The Church

The Early Church Fathers on the Church

St. Ambrose
This decree was made at the Synod of Ariminum and I rightfully despise that council, for I follow the rule of the Council of Nicaea from which neither death nor the sword can separate me.
Letter to the Emperor Valentinian, Number 21

St. Augustine
This same is the holy Church, the one Church, the true Church, the catholic Church, fighting against all heresies: fight, it can; be fought down, it cannot. As for heresies, they all went out of it, like unprofitable branches pruned from the vine: but itself abides in its root, in its Vine, in its charity.
On the Creed: A Sermon to the Catechumens¸ 1:6

St. Athanasius
Without prefixing Consulate, month and day, [the Fathers] wrote concerning Easter, ‘It seemed good as follows,’ for it did then seem good that there should be a general compliance; but about the faith they wrote not, ‘It seemed good,’ but, ‘Thus believes the Catholic Church’; and thereupon they confessed how they believed, in order to show that their own sentiments were not novel, but Apostolic; and what they wrote down was no discovery of theirs, but is the same as was taught by the Apostles.
Letter on the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia

St. Augustine
For my part, I should not believe the gospel except as moved by the authority of the Catholic Church. So when those on whose authority I have consented to believe in the gospel tell me not to believe in Manichæus, how can I but consent? Take your choice. If you say, Believe the Catholics: their advice to me is to put no faith in you; so that, believing them, I am precluded from believing you—If you say, Do not believe the Catholics: you cannot fairly use the gospel in bringing me to faith in Manichæus; for it was at the command of the Catholics that I believed the gospel
Against the Fundamental Epistle of Manichaeus, chp. 5

St. Cyprian
The Lord speaks to Peter: ‘I say to you,’ He says, ‘you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven’ (Matthew 16:16-18). Upon him, being one, He built His Church, and although after His resurrection He bestows equal power upon all of the Apostles, and says: ‘As the Father has sent me, I also send you. Receive the Holy Spirit: if you forgive sins of anyone, they will be forgiven him; if you retain the sins of anyone, they will be retained’ (John 20:21), that He might display unity¸ He established by His authority the origin of the same unity as beginning from one. Surely the rest of the Apostles also were that which Peter was, endowed with an equal partnership of office and of power, but the beginning proceeds from unity, that the Church of Christ may be shown to be one.
On the Unity of the Catholic Church, Chapter 4

St. Augustine
The consent of peoples and nations keeps me in the Church; so does her authority, inaugurated by miracles, nourished by hope, enlarged by love, established by age. The succession of priests keeps me, beginning from the very seat of the Apostle Peter, to whom the Lord, after His resurrection, gave it in charge to feed His sheep, down to the present episcopate. And so, lastly, does the name itself of Catholic, which, not without reason, amid so many heresies, the Church has thus retained; so that, though all heretics wish to be called Catholics, yet when a stranger asks where the Catholic Church meets, no heretic will venture to point to his own chapel or house.
Against the Fundamental Epistle of Manichaeus, chp.  4

St. Clement of Rome
The Apostles received the Gospel for us from the Lord Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ was sent from God. Christ, therefore is from God and the Apostles are from Christ. Both, accordingly, came in proper order by the will of God. Receiving their orders, therefore, and being filled with confidence because of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and confirmed in the word of God, with full assurance of the Holy Spirit, they went forth preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God that was about to come. Preaching, accordingly, throughout the country and the cities, they appointed their first-fruits, after testing them by the Spirit, to be bishops and deacons of those who should believe.
Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 42

St. John Chrysostom
‘To the fellow-Bishops and Deacons’ (Philippians 7:1). What is this? Were there several Bishops of one city? Certainly not; but he called the Presbyters so. For then they still interchanged the titles, and the Bishop was called a Deacon. For this cause in writing to Timothy, he said, ‘Fulfill your ministry’ (2 Timothy 4:5), when he was a Bishop. For that he was a Bishop appears by his saying to him, ‘Lay hands hastily on no man’ (1 Timothy 5:22). And again, ‘Which was given you with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery’ (1 Timothy 4:14). Yet Presbyters would not have laid hands on a Bishop.
Homilies on Philippians, 1:1

St. Ignatius of Antioch
Let us follow the bishop as Jesus Christ did the Father, and the priests, as you would the Apostles. Reverence the deacons as you would the command of God. Apart from the bishop, let no one perform any of the functions that pertain to the Church. Let that Eucharist be held valid which is offered by the bishop or by one to whom the bishop has committed this charge. Wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be; as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful to baptize or give communion without the consent of the bishop. On the other hand¸ whatever has his approval is pleasing to God. Thus, whatever is done will be safe and valid.
Letter to the Smyrnaeans, Chapter 8

St. Cyprian
The spouse of Christ cannot be defiled; she is uncorrupted and chaste. She knows one home, with chaste modesty she guards the sanctity of one couch. She keeps us for God; she assigns the children whom she has created to the kingdom. Whoever is separated from the Church and is joined with an adulteress is separated from the promises of the Church, nor will he who has abandoned the Church arrive at the rewards of Christ. He is a stranger; he is profane; he is an enemy. He cannot have God as a father who does not have the Church as a mother. If whoever was outside the ark of Noe was able to escape, he too who is outside the Church escapes. The Lord warns, saying: ‘He who is not with me is against me, and who does not gather with me, scatters.’ He who beaks the peace and concord of Christ acts against Christ; he who gathers somewhere outside the Church scatters the Church of Christ. The Lord says: ‘I and the Father are one’ (John 10:30). And again of the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit it is written: ‘And these three are one’ (John 5:7). Does anyone believe that this unity which comes from divine strength, which is closely connected with the divine sacraments, can be broken asunder in the Church and be separated by the divisions of colliding wills? He who does not hold this unity, does not hold the law of God, does not hold the faith of the Father and the Son, does not hold life and salvation.
On the Unity of the Catholic Church, Chapter 6

St. Irenaeus
But that the preaching of the Church is everywhere consistent, and continues in an even course, and receives testimony from the prophets, the apostles, and all the disciples…and that well-grounded system which tends to man’s salvation, namely, our faith; which, having been received from the Church, we do preserve, and which always, by the Spirit of God, renewing its youth, as if it were some precious deposit in an excellent vessel, causes the vessel itself, containing it to renew its youth also…’For in the Church, God has set apostles, prophets, teachers’ (1 Corinthians 12:28), and all the other means through which the Spirit works; of which all those are not partakers who do not join themselves to the Church, but defraud themselves of life through their perverse opinions and infamous behavior. For where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God, there is the Church, and every kind of grace; but the Spirit is truth.
Against Heresies, Book 3, Chapter 24

St. Hilary
Since the Church, instituted by the Lord and strengthened by the Apostles, is the one Church of all men, form which the raging error of the different blasphemous teachings has cut itself off, and it cannot be denied that the separation from the faith has come about as the result of a defective and perverted understanding, while that which was read was adapted to one’s views rather than one’s views being submissive to what was read, still, while the individual groups contradict one another, she is to be understood not only by her own teachings but also by those of her adversaries, so that, while all are directed against her alone, she refutes the most godless error of all of them by the very fact that she is alone and is one. All the heretics, therefore, rise up against the Church, but, while all the heretics mutually conquer themselves, they gain no victories for themselves. Victory in their se is the triumph of the Church over each of them, while one heresy wages war against that teaching in another heresy which the faith of the Church condemns in the other heresy (for there is nothing which the heretics hold in common), and, meanwhile, they confirm our faith while they contradict one another.
On the Trinity, Book 7, Chapter 4