Cyprian of Carthage, On the Unity of the Church 12
Let no one deceive themselves with a vain interpretation of the Lord’s words: “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, I am with them” (Matt. 18:20). Corrupters of the Gospel and false interpreters place the last things first and pass over what precedes, remembering one part while subtly suppressing another; just as they themselves are cut off from the Church, so they tear apart the meaning of a single passage. For when the Lord was urging His disciples toward unity and peace, He said: “I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them,” showing that He grants more to the unity of those who pray than to their multitude. “If two of you agree on earth,” He said; He set unity first and sent peace ahead, so that He might teach us to come together faithfully and firmly. How, then, can a person come together with Him when they do not come together with the body of the Church itself and with the whole brotherhood? How can two or three be gathered in the name of Christ when it is clear that they are separated from Christ and from His Gospel? It was not we who separated from them, but they from us. And when heresies and schisms arose later, while they set up rival conventicles for themselves, they abandoned the head and source of truth. The Lord, however, speaks concerning His Church and addresses those who are in the Church, so that if they are of one mind—if even two or three are gathered in unity and pray—they may obtain from God’s majesty what they ask. “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am with them,” He said—with the simple and the peaceful, with those who fear God and keep His commandments. He declared He would be with these two or three, just as He was with the three youths in the fiery furnace; because they remained simple and united among themselves, He revived their spirit with dew while flames surrounded them. So also He was present with the two apostles shut in prison; because they were simple and united, He Himself opened the prison doors and set them back in the public square so they could hand on to the crowd the word they had faithfully preached. Therefore, when He sets forth and says in His commandments, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am with them,” He does not separate people from the Church which He Himself instituted and built. Rather, rebuking discord among the faithless and commending peace to the faithful with His own voice, He shows that He is more truly with two or three who pray in unity than with many who dissent, and that the harmonious prayer of a few obtains more than the discordant prayer of many.
Latin
Nec se quidam vana interpretatione decipiant quod dixerit Dominus: Ubicumque fuerint duo aut tres collecti in nomine meo, ego cum eis sum. Corruptores Evangelii atque interpretes falsi extrema ponunt et superiora praetereunt, partis memores, et partem subdole comprimentes; ut ipsi ab Ecclesia scissi sunt, ita capituli unius sententiam scindunt: Dominus enim, cum discipulis suis unanimitatem suaderet et pacem: Dico, inquit, vobis quoniam, si duobus ex vobis convenerit in terra, de omni re quacumque petieritis, continget vobis a Patre meo qui in coelis est. Ubicumque enim fuerint duo aut tres collecti in nomine meo, ego cum eis sum, ostendens non multitudini, sed unanimitati deprecantium plurimum tribui. Si duobus, inquit, ex vobis convenerit in terra; unanimitatem prius posuit, concordiam pacis ante praemisit, ut conveniat nobis fideliter et firmiter docuit. Quomodo autem potest ei cum aliquo convenire cui cum corpore ipsius Ecclesiae et cum universa fraternitate non convenit? quomodo possunt duo aut tres in nomine Christi colligi quos constat a Christo et ab ejus Evangelio separari? Non enim nos ab illis, sed illi a nobis recesserunt. Et cum haereses et schismata postmodum nata sint, dum conventicula sibi diversa constituunt, veritatis caput atque originem reliquerunt. Dominus autem de Ecclesia sua loquitur, et ad hos qui sunt in Ecclesia loquitur, ut si ipsi concordes fuerint, si, secundum quod mandavit et monuit, duo aut tres licet, collecti unanimiter oraverint, duo aut tres licet sint, impetrare possint de Dei majestate quod postulant. Ubicumque fuerint duo aut tres collecti in nomine meo, ego, inquit, cum eis sum, cum simplicibus scilicet atque pacatis, cum Deum timentibus et Dei praecepta servantibus. Cum his duobus vel tribus licet esse se dixit, quomodo et cum tribus pueris in camino ignis fuit, et quia in Deum simplices atque inter se unanimes permanebant, flammis ambientibus medios spiritu roris animavit. Quomodo Apostolis duobus in custodia clausis, quia simplices, quia unanimes erant, ipse adfuit, ipse, resolutis carceris claustris, ut verbum quod fideliter praedicabant multitudini traderent, ad forum rursus imposuit. Quando ergo in praeceptis suis ponit et dicit: Ubi fuerint duo aut tres collecti in nomine meo, ego cum eis sum, non homines ab Ecclesia dividit qui instituit et fecit Ecclesiam, sed exprobrans discordiam perfidis, et fidelibus pacem sua voce commendans, ostendit magis esse secum duobus aut tribus unanimiter orantibus quam cum dissidentibus plurimis, plusque impetrari posse paucorum concordi prece quam discordiosa oratione multorum.