Faith of our Fathers - Fr.
Hugh Barbour, O. Praem
Go Ask Your Father
The ancient Christian Church always
cited the authority of the Church Fathers.
Although the Catholic Church venerates the early Fathers (teachers
who share the marks of antiquity, orthodoxy and personal sanctity, and
are approved by the Church), and invests their writings with great
authority, she does not place them on par with Sacred Scripture. Nor are
they ranked in authority above the Magisterium. So what exactly is the
place of the Fathers of the Church?
Their role is best stated by a modern "father," the Venerable
Cardinal Newman. Cardinal Newman was a great student and expert on the
Fathers of the Church, and found his way from the errors of
Protestantism to the fullness of Catholic teaching through them. The
great 19th century teacher said: "They do speak of their own
private opinion; they do not say, 'This is true because we see it in
Scripture' -- about which there might be differences in judgment -- but,
'This is true because in matter of fact it is held, and has ever been
held, by all the churches down to our times, without interruption, ever
since the apostles' " (Discussions and Arguments ii). The Fathers,
then, are witnesses to the ancient, universal ("catholic"),
orthodox faith of the Church. Let's hear what the Fathers have to say
about each other.
St. Irenaeus of Lyons
In this very early passage, we're shown the original example of a Father
of the Church. He is an authoritative teacher of the ancient Church, a
bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor, who, having received the apostolic Faith
from authentic sources (in this case, from the apostle St. John), hands
on this Faith, and his teaching is confirmed by the witness of the same
Faith in the rest of the Church. St. Irenaeus was fighting the Gnostic
heresy, which taught the essence of Christianity was a secret knowledge,
over and above the public teaching of the Church, and was reserved for a
few initiated elite, something like Masonry or the New Age spirituality
today. In contrast, the Fathers always show us the open, public, and
verifiable nature of the orthodox Catholic doctrine of the Church.
"But Polycarp also was not only instructed by the apostles, and
conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also by the apostles in
Asia appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna, whom I also saw in my
early youth, for he tarried on earth a very long time, and when a very
old man, gloriously and most nobly suffered martyrdom, departed this
life, having always taught the things which he had learned from the
apostles, and which the Church has handed down, and which alone are
true. To all these things the Asiatic churches testify, as well as do
also those men who have succeeded Polycarp down to the present
time" (Against Heresies 3:3; A.D. 191).
Eusebius of Caesarea
The writing of encyclopedic works is proof of the existence of a
long-standing, highly-developed body of doctrine. The first to do this
for the Church was Eusebius, the bishop of Caesarea in Palestine. He
began his work even before the legalization of the Christian religion in
the Roman Empire, as the last persecutions were about to rage. Eusebius
wrote the first chronicle of the Church, concentrating on Our Lord, the
apostles, the writers, the martyrs and the heretics who had marked the
history of the Church in her first three and a quarter centuries. His
example led other writers, like St. Jerome at the end of the fourth
century, to write up lists of great writers of the Christian period, to
be extended by others later on, including Gennadius of Marseilles (A.D.
480) and St. Isidore of Seville (A.D. 618). St. Isidore is regarded by
some as the last of the Fathers in the West. His list was continued in
the 17th century by St. Robert Bellarmine, Doctor of the Church and
great student of the writings of the Fathers.
"It is my purpose to hand down a written account of the successions
of the holy Apostles, as well as of the times extending from Our Savior
to ourselves; the number and nature of the events which are said to have
been treated in ecclesiastical history; the number of those who were her
illustrious guides and leaders in specially prominent dioceses; the
number of those who in every generation, by word of mouth or by
writings, served as ambassadors of the Word of God" (Ecclesiastical
History 1:1; A.D. 303).
St. Basil of Caesarea
Writing to the Christians of Antioch, St. Basil offers them his
profession of faith, which is none other than the Nicene Creed which we
recite (or, at least, we're supposed to recite) every Sunday at Mass.
The humility of the Fathers, who simply pass on what they have received
from their mother the Church, is evident in this passage. This is quite
a contrast to one very famous contemporary theologian, who finishes one
of his last works with his own "creeds," suggested as
practical replacements for the classical ones.
"Now, as to a creed, we neither receive a more recent one written
for us by others, nor do we ourselves dare to hand over the fruits of
our own mind, lest we make the words of religion mere human words, but
rather whatever we have been taught by the holy Fathers, that do we
announce to those who ask us. Here they are: We believe in one God, the
Father Almighty. . ." (Letter 140; A.D. 373).
St. Gregory Nazianzen
Utterly exhausted by his battles for the orthodox Faith of the Bible and
the apostles, St. Gregory, the great friend of St. Basil, defends
himself, relating his office of a teacher of orthodox doctrine to the
example of the Lord Jesus Himself, reminding us of His words to the
apostles: "He who hears you, hears me" (Luke 10:16).
"My sheep hear my voice, which I have heard from the oracles of
God, which I have been taught by the Holy Fathers, which I have taught
alike on all occasions, not conforming myself to the opportune, and
which I will never cease to teach, in which I was born and in which I
will depart" (Oration 33 15; A.D. 380).
St. Augustine
The Pelagian heresy denied the necessity of grace for the conversion of
the soul to God, especially at its beginnings. They held fundamental
errors about original sin and the nature of the redemption. The
Pelagians made use of an argument which has been used a great deal in
the modern Church to promote various heresies and errors. They pitted
the tradition of the Eastern Fathers against the tradition of the
Western Fathers. St. Augustine brings to the fore the universal witness
of the Fathers against the false separation of the witness of East and
West. Thus the Fathers also bear witness to each others' orthodoxy. The
errors of Pelagius were accordingly condemned in the East at the Council
of Ephesus in A.D. 431, the year after St. Augustine's death.
"You are convicted of your error from every side. The testimony
of so many saints regarding the matter of original sin is brighter than
light itself. Look around at whose company I have introduced you. Here
is Ambrose of Milan, here is John of Constantinople, here is Basil, here
are the others whose great consensus should move you . . . They shone in
the Catholic Church with the study of sound doctrine, protected and
girded with spiritual arms they waged bitter war against the heretics,
and having fulfilled faithfully the works intended for them by God, they
slept in the abode of peace. Behold now where I have led you, into the
company of the saints, not just the number of the people, for they were
not only sons, they were the Fathers of the Church" (Against Julian
1:7:30; A.D. 421).
"Holy and blessed priests, famous in their treatment of Sacred
Doctrine, Irenaeus, Cyprian, Reticius, Olympius, Hilary, Ambrose,
Gregory, Innocent, John [Chrysostom], Basil, to whom I add, whether you
like it or not, the priest Jerome . . . have declared against you their
opinion about the generation of all men which is bound by original sin,
from which no one can rescue them except Him Whom a Virgin conceived
without the law of sin warring against the law of the mind . . . What
they found in the Church they held; what they learned they taught; what
they received from the Fathers they handed down to the sons. When we
were not as yet involved with you before these judges, they tried our
case" (Against Julian 2:10; A.D. 421).
Theodoret
Although this writer of the patristic period is not an official saint of
the Church, he has traditionally been called "blessed." He had
the misfortune of being a close personal friend of the heretic Nestorius,
and so he ran afoul of the rather saintly, but ferocious, St. Cyril of
Alexandria. In the end, though, he vindicated his orthodoxy at the
Council of Chalcedon by publicly professing the Faith of the Church
against his friend's errors. Note here that the Faith of the Fathers and
of the apostles is for him one and the same.
"I have ever kept the faith of the apostles undefiled . . . So I
have learnt not only from the apostles and the prophets, but also from
the interpreters of their writings, Ignatius, Eustathius, Athanasius,
Basil, Gregory, John, and the rest of the lights of the world; and
before these from the Holy Fathers in council at Nicaea whose confession
of the faith I preserve in its integrity, like an ancestral inheritance,
styling corrupt and enemies of the truth all who dare to transgress its
decrees" (Letter 89; A.D. 449).
St. Vincent of Lerins
A masterful, eloquent and exciting vindication of the truth of the
Catholic Faith against heresies is offered by St. Vincent of Lerins.
This great Father, like St. Irenaeus, provides a general rule whereby
doctrines can be discerned to be orthodox or heretical, namely, their
agreement with the constant interpretation of the Church from the time
of the Apostles as evidenced by the ancient Fathers. Note once more the
scriptural justification for the role of the Fathers as witnesses of
authentic doctrine taken from 1 Cor 12:27-28.
"Lest anyone perchance should rashly think the holy and Catholic
consent of these blessed Fathers to be despised, the Apostle says in the
First Epistle to the Corinthians, 'God hath placed some in the Church,
first Apostles,' of whom himself was one; 'secondly Prophets,' such as
Agabus of whom we read in the Acts of the Apostles; 'then doctors,' who
are now called homilists, expositors, whom the same Apostle sometimes
also calls 'prophets,' because by them, the mysteries of the prophets
are revealed to the people. Whosoever therefore shall despise these who
had their appointment of God in the Church in their several times and
places, when they are unanimous in Christ in their interpretation of
some point of Catholic doctrine, despises not man, but God . . . if
anyone should dissent from their unanimous decision, let him listen to
the words of the apostle: 'God is not the God of dissension, but of
peace' " (Commonitorium 73; A.D. 450).
"These then are the men whose writings, whether as judges or as
witnesses, were recited in the council [of Ephesus]: St. Peter, bishop
of Alexandria, a most excellent Doctor and most blessed martyr, St.
Athanasius, bishop of the same city, a most faithful teacher and eminent
confessor, Saint Theophilus, also bishop of the same city, a man
illustrious for his faith, his life, his knowledge, whose successor, the
revered Cyril, now adorns the Alexandrian Church. And lest perchance the
doctrine ratified by the council should be thought to be peculiar to
some city or province, there were added also those lights of Cappadocia,
St. Gregory of Nazianzen, bishop and confessor, St. Basil of Caesarea in
Cappadocia, bishop and confessor, and the other St. Gregory, Gregory of
Nyssa, for his faith, his conversation, his integrity, his wisdom, most
worthy to be the brother of Basil. And lest Greece or the East should
seem to stand alone, to prove that the Western and Latin world also have
always held the same belief, there were read at the council certain
epistles of St. Felix, martyr, and St. Julius, both bishops of Rome. And
that not only the head [Rome] but the other parts of the world also
might bear witness to the judgment of the council, there was added from
the South the most blessed Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, and from the
North, St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan" (Commonitorium 79; A.D. 450).
"A much greater number of the ancients might have been adduced; but
it was needless, because neither was it fit that the time should be
occupied by a multitude of witnesses, nor does anyone suppose that those
ten were really of a different mind than their colleagues" (Commonitorium
80; A.D. 450).
Pope St. Gelasius I
Perhaps the most complete patristic era witness to the Fathers is the
famous decree of Pope Gelasius "on which books are to be received
and which are not to be received" in the Church. The pope
establishes once again the canon of sacred Scripture and the apostolic
succession of the see of Rome, and then goes on as follows to assert the
authority of the Fathers and the Councils of the Church. Note again how
clear he is about the original, gospel origin of the Fathers' teaching
in his quotation of 1 Cor 3:11.
"And although 'no one can lay a foundation other than that which
has been laid, which is Christ Jesus,' nevertheless for the purpose of
instruction, the holy, that is, the Roman Church does not forbid these
writings also, that is: the sacred synod of Nicea, Ephesus and Chalcedon
to be received after those of the Old and New Testament, which we
regularly accept. Likewise the works of Blessed Cyprian . . . and in the
same way, the works of Gregory Nazianzen, Basil, Athanasius, John,
Theophilus, Cyril of Alexandria, Hilary, Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome and
Prosper. Also the letter of the Blessed Leo the Pope to Flavian . . .
likewise it decrees that the works and treatises of all the orthodox
Fathers . . . ought to be read . . . Likewise we acknowledge with all
honor the lives of the Fathers, of Paul the first hermit, of Anthony, of
Hilary . . . But let the judgment of Blessed Paul the Apostle lead the
way: 'Prove all things, hold that which is good.' Other things which
have been written or published by heretics or schismatics, the Catholic
and apostolic Roman Church in nowise receives" (Letter 42,
"The Decretal"; A.D. 495).
Pope St. Hormisdas
After the period of the Fathers of the Church, it has been normal for
the magisterium of the Church to recommend the teaching of a particular
Father or Doctor, whether explicitly or implicitly. For example, St.
Alphonsus Ligouri is looked to in moral theology; St. Thomas Aquinas for
all branches of theology. Modern popes have written apostolic letters
and encyclicals on individual Fathers and Doctors. Here is the earliest
explicit magisterial approval of the works of some Fathers for a
specific point of doctrine, rather than as witnesses to Catholic
teaching in general. Note, however, that the pope here asserts the
sufficiency of Scripture to establish the Church's doctrine. The Fathers
are only witnesses who confirm what the Apostle has written and the
Church teaches.
"Yet what the Roman, that is, the Catholic Church follows and
preserves concerning free will and the grace of God can be abundantly
recognized both in the various books of the Blessed Augustine and
especially those to Hilary and Prosper . . . although he who diligently
considers the words of the Apostle should know clearly what he ought to
follow" (Letter to Possessor; A.D. 520).
Pope St. Martin I
Here is a witness from the very tail end of the period of the Fathers of
the Church. Pope Martin presided at a council which condemned the
Monothelite heresy, an error which denied that Our Lord had both a human
and a divine will. In this council there were promulgated 19 canons
which reaffirmed all the dogmas regarding the Trinity and Incarnation
which had been defined by the Church up to that point, by condemning the
opposite errors. Thirteen of these canons begin with the words "If
anyone in word and mind does not properly and truly confess in
accordance with the Holy Fathers . . ." Here is one which sums them
all up.
"If anyone in word and mind does not properly and truly confess
according to the Holy Fathers, all, even to the last portion, that has
been handed down and preached in the holy, Catholic and apostolic Church
of God, and likewise by the holy Fathers and the universal Councils, let
him be condemned" (Canon 17 of the Lateran Council of A.D. 649).
