Preserving the Tradition - - - A Living Tradition
Written by Dan McDonald
I
can well understand my Protestant friends’ reluctance to put stock in
tradition. We all recognize from the
Scriptures that many human traditions have gone awry. Yet St. Paul speaks of a tradition that we
are to observe, unto which we are to be faithful. What is this tradition which large segments
of the Church have always believed to be so essential to maintain?
One of the writers who first somehow
proved to me that tradition is something important was the Russian monk,
theologian, scientist, inventor, mathematics professor, language expert, art
historian, and martyr Pavel Florensky (1882-1937)[i] He was a truly brilliant man whose invention
of a type of machine oil, and his brilliance in mathematics helped him to
continue teach at the University of Moscow even though he resolutely continued
to teach wearing the cassock of his priesthood even in the days of Lenin and
Stalin. Stalin eventually had enough of
him and he died a martyr’s death.
Florensky held that tradition was as essential to the maintenance and
health of the Christian faith as was the Holy Scriptures. That is an extremely difficult sentiment for
any Protestant to accept. But in reality
Florensky did not view tradition with the same sort of definition we who are
Protestants usually understand when we speak of tradition.
Florensky described holy tradition
by the term “ecclesiality.” The Greek
word translated into our English word “church” is the Greek word, “ecclesia.” For Florensky the idea of ecclesiality which
defines the concept of tradition is that the church is a living organism
composed of people called out to live “the new life of the spirit.” Hence church tradition is essential because
tradition ultimately is shared life in the Spirit; the life of an organism who
has a memory and an ability to reflect and treasure that which has been given
to it. Tradition or ecclesiality as
Florensky perceives it is not primarily set forth in church councils, or papal
decrees, or Bible commentaries; although all of these things may bear forth
evidence of ecclesiality or tradition, but the central characteristic of holy
tradition is that the church and its membership has been called to a continual
living relationship with God the Father, in Jesus Christ the Son, by the Holy
Spirit since the time Christ first blessed his church and called the Apostles
to continue ministering in his name on behalf of his person by the Spirit until
the end of the age.
If for a moment we entertain the
possibility that such a tradition, a tradition of life in the Spirit exists
within the church then we can see how a holy tradition is not compatible with
each person choosing their own interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. The Scriptures are not a matter of private
interpretation according to St. Peter.
This is because the Scriptures have been given not to individuals per se
but to the ecclesia, the called out church of our Lord Jesus Christ. While individuals and individuality is used
by God as he calls men to minister and teach the Word of God to the church, the
living tradition is always more comprehensive than any one individual’s ability
to absorb all that has been given to the living church, whose head is Christ,
and whose guide is the Holy Spirit. The
church, in communion with Christ by the Spirit unto God the Father in all
things is the fullness of Christ on the earth.
The church is alive and the story of the church’s tradition is that
through the activities of the church the members of Christ’s Church are blessed
as there is an everlasting ongoing communion and sharing of the blessed life in
Christ, unto the Father, by the Holy Spirit.
One of the probable reasons why the
writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews is so adamant on encouraging the brethren
to not forsake the assembling of themselves together is because it was
recognized in the Apostolic church that the church is the called out ones who
are called out to come together to share in the life of Christ by the Holy
Spirit. This is also what St. Paul was
describing in describing the importance of partaking of the Lord’s Supper or
Holy Communion, or the Eucharist by reminding them that in the participation of
the Supper the body all partakes of Christ together. The sacraments are not dead exercises in
ritual but activities of a living organism being nurtured so as to grow into a
fully unified organism.
We see evidence of how important
this concept of a living ecclesiality whenever we sing the ancient words of the
Doxology. We sing, “Praise God from whom
all blessings flow. Praise him all
creatures here below. Praise him above
all ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son
and Holy Ghost. Amen.” The singing of
the Doxology is accompanied with the belief that in keeping with Hebrews 12:22-24,
we come in worship to the heavenly Jerusalem where along with other great
sights and realities we come to worship in the presence of “spirits of
righteous or just men made perfect.”
(Hebrews 12:23). God’s people
worship in a multi-generational multi-dimensional gathering of the living
church. We are not just a handful of
Twenty-first century born and bred men and women gathering to a church with a
message from an old book. We are men and
women who as we address God the Father in our worship on earth are joined by
men and women from every generation around the throne of the Lamb led by
twenty-four elders and joined by a number of men and women that no man
count. Let a church that has a small
number in attendance on Sunday morning never imagine what they are doing is a
small thing. For say there are thirty in
attendance on a Sunday morning, that is only the visible earthly count. As we address the throne of grace in our
prayers, hear the Word of God read and proclaimed, and partake of the Body and
Blood of Christ in the Supper there are the angels, seraphim, and the heavenly
host including the spirits of righteous men made perfect joining us. Perhaps the reason the Temple had Seraphim
over the mercy seat was to remind all of us that our worship on earth is always
connected to the eternal worship in the heavenly places. This is the meaning of tradition as it is
used in the Church. We are those who
have joined the called out ones who are called out to experience and share life
eternal in Christ by the Spirit unto the Father.
If such a tradition truly exists
then we would be humble who imagine ourselves to have the wisdom of God. If we believe in such a living tradition we
would surely wonder when some element of Biblical truth and revelation seemed
about to be denied we would wonder how the church in all times, all places, and
in every age and culture thought about this truth that has gained our
attendance.
In the light of a living tradition, Anthony
Kilmister asked an important question to the Episcopal churches of England and
the United States about the legitimacy of a synod lasting five years in length
of life had the authority to overturn a tradition of several hundred years by a
simple majority vote. He comments on
such a situation, “The lack of consensus which is plain for all to see begs the
question as to whether a Synod that has only a five year life-span has (or
should have) the right to alter irrevocably the future shape and doctrine of
the church. Such a change would fly in
the face of centuries and centuries of history – and belief.”[ii]
Tradition in this understanding of
the authority of tradition, rests not simply on the passed down customs,
beliefs, teachings, and practices of the church, but in truth all these matter
because they are the fruit and witness of a continuing living church that has
been and remains in continual communion with God the Father, in Jesus Christ
the Son, by the Holy Spirit, even as this Living Church has been in such a
communion since the time of Christ. It is
this church, her works, her gifts, her stored treasure, and her continual life
both on earth and in heaven that are represented to us in what we call the
tradition of the Living Church.
Perhaps these things sound crazy to
some readers. Perhaps these things sound
interesting. Perhaps some will even like
the feel of this essay. But where in
Scripture is the idea of what Florensky called “ecclesiality?”
Consider these words of St. John and
I ask is he in these words inviting us to share in the life of Christ by
sharing in the fellowship of the Church ordained by the Father, established in
the Son, and guided by the Spirit? St.
John writes:
That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and
have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life – the life was
manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the
eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us – that
which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have
fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his
Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing
these things so that our joy may be complete.”
(I John 1:1-4) This life of the
called gathered church of our Lord Jesus Christ speaks to us today every time
we are invited through the ministry of Christ’s Church to come unto Christ and
believe upon him. Near the end of our
New Testament it seems as if the Word of God invites the wavering soul one last
time to come to Christ. Who invites us
to Christ according to the Book of Revelation?
We read, “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come”. (Revelation 22:17)
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