For instance, St. Dionysius the Areopagite, Bishop of Athens, who was converted to Christ by St. Paul himself,[1] visited the Mother of God in Jerusalem and afterward wrote about it to St. Paul:

 “It is impossible for the human mind to grasp what I have seen not only with the eyes Of my soul, but with my bodily eyes, too. I have seen with my own eyes the most beautiful and holy Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ …. That time was for me a time of supreme happiness, r thank the most high and most g r a e i o u s God, and the Divine Virgin, the great Apostle John, and thee (St. Paul), for having mercifully granted me such a great blessing,”

Another Church Father that wrote about the Holy Virgin was St. Ignatius the God bearer, a disciple of the Apostle John, to whom he wrote these words:

“If it is made possible, I intend to come to you in order to see the faithful gathered in Jerusalem, and especially the Mother of Jesus: they say of her that she is honorable, affable, and arouses wonder in all, and all wish to see her. But who would not wish to see the Virgin and to converse with her who bore the true God? ·..With us she is glorified as the Mother of God and the Virgin full of grace and virtue. They say of her that she is joyful in troubles and persecutions, does not grieve in poverty and want, and not only does not get angry with those who offend her but does good to them still more..,.All who see her are delighted.”

 The Holy Virgin was often called by the title “Mother of God,” but in the 5th century an Archbishop of Constantinople, Nestorius, began to teach a strange doctrine. Nestorius believed that Jesus Christ was truly and fully God, the Second Person of the Trinity, but he was unable to understand that the nature of God and the nature of man had been perfectly united in the Person of Christ, as indeed they must have been if human nature were to be offered salvation. Nestorius taught that two distinct persons somehow ‘”coexisted” in Christ, and that one must distinguish between the Christ, the Son of God, and Jesus, the Son of Mary. The one to whom the Virgin gave birth was not God, but the man, Jesus. God then dwelt in Jesus, as in a temple. For this reason. Nestorius taught that Mary could not be called Mother of God; at most, she could be called “Mother of Christ” (Christatokos).

 There then arose, in opposition to this error, the Archbishop of Alexandria, St. Cyril. Calling on Nestorius to teach the Orthodox Faith as handed down from the Apostles, St. Cyril and others summoned a Council of the Church in the year 431. More than 200 bishops gathered in Ephesus from ail over the Christian world. (The city of Ephesus was specifically chosen because there the Mother of God had lived for a while.) St. Celestine, Bishop of Rome, was unable to attend, but he asked that St. Cyril of Alexandria defend the Orthodox doctrine. At at earlier Councils, the Book of the Gospels was placed on a throne in the midst of the Fathers to show that Christ, as the only Head of the Church, governed invisibly in their midst.

When Nestorius declared that Mary was only the Mother of Christ’s humanity, St. Cyril replied with this verse from Scripture: The Word was made flesh (John I:14). As Timothy (Fr. Kallistos) Ware has written in The Orthodox Church:

“What Mary bore was not a man loosely united to God, but a single and undivided person, who is God and man at once. The name Theotokos (Mother of God) safeguards the unity of Christ’s person: to deny her this title is to separate the Incarnate Christ into two, breaking down the bridge between God and man …. Thus we see that not only titles of devotion were involved at Ephesus, but the very message of salvation.”

St. Cyril of Alexandria, and the decree of the Council of Ephesus-the third great Council of the Church, was the voice of Orthodoxy, defending not only the Holy Virgin, but Jesus Christ, perfect God and man. Since that time Mary has been given the full title, used in all Orthodox services, of “Our All-holy, immaculate, most blessed and glorified Lady, the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary.” This includes Theotokos (Mother of God), Aeioparthenos (Ever-Virgin), and Panagia (all-holy). The Fifth Church Council (held in Constantinople in 553), officially added “Ever-Virgin” to the list of titles. Father Kallistos gives a good explanation for our use of the term “All-holy”:

“Among all God’s creatures, she is the supreme example of synergy or cooperation between the purpose of the deity and the free will of man. God, Who always respects human liberty, did not Wish to become incarnate without the free consent of His Mother. He waited for her voluntary response: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to your word (Luke 1:38)..,.If Christ is the New Adam, Mary is the New Eve, whose obedient submission to the will of God counterbalanced Eve’s disobedience in Paradise.”

Sincerely in Christ,

Fr. Alexey Young

In my last letter I wrote about the early false teaching called Gnosticism. I explained about St. Irenaeus of Lyons, an early Church Father (140–202 AD) who helped to combat this error, drew up a list of Holy Scriptures, and also demonstrated that the Church founded by Christ is the authority for every Christian.

In this letter I would like to tell you about another great Father, St. Athanasius (293-373 AD), and the Church’s battle for the doctrine of the Trinity.

Today we take for granted the Church’s teaching concerning the Trinity: so did the Orthodox believers of the first two centuries. They baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, just as Christ commanded; they knew that Christ was the Son of God and God, distinct from the Father and the Holy Spirit, but that all were equally One–a great mystery of faith.

About the year 180, however, a serious error appeared, called Adoptionism. According to this false teaching, Christ was not really God at all, but only a man who had been “adopted” by God! Still another group, the Sabellians, believed that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were but different “aspects” or manifestations of the one God. In other words, it was God the Father Who dwelt in the womb, becoming the Son at birth, etc. These dangerous ideas were of course purely human inventions, completely alien to the faith of Christians; but they prepared the way for an even more terrible heresy.

Around the year 318 the priest, Arius of Alexandria, ‘and his followers (called Arians) began to preach a false Christ. According to Arius, Jesus Christ was only a creature, the first creation of God, through whom all else was made. This Christ was superior to all other created things, including the Holy Spirit, but He was also inferior to God the Father. Arianism was to disturb the Orthodox Church of Christ for several decades. (How many people today are actually Adoptionists, Sabellians, or Arians in a new disguise !)

In the city of Nicea in Bithynia, in the summer of 325, a universal Council of the Church convened to discuss Arianism and other topics. Eighteen hundred bishops were invited from all the corners of Christendom, but only 318 were able to make the arduous and, in some cases, quite long journey to Nicea. Some of these were men who had suffered persecution and torture for the faith under the pagan Emperors. Presiding over them was ‘St. Hosius of Cordova, Spain. Among those in attendance were Arius, and the deacon, Athanasius. In the center of the council hall was placed a throne holding a copy of the sacred Gospels

After prolonged debate between the Arians and the Orthodox, led by Arius and Athanasius, Bishop Hosius announced that the Council would draw up a statement of beliefs–a Creed–in order to clearly state the faith of Christianity. The first draft was submitted by Arian bishops, and rejected. Finally, the first part of what came to be called the “Nicene Creed,” recited in every Divine Liturgy to this day, was adopted by the Council.

This first universal Council specifically anathematized Arianism. The Holy Spirit had spoken to the Church through the assembled Fathers. As St. Athanasius himself proclaimed: “The word of the Lord, which was given at the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, remaineth for ever” But the heresy of Arianism continued for another 50 years, in small pockets of resistance throughout the empire.

Meanwhile, in 328, Athanasius became Bishop of Alexandria. Since he was the fearless champion of Orthodoxy, and the archenemy of Arianism, many Arians conspired against him. They spread slanders resulting in a series of exiles for the Bishop. When he returned home in 316, St. Athanasius composed his book, “Against the Arians.” Ten years later he was again condemned by the Arian party for his Orthodoxy. This time he escaped into the Egyptian desert, where he lived in simplicity and piety, studying the word of God, writing theological treatises on the great questions of his day, and continuing to defend the true doctrine of the Trinity.

Quoting Scripture frequently,, St. Athanasius often returned in his letters to the theme of these verses: Beware of false prophets that come in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravening wolves (Matt. 7:15), and Believe not every spirit (I John 4:1). He wrote: “That is the way our adversaries operate …They usurp the glorious Name of our Saviour ‘which is above every name.’ They deck themselves out in the language of Scripture, saying the words, but robbing them of their true meaning.”

After his fifth and last exile, having been bishop for 45 years and having seen 16 Roman emperors come and go, this Holy Father, whom St. Gregory Nazianzen had described as “angelic in appearance and still more angelic in mind,” ‘reposed in the Lord on May 2, 373.

Like all Fathers of the Church, St. Athanasius confessed the Orthodox Faith openly. He was absolutely dedicated to telling the world the truth, even when it resulted in bitter reprisals against himself. He was not merely a bishop or theological writer, however; he was also a saint–that is, he was one who loved Jesus Christ so much that Christ was able to shine clearly and brightly through him, to the world,

Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Alexey Young

This time I would like to explain a little the attitude of the early Church towards the Bible.

One of the very first anti-Christian ideas was called Gnosticism. Originating with Simon Magus (see Acts, 8), the Gnostics claimed to possess the “true” but “secret” teachings of Christ and the Apostles. They accused the early Church Fathers of Suppressing these “mystic teachings” and deliberately keeping people in bondage to ignorance. They said Christian doctrines were too simple, and they preferred elaborate and exotic explanations to the pure doctrines of the Church.

Another difference between Christianity and Gnosticism was this: from the time of the Apostles the Church had rejected other religions as being false or even demonic; only faith in Christ and cooperation with God’s grace can save. But Gnostics said that all · ‘religions are basically the same and therefore all are in some sense true. Gnosis, or secret knowledge, was all a man needed; once he possessed this knowledge he would be “saved” and could then do whatever else he wanted.

Gnostics attacked the Church and tried to lure away many of the faithful. The Church had to defend its flock. One of the “generals” in this battle for the souls of men (for that was exactly what it was) was the Church Father, St- Irenaeus of Lyons (140-202 A.D.). He had been a disciple of the martyred St. Polycarp, who was in turn a disciple of the Apostle John.

St. Irenaeus carefully studied the ideas of the Gnostics. He saw that they wished to supplement Apostolic teaching with unwritten, secret doctrines and additional “gospels” (other than those written by the four Evangelists); He came to the conclusion that the Church must do two things: first, the question must be settled as to what the authority for a Christian is. Second, a fixed list of authentic Scriptures must be drawn up.

He realized that the Holy Scriptures, which until then had been widely scattered throughout the Christian communities, simply must be brought together and given some kind of system or order. So St. Irenaeus became the first Holy Father (so far as we know) to give a list of Scriptures that almost completely corresponds to the one we use today! In doing this, the Saint made it possible for Christians to avoid the false “scriptures” Of the Gnostics, or others who were outside the Church; this helped all true believers to know what was true and what was false, in keeping with the words of another Father, St. Jerome, who wrote: “The truth has set bounds…but evil and falsehood multiply without end.”

On what basis did St, Irenaeus draw up his list of accepted Scripture? What was His authority for including some writings and excluding others? He answers this question himself, and his answer is very important.

He said that the Church of Christ may accept only those writings and teachings which are held in common by the churches of apostolic origin. Isn’t it logical, he asked, to assume that if the Holy Apostles had known of “hidden mysteries ,” “they would have handed them down especially to those to whom they were entrusting the churches themselves”? And would not those first successors have handed those teachings on to their successors, and so on?

But the fact is, St. Irenaeus continues, the successors to the Apostles do not teach such things at all; nor do they use the strange “gospels” which Gnostics use, “We appeal,” he wrote, to that tradition [about written Scripture and oral tradition] which has come down from the Apostles and is guarded by the succession of bishops in the churches.”

Therefore, we use only those Scriptures that are used by the successors to the Apostles, and we teach only that which they teach and which had been believed, in unbroken succession, from the time of the Apostles. A “successor to the Apostles,” furthermore, is a bishop that can trace his ordination back to one of the Holy Apostles–not a man who calls himself a bishop but who is actually only “self-appointed.”

What is fascinating is that nowhere does St. Irenaeus say that the Bible alone is the authority for Christians ! On the contrary! He says that it is the authority of the bishops of the Church .that validates Holy Scripture. He writes: “Even if the Apostles, had not left their Scriptures to us, ought we not to follow the rule of the tradition which they handed down to those to whom they committed the churches?”

This early Holy Father’s teachings concerning the Bible and the Church are absolutely crucial for those today who wish to find Christ’s True Church. St. Irenaeus puts it this way:

“Since there are so many clear testimonies, we should not seek from others for the truth which can easily be received from the Church. It was there, in-the Church, that the Apostles, like a rich man making a deposit, fully bestowed everything that belongs to the truth. She is the entrance to life; all others are thieves and robbers. Therefore we ought to avoid them, but to love with the greatest love the things of the Church, and so lay hold of the tradition of the truth.”

Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Alexey Young

354-431
Commemorated June 15

Thou, Lord abidest forever, and Thou art not angry with us forever because Thou hast pity on our dust and ahses, and it was pleasing in Thy sight of reform my deformity. Inside me Thy good was working on me to make me restless until Thou shouldst become clear and certain to my inward sight. (Confessions)

This fourth century Father was born in Numidia in northern Africa in 354. His mother, St. Monica, tried to instill in him a love of virtue, but he was insensible to all but his own selfish desires. Following schooling and years of youthful folly, he went to Carthage, where he became a teacher.

As an adult he fell into the error of Manicheism (founded in the first century by the Persian prophet, Mani). However, as one priest told his mother, who was grieving over his waywardness, “the fount of so many tears cannot be lost.” In 387 St. Ambrose of Milan was able to inspire Augustine to fully commit himself to Christ and the True Church. Ordained a priest, he was consecrated·Bishop of Hippo in northern Africa in 395. For 35 years he ruled his diocese wisely, participating widely in the controversies of his time, and attending the councils of African bishops.

Blessed Augustine wrote about 1000 books, of which the Confessions and the City of God are justly renowned and still read today (see “Spiritual Life”, of this issue). In other works this Father sometimes taught in an exaggerated or erroneous manner on one or two points of doctrine, but near the end of his life he reviewed his works and made some corrections, “with judicial severity,” where necessary, submitting them also to the judgment of the Church and humbly adding: “Let all those who will read this work imitate me not in my errors.”

Cited as a patristic authority by many other Holy Rathers of the East (and pre-schism West), he was called “holy” by St. Photios the Great, Patriarch of: Constantinople.

From the experience of his passionate youth, Blessed Augustine recognized the need for the soul to free itself from the enticements of the world before it could hope to grasp the things of the spirit. Much of his writing is devoted to exhorting his readers not to be conformed to the ways of the world: “We are thus admonished that we ought to turn our love from bodily pleasures to the eternal essence of truth …. With God’s guidance a man of good will can turn the troubles of this present life to the advantage of courage. Among abounding pleasures and temporal prosperity, he may prove and strengthen temperance. In temptations he may sharpen his prudence, that he may not only be led into them, but may also become more vigilant and more eager in his love of truth which alone never deceives ·”

(Of True Religion)

225-395

Commemorated January 10

Love is the foremost of all excellent achievements and the first of the commandments of the Law…the life of God consists in the eternal practice of love; and this life is wholly beautiful, possessed of a loving disposition toward beauty and never receiving any check in the practice of love. And because beauty is boundless, love shall never cease. (On the Soul and the Resurrection).

This Holy Father came from an illustrious and holy Cappadocian family that included his sister, St. Macrina, and his brother, St. Basil.

After an early experience of desert monasticism, he was consecrated bishop of Nyssa by his brother. Active in the Second Ecumenical Council (381) against the Arians, St. Gregory of Nyssa spent the last decade of his life exercising vigorous church leadership.

Like Blessed Augustine of Hippo (see below), St. Gregory was a prolific writer; but, also like Blessed Augustine, he was sometimes subject to mistakes, notably in his erroneous teaching concerning “universal salvation.” This, however, did not prevent him from being accepted as a father and teacher of the Orthodox Church. Among his dogmatic works are The Great Catechism and The Making of Man. In these and his other works, as one commentator writes, “his mind hovers over immense fields of vision” (Robert Payne, The Holy Fire), making his Orthodox writings simply magnificent and filled with insight, as in the following brief passage:

“You are pleased because you are handsome, because your hands move quickly, because your feet are nimble, because your curls are tossed by the wind and your cheeks show a downy beard….You look at such things, but you do not look at yourself. Let me show you as in a mirror your true image.

“Have you ever witnessed the mysteries of the cemetery? Have you seen the heaps of bones tossed hither and thither? Skulls without flesh on them, fearful and ugly, the sockets empty. The grinning jaws and the limbs strewn about. Look at these things: there you will find yourself. Where, then, is the flower of youth?… Where, in all these bones, are the things that make you proud?” (On the Beatitudes, I)

Even in these images of death, one cannot help but sense St. Gregory’s exuberant delight inhumanity and the nobility of man–that crown of God’s creation which He formed, not from any necessity, but “in the superabundance of love.”

“For needful it was that neither His light Should be unseen, nor His glory without witness, nor His goodness unenjoyed, nor that any other quality observed in the Divine nature should in any case lie idle, with none to share it or enjoy it. If, therefore, man comes to his birth upon these conditions, namely to be a partaker of the good things in God, necessarily he is framed of such a kind as to be adapted to the participation of such good. For as the eye, by virtue of the bright ray which is by nature wrapped up in it, is in fellowship with the light, and by its innate capacity draws to itself that which is akin to it, so was it needful that a certain affinity with the Divine should be mingled with the nature of man, in order that by means of this correspondence it might aim at that which was native to it …. In truth this has been shown in the comprehensive utterance of one expression, in the description of the cosmogony, where it is said that man was made in the image of God.” (The Great Catechism, V)

293-373

 One of the greatest Fathers of the Eastern Church, St. Athanasius spent his whole life defending the truth of Orthodoxy against the Arian heresy, which in denying the Divinity of Jesus Christ took away from mankind the salvation which only God Incarnate Himself can give to man.

Born in Alexandria in 293, he was ordained deacon in 319, and in this rank attended the First Ecumenical Council in Nicea in 325, where he spoke out against Arius. Elected Archbishop of Alexandria in the next year, he worked untiringly to establish the true faith in his diocese, but the influence of the Arians was such that he was exiled five times from his see, precisely because of his firmness in Orthodoxy.

An enthusiastic supporter of monasticism, St. Athanasius knew personally many of the great Fathers of the Egyptian desert in the earliest flowering of the monastic life in the East. His Life of St. Anthony the Great, in addition to giving rise to a whole literature of monastic Lives, proved to be a great inspiration to monasticism in both East and West.. During his exiles to Rome and Gaul he helped found some of the first monasteries in the West.

St. Athanasius was also instrumental in determining which books should be included in the canon of the New Testament; his Paschal Epistle of 367 for the first time names precisely the 27 books everyone now knows as the New Testament, and in the same order.

Restored to his see of Alexandria for the fifth time in 366, he remained in it until his death in 373, leaving behind many works both of monastic instruction and of defense of the Orthodox Faith. Among these is his celebrated work, “On the Incarnation of the Word of God”.

“Just as he who desires to see God Who by nature is invisible and not to be beheld, may yet perceive and know Him through His works, so too let him who does not see Christ with his understanding at least consider Him in His bodily works and test whether they be of man or God. If they be of man, then let him scoff; but if they be of God, let him not mock at things which are no fit subject for scorn, but rather let him recognize the fact and marvel that things divine have been revealed to us by such humble means, that through death deathlessness has been made known to us, and through the Incarnation of the Word the Mind whence all things proceed has been declared, and its Agent and Ordainer, the Word of God Himself. He, indeed, assumed humanity that we might become god.” (from chap. 54, “On the Incarnation”)

+450 Commemorated May 24

A leading theologian of the Church of Gaul in the 5th century, St. Vincent settled in the island monastery of Lerins off the southern coast of France in order that “avoiding the concourse and crowds of cities… I can follow without distraction the Psalmist’s admonition, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Here he wrote his celebrated Commonitorium, a “Reminder,” where he wrote down “those things which I have truthfully received from the holy Fathers ,” which they “have handed down to us and committed to our keeping.” Among these things is the celebrated definition of orthodoxy as quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus: that which has been believed in the Church “everywhere, always, by everyone.” St. Vincent lived in an age of great historical uncertainty; barbarian tribes were a constant menace and although four hundred years of Christian tradition had already passed, the foundations of the faith had been only recently clarified by decisions made in the Ecumenical Councils–the Council of Nicea (325), the Council of Constantinople (381) and the Council of Ephesus (431). It is, therefore, not surprising that St. Vincent was so concerned to preserve the authority of Christian tradition. This is not to say that he was opposed to progress or doctrinal development; each age must face its won particular problems and develop a Christian response in answer to them. “But it must be progress in the proper sense of the word, and not a change in faith. Progress means that each thing grows within itself, whereas change implies that one thing is transformed into another …. The growth of religion in the soul should be like the growth of the body, which in the course of year develops and unfolds, yet remains the same as it was.”

“In ancient times, our forefathers sowed the seeds of the wheat of faith in that field which is the Church. It would be quite unjust and improper if we, their descendents, gathered, instead of the genuine truth of wheat, the false tares of error. On the contrary, it is logically correct that the beginning and the end be in agreement, that we reap from the planting of the wheat of doctrine the harvest of the wheat of dogma. In this way, none of the Characteristics of the seed is changed, although something evolved in the course of time from those first seeds and has now expanded under careful cultivation. What may be added is merely appearance, beauty, and distinction, but the proper nature of each kind remains.” 

His defense of the traditions of the Fathers and his condemnation of innovation and novelty in the Church are as appropriate today as they were in his time:

“The Church of Christ, zealous and cautious guardian of the dogmas deposited with it, never changes any phase of them. It does not diminish them or add to them; it neither trims what seems necessary, nor grafts things superfluous; it neither gives up its own nor usurps what does not belong to it. But it devotes all its diligence to one aim: to treat tradition faithfully and wisely; to nurse and polish what from old times may have remained unshaped and unfinished; to consolidate and to strengthen what already was clear · and plain; and to guard what already was confirmed and defined. After all, what have the councils brought forth in their decrees but that what’ before was believed plainly and simply might from now on be believed more diligently; that what before was preached rather unconcernedly might be preached from now on more eagerly.” 

O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust (I Tim. 6:20)

Never has there been such an age of false teachers as this pitiful 20th century, so rich in material gadgets and so poor in mind and soul, Every conceivable opinion, even the most absurd, even those hitherto rejected by the universal consent of all civilized people–now has its platform and its own “teacher”…. As a result, philosophy has a thousand schools, and “Christianity” a thousand sects. Where is the truth to be found in all this, if indeed it is to be found at all in our most misguided times?

In only one place is there to be found the fount of true teaching, coming from God Himself, not diminished over the centuries, but ever fresh, being one and the same in all those who truly teach it, leading those who follow it to eternal salvation. This place is the Orthodox Church of Christ, the fount is the grace of the All-Holy Spirit, and the true teachers of the Divine doctrine that issues from this fount are the Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church…

The Orthodox teaching of the Holy Fathers is not something of one age, whether “ancient” or “modern,” It has been transmitted in unbroken succession from the time of Christ and His Apostles to the present day, and there has never been a time when it was necessary to discover a “lost” patristic teaching. Even when many Orthodox Christians may have neglected this teaching (as is the case, for example, in our own day), its true representatives were still handing it down to those who hungered to receive it. There have been great patristic ages, such as the dazzling epoch of the fourth century, and there have been periods of decline in patristic awareness among Orthodox Christians; but there has been no period since the very foundation of Christ’s Church on earth when the patristic tradition was not guiding the Church; there has been no century without Holy Fathers of its own. St. Nicetas Stathatos, disciple and biographer of St. Simeon the New Theologian, has written: “It has been granted by God that from generation to generation there should not cease the preparation by the Holy Spirit of His prophets and friends for the order of His Church.”

Most instructive is it for us, the last Christians, to take guidance and inspiration from the Holy Fathers of our own and recent times, those who lived in conditions similar to our own and yet kept undamaged and unchanged the same ever-fresh teaching, which is not for one time or race, but for all times to the end of the world, and for the whole race of Orthodox Christians.

(From “The Holy Fathers of Orthodox Spirituality”, ‘The Orthodox Word, Vol. 10, Sept-Oct. 1974.)

And when he served the Liturgy, his face became like an angel’s and was penetrated with such light that it was not possible to look freely at him …. His mind was bright, clearly beholding the truth of God. He loved these truths with all the fullness of his heart. Therefore, when he would give a talk his words went from heart to heart and were always effective and fruit-bearing.

(From the life of St. Symeon the New Theologian in The Sin of Adam, Seven Homilies by St. Symeon; Platina CA.

Last month I explained that Christ’s Church had Holy Fathers from the very beginning; the first Holy Fathers were disciples of the Apostles themselves, and for this reason we should listen to what they have to say. Each subsequent generation was adorned with more Fathers. Ail of them taught only that which had been. carefully handed down to them from the previous generation. Why are these Holy Fathers so important? Because they teach us important things about Christ and salvation.

You see, our Saviour never asked His Apostles to write anything. He Himself delivered His teaching by word and example. And so, when the Apostles began to preach, they did so at first by word of mouth; it was not until at least eight years after our Lord’s Ascension that some of them began to write the narratives and instructions that came to be known as Gospels and Epistles. And it was not until 300 years later that the actual canon of Scripture was established in one book–The Bible–as we know it today. Any history book will show you this, by the way; it’s just a point of history. 

But even if, in the first century, there had been one single book called “The New Testament,” you and I might have been among those that could not read! (In fact, this was the case with most Christians at that time.) And even if we could read, we might have had only certain parts of Scripture–perhaps the Psalms and a letter from St. Paul You can see how we certainly wouldn’t have been able to hold “Bible Study” classes !

So, how could we have come to saving knowledge of Christ? We could only have learned the Truth through the preaching of the Apostles and their successors. We would have been taught by means of the spoken word, not the written word. We would have heard the word of God and made it ours by actually living it. This is what St. Paul meant when he instructed Christians to “Stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by our word or our epistle” (II Thess. 2:15). And this is why one of the Holy Fathers, St. Basil the Great (+379) wrote: “Of the doctrines and injunctions kept by the Church, some we have from written instruction (i.e. the Scriptures), but some we have received from Apostolic Tradition, by succession in private.”

Christ never intended His Church to be founded upon a book, No, His Church rests upon our faith in Him. But of course we know that the Bible testifies of Him. And so do the Holy Fathers who not only helped to preserve the Scriptures by copying them and handing them on, but also wrote many letters and sermons of their own, commenting on the Word of God and explaining it, as well as teaching us things that had not been written by the Apostles but only passed on by word of mouth.

Next time I would like to explain how the Holy Fathers help us to understand the Bible.

Sincerely in Christ, Fr. Alexey Young

340-397 A.D.
Commemorated December 29

    Born in 340, the son of the Roman prefect of Gaul, St. Ambrose returned to Italy with his mother and his sister, St. Marcellina, after the death of their father. There he studied and became such a gifted orator and lawyer that the governor of northern Italy, charging him to “govern more like a bishop than a judge,” selected him to be his successor in the capital of Milan.

    After the death of the Arian bishop, of Milan, Orthodox Christians and usurping Arians crowded into the cathedral to elect a new bishop. Ambrose, who was not yet a baptized Christian, attempted to mediate and keep peace. While he thus meekly addressed them, a voice cried out, “Ambrose for bishop!” and in this way he was chosen by acclamation, baptized, and a week later, on December 7, 374, consecrated bishop.

    Giving himself up to a life of prayer, study, and ascetic striving, St. Ambrose served Divine Liturgy daily and preached frequently, converting many, including Blessed Augustine, to Christ. As a true standard-bearer of Orthodoxy, the saint also gave his name to the liturgical cycle and chant of the church of Milan, called to this day “Ambrosian.”

    The saint’s holy death on Great Friday of 397 produced such an out-pouring of faith that five bishops were not enough to baptize the number of converts that appeared the next day desiring the waters of life.

    Renowned in his day as a bold and eloquent orator, St. Ambrose is now best remembered for his writings.

 Like his contemporary St. Basil, he wrote a long commentary on the six days of creation (Hexameron) which also contains many instructive analogies between God’s harmonious ordering of the universe and the Christian’s duty to similarly, attune his soul. The following is an example from his homily on the third day of creation. 

     “Would that we could imitate the green herb concerning which the Lord speaks: ‘Let the earth bring forth the green herb and such as may seed and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind of a like nature.’ Let us sow, therefore, the seed after its kind. What that kind is, hear the Apostle who says that we ought to seek after that divine seed, if we would succeed in any way in finding the divine; ‘Though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being as some of you,’ he adds, ‘have said: “For we are also his offering.’,’

    Following this principle, let us sow the seed, not in the flesh, but in the spirit. For we ought not to sow carnal seeds, but spiritual ones, if we desire to attain eternal life.’