耶稣在马太福音16:18中说，阴间的门不能胜过教会。但可以理解为何一些基督徒会看到那些自称信奉基督的人之间无休止的分裂和分离，认为地狱至少在尽力取胜。
The gates of hell shall not prevail against the church, Jesus says in Matthew 16:18. But one can understand why some Christians may look at the endless divisions and schisms between those who profess faith in Christ and think that hell is at least doing its best to prevail.
最大且最痛苦的分裂是东方教会与西方教会——东正教与天主教——在千年之间的分离。对东正教徒（就像我）而言，今天教会的完整性体现在每个地方东正教堂庆祝圣餐时，因为基督在圣圣礼物中完全临在。这些教堂通过圣餐彼此展示团结（除了几个东正教教堂之间最近的规范性分裂）。罗马天主教持有类似观点，但有前提条件：地方教会与教皇的圣餐共融是其成为教会完全成员的必要条件。
The largest and most painful division is the one that has separated the Eastern churches from the Western churches—the Orthodox from the Catholic—for a millennium. To the Orthodox (like me), the fullness of the church today is realized in each local Orthodox church at the celebration of the Eucharist, because Christ is wholly present in the consecrated gifts. These churches display their unity with one another through communion (excepting recent canonical schisms between several Orthodox churches). Roman Catholicism holds a similar view, with the caveat that a local church’s communion with the pope is essential to its being fully within the church.