Sectarian: And what if the apostolic traditions are the very Scriptures of the New Testament?   Orthodox: No. Tradition, first of all, is oral instruction. It is said: "Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you have been taught, either by word or by our epistle" (2 Thess. 2:15). As we can see, the word comes first, and the message follows it.

Holy Tradition is primary, and Holy Scripture is secondary. There is many confirmations of this from the Word of God itself: the first Scripture was the Pentateuch of Moses (Hebrew Torah). It contains the Law of God —the doctrine of clean and unclean animals, the law of tithes, sacrifices, and so on. However, we learn from the Book of Genesis that sacrifices were performed before God's written Law.

We read: "After a while, Cain brought a gift to the Lord from the fruits of the earth, and Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat..." (Gen. 4:3-4). This text shows that the ancient people knew not only the law of sacrifices, but also the ritual subtleties of the features of their offering : "from the fruits of the earth a gift to the Lord...", "from the firstlings of their flock and from their fat".

Noah knew which animals were clean and which were unclean. We read: "And of the clean birds, and of the unclean birds, and] of the clean cattle, and of the unclean beasts, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (Gen. 7:8). Abraham knew the law of tithing. It is said: "[Abram] gave him (the priest Melchizedek) a tenth of all things" (Gen. 14:20). Jacob also knew the law of vow tithes, he said: "...

and of all that Thou, O God, givest me, I will give Thee a tenth" (Gen. 28:22), etc. D.. On this issue, St. John Chrysostom wrote: "In fact, with Noah, Abraham and his descendants, as well as with Job and Moses, God conversed not through writing, but directly" (Commentary on Matthew, vol. 7, p. 5).              The very authority of Holy Scripture is confirmed by the authority of Holy Tradition.

Who told us that the Gospel of Matthew was written by Matthew, and the Gospel of Mark was written by Mark? Who established the number of the Epistles of the Apostles Peter, John and Paul. The canon of the New Testament and Old Testament books of the Bible is the work of the Church, and therefore of Tradition. On the other hand, all the Words of God do not fit into the biblical code. It is said: "Many other things did Jesus do; but, if we were to write about this in detail, then, I think, the world itself would not be able to contain the books written..." (John 21:25).

Not all prophetic books and apostolic epistles have been preserved. In the Epistle of the Apostle Jude, a fragment from the Book of Enoch is quoted: "About them also prophesied Enoch, the seventh from Adam, saying: 'Behold, the Lord is coming with thousands of His holy angels...'" (Jude 1:14); and in the first Epistle to the Corinthians we find these words: "I wrote to you in the epistle..." (1 Cor. 5, 9), that is, he wrote earlier.

Answer the question: What does the Apostle Paul mean when he writes: "Therefore, leaving the beginnings of the teaching of Christ, let us hasten to perfection; and let us not again lay the foundation for conversion from dead works and faith in God, for the doctrine of baptisms, of the laying on of hands, of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do, if God permits" (Heb. 6:1-3). Where, in what epistle are these beginnings of the teaching "on baptisms, on the laying on of hands" given?

Many details: how to baptize – in one immersion or in three, the order of ordination of deacons, presbyters and bishops – all this is preserved at the level of Tradition and is not detailed in Scripture. Concluding the discussion of the significance of Holy Tradition, I would like to draw attention once again to the teaching of the Apostle Paul on Tradition: "We bequeath to you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to depart from every brother who walks disorderly, and not according to the tradition which they have received from us" (2 Thess. 3:6).

Here again we encounter the word para v dosin (tradition), which cannot be translated otherwise than in the Synodal translation. In Weismann's Greek-Russian dictionary, this word is translated as "transmission (of teaching)".   Sectarian: Don't you think that what you call "tradition" is something vague and vague?   Orthodox: No, on the contrary.

Holy Tradition has a concrete expression in the ancient symbols of the Christian faith, the rules of Sts. The Apostles, the Ecumenical and Local Councils, the ancient liturgies and acts, or in the legends of the martyrs, the works of the Holy Fathers and teachers of the Church – all these are components of the one Tradition of the Church.   2. The   very nature of the Church as the Body of Christ bears witness to the purity of Church Teaching, which is based, like the Biblical Canon, on Tradition.

The Apostle Paul wrote: "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?..." (1 Corinthians 6:15); and again: "And ye are the body of Christ, and members individually " (1 Corinthians 12:27); and again: "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I make up for what is lacking in my flesh of Christ's afflictions for His Body, which is the Church" (Col. 1:24).   Sectarian: Your organization is not the Body of Christ (the Church).

Orthodoxy is a historical phenomenon that is not connected with the organization of God, much less with his church.   Orthodox: It seems to me that it is time to move on to the question of the Church, especially since you and I have already touched on it. Do you think the Church has existed continuously from the day of its creation to the day of Pentecost?   Sectarian: We believe that as an organization here on earth, the church ceased to exist, having mixed with the state, the empire of Constantine in the fourth century.

She went from being the Bride of Christ to being a of Babylon. Throughout these centuries of apostasy, however, there must have been "wheat" —individual true anointed Christians. But the "wheat" has been mixed with the tares, the worst of which are the Christian clergy, who remain the most essential part of Satan's "seed."