Saint Nikodemos: Those who are in the Church must be united.

Those of you, Christians, who go to the Church of Christ, be careful to not be divided and separated among yourselves, having enmities and hatreds and discord, but to have love and concord and reconciliation, all to have the same mind, "all breathing the same thing," all to be as one body and one spirit, with one hope of our calling, according to the Apostle. And let this name of the Church, in which you gather, urge you toward this spiritual love and unity, because [the name] Church means union and gathering. And just as it unites all of you Christians bodily in one place and gives you one common word of teaching, one holy bread, the body of the Lord, and one common cup of the blood of Christ, so likewise it requires from you to be united in spirit, mind, and disposition.

For this reason, blessed Paul, wishing to urge the Christians of that time toward love and unity, used to mention frequently the name of the Church; therefore, at one time he wrote: "To the faithful of the Church of God in Corinth" (1 Corinthians 1:2), and at another time: "To the churches of Galatia" (Galatians 1:1), which, interpreting, the Golden-Mouthed one [St. John Chrysostom] said concerning the first: "He calls it Church of God, showing that they must be united [...] for the name of the Church is a name of union and not of division"; and concerning the second he said: "For this reason also he put the name of the Church, in order to make them ashamed and gather into one; for those who are divided into many parts cannot be called by this name; for the name of the Church is a name of agreement and concord."

Therefore, outside the Church of Christ be the discord, outside the enmities, outside the hatreds and resentments; inside the Church of God be concord, inside be love, inside be agreement. Therefore, one of two things you must necessarily do, Christians: either to abandon enmity and hatred toward your brothers and then enter the Church of God, or, having hatred and discord, you are not worthy to enter the holy Church. For Church and enmity, Church and hatred, Church and discord are two utterly opposed things, which can never be joined together.

(Excerpt from the Christian Morality, by Saint Nikodemos the Hagiorite, pp. 409-410).

 

Greek source: https://entoytwnika1.blogspot.com/2020/01/blog-post_15.html