emperors to the effect that you should be put to death. Those indeed w
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Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 24.—26. But let us turn to the consideration of your fruits. I pass over the tyrannous exercise of authority in the cities, and especially in the estates of other men; I pass over the madness
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Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic Church · John Calvin
14. Still there was nothing with the Fathers less intended than to establish that kind of perfection which was afterwards fabricated by cowled monks, in order to rear up a species of double Christiani
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Homilies on First Corinthians · John Chrysostom
Homilies of St. John Chrysostom, archbishop of constantinople, on the first epistle of St. paul the apostle. to the corinthians. ———————————— Argument. [1.] As Corinth is now the first city of
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Homilies on First Corinthians · John Chrysostom
Homily III. 1 Cor. i. 10 Now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak of the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfect
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Homilies on First Corinthians · John Chrysostom
Next he also adds the reason, showing that with a view to their profit he both caused it to lack and more abundantly honored it. And what is the reason? “That there should be no schism,” saith he, “in
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Letters of St. Augustin · Augustine of Hippo
Letter LI. (a.d. 399 or 400.) An invitation to Crispinus, Donatist bishop at Calama, to discuss the whole question of the Donatist schism. (No salutation at the beginning of the letter.) 1. I have
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Letters of St. Augustin · Augustine of Hippo
Letter CLXXIII. (a.d. 416.) To Donatus, a Presbyter of the Donatist Party, Augustin, a Bishop of the Catholic Church, Sends Greeting. 1. If you could see the sorrow of my heart and my concern for y
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Letters of St. Augustin · Augustine of Hippo
7. For this end the mercy of the Lord appointed that both we and your bishops met at Carthage in a conference which had repeated meetings, and was largely attended, and reasoned together in the most o
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Letters of St. Augustin · Augustine of Hippo
Letter LXXXIX. (a.d. 406.) To Festus, My Lord Well Beloved, My Son Honourable and Worthy of Esteem, Augustin Sends Greeting in the Lord. 1. If, on behalf of error and inexcusable dissension, and fa
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Letters of St. Augustin · Augustine of Hippo
16. As to the fact that there were seventy bishops in the Council [which condemned Cæcilianus], you remember what was said in the way of pleading against him the venerable authority of so great a numb
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Letters of St. Augustin · Augustine of Hippo
19. But when they actually found that the communion of the whole world with Cæcilianus continued as before, and that letters of communion from churches beyond the sea were sent to him, and not to the
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Letters of St. Augustin · Augustine of Hippo
24. In conclusion, let them ask themselves: Do they not bear with the murders and devastations by fire which are perpetrated by the Circumcelliones, who treat with honour the dead bodies of those who
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Letters of St. Augustin · Augustine of Hippo
Letter LXXXVIII. (a.d. 406.) To Januarius,the Catholic Clergy of the District of HippoSend the Following. Bishop of Casæ Nigræ in Numidia, and at that time the Donatist primate, as the oldest of th
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Letters of St. Augustin · Augustine of Hippo
Letter XXXIII. (a.d. 396.) To Proculeianus, My Lord, Honourable and Most Beloved, Augustin Sends Greeting. 1. The titles prefixed to this letter I need not defend or explain at any length to you, t
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Letters of St. Augustin · Augustine of Hippo
Letter LXI. (a.d. 401.) To His well-Beloved and honourable Brother Theodorus, Bishop Augustin Sends Greeting in the Lord. 1. I have resolved to commit to writing in this letter what I said when you
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