Chapter 5. The praise of unity

Chapter 6

1For if I in this brief space of time , have enjoyed such fellowship with your bishop — I mean not of a mere human , but of a spiritual nature — how much more do I reckon you happy who are so joined to him as the Church is to Jesus Christ , and as Jesus Christ is to the Father, that so all things may agree in unity ! Let no man deceive himself: if any one be not within the altar , he is deprived of the bread of God . For if the prayer of one or two possesses Matthew 18:19 such power, how much more that of the bishop and the whole Church ! He, therefore, that does not assemble with the Church , has even by this manifested his pride , and condemned himself. For it is written, God resists the proud . Let us be careful, then, not to set ourselves in opposition to the bishop , in order that we may be subject to God .