CENT. III.
St. Cyprian, L. C. To the question of Christ, (John vi. 68) Will you also go away? "Peter, upon whom the Church had been built by our Lord, speaking in the name of all, and with the voice of the Church, answered: Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. Signifying and shewing that they who depart from Christ perish through their own fault; but that the Church, which believes in Christ, and holds to that which it once learned, never departs from him; moreover, that they compose the Church who remain in the house of God; and that the plant is not planted by the Lord, (Matt. xv. 13.) which is not firmly rooted, but is blown about like straw by the breath of the enemy.” Ep. lv. ad Cornelium. p. 83. "The Novatian is not in the Church; nor can he be deemed a Bishop, who despising evangelical and apostolical tradition, and succeeding to no one, is sprung from himself. One not ordained in the Church has no Church.[1] Ep. lxxvi. ad Magnum, p. 152. “The power of remitting sins was given by Christ to the Apostles whom he sent, and to the Churches which they founded; and to the Bishops who succeeded them in a regular succession."[2] Inter Cyprian. Ep. lxxv. p. 148.
CENT. IV.
The Nicene Council, that of Constantinople, and that of Chalcedon, denominate their Faith and their Church “ Catholic and Apostolical.” Conc. Gen. T. ii. p. 27 & 953, & T. iv. p. 564.
