Orthodox Christianity Vol II, Chp 4: The Contents and Authority of Tradition. The Legacy of the Holy Fathers

Texts do not impart understanding or enlightenment in themselves, automatically, to people who read them. We aren’t required to live in a different history to understand them. But they are central in the liturgical tradition of the Church, and they are “dogmatic” and authoritative. Christ Jesus imparted the traditions and founded both worship in the Church, which we receive as the liturgy, and the Church itself. Elder Joseph (Francis), for example, searched for eldership, since he realized that becoming a monk and living on Mt. Athos wasn’t enough. He needed some person to teach him the ways of noetic prayer. Jesus Christ did not come to revise texts or sift through translations of manuscripts, although he did preach and read from the Hebrew Scriptures, especially concerning the prophecies made about him and the people of Israel. Prophets experienced God first and wrote down the visions later, and prophecy never ended with the New Testament. It was even a “gift” to be used for building up the Church. 

Metropolitan Hilarion makes several other important points. First, people, or more specifically a genealogy, has authority, not simply texts alone. The holy Fathers of the Church are linked to the holy apostles. Second, this apostolic and patristic tradition in Orthodoxy does not focus on “preservation” but on a living witness of the Gospel that continues to produce holy Fathers. There were no golden ages that ceased. The Holy Spirit works through the Church in all ages, which is a cosmic and whole view of the world. Third, the holy Fathers wrote down theological opinions called in Greek theologoumena that are not dogmatic.  Lastly, the writings of modern Orthodox theologians as well as the “Confessions” that appeared in the 17th c. in response to Catholics and Protestants must be checked against the patristic tradition of the Church. 

 The Gospel never simply stood alone as a text, though texts were written down most importantly by the apostles and continued in the writings of the holy Fathers, as they received it. The apostles received Jesus Christ. The content of the Bible is as much important as the form. This “legacy” means that the tradition and teachings of the church fathers is the continuation of the apostolic church. They are teaching the same Gospel. Just as the apostles received Jesus Christ, so too the fathers of the church receive the contents and authority of tradition. The liturgy is authoritative because it is the worship founded by Jesus Christ. Texts, then, “become authoritative” because the written words are a part of worship. It is the texts that conform to the Gospel and tradition, not vice versa. The genealogy that runs from the laity, clergy, monastics to the holy Fathers to the Apostles to Jesus Christ forms authority. Texts can be added by the Church as long as they conform to the Gospel and tradition of Orthodoxy, whether eastern or western in perspective. The true author, a Latin word etymologically related to authority and action, of the Gospel and traditions of the Church is Christ Jesus. Genuine authority, then, is identified with a people who follow Christ Jesus’ Gospel; He can even speak through dreams, visions, worship, poetry, animals, fathers, mothers, children, and elders. Texts, as well as sacred objects in the liturgy, become sacred when they are used in liturgical worship and when they help Christians to live the contents of Holy Scripture.