In the Vanity of Their Minds: Sola Scriptura.

[OldOrthodoxChristian]

"Sola Scriptura: In the Vanity of Their Minds"

by Fr. John Whiteford.

http:// orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/tca_solascriptura.aspx

God save us in the blood of Christ Jesus our Saviour; AMEN.

God save us in the resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ. AMEN.

In Erie PA Scott R. Harrington

 

[OldOrthodoxChristian]

"Sola Scriptura: In the Vanity of Their Minds"

by Fr. John Whiteford.

http:// orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/tca_solascriptura.aspx

God save us in the blood of Christ Jesus our Saviour; AMEN.

God save us in the resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ. AMEN.

In Erie PA Scott R. Harrington

"Tradition once again was called upon by St. Athanasios as a means of

embracing the correct meaning of Scripture ("orthen echonta ten

dianoian" [essentially, "having the right way of thinking" (1)]." (page

26.).


"ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM"

"St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, one of the

greatest Fathers of the Eastern Church and author of the most

frequently celebrated of the Orthodox liturgies, died in 407 AD. He

left a monumental number of discourses on every subject, from the

nature of the priesthood, to extensive exegetic works on Holy Writ.

His brilliance as a homilist and orator is celebrated in both the Eastern

and Western Churches. Owing to his popularity throughout the history

of the Orthodox Church, perhaps no other strictly Eastern Father has

been so exhaustively studied and analyzed by the heterodox. Thus his

works are available in many good translations and editions, making

them a readable source for the non-Greek-reading scholar, as well as

for those scholars accomplished in the original language of St.

Chrysostom's writings. (2)

"We have very little to cite in St. John's writings regarding the problem

of Tradition and Scripture as sources of authority. The reason for this

is St. John's conviction that the authority of the Church is comprised of

Scripture and Tradition jointly. They are not juxtaposed, for him,

because he does not view them as separate phenomena, as regards

ecclesiastical authority. Let us turn, first, to his fourth homily on the

Epistle to the Thessalonians. (3) Commenting of II Thessalonians 2:15

["So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you

were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter"], he observes,

Hence it is manifest that they [the Apostles] did not deliver all things

by Epistle, but many things also unwritten, and in like manner both the

one and the other are worthy of credit. Therefore let us think the

tradition of the Church also worthy of credit. (4).

"The joint authority of Tradition and Scripture, then, is clearly evident

to St. John Chrysostom. Tradition, indeed, needs no justification:

"Paradosis esti meden pleon zetei" ["It is tradition, ask nothing

more"]." (5).

[pp. 29-30.].


Western Perspectives

"The Orthodox Church cannot be held answerable to the Protestant

formulation of the proposition that the Holy Spirit speaks through the

Scriptures. For Orthodoxy, the Fathers, Tradition, the Scriptures,

indeed the Church Herself are, in perfect unity, the sources of truth.

One element cannot be separated from the other, nor can one element

assume unique authority apart from and over and above its interaction

with, and as a part of, the other elements. Orthodox ecclesiology, then,

can never admit of the action of the Holy Spirit being concentrated, or

exclusively present, in one single aspect of the Church. The Bible and

Tradition, or Church authority, as Professor Nissiotis has asserted, are

in absolute unity. (6). A Church outside this unity is not the Orthodox

Church; scripture outside this unity is not Scripture as the Orthodox

Church receives it. Indeed, sola scriptura, under any circumstances

whatever, is an unthinkable formula for the Orthodox Church".

[pp. 41-42.].

Notes.
1. St. Athanasios, "Oratio III Contra Arianos," PG XXVI, col. 300. The

English text can be found in Schaff and Wace, Fathers, IV, p. 413. The

English rendering, ".. a right interpretation", seems to us inadequate to

express the Gr. (Greek), "orthen ten dianoian" ".

2. We will use here the works of St. John Chrysostom as found in

Schaff, Phillip, ed., A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene

Fathers. First Series. New York, 1889. Various volumes ut infra.

3. Ibid, XIII, pp. 388-392.

4. Ibid., p. 390.

5. PG, LXII, col. 488.

6. Nissiotis, "Unity", pp. 188-189.

SCRIPTURE AND TRADITION. ARCHIMANDRITE (NOW BISHOP)

CHRYSOSTOMOS AND ARCHIMANDRITE (NOW BISHOP) AUXENTIOS

Center For Traditionalist Orthodox Studies, Etna, CA, 1994. Third

Printing.