Church Division Quotes

Nothing will divide the church so much as the love of power.

Nationalism - in other words, the dividing of the church into bodies - consisting of such and such a nation, is a novelty, not above three centuries old, although many dear children of God are found dwelling in it.

The itch of disputation will prove the scab of the Church.

I desire to learn what is this fashion of innovation in things concerning the Church, which allows anyone who likes, or the passerby,… to tear asunder the flock that has been well led, and to plunder it by larcenous attacks, or rather by piratical and fallacious teachings.

Damn all false antitheses to hell, for they generate false gods, they perpetuate idols, they twist and distort our souls, they launch the church into violent pendulum swings who oscillations succeed only in dividing brothers and sisters in Christ

The pope-and we know this well-is without doubt the most serious obstacle on the ecumenical road.

As so often happens Christianity as expressed in the Sermon on the Mount is simplicity itself, but through the ages human beings have rendered it more and more complicated. "The church" does not exist, numerous churches exist, always controlled by human beings.

In 1054, the patriarch of Constantinople and the pope excommunicated each other. That was the end of holiness for both churches.

We see that there are two worms that eat the fabric of the Church, weakening Her. Rivalry and vainglory go against this harmony, this agreement.

I believe that the real difference in the American church is not between conservatives and liberals, fundamentalists and charismatics, nor between Republicans and Democrats. The real difference is between the aware and the unaware.

Looking back to the earlier centuries of the church, most of the great teachers were also bishops and vice versa. It's only fairly recently that the church has had this great divide.

I never yet have known the Spirit of God to work where the Lord's people were divided.