Now before some fellow Orthodox or a Roman Catholic who will say to me that we go with Scripture and Holy Tradition, stop a moment and re-read the comic above. The Early Church Fathers, who ensured that what was received was passed on, were all strong Scripture scholars. Remember that the Septuagint version of the Tanakh–what we now call the Old Testament–was easily available to them. The post-Apostolic Church Fathers did not have all the books of the New Testament easily available to them, but they had the same Holy Scriptures from which Jesus preached. (Note, I am well aware of the controversy over whether the Masoretic Text or the Septuagint Text best preserved the original writings, but they do concur in well over 95% of their content.)
When you read the Church Fathers, it is quite obvious that they are steeped in the Septuagint. In addition, they are also steeped in whatever Gospel(s) and Epistles were available to them. After the fourth century they all have all of what we now call Scripture available to them, and they continue to be fully steeped in it. But, note that time after time, all the way from the Apostle Paul, they try to ensure that they are steeped in the mindset that they have received from the Apostles. We can always theologically argue about how successful this or that Father was. But, do not miss the point. They were trying to orient their whole life and their way of thought to ensure that the way in which Our Lord Jesus Christ looked at life, and the way in which he looked at, interpreted, and handled the Word of God. That is, how did the Word interact with the written Word? Then, we must interact in exactly the same way.
That is why the declarations of the Sunday of Orthodoxy begin with the phrases:
As the prophets beheld, as the Apostles have taught,. . . as the Church has received. . . as the teachers have dogmatized,. . . as the Universe has agreed, . . . as Grace has shown forth,. . . as Truth has revealed,. . . as falsehood has been dissolved,. . . as Wisdom has presented,. . . as Christ Awarded,. . . thus we declare,. . . thus we assert,. . . thus we preach Christ our true God, and honor His Saints in words, in writings, in thoughts, in sacrifices, in churches, in Holy Icons; on the one hand worshiping and reverencing Christ as God and Lord; and on the other hand honoring as true servants of the same Lord of all and accordingly offering them veneration. This is the Faith of the Apostles, this is the Faith of the Fathers, this is the Faith of the Orthodox, this is the Faith which has established the universe.
“Thus we preach Christ our true God …” Thus the comic above is correct. Scripture and Holy Tradition are not a way of looking at certain things. They are a certain way of looking at everything. They are the way in which we correctly “preach Christ our true God.” They are how we behold what the prophets beheld. Even if you are a Protestant and do not receive Holy Tradition, yet you must have in your mind the thought that we need to learn that certain way of looking at everything, that way which allows us to behold what the prophets beheld.
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