WHY ORTHODOXY

The Faith the Apostles Handed Down

Christ did not leave a book and walk away. He founded a Church, filled it with the Holy Spirit, and gave it the faith through His apostles, in their preaching, their worship and their letters. Here is what Scripture says about that Holy Tradition, why the Orthodox Church has kept it whole, and why Rome’s claims for the papacy do not belong to it.

  • 7Key passages
  • 54References
  • 34Articles
Start with the Scriptures ↓ Answering Rome

Holy Scripture

The inspired writings the Church received and handed on.

Holy Tradition

The whole apostolic faith kept in the Church: Scripture itself, the Church’s teaching, its worship and its sacramental life.

Human traditions

Customs and teachings of men. They can err, and Christ condemns those that overturn God’s commandment.

Part I · Holy Tradition in Scripture

What the Bible says about Tradition

The New Testament describes a faith the apostles received, taught, entrusted to others and commanded the Church to keep. These seven passages carry the most weight.

  1. 1

    2 Thessalonians 2:15

    “Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.”

    Paul commands the Church to hold the traditions he gave, whether spoken or written. Neither may be set aside.

    Explained inThe Apostolic FaithGuard the Good DepositWhat is Sola Scriptura?

  2. 2

    2 Timothy 2:2

    “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”

    The faith passes from Paul to Timothy, to faithful men, to others also: a living chain of teachers.

    Explained inGuard the Good DepositDid the Early Church Believe in Apostolic Succession?Closest to the Apostles

  3. 3

    1 Corinthians 11:2

    “Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.”

    Paul praises a church for keeping the traditions (paradoseis) exactly as he delivered them.

    Explained inGuard the Good DepositDid the Early Church Believe in Sola Scriptura?

  4. 4

    2 Timothy 1:13–14

    “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.”

    The apostolic teaching is a deposit to be guarded by the Holy Spirit, not reshaped by each generation.

    Explained inGuard the Good DepositThe Apostolic Faith

  5. 5

    1 Timothy 3:15

    “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”

    The Church, not the private reader, is the pillar and ground of the truth.

    Explained inThe Church That Could Not DisappearHow Does the Orthodox Church Know Which Councils Are Ecumenical?What Protestants and Orthodox Christians Believe About Scripture

  6. 6

    Acts 15:28

    “For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;”

    The apostles and elders meet in council and decide: “it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us.” The first council of the Church.

    Explained inHow Does the Orthodox Church Know Which Councils Are Ecumenical?The Church That Could Not DisappearThe Apostolic Faith

  7. 7

    Jude 3

    “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”

    The faith was delivered once for all. It is received and defended, never reinvented.

    Explained inThe Apostolic FaithClosest to the Apostles

All 54 references, by theme

Every passage links to the Bible reader. The warnings are here too: an honest case shows how Scripture tells the apostolic Tradition apart from the traditions of men.

1Commands to keep the apostolic Tradition8

The clearest passages: teaching received from the apostles, spoken and written, must be held fast.

2Handed on in teaching, worship and example9

The apostles did not just hand out books. They preached, set the pattern of worship, and lived what they taught.

3The Church teaches with real authority17

Christ gave His Church shepherds, councils and the power to bind and loose.

4The Holy Spirit guides the Church into the truth4

Christ promised the Spirit would teach the apostles and keep those who believe through their word.

5Not everything was written down7

Scripture itself says the apostolic witness was larger than any one book or letter.

6Warnings against false traditions9

Tradition is tested by its source. Human customs that overturn God’s commandment are condemned; the apostolic deposit is not.

What these passages settle

  • The apostles taught by word and by letter, and both were binding.
  • Christians were commanded to keep what the apostles handed down.
  • The apostolic teaching was entrusted to faithful men to pass on.
  • The Church teaches, judges and disciplines with real authority, in council.

What the history then shows

Scripture shows why the apostolic Tradition matters. The witnesses closest to the apostles, Ignatius of Antioch, Irenaeus of Lyons and the councils, show what that Tradition contained, and that the Orthodox Church has kept it unchanged.

Trace the succession of the bishops →

Part II · The apostolic faith

The faith once for all delivered

The Church that could not disappear: how the faith was handed down, why it never had to be restored, and why Scripture alone was never the apostles’ rule.

  1. The Apostolic Faith: Why Christians Must Hold to the Faith Once for All Delivered (Jude 3)

    What Jude meant by the faith "once for all delivered," what the apostles handed on, how Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp and Irenaeus guarded it, and why the apostolic faith is still the test of every later claim to speak for Christ.

    25 min read

  2. Guard the Good Deposit: Holding Fast to the Apostolic Tradition

    What Scripture means when it commands Christians to hold the traditions and guard the deposit, how the earliest Fathers kept it, how apostolic Tradition differs from later customs, and a fair answer to the Protestant case for…

    25 min read

  3. The Church That Could Not Disappear: What Scripture Promises About the Church's Continuity

    Christ's promises, the abiding Spirit, the unshakable kingdom and the apostles' own provision for successors, read verse by verse, with the Latter-day Saint case for a Great Apostasy stated in its own words and answered.

    20 min read

  4. Closest to the Apostles: Why the Earliest Christian Witnesses Matter

    Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin and Irenaeus wrote in the apostles' own Greek, knew apostles or their disciples, and most died for the faith.

    25 min read

  5. Which Church Is the One True Church, and How Would We Know?

    Catholics, Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, the Church of the East and Protestants all confess "one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church." How does each identify it, what did the early Church use as its test, and why is the Orthodox…

    20 min read

  6. Was the Early Church Really Orthodox? Continuity and Development

    An evidence-based comparison of first-to-eighth-century belief and practice with Orthodoxy today: where the line runs straight (bishops, Eucharist, martyrs, theosis), where real development or change happened (icons, monasticism,…

    20 min read

  7. What is Sola Scriptura?

    Sola scriptura is the Protestant conviction that Holy Scripture is the Church’s only infallible and finally decisive rule for doctrine; it does not mean that creeds, councils and tradition are worthless.

    25 min read

  8. Did Christianity Disappear After the Apostles? Testing the Great Apostasy Claim

    Restorationist movements such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints explicitly teach that priesthood authority and the true Church were lost after the apostles.

    5 min read

More on the apostolic faith

Part III · Answering Rome

The papal claims, tested

Supremacy, infallibility and the doctrines added in the West, weighed against the Scriptures, the Fathers and the councils of the undivided Church.

  1. Did the Early Church Believe in Papal Supremacy?

    Rome clearly held a unique place in the early Church. The harder question is whether that primacy already meant the supreme, immediate, universal jurisdiction later defined by Vatican I.

    10 min read

  2. Papal Infallibility: Ancient Doctrine or Later Development?

    Vatican I did not teach that popes are always correct. It defined a specific charism of infallibility under particular conditions.

    5 min read

  3. Development of Doctrine: Can Later Catholic Dogmas Still Be Apostolic?

    Catholicism does not claim that every dogma was expressed with equal clarity in the first century. It argues that apostolic revelation can develop organically in the Church.

    5 min read

  4. Vatican I and Ultramontanism: How Strong Did the Papacy Become in 1870?

    Vatican I is remembered for papal infallibility, but Pastor Aeternus defined something broader: the pope possesses supreme, full, ordinary, and immediate jurisdiction throughout the Church.

    5 min read

  5. What Is the Catholic Magisterium? How Rome Understands Church Authority

    Roman Catholicism does not treat doctrine as the private judgment of the pope or as Scripture interpreted in isolation.

    5 min read

  6. Why Did the Orthodox and Catholic Churches Split?

    The East-West Schism was not one argument on one day in 1054. It emerged through centuries of linguistic, political, canonical, and theological tension, especially over papal authority and the Filioque.

    5 min read

  7. The Filioque: Why One Phrase Helped Divide East and West

    The filioque controversy is not merely a fight over one Latin word. It involves the eternal relationship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the authority to alter an ecumenical creed, and the different theological languages of…

    5 min read

  8. Photios the Great: Defender of Orthodoxy or Architect of Division?

    St Photios, Patriarch of Constantinople (858-867, 877-886), as the Church remembers him and as the documents show him: Ignatius and Pope Nicholas, the Filioque encyclical, the councils of 869-870 and 879-880, Dvornik's…

    15 min read

More on Rome and the schism

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