Tradition in the Church
🕊 The General Concept of Tradition:
His Holiness Pope Shenouda III explains that tradition in the Church is the transmission of teachings and spiritual life that were not written in the Holy Bible but were handed down through the apostles and the fathers, without ever contradicting the Scriptures.
📜 The Priority of Tradition:
Tradition is older than the Bible. Humanity lived in communion with God and handed down faith and worship before the Scriptures were written. Abel, Noah, Abraham, and Jacob practiced sacrifice, priesthood, and tithing through tradition before the written law.
✝️ In the New Testament:
The apostles received from Christ many teachings that were not all written down, but they passed them on to the Church orally and through practice. Thus, faith and worship were lived and handed down generation after generation.
📖 The Bible Did Not Record Everything:
The Pope clarified that the Gospels did not include all of Christ’s sayings and works; only selected examples were recorded, and what was not written reached us through the living tradition preserved by the Church.
⛪️ Types of Tradition:
Tradition has three forms: written (in the Scriptures), oral (from mouth to mouth), and practical (lived in the Church through its rites, sacraments, and prayers). Therefore, Church life can only be understood through its tradition.
⚖️ The Relationship Between Scripture and Tradition:
The Bible and tradition do not oppose one another; they complement each other. The Bible is the text, and tradition is the life by which the Church lives the text.
🕯 Distinguishing Between True and False Tradition:
Christ rejected human traditions that nullify God’s commandment, but the Church preserves the divine apostolic tradition received from Christ through the apostles.
💎 The Importance of Tradition in the Church:
Through tradition, the Church recognized the Holy Scriptures, their interpretation, the sacraments, and the liturgies. Tradition is the living memory of faith, and the Church is its guardian and its living expression.
