Russian Alexei Khomiakov described the Orthodox Church as the perfect synthesis of the Catholic and Protestant traditions, arguing in his essay "The Church is One" (written in 1844-1845) that the division of Christianity is an earthly illusion not recognized by God:

THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH follows of necessity from the unity of God. . . . the unity of the Church is not imaginary or allegorical, but a true and substantial unity, such as is the unity of many members in a living body. The Church is one, notwithstanding her division as it appears to a man who is still alive on earth. It is only in relation to man that it is possible to recognize a division of the Church into visible and invisible; her unity is, in reality, true and absolute. Those who are alive on earth, those who have...