{"id":109,"date":"2018-10-31T12:59:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T12:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.smallpage.online\/2018\/10\/31\/why-do-orthodox-christians-need-holy\/"},"modified":"2019-02-19T06:47:35","modified_gmt":"2019-02-19T06:47:35","slug":"why-do-orthodox-christians-need-holy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/why-do-orthodox-christians-need-holy","title":{"rendered":"Why Do Orthodox Christians Need Holy Fathers? Isn\u2019t the Bible Enough?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We Orthodox Christian hear this question quite often. In fact, it strikes a much deeper issue, namely, the issue with the Holy Tradition, which incorporates the works by the Holy Fathers. Here is a 101 on the Holy Tradition and why, according to the Church, you can\u2019t understand the Bible without it.<\/p>\n
Is the Bible Enough?<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The correlation between the Holy Scripture and the Holy Tradition has been hotly contested between the Orthodox and the Protestants for centuries. It was as early as the 16th\u00a0century that Protestants proclaimed their famous doctrine of Sola Scriptura (Latin for \u201conly the Scripture\u201d), claiming that the text of the Bible is enough for proper Christian living. They declared that the Bible contains just enough information for our salvation and that the Tradition was a later and useless invention, which Christians had to get rid of as quickly as possible.\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Orthodox theologians radically oppose this approach.\u00a0The Church teaches that the Holy Tradition is the earliest way of transmission of the Divine Revelation.<\/div>\n
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The Holy Tradition existed before the Holy Scripture and served as its basis. It isn\u2019t hard to grasp it: even during our everyday lives we experience something first and then express our experiences in written form, if necessary. Aside from that, even the Bible admits that the Holy Tradition comes first.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Thus, we learn from the book of Genesis that God talked with Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses directly. We see that Abel already knows how to make a sacrifice of\u00a0the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof\u00a0to God (Gen.\u00a04:4). Noah knows which animals are \u201cclean\u201d and which are \u201cunclean\u201d (Gen.\u00a07:8). Abraham knows the tradition of tithing when he gives tithes to Melchizedek, king of Salem (Gen.\u00a014:20). It is worth pointing out that none of them read the Scripture because there weren\u2019t any written Scriptures at those times.<\/div>\n
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Old Testament characters lived without the sacred texts of the Scripture for many centuries. Likewise, early Christians did without the written New Testament because they tuned their spiritual and everyday lives in accordance with the oral Tradition of the Church.<\/div>\n
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Therefore, the Scripture is essentially the recorded part of the Tradition, which is why the former cannot exist without the latter.<\/div>\n
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Furthermore, the very fact that the Divine Revelation had to be put to paper, according to Saint\u00a0John Chrysostom, indicated a steady decline of morals and spiritual deafness, which was spreading among people:<\/div>\n
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\u201cIn fact, we shouldn\u2019t need the Scriptures; instead, we should lead a life so pure that we could use the grace of the Holy Spirit instead of books; and to the extent that books are written with ink, our hearts should be written on by the Spirit. Given that we have rejected that grace, let\u2019s at least use the second way [i.e., the written Scripture\u2014Translator\u2019s Note].<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cBlank Spots\u201d in the Holy Scripture<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Interestingly enough, if we \u201cremove\u201d the Holy Tradition from the Divine Revelation, there will appear \u201cblank spots\u201d in the biblical text immediately\u2014and it\u2019s impossible to fill in those gaps without additional sources.<\/div>\n
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For example, Jacob tells his son Joseph in Genesis: \u201cMoreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.\u201d (Gen.\u00a048:22). However, nowhere in the Scripture (in the book of Genesis) do we find any mention of military actions that Jacob undertook against the Amorite with his \u201csword\u201d and his \u201cbow\u201d.<\/div>\n
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Apostle Paul matter-of-factly writes to Timothy, \u201cNow as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.\u201d (2 Tim.\u00a03:8) Again, here is the question: Where did Paul read about it if there isn\u2019t any mention of a Jannes and a Jambres and their conflict with Moses in the Bible?<\/div>\n
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Archdeacon Stephen informs the Jews, \u201cAnd Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.\u201d (Acts 7:22-23) And again, There is no mention of Moses\u2019 age when\u00a0it came into his heart to visit his brethren. There are plenty of similar examples in the Bible.<\/div>\n
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Moreover, there is a more fundamental problem, too. Readers of the New Testament must have faced it when they read the entire biblical corpus but could not find a detailed doctrine regarding certain basic tenets of Christianity, such as Sacraments. The question is: Why is the Bible silent about all those matters? This question can\u2019t be resolved within the Sola Scriptura mindset.<\/div>\n
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Besides, the structure of the New Testament without the Holy Tradition appears vague due to discrepancies and incomprehensible passages. For example, what does Jesus Christ has in mind when He refers to the Heavenly Bread, to the grapevine, and to the water that flows into the eternal life? What does Apostle Paul urge us to do when he says, \u201c[L]et a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord\u2019s body\u201d (1\u00a0Cor.\u00a011:28-29)? What do the grapevine, the water, the bread, and the cup refer to? The New Testament text doesn\u2019t provide us with a clear explanation.<\/div>\n
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However, all those questions disappear as soon as we put the Scripture into its original context, i.e., the Tradition.<\/div>\n
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Archpriest John Meyendorff stresses that the aforementioned words of Jesus \u201ccannot be fully appreciated without knowing that Christians of the 1st\u00a0century performed baptisms and celebrated the Eucharist.\u201d Sayings about the cup, the grapevine, and the bread become clear as soon as we put them in the context of the Tradition. Again, it shows that the Scripture and the Tradition are reciprocally connected and inseparable. Their unity is the prerequisite for the conceptual completeness of the Divine Revelation.<\/div>\n
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The Holy Tradition is the prerequisite for true understanding of the Scripture, the point of reference based on centuries-long reading and analysis of the Bible, which allows every Christian to read God\u2019s Revelation without the risk of distorting its meaning.<\/div>\n
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Remember the story from the book of Acts where Apostle Philip asked the Eunuch who was reading the Old Testament, \u201cUnderstandest thou what thou readest?\u201d The eunuch replied, \u201cHow can I, except some man should guide me?\u201d (cf. Acts\u00a08:30-31)? It is the Holy Tradition that \u201cguides\u201d a believer. It instructs us not only how to read the Scripture but also how to get saved.<\/div>\n
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There\u2019s Neither Tradition Nor Scripture Without The Church<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Both the Holy Tradition and the Holy Scripture exist only for the Church and only within the Church. There is neither the Holy Scripture nor the Holy Tradition outside of the Church.<\/div>\n
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Hieromartyr Hilarion (Troitsky) emphasizes that\u00a0the Holy Scripture is part of the general grace-filled life of the Church. There is no Scripture, in the real sense of this word, without the Church.<\/div>\n
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Alexei Khomyakov pointed out that\u00a0people who stay away from the Church are unable to comprehend the Scripture, the Tradition, and the practice of the Church.<\/div>\n
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At first, these statements might appear too straightforward and alienating. Yet, if we put them in the right context, all misunderstandings will be resolved.<\/div>\n
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Let\u2019s imagine that I want you to discover Stravinsky\u2019s music. I know a lot about his works; I can even give you a lecture on them, and then equip you with several good scholarly papers for additional reading. You will listen to my words, read the papers, and learn the facts, but you won\u2019t discover Stravinsky\u2019s music for yourself. The most important factor is missing: your personal encounter with his music, full immersion, and direct interaction with live performance of Stravinsky\u2019s music.<\/div>\n
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Same with the Scripture and the Tradition. You can speak about them for as long as you wish and read hundreds and thousands of scientific papers about the Scriptures and the Tradition. Sadly, without a personal encounter and the unmediated experience of building your own life on the Scripture and the Tradition, they will merely remain curious artifacts of human history.<\/div>\n
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You can encounter them and discover them only in the Church, which lives and breathes the Scripture and the Tradition for several millennia already. The Church has an uninterrupted succession of those who dedicate themselves to preserving the Scripture and the Tradition, i.e., the saints.<\/div>\n
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Holiness means that a certain person lives according to the Tradition and the Scripture, that the fullness of Divine Revelation is fully embodied in the lives of certain people but first of all in the life of Jesus Christ. Stravinsky\u2019s music is revealed to us only if we listen to it live; similarly, the Tradition and the Scripture are fully revealed to us only if we are in the Church, if we participate in Her holiness. The most profound experience of the Tradition is possible only through the Sacrament of Eucharist. The Eucharist is the crossroads where the Tradition and the Scripture meet.<\/div>\n
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The fullness of the Divine Revelation was given to the Church only once, on the Day of Pentecost. The Christians of the subsequent centuries merely unveiled and gradually explained this diverse Tradition.<\/div>\n
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Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, doctrines of the Church, works by Holy Fathers, iconographic canon, church architecture, and the biblical canon\u2014all of those are parts of the Holy Tradition.<\/div>\n
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Therefore, Church doctrine doesn\u2019t evolve or develop in any way. It is expressed in the history of the human race and in the lives of holy people.<\/div>\n
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Saint\u00a0Augustine who discovered the Tradition and the Scripture only after he met Saint Ambrose of Milan, wrote the following paradoxical words: \u201cI wouldn\u2019t believe the Gospel if not for the authority of the Orthodox Catholic Church.\u201d We can rephrase the saint\u2019s words and declare, \u201cI wouldn\u2019t believe the Tradition if not for the authority of the Orthodox Catholic Church.\u201d<\/div>\n
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The authority in the Church is the Holy Spirit who dwells in it.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds<\/em><\/div>\n
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We Orthodox Christian hear this question quite often. In fact, it strikes a much deeper issue, namely, the issue with the Holy Tradition, which…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[56],"tags":[33],"class_list":["post-109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-life-issues","tag-orthodox-theology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/2-16-1.jpg","views":{"total":244,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1768402631},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paPyw9-1L","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18429,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109\/revisions\/18429"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catalog.obitel-minsk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}