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Course 11 · Lesson 3.3

The Orthodox account: the living tradition of the church

12 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 11 outline

Module 1: What the Church Is

  1. Biblical images of the church: body, people, temple and bride
  2. One, holy, catholic and apostolic: the four marks
  3. The mission of the church
  4. The visible and invisible church in Augustine, the Reformers and the East

Module 2: Ministry and Apostolic Succession

  1. Ministry in the New Testament: apostles, elders, overseers and deacons
  2. The bishop in the early church: Clement, Ignatius and Irenaeus
  3. Apostolic succession: three meanings (a line of bishops, the teaching, the mission)
  4. Ordination in the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions

Module 3: Scripture, Tradition and Church Authority

  1. Scripture and tradition in the early church
  2. The Catholic account: Scripture, tradition and the magisterium
  3. The Orthodox account: the living tradition of the church
  4. The Reformation and the question of sola scriptura

Module 4: Three Systems of Authority

  1. The bishop of Rome in early history
  2. Papal primacy and infallibility in Catholic teaching
  3. Orthodox conciliarity and the role of the patriarchs
  4. Protestant principles of authority: Scripture, confessions and the priesthood of believers
  5. The strongest objections each tradition raises against the others

Module 5: Sacramental Theology

  1. Mystery and sacrament: the words and their history
  2. Augustine and the definition of a sacrament
  3. How many sacraments? Seven, two, or none
  4. Validity, efficacy and the role of faith

Module 6: Baptism and the Eucharist

  1. Baptism in Scripture and the early church
  2. Infant baptism and believers baptism
  3. The Eucharist in the early church
  4. Real presence: transubstantiation, the Orthodox mystery, Lutheran, Reformed and memorial views

Module 7: Reconciliation and Liturgical Worship

  1. The forgiveness of sins in Scripture
  2. Confession and penance in the history of the church
  3. Confession across the traditions: Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran and Reformed practice
  4. Liturgy, word and table, and the church year
  5. Worship without a fixed liturgy and its principles

Module 8: Schism and Christian Unity

  1. Early schisms: the Donatists and the churches after Chalcedon
  2. East and West: the long division and the events of 1054
  3. The Reformation divisions
  4. Ecumenism and the prospects for unity

All courses

Program / Course 11: Church, Sacraments, and Authority / Lesson 3.3

What you will learn

  • Describe the Orthodox idea of Holy Tradition as one life of the Spirit in the church.
  • Explain the place of Scripture, the councils, the fathers, the liturgy and the icons within it.
  • Explain what it means that councils are tested by reception.
  • State the Catholic and Protestant objections and the Orthodox replies.

The big idea

Orthodox theology does not usually speak of Scripture and tradition as two sources, nor of a single office that decides all questions. It speaks of Holy Tradition, the one life of the Holy Spirit in the church, which includes Scripture, the creeds, the councils, the writings of the fathers, the liturgy, the canons and the icons. Scripture holds a special place within this Tradition. The ultimate guardian of the truth is the whole church, and a council is received as true because the church recognizes it as true. Critics ask how this can be known with certainty.

Key terms

Holy Tradition
In Orthodox use, the whole life of the church guided by the Spirit, of which Scripture is the central written part.
Reception
The recognition by the whole church that a council or a teaching expresses the apostolic faith.
Consensus of the fathers
The common mind of the church fathers on matters of faith, rather than the private opinion of any one father.
Sobornost
A Russian word, translated as conciliarity or catholicity, used by the nineteenth-century lay theologian Alexei Khomiakov for the free unity of the church in love and truth.
Lex orandi
A Latin phrase meaning the law of prayer. It expresses the idea that the church’s worship shows what it believes.
Ecumenical council
A gathering of bishops from the whole church whose decisions are received as binding. The Orthodox count seven.
Icon
A painted image of Christ, Mary or the saints, used in worship and regarded as expressing the faith in visual form.

Background

Orthodox Christians understand themselves as continuing the faith of the early church, especially of the first seven ecumenical councils (Nicaea 325 to Nicaea II 787) and of the Greek and other Eastern fathers. They did not go through the Reformation debate that shaped Western Christianity, and for that reason their vocabulary differs. Many Orthodox theologians of the twentieth century, such as Vladimir Lossky and Georges Florovsky, wrote in response to Western categories, and they stress that Orthodoxy does not fit neatly into either the Catholic or Protestant scheme.

It is also important to say that Orthodox authors do not all speak with one voice. The Orthodox Church is a communion of self-governing churches, including those of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Russia, Serbia, Romania, Greece and others. This lesson describes the account that is widely taught, and notes where Orthodox writers differ.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: One Tradition, not two sources

The Orthodox do not say that Scripture and tradition are two parallel streams. Scripture is part of Tradition, its central and most authoritative part, written by the apostles and prophets under the Spirit’s inspiration. The church received Scripture, read it in worship and uses it to test everything else. Florovsky argued that the church does not stand over Scripture, and that Scripture is rightly read only within the church that produced and received it.

In this view the same Spirit who inspired Scripture continues to live in the church. Lossky wrote that tradition is the life of the Holy Spirit in the church. The sentence does not mean that the church can add to the faith. It means that the faith is not a dead text, and that the way it has been lived, prayed and defended is part of how it is known. The Orthodox cite 2 Thessalonians 2:15 and 1 Timothy 3:15, the church as pillar and ground of the truth.

Step 2: What belongs to Tradition

Orthodox writers list many things that carry the Tradition: the Bible, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, the decrees of the seven councils, the writings of the fathers, the services of the church, the canons, and the holy icons. Not all carry the same weight. The creed and the dogmatic decrees of the councils stand at the center, while many canons deal with discipline and may change with circumstances.

The liturgy plays a special role. The Orthodox hold that the church’s prayer expresses its belief, for example in hymns to the Mother of God that teach the doctrine of the Incarnation. The fathers are read as witnesses to the one faith, and Orthodox theologians speak of the mind of the fathers, not of the private opinions of any single father. Individual fathers have erred on particular points, and Orthodox teaching does not claim that every sentence of every father is binding.

Step 3: Councils and reception

Acts 15 is the model: the apostles and elders gather, and the decision is stated as one that seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to them (Acts 15:28). The Orthodox hold that the bishops, gathered in council, are the highest teaching authority. They add that a council is not true merely because bishops met. A council is true when its decisions are received by the whole church as the faith.

History supplies examples. The council at Ephesus in 449, called the Robber Council by its critics, was rejected. The Council of Florence in 1439 agreed to union with Rome, but the faithful and clergy of the East rejected it. The iconoclast council of 754 was overturned in 787. These cases show reception at work. Critics reply that this standard seems to allow a council’s authority to be known only after the fact. Orthodox writers answer that the church knows the truth by living it, and that this is how the church has acted in history.

Step 4: Who has the final word?

Orthodox teaching does not locate the final word in a single office or person. Khomiakov, in the nineteenth century, emphasized that the whole church, clergy and laity together, guards the truth, and he used the word sobornost. Some later Orthodox writers have cautioned that this emphasis can be misread as a form of democracy and that bishops have a particular responsibility to teach. The bishops are the teachers of the church. The people, in this view, are the guardians of the faith, and in the age of Arianism it was often the laity and monks who held to the creed when many bishops did not.

In recent times questions have arisen over how the Orthodox can reach decisions across their many churches. The Holy and Great Council planned for decades was held in Crete in 2016, and several of the Orthodox churches did not attend. Orthodox opinions on its authority and reception continue to differ. This is a live example of reception and conciliarity at work.

Step 5: Objections and replies

Catholic objection: without a visible head, the Orthodox have no way to resolve disputes, as the present division among Orthodox churches seems to show. Orthodox reply: the early church lived by councils without a universal jurisdiction, and unity is a gift of the Spirit and not a legal structure. Critics continue to press the question of how disputes are settled in practice.

Protestant objection: tradition can hide departures from Scripture. The Orthodox practice of venerating icons and honoring Mary and the saints seems to go beyond the New Testament. Orthodox reply: these practices follow from the Incarnation and the communion of saints, and were defended against challenge by the seventh council. The Orthodox also say that the Protestant view of Scripture alone is itself a tradition, begun in the sixteenth century.

  1. Why do Orthodox writers prefer to speak of one Tradition?
  2. What things carry the Tradition, and which carry the most weight?
  3. How does the Orthodox idea of reception differ from a single office that decides?
  4. What is the role of the laity in guarding the faith?
  5. How do Orthodox writers use the fathers: as proof texts or as witnesses?
  6. What is the strongest objection to this view, and how would an Orthodox Christian respond?

Examples

The Council of Florence

In 1439 the Greek delegates at Florence signed a decree of union with Rome. On their return the union was rejected by clergy and people in the East, and most of the bishops who had signed withdrew their support. For the Orthodox this is a classic case of a council that was not received.

Lex orandi

A hymn sung at Christmas in the Orthodox liturgy declares that the Virgin gives birth to the one who is beyond being. The Orthodox say such hymns teach doctrine as truly as a formal definition does, because they are prayed by the whole church. (A paraphrase of a common theme in Orthodox hymns, not a quotation.)

Arius and the laity

In the fourth century many bishops accepted Arian-leaning formulas, and Athanasius was exiled several times. Later writers, including John Henry Newman in the nineteenth century, noted the role of ordinary believers in preserving the Nicene faith. The Orthodox cite the period as an example of the people guarding the faith with their bishops.

Different perspectives

Orthodox

The church is the guardian of the truth because the Spirit dwells in it. The councils, the fathers, the liturgy and the icons express one faith. The church does not need a single visible head to know the truth, and its unity lies in the shared faith and the Eucharist. Orthodox writers also acknowledge that Orthodox life has had its own failures.

Catholic

Catholics agree that tradition and the councils are essential and that the first seven councils are shared. They say that the Orthodox lack an effective principle of unity and that a universal teaching office, as in Matthew 16 and Luke 22:32, is needed. Catholics regard the Orthodox churches as true churches with valid sacraments and apostolic succession.

Protestant

Protestants often respect the Orthodox emphasis on the early councils and the fathers. They commonly hold that Scripture must be the standard even for the councils, and that icons, invocation of the saints and some other practices lack clear scriptural support. Some Anglican and Lutheran writers engage the fathers in a way close to Orthodox use.

Scholarly view

Historians note that the doctrine of reception was stated clearly in modern times, and that its roots lie in the practice of the early church. They also observe that the Orthodox churches have usually acted through synods and patriarchs, and that the relation between the two is complex. Debate continues about the status of the 2016 Council of Crete.

Why it matters

Many Western students assume that every church must have either a pope or a Bible-only principle. The Orthodox position shows a third approach and explains why Orthodox Christians often find Western arguments about authority puzzling. Understanding it also helps clarify the Catholic and Protestant positions by contrast.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: Orthodox Christians put tradition above Scripture.

Correction: They teach that Scripture is the central and highest part of the Tradition and must be read in the church. They reject the idea of a separate tradition that competes with Scripture.

Misunderstanding: Orthodox Christians have no authority structure.

Correction: They have bishops, synods and patriarchs. What they lack is a single universal head. Authority is exercised by bishops in council, with the whole church receiving their decisions.

Misunderstanding: Orthodoxy is Catholicism without the pope.

Correction: The two traditions differ on more than the papacy, including the filioque, the nature of original sin, purgatory, the way councils work and some features of worship. The Orthodox view of tradition is distinct.

Misunderstanding: Orthodox theologians all speak with one voice on authority.

Correction: They differ on matters such as the weight of the laity, the status of recent councils and the proper response to other Christians. Official teaching and individual opinion should be kept apart.

Knowledge check

What do Orthodox Christians mean by Holy Tradition?

They mean the whole life of the church under the Holy Spirit, which includes Scripture as its central written part, along with the creeds, councils, fathers, liturgy, canons and icons. They do not treat Scripture and tradition as two competing sources.

What does reception mean for a council?

It means that a council is recognized as true when the whole church accepts its decisions as expressing the apostolic faith. Councils like Ephesus in 449 and Florence in 1439 were rejected after the fact, which Orthodox writers cite as evidence.

Why do Orthodox writers appeal to Acts 15?

Because the apostles and elders met together, reached a decision, and described it as seeming good to the Holy Spirit and to them. The Orthodox take this as the model for conciliar decisions in the church.

State one Catholic objection to the Orthodox account and one Orthodox reply.

Catholics ask how disputes are resolved without a universal teaching office, noting divisions among the Orthodox. The Orthodox reply that the early church lived by councils and that unity is a gift of the Spirit and shared faith and Eucharist, not a legal structure.

Think it through

  1. Does the idea of reception make the church’s teaching clearer or less clear, and why?
  2. How might a believer tell the difference between a true council and a false one in real time?
  3. What does it mean for worship to teach doctrine?
  4. How does the Orthodox idea of one Tradition address the Protestant worry about human traditions?

Independent assignment

Reception in four cases

In your notebook, look up four cases: the Council of Nicaea in 325, the Robber Council of Ephesus in 449, the iconoclast council of 754 and the Council of Florence in 1439. For each, write two sentences on what was decided and what happened afterward. Then write 250 to 350 words explaining how the Orthodox idea of reception would describe them and how a Catholic or a Protestant might respond. Keep the work in your notebook.

Further study