Both Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition Stand or Fall Together With The Church - St Hilarion Troitsky

Excerpt from "Holy Scripture and the Church" by St. Hilarion Troitsky

St. Hilarion offers much clarity and foundational argumentation to help both Protestants and Orthodox come to a truly Christian approach to these central matters.

"“Two sources of doctrine are usually spoken of: Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition. Both of these sources are necessary, although preference is often given to Holy Scripture. In disputes with sectarians and Protestants, much effort is made to prove that Holy Scripture alone is insufficient, that besides Scripture Holy Tradition is also needed. But if Holy Scripture is a source of doctrine, how do we extract the doctrine contained within this source? It is enough to remember Arianism and the First Ecumenical Council in order to realize that every heresy is based on Scripture. e question clearly arises: “How are we to understand Scripture so as to obtain from it true doctrine?” “It has to be understood in accordance with Tradition,” they respond to us. “Wonderful! And what sort of tradition should we accept?” “ at which does not contradict Scripture.” What do we end up with? Scripture must be interpreted in accordance with Tradition, and Tradition must be veri ed by Scripture. We end up with circular logic, idem per idem, or, translated somewhat loosely into Russian, the story of the white calf.

Church doctrine has but one Source: the Holy Spirit, Who lives within the Church, Whom Christ promised would guide (ὁδηγήσει) the Church into all truth (John 16:13). Thus, the Church possesses true doctrine not because she draws it from Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition, but only because she is in fact the Church of the Living God, the Pillar and Ground of Truth (1Tim 3:15), guided by the Holy Spirit. It is necessary to speak only about the Church. Both Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition stand or fall together with the Church.”

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[OrthodoxChristianTheology]

Some real Orthodox wisdom right there. The Scriptures flat out say the Church upholds the truth and preserves tradition.

[lucycastro]

Might be good to clarify that when the Saint speaks about the Catholic Church, he isn't referring to the heretical church which stands as Catholic in this present day, but the one and true bride of Christ, the One that upholds the unpolluted Orthodox Faith! (Good luck finding it!)..

[MaximusWolfe]

Fascinating. The Church, the scriptures and the tradition are one pillar rather than separate columns which need buttress each other. So then are arguments from scripture that defend Orthodoxy from the exegesis of Protestants extraneous?

[mitchellc]

Hello

What do we measure tradition against?

I think the problem is putting “tradition” on the same level as scripture

What seem to do is say they can trace their authority back to Peter, and since they think they are a succession of that authority, then what is taught from that seat of authority is truth

The problem is that’s the same thing the Pharisees did
They sat on the seat of Moses
They were supposed to be successors of Moses so their tradition would be true

But what did Jesus say about their tradition??

And why did he say it was wrong and how did he conclude it?

Compared it to scripture

If you teach tradition on the same authority level as scripture and it’s not founded in scripture and contradicts it then it’s wrong

So saying “we are successors of Peter” doesn’t make your tradition true, let alone the same level as scripture

Because it’s the same thing the Pharisees did

“We are successors of Moses therefore our tradition is true and authoritative”

Now insert Peter for Moses and that’s basically the argument

I don’t think it works