Cyprian of Carthage, On the Unity of the Church 23

I want this, dearest brothers, and I both advise and urge it: if it is at all possible, may not a single brother perish, and may our mother, the Church, rejoice as she holds the whole consenting people in her bosom. Yet if certain leaders of schism and authors of dissension persist in blind, obstinate madness and sound counsel cannot bring them back to the way of salvation, the rest of you — whether taken in by simplicity, led astray by error, or tricked by some deceitful cunning — must free yourselves from the snares of fallacy, liberate your wandering steps from error, and recognize the straight path of the heavenly way. The Apostle's voice bears witness: "We command you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition you received from us" (2 Thessalonians 3:6). And again he says: "Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience" (Ephesians 5:6). Therefore do not become partners with them. We must withdraw from those who offend — indeed, we must flee from them — lest anyone who joins those walking badly, treading the paths of error and crime and straying from the way of the true path, be held guilty of the same crime. God is one, Christ is one, his Church is one, the faith is one, and the people are one, bound into the solid unity of the body by the glue of concord. Unity cannot be torn apart, nor can the one body be separated by the division of its joints, its viscera ripped by laceration and torn into pieces. Whatever has departed from the womb cannot live and breathe on its own; it loses the substance of salvation.