The Early Church Is the Catholic Church

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​“Philip the presbyter and legate of the Apostolic See said: There is no doubt, and in fact it has been
known in all ages, that the holy and most blessed Peter, prince and head of the Apostles, pillar of the faith,
and foundation of the Catholic Church, received the keys of the kingdom from our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour
and Redeemer of the human race, and that to him was given the power of loosing and binding sins: who down even
to to-day and forever both lives and judges in his successors.”
Council of Ephesus, Session III (A.D. 431)

​“See that ye all follow the bishop, even as Christ Jesus does the Father, and the presbytery
as ye would the apostles. Do ye also reverence the deacons, as those that carry out the appointment
of God. Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed
a proper Eucharist, which is [administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has
entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude also be; by the bishop, or by
one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude also be;
even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.”
Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Smyrneans, 8:2
(c. A.D. 110)

“Nor does it consist in this, that he should again falsely imagine, as being above this [fancied being],
a Pleroma at one time supposed to contain thirty, and at another time an innumerable tribe of Aeons,
as these teachers who are destitute of truly divine wisdom maintain; while the Catholic Church possesses
one and the same faith throughout the whole world, as we have already said.”
Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 1:10,3
(A.D. 180)

”Whence you ought to know that the bishop is in the Church, and the Church in
the bishop; and if any one be not with the bishop, that he is not in the Church, and
that those flatter themselves in vain who creep in, not having peace with God’s
priests, and think that they communicate secretly with some; while the Church, which
is Catholic and one, is not cut nor divided, but is indeed connected and bound
together by the cement of priests who cohere with one another.”
St. Cyprian, To Florentius, Epistle 66/67
(A.D. 254)

 ​“Concerning this Holy Catholic Church Paul writes to Timothy, ‘That thou mayest know
haw thou oughtest to behave thyself in the House of God, which is the Church of the Living
​God, the pillar and ground of the truth.’”
Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 18:25
(A.D. 350)

“But beyond these [Scriptural] sayings, let us look at the very tradition, teaching
and faith of the Catholic Church from the beginning, which the Lord gave, the
Apostles preached, and the Fathers kept.”
St. Athanasius of Alexandria
 Four Letters to Serapion of Thmuis, 1:28
(A.D. 360)

​“We must hold to the Christian religion and to communication in her Church, which is Catholic
and which is called Catholic not only by her own members but even by all her enemies. For when
heretics or the adherents of schisms talk about her, not among themselves but with strangers,
willy-nilly they call her nothing else but Catholic. For they will not be understood unless they
distinguish her by this name which the whole world employs in her regard.”
Augustine, The True Religion, 7:12
(A.D. 390)

“Wherefore the most holy and blessed Leo, archbishop of the great and elder
Rome, through us, and through this present most holy synod together with the
thrice blessed and all-glorious Peter the Apostle, who is the rock and foundation
of the Catholic Church, and the foundation of the orthodox faith, hath stripped
him of the episcopate, and hath alienated from him all hieratic worthiness.
Therefore let this most holy and great synod sentence the before mentioned
Dioscorus to the canonical penalties.”
Council of Chalcedon, Session III
(A.D. 451)

But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah,
the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed
to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock
I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."
Matthew 16, 15-18

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