One of my favorite movies is Fiddler on the Roof. Any person who loves this
movie and sees this image feels a warm spot in their hearts. The song he sings
in the very beginning of the musical is a song called Tradition. He says
"Because of Tradition, we've kept our balance for many, many years...and
because of our Tradition every one of us knows who he is and what God expects
him to do". This is our identity as Orthodoxy Christians. This is what the
world longs for in a world of relevancy, relativism, and a lack of
authenticity. In the Christian world, especially in America, there is a
desperate search for solid ground, tradition, roots, and authenticity. It is
curious to me that those around me who are Christian but not Orthodox still
feel like something is missing, and I felt the same way! Even though you go to
the best rock concert, amazing sermon, emotionally charged Sunday church
service at the local church, at the end of the day, something is missing. I
believe the protestant/evangelical/restoration church are searching. I am not
pointing fingers; I owe a great debt to these churches. As a church of Christ
member, I remember thinking there is more to this. I wanted to discover the
first church, and though the church of Christ were making this attempt, I also
saw them being swayed by other Christian Denominations and seemed to pick and choose what part of the first century church they wanted. I delved head first in
the emergent movement because this group was searching as I was. I am thankful
to God for that, and here is why. If I had not, I would not have began to think
outside the church of Christ box. When I did, I discovered other Christians
reaching back into history to find something else. The house church I attended
was a church that were primarily church of Christ former members. Our services
consisted of a more liturgical feel, especially during the Lords Supper where
the host was given by going up and receiving the bread and cup from those who
offered it (which is not the practice in the church of Christ). I am indebted
to that church for allowing me to discover the depth that Christianity can have
and has had for two thousand years. It also revealed to me that Christianity
has lost its identity and is searching desperately for its roots. My question
to all (and please answer if you would like) is: Why re-invent the wheel when
the original is already present. Christ has not left his Church nor has he
caused confusion. Simply look at the Churches history and discover what has
happened. People became prideful and have decided to go their own way. And we,
in the twenty first century are victims to those decisions and have lost our
true identity. So where should we go from here?
Go Ask Your Fathers
If you read my previous blog post
(http://myorthodoxlife.blogspot.com/2013/02/why-i-am-orthodox-part-31-scripture.html),
you would know that the early Church did not have an official New Testament for
quite some time. In fact, the Nicene Constantinopolitan Creed was completed and
affirmed before the official New Testament was canonized. This means that the
Church was being guided by something for hundreds of years and keeping Her from
corruption and protecting her from heresy. Again, I want to emphasize this...It
was the Spirit of God through Tradition that kept the Church from error. Scripture was a product of Tradition. Who did the people go to for authority? The Apostles were no longer around and
there was an Old Testament but not an official New Testament. The people went
to their Bishops, and in that time, they went to the leaders who had direct
contact or the closest contact with the Apostles; the Apostolic Fathers.
Let me begin with 4 of the earliest Church Fathers, who were either directly
associated with the Apostle or one step removed from the Apostles.
1. St. Clement of Rome (the 4th Bishop of Rome, lived around
AD 96) spoke of Apostolic Succession in the early church:
1 Clement 42 and 44
So then Christ is from God, and the Apostles are
from Christ. Both therefore came of the will of God in the appointed
order. Having therefore received a charge, and having been fully assured
through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and confirmed in the
word of God with full assurance of the Holy Ghost, they went forth with the
glad tidings that the kingdom of God should come. So preaching everywhere in
country and town, they appointed their firstfruits, when they had proved
them by the Spirit, to be bishops and deacons unto them that should
believe. And this they did in no new fashion; for indeed it had been written
concerning bishops and deacons from very ancient times; for thus saith the
scripture in a certain place, I will appoint their bishops in righteousness and
their deacons in faith...For this cause therefore, having received
complete foreknowledge, they appointed the aforesaid persons, and
afterwards they provided a continuance, that if these should fall asleep,
other approved men should succeed to their ministration. Those therefore who
were appointed by them, or afterward by other men of repute with the consent of
the whole Church, and have ministered unblamably to the flock of Christ in
lowliness of mind, peacefully and with all modesty, and for long time have
borne a good report with all these men we consider to be unjustly thrust out
from their ministration.
2.
St. Ignatius (80-110 A.D), possibly ordained as Bishop of Antioch by St
Peter, spoke of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the Hierarchy,
and Unity:
To his letter to the Smyrnaeans he says:
Real
Presence:
"Consider
how contrary to the mind of God are the heterodox in regard to the grace of God
which has come to us. They have no regard for charity, none for the widow, the orphan,
the oppressed, none for the man in prison, the hungry or the thirsty. They
abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not admit that the
Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, the flesh which suffered for
our sins and which the Father, in His graciousness, raised from the dead."
Letter to the Smyrnaeans chapter 6
Hierarchy:
"...for
there is one Flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup in the union of His
Blood; one altar, as there is one bishop with the presbytery (priests) and my
fellow servants, the deacons."
Unity:
"Come
together in common, one and all without exception in charity, in one faith and
in one Jesus Christ, who is of the race of David according to the flesh, the
son of man, and the Son of God, so that with undivided mind you may obey the
bishop and the priests, and break one Bread which is the medicine of
immortality and the antidote against death, enabling us to live forever in
Jesus Christ." Letter to the Ephesians, Chapter 20
3.
St. Irenaeus (AD 130-202), a disciple of Polycarp (who was disciple of
the Apostle John) also speaks of the Real Presence if Christ in the Eucharist
and in combating the Gnosticism states that the Church's authority comes from
Apostolic Tradition, not secret knowledge.
Against Heresies
"But,
again, when we refer them to that tradition which originates from the apostles,
[and] which is preserved by means of the succession of presbyters in the
Churches, they object to tradition, saying that they themselves are wiser not
merely than the presbyters, but even than the apostles, because they have
discovered the unadulterated truth. For [they maintain] that the apostles
intermingled the things of the law with the words of the Savior; and that not
the apostles alone, but even the Lord Himself, spoke as at one time from the
Demiurge, at another from the intermediate place, and yet again from the
Pleroma, but that they themselves, indubitably, unsulliedly, and purely, have
knowledge of the hidden mystery: this is, indeed, to blaspheme their Creator
after a most impudent manner! It comes to this, therefore, that these men do
now consent neither to Scripture nor to tradition."
"[Christ]
has declared the cup, a part of creation, to be his own Blood, from which he
causes our blood to flow; and the bread, a part of creation, he has established
as his own Body, from which he gives increase to our bodies."
4.
St Justin Martyr (AD 100–165), was a philosopher who became a Christian
and Apologist.
First Apology
"This
food we call the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake except one
who believes that the things we teach are true, and has received the washing
for forgiveness of sins and for rebirth, and who lives as Christ handed down to
us. For we do not receive these things as common bread or common drink; but as
Jesus Christ our Savior being incarnate by God's Word took flesh and blood for
our salvation, so also we have been taught that the food consecrated by the
Word of prayer which comes from him, from which our flesh and blood are
nourished by transformation, is the flesh and blood of that incarnate
Jesus." First Apology, Chapter 66
He
also writes about the Liturgy in the 2 Century. This Liturgy consist of the
first half being the Liturgy of the Word and the second half being the Liturgy
of the Eucharist. The same way the Liturgy is done in the Orthodox Church today
In
conclusion, These Traditions were handed down from Christ to the Apostles to
the Apostolic Fathers to the Bishops through History to the the modern day and
are still held by the Orthodox Church today. These are just some of the
Traditions we hold which the first Christians believed and were taught
and have passed down to us.
Apostolic
Succession
The
real presence of Christ in the Eucharist
Hierarchy
of the Church (as Bishop, Priest, Deacon)
Unity
Apostolic
Tradition
Baptismal
Regeneration
The
form of the Liturgy (Liturgy of the Word & Eucharist)
I
hope this was informative.
Next,
I hope to discuss the 7 Ecumenical Councils and the impact they have had on my
journey to Orthodoxy.
Iconoclasm is dangerous for another reason. I remember when I was in the church of Christ, I was listened to a lot of Christian talk radio. One program I listened to made me think about how easy it is to make an idol of God. It is impossible to know everything about God, but we do know what God has revealed to us about Himself. When we have a scewed view of who God is, we have created a god of own making and likeness which is no god at all. This is where iconography comes in. Icons are not simply pictures, they tell stories. They are not painted, they are written (Orthodoxy refers to writing icons, not painting icons). Everything is significant and has a teaching moment within them. What is being taught are the doctrines of the Church. That is why, in an icon, realism is not the focus. For instance, a forehead may be large, fingers may be extended, clothing of different colors, the absense of shadows, baby Jesus with a middle aged man's face, etc. All are significant and make a theological point. 
So how can iconoclast be more suseptible to idolatry than Iconophiles: Because Iconoclasts have no reference but their minds and thoughts of who God is. This requires a new thought of God everytime one thinks about God. This engages the iconoclast's in the possibility of making God in their own image at any given point. Whereas, those who support and venerate icons have an image of God that has been past down from generation to generation (Tradition says St Luke was the first to write an icon). Icons teach the faith. If icons are absent, it is harder to keep the Tradition firm. Ideas about God within Christian circles abound, and these from faithful good intentioned Sola Scriptura Christians. (Sola Scriptura is another subject, but I do want to point out that all heretics have used the Bible to back their heresy)
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