👉🏾👉🏾👉🏾How the #Church #Received the #Teaching of the #Holy #Apostles
Beloved children of the Church, sanctified by the apostolic word and the grace of the Holy Spirit, lend your hearts to this sacred instruction: how the Holy Church received, preserved, and continues to live by the teaching of the Apostles. This is no trivial matter it is the very marrow and foundation of the Church’s faith, life, and salvation. Let us approach this doctrine with reverence, for it is as a flame drawn from the lamp of divine truth.
The Source of Apostolic Teaching: Christ Himself
The Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, entrusted to His chosen Apostles the fullness of divine revelation. The Holy Church, as a sacred vessel, received its life and doctrine not from speculation, nor from human invention, but from the pure hands of those who walked with Christ.
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life...” (1 John 1:1)
The Apostles did not proclaim cleverly devised myths. They bore witness to what their eyes beheld, what their ears heard, what their hands touched, and what their hearts were illuminated to understand through the descent of the Holy Spirit. It is by this divine encounter that their message was authenticated and became the living faith of the Church.
The Mandate: “Go and Teach All Nations”
The Lord did not merely reveal divine truths to His Apostles He commanded them, saying:
“Go therefore and teach all nations...” (Matthew 28:19)
This divine commission, rooted in heavenly authority, was fulfilled not in isolation but in communion with the Holy Spirit. The teaching they bore was not their own it was Christ's. And this is the teaching that has been handed down to us in two sacred forms:
Apostolic Tradition – The Living Witness
The Apostolic Tradition is the life-blood of the Church. The holy Apostle Paul declared:
“The things which ye have learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.” (Philippians 4:9)
The Church does not merely echo the words of the Apostles; she lives their very life. Their conduct, their acts, and their holy legacy became the pattern for the faithful. The Tradition of the Apostles is:
Their way of life
Their deeds of righteousness
Their sacrificial ministry
Their unwritten practices received by the Church through communion, worship, and holy discipline
This Apostolic Tradition is not stagnant. It is living transmitted through the liturgical life, the creeds, the priesthood, the sacraments, and the unbroken spiritual lineage of the Church.
Holy Scripture – The Written Witness
Alongside Tradition stands the Holy Bible, especially the New Testament, which is the written form of apostolic truth. The Apostles, guided by the Holy Spirit, inscribed their teachings in the Gospels, Acts, and Epistles. These writings were not meant to stand apart from the Church but to dwell within her, as a treasure entrusted to her bosom.
The Church, not any private individual, is the rightful guardian and interpreter of the Scriptures. For the Bible was written within the Church and for the Church. The Holy Church is the owner of the Bible, not merely its reader. She alone, through the Holy Spirit, preserves its true meaning.
“No prophecy of Scripture is of private interpretation...” (2 Peter 1:20)
Thus, Scripture and Tradition together form the two lungs through which the Church breathes.
Continues 👇🏾