"[...] one holy Church is to continue forever. The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered." – Augsburg Confession[1]
Church visible is a term of Christian theology and ecclesiology referring to the visible community of Christian believers on Earth, as opposed to the Church invisibleorChurch triumphant, constituted by the fellowship of saints and the company of the elect.[2]
Inearly Christianity, anti-Gnostic writers such as Irenaeus, or anti-Novatian writers like Cyprian of Carthage, would often focus on the visible Church in order to oppose various opinions deemed heretical. It was in this context that the expression Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus came about, which heavily insisted on the non-distinction between the visible and invisible Church.[4]
