§ 12. Tradition

After Holy Scripture, an important source of church law is composed by Tradition (ἡ παράδοσις, Traditio). Under the name of Tradition is understood not simply the external manner of communicating certain rules from one age to another, or from one church to another, but the unchanging preservation, by way of succession, in the catholic Church, of the fundamental legal principles—both in the teaching of the faith and in her church administration—principles which were laid down by the Founder of the Church Himself and, after Him, by those who first set the Church in order and were her pastors.[1] Holy Scripture contains the chief foundations of the constitution of the Church, of her administration and life, but Holy Scripture does not set forth all the particulars of this. These the apostles did in person, ordering the Church, and told those concerned by word of mouth how they were to govern the Church. The Apostle Paul writes to Timothy that he should keep in mind the words which he had spoken to him for the good ordering of his charge (2 Tim. 1:13); and, reminding him of what he had told him by word of mouth, he charges him to hand this same thing on to others, who will be capable of keeping his instructions, and worthy also to teach others the same (2 Tim. 2:2). When he perceived that in the particular church communities which he had founded his words were kept and they were governed accordingly, he expresses himself with the highest praise (1 Cor. 11:2; 2 Thess. 2:15, 3:6). In his epistles the apostles give only general instructions to the pastors of the churches as to how they are to govern them, and for the rest they usually write that they will set this in order when they themselves come there in person (1 Cor. 11:34), or they leave it to those same pastors to order it according to what they had told them by word of mouth (Titus 1:5). Indeed, the apostles placed more importance on their oral instructions than on what they wrote to the pastors of the churches (1 Tim. 3:14-15). In this way, the more important institutions which concerned the constitution and life of the Church, even before they came to be established by a formal legal precept, entered into life through the practice of the churches which the apostles had founded, and were there preserved through the unbroken tradition handed from one church elder to another.

The importance of Tradition, as a source for the maintenance of good order in the Church, has always been stressed with the same weight as Holy Scripture. “Let there be kept in the Church everything that has been handed down to her through Holy Scripture and through apostolic tradition,” says the 21st canon of the Council of Gangra. This importance of Tradition the ecumenical councils stress at every turn in their canons, mentioning “the ancient customs which must prevail,”[2] “the ancient tradition,”[3] “the old and canonical law,”[4] and so forth, and ordaining that nothing new whatsoever is to be introduced contrary to the received teaching of the Church handed down by Tradition, lest the fundamental teaching thereby be violated; and: “if any bishop or presbyter does not act according to the order handed down from the apostles,… let him be deposed as one who… introduces innovations into what has been handed down.”[5] The Seventh Ecumenical Council, in its 7th canon, ordains that everything which had fallen into neglect in the Church should be restored and put back into force according to the written and unwritten law, and that everyone who transgresses church tradition should be deposed.[6] In the 91st canon of Basil the Great we find this notable clarification concerning the importance of Tradition: “Of the dogmas and proclamations kept in the Church, some we have from written teaching, and others we have received in secret, handed down from the tradition of the Apostles (ἐκ τῆς τῶν Ἀποστόλων παραδόσεως); and both of these have equal force for piety (ἄπερ ἀμφότερα τὴν αὐτὴν ἰσχὺν ἔχει πρὸς τὴν εὐσέβειαν). Nor will anyone deny this who is even in the least versed in the institutions of the Church. For if we should presume to reject the unwritten customs as having no great force, we would unwittingly do harm to the Gospel in its essential matters, or rather reduce the proclamation there to a bare word.”[7] And in the 92nd canon of the same Basil we read on the same subject: “I think it truly apostolic to abide by the unwritten traditions (ταῖς ἀγράφοις παραδόσεσι παραμένειν). For, says the Apostle, I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in everything, and hold fast the traditions just as I delivered them to you; and: hold the traditions which you received either by word or through an epistle—among which in a particular way is also this [concerning the doxology], which was delivered to their disciples by those who first established it, and which, continuing in use alongside time, through long custom took root in the Church. It is as at a court of law: if we, having no written proofs, were to bring before you a multitude of witnesses, would we not obtain from you a resolution of acquittal? I think we would; for on the words of two or three witnesses every matter shall stand. And if we clearly show you that we have on our side also the long duration of time, shall we not thereby show that we speak rightly, and that this position of ours cannot be overturned against us?”[8] In general, Tradition—especially that which proceeded from the principal churches—was so esteemed in the Church for church life that it constituted law of itself, nor was it even considered necessary to formulate that tradition in a definite legal form.[9]