Why are other texts in Christian Orthodoxy just as important as Scripture? Isn't that a bit heretical?
Why are other texts in Christian Orthodoxy just as important as Scripture? Isn't that a bit heretical?
weak thread, low content, low effort. Who upset you?
You're looking for the theology of Holy Tradition.
I'm being serious, they consider the Desert Fathers writings just as important as the Bible
Along with other mystical texts compiled over the years. There's Scripture from the word of God, and then there's their books as well as their 'Tradition'. Why put it at the same level…?
I'm being serious anons, this is extremely heretical and I want answers
I think you don't know what "Word of God" means.
It's not the Bible.
You're avoiding the question. Are you telling me that the writings apart from the Bible are just as important as Biblical books in Orthodoxy since they're the Word of God?
Orthodox are known for their cultural appropriation and adaptation over the words of God within history.
So, pretty much what I said?
The Bible is not above Tradition, the Bible is a manifestation of the Holy Tradition.
The Bible is not the Word of God.
"Logos", sadly translated as Word, is a complex concept that means the being of being. That which makes 1+1=2.
This is a loaded question, like “when did you stop beating your wife?” The Orthodox don’t consider any non-scriptural book in the same level as scripture. That’s why they read scripture during the liturgy and not the desert fathers
So, their other texts considered as sacred are on the same level
The guy I mentioned above claims otherwise with 'Holy Tradition'
No. The Bible is the most sacred text, but it is a manifestation of Tradition.
And don't put words in my mouth.
So other manifestations of Tradition are of as much valid authority as the Bible, but not "more important"
We’re talking about very related yet separate issues. He’s talking about sacred tradition as a whole, of which both scripture and the fathers play a part. I’m talking specifically about written works. No written work (such as the desert fathers in this example) is on the same level as holy scripture, yet both the scripture and the desert fathers are a part of this glorious sacred tradition
I suppose so, but wish you'd expand it further by noting on the history of development, rather than referencing a few entities.
I don’t like math metaphors with regard to faith, cause they sound too cold and scholastic, but in this case it works: imagine a set of all whole numbers from 1-10. No number would be on the same level as the number 10, but the numbers 1-9 are still parts of the same set. Scripture and the desert fathers are part of the same holy tradition, but scripture is far greater than the desert fathers
Yes. But text-wise, nothing is more important than the Bible.
Most manifestations are incomparable with one another so we can't put them in a nice autistic top-down mathematical listing. I work with programming, for example but no script can ever determine whether crucifixes or icons "more important". It's insanity.
It's "important" to read more than one book in your life. The writings of the saints are important, but they are not on the same level as divine scripture. If they were they would be part of divine scripture, but they aren't.
So your assumption is false.
the church father's writings are not inspired, they were written by fallible, yet holy men
for the early church, it is important to sift out what exactly the early church, the church that knew the apostles, believed and understood about scripture
everything else is the development of our understanding of christian thought and philosophy. we are not mohameddans where we just go "all we need is the quran", for the sacred scripture (the bible) itself proclaims we should lean on the apostles and the church for true understanding
Your attack is misguided. Nobody considers the works of the desert fathers "just as important". So I have a suggestion for your next attack. Instead of the desert fathers, try to use the decisions of the ecumenical councils, for example the Creed.