Tradition in the early church · Sophia Scriptura

The handing on of apostolic teaching and practice, written and unwritten. Part of The church.

1 Clement 7.2Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · Return to the rule of the tradition.
1 Clement 42.1Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · The gospel came from God through Christ to the apostles.
1 Clement 42.2Clement of Rome · ca. 95–97 (range ca. 70–100) · Christ from God, the apostles from Christ: all in good order.
To the Philippians 7.2Polycarp of Smyrna · ca. 110–135 · Believers should hold to the teaching handed down from the beginning, watching in prayer and fasting as the Lord taught.
Fragment 9Clement of Alexandria · late 2nd–early 3rd century · A composite of fragments of Clement's Hypotyposes: brief notes on 1 Cor 11:10, 2 Cor 5:16, 2 Cor 6:12, and Gal 5:24; Christ's baptism of Peter; the choice of James the Just as bishop of Jerusalem; the origin of Mark's Gospel; secret knowledge passed from James, John, and Peter to the apostles and the seventy; the martyrdom of James with his accuser; why Paul did not name himself in Hebrews; and John's “spiritual” Gospel.
Against Heresies 2.22.5Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Irenaeus appeals to the Gospel and to the elders of Asia who knew John that Christ taught into older age.
Against Heresies 3.2.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · When refuted from Scripture, the heretics appeal to a secret oral tradition, which turns out to be each one's own invention.
Against Heresies 3.3.3Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Irenaeus lists the bishops of Rome from Linus to Eleutherius and cites Clement's letter as witness to the apostolic faith.
Against Heresies 3.3.4Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Polycarp, taught by apostles and martyred at Smyrna, and the church of Ephesus witness to the apostolic tradition against the heretics.
Against Heresies 3.4.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The apostles deposited the whole truth in the church; even in a minor dispute, or without Scriptures, one should follow the tradition of the apostolic churches.
Against Heresies 3.4.2Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Barbarian nations who cannot read keep the apostles' faith written on their hearts and reject the heretics' inventions.
Against Heresies 3.5.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · Christ is the truth and could not have called a defective god his Father; the apostles did not adapt their teaching hypocritically to their hearers.
Against Heresies 4.32.1Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–190 · The elder taught that both covenants come from the one Creator; whoever believes this and reads the Scriptures with the Church’s presbyters will find them consistent.
Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching 98Irenaeus of Lyons · ca. 180–200
Prophetic Extracts 27.1Clement of Alexandria · ca. 200 · The earlier elders did not write, so as not to divert their care for teaching the tradition.
Miscellanies 1.1.11Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Clement's notes preserve the teaching of the blessed men he heard in Greece, southern Italy, and the East, and last in Egypt, a teacher like a Sicilian bee; they handed on the apostles' tradition.
Miscellanies 1.1.12Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Writing preserves the tradition, as used wells stay clear and used iron stays bright; wisdom must be shared like a lamp on a stand; teachers learn as they teach, since the one Teacher inspires both.
Miscellanies 1.1.13Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Christ shared the mysteries only with those able to receive them; secret things are entrusted to speech, not writing; what is hidden will be revealed to the few who can grasp it; God gave the church apostles, prophets, and teachers.
Miscellanies 1.1.14Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Clement's notes are a weak image of his teachers' living word, meant to remind rather than fully explain; he deliberately leaves some things unwritten, since writing cannot answer questions and may mislead the unprepared.
Miscellanies 1.12.55Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The tradition is not for all; the wisdom Christ taught in a mystery must be guarded, as Isaiah's lips were cleansed; Clement hesitates to cast pearls before swine.
Miscellanies 1.12.56Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The natural man cannot receive the Spirit's truths; the secret tradition must be handed on only to the fit; the Stromata scatter the truth so that only a good farmer will make it grow.
Miscellanies 5.10.61Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Clement distinguishes the mysteries handed down by the apostles from the faith preached to the Gentiles, and reads “every person perfect in Christ” as the whole person purified, since knowledge is not for all.
Miscellanies 5.10.62Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Paul asks for prayer to speak the mystery of Christ, and Hebrews distinguishes milk for infants from solid food for the perfect; some things were handed down unwritten.
Miscellanies 6.7.61Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Christ is wisdom, so knowledge taught by the Son is wisdom embracing past, present, and future; this knowledge came down unwritten from the apostles to a few and must be trained into constant contemplation.
Miscellanies 6.15.124Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Paul circumcised Timothy and Daniel wore the Persian chain out of accommodation; the true liars are those who corrupt the essentials and do not hand on Scripture worthily, whereas the apostolic tradition is proclaimed and explained by the rule of truth.
Miscellanies 7.16.95Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Whoever rejects the church's tradition for heresy becomes like Circe's beasts, while whoever returns to the Scriptures is made godlike; the Lord speaking in Scripture is the first principle, grasped by faith, and his voice is the surest proof.
Miscellanies 7.16.103Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · Some reject the truth unheard; others twist Scripture from laziness or love of glory, setting human teachings against the apostolic tradition; Marcion and Prodicus added nothing to what the apostles and teachers had handed down.
Miscellanies 7.16.104Clement of Alexandria · ca. 198–203 · The one who knows grows old in the Scriptures, holds the apostolic and church teaching, and lives by the Lord's tradition; not all who hear receive knowledge, and the knowledge that “puffs up” means either false knowledge or a lofty mind.
On Christ and Antichrist 1Hippolytus of Rome · ca. 200–215 · Hippolytus dedicates the treatise to Theophilus and warns him to share its contents only with the faithful.
Apostolic Tradition 41 (English)Hippolytus of Rome · early third century
Prescription against Heretics 20Tertullian · ca. 203 · Christ sent the apostles, who founded churches in every city; all later churches derive from these and so are apostolic, united in peace, brotherhood, and hospitality by the one tradition.
Prescription against Heretics 25Tertullian · ca. 203 · Paul's charge to Timothy to guard the deposit refers to the teaching he had given openly before many witnesses, not to a secret doctrine.
Prescription against Heretics 28Tertullian · ca. 203 · If the churches had erred, their errors would differ; the agreement of so many churches in one faith shows it is tradition, not error.
On the Flesh of Christ 2Tertullian · ca. 206–211 · Marcion cut the whole nativity story out of the Gospel to deny Christ's flesh; having abandoned the faith handed down, he has no authority to do so.
Against Marcion 1.21Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The apostolic churches argued about conduct, never about which God to worship; their unbroken tradition confesses only the Creator, so Marcion's god is his own invention.
Against Marcion 4.5Tertullian · 207/208 (third edition, completed later) · The apostolic churches have held Luke's gospel, with Matthew, Mark, and John, from the beginning; Marcion's version is known only in his own late churches, so it is the altered one.
On Fasting 10Tertullian · ca. 210–220 · Against the claim that stations must end at the ninth hour, Tertullian argues from the hours of prayer in Acts, the Lord's death and burial, and Moses, Joshua, Saul, and Daniel for later stations.
On Fasting 13Tertullian · ca. 210–220 · The psychics themselves fast beyond what tradition fixes and bishops order fasts; the Paraclete's appointed fasts, like the Greek councils, rightly bind those who receive him.
On the Crown 2Tertullian · 211 · All the faithful refrain from crowns; those who ask where Scripture forbids it must equally show where Scripture commands it, and what is not expressly permitted is forbidden.
On the Crown 3Tertullian · 211 · Many church practices rest on tradition and custom rather than written Scripture: the baptismal renunciation, triple immersion, milk and honey, the dawn Eucharist, offerings for the dead, not kneeling on Sundays and at Eastertide, and the sign of the cross.
On the Crown 4Tertullian · 211 · Tradition, confirmed by custom and supported by reason, binds even without a written law, as the veiling of Jewish women shows; Paul himself gave counsel with the Spirit's authority where he had no command of the Lord.
On First Principles 1.0.2Origen · ca. 220–230 (Rufinus's translation 398) · Because Christians disagree even on great questions, Origen first sets out the rule handed down from the apostles and preserved in the churches.
Fragments on Proverbs, column 157Origen · ca. 220-254 · The father's instruction is Scripture and the mother's precepts are the church's unwritten traditions; the harlot of Proverbs is false teaching, and the seeds of virtue can never be wholly destroyed.
Homilies on Exodus 5.5Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · The parting of the sea, divided, by an old tradition, into a path for each tribe, figures baptism, in which the believer escapes the pursuing powers, and also the victory of one who disputes with the rod of the law.
Homilies on Numbers 5.1Origen · ca. 238–250 (Rufinus's translation ca. 400–410) · As the priests covered the holy things before the Kohathites carried them, the church's teachers hand on mysteries whose meaning most believers practice without understanding, such as kneeling, praying toward the east, the Eucharist, and the rites of baptism.
Against Celsus 6.6Origen · ca. 248 · Like Plato, who said the deepest truths cannot be written for the many, the prophets, Paul, and Jesus himself knew things they deliberately did not write down.
Commentary on Matthew, Latin Series 46Origen · ca. 244–249 (Latin translation, 4th–5th century) · False christs are heretical teachers who cite either secret writings (“the wilderness”) or twisted canonical Scripture (“the houses”); the truth shines like lightning through all Scripture and in the Church alone, and the eagles are believers gathered to Christ's passion.
Commentary on Matthew 11.8Origen · ca. 246–248 · The Pharisees, unmoved by the healings, can accuse the disciples only of breaking a tradition of the elders, not a commandment of God; Origen urges washing the hands of the soul before receiving Christ’s bread.
Commentary on Matthew 11.10Origen · ca. 246–248 · The Corban tradition annuls both commandments, since calling one’s gift to parents Corban treats them as sacrilegious, and so speaks evil of them.
Letter 63.1Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Cyprian writes to correct those who, in ignorance, do not offer the Lord's cup as Christ did, acting not on his own authority but on the Lord's command.
Letter 63.14Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Custom cannot override Christ's example: only Christ is to be heard, and the priest truly acts in Christ's place when he offers as Christ offered.
Letter 71.3Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Custom must yield to reason: Peter, though first, accepted Paul's correction, and bishops too should embrace better counsel.
Letter 74.2Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Stephen's appeal to “tradition” has no basis in the gospel or the apostles, who condemned heretics; true tradition is what Scripture commands.
Letter 74.10Cyprian of Carthage · 249/250–258 · Bishops must be teachable; when practice goes astray, return to the source, the Lord's own and the apostles' tradition, as one traces a failing aqueduct to its spring.
Church History 2.1.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Clement (quoted): after the resurrection the Lord gave the knowledge to James, John, and Peter, who passed it on to the apostles and the Seventy.
Church History 3.23.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Irenaeus (quoted): the church of Ephesus, founded by Paul and home of John, witnesses to apostolic tradition.
Church History 3.36.4Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · On his way through Asia, Ignatius warned the churches against heresies and urged them to hold to apostolic tradition, also in writing.
Church History 3.39.11Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Papias also records strange parables, teachings, and legends from oral tradition.
Church History 5.11.5Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Clement: these teachers preserved the apostles' tradition and passed it on to him.
Recognitions 8.37Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter urges his companions to teach others, but to add only their own eloquence to what he received from the true Prophet, never their own inventions.
Recognitions 10.42Anonymous · Greek original 3rd–4th century; Rufinus's Latin translation before 407 · Peter warns that Scripture, like the myths, can be twisted by clever readers, so its sense must be learned from those who keep the tradition received from their elders, with liberal learning used only in support of the truth.
Divine Institutes 2.6.7Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · People defend ancestral religions without examining them, trusting antiquity alone.
Divine Institutes 2.7.4Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Those who follow ancestors without judgment throw away their own wisdom.
Divine Institutes 2.7.6Lactantius · ca. 303–311 · Christians should pass on truth as the ancestors passed on falsehood.
Against Marcellus 1.4.14Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus says Asterius appeals to the fathers because he cannot prove his view from Scripture.
Against Marcellus 1.4.16Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 336–337 · Marcellus calls dogma human opinion and scorns following the fathers, against Scripture.
Encyclical Letter 1Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339 · Athanasius compares the outrage done to the Church of Alexandria with the outrage of the Levite's concubine in Judges and calls on all bishops to be moved to act.
Historical Fragments 1.7.3.2Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 343–367 · Liberius says he has upheld the apostolic and Roman tradition unchanged.
Catechetical Lecture 5.12Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Creed, handed on by the Church and gathered from all Scripture, is to be memorized, kept secret from catechumens, and never exchanged for another teaching.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 5Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · From Moses back to Adam and on to Paul the teaching has been one, so the Arians must either condemn their leaders’ change of mind or accept the council.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 18Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · The Arians’ own catchwords are unscriptural, while the council’s unscriptural terms express a pious meaning; Athanasius now explains the reason for them.
On the Decrees of Nicaea 27Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 350–356 · Origen too taught that the Son is eternal, and the council’s faith is the tradition of the catholic church handed down from the apostles.
On Saint Athanasius 1.28Lucifer of Cagliari · ca. 356–361 · From Proverbs on justice above sacrifice and the duty to rescue those led to death, Lucifer calls the emperor a pestilence that infects souls with heresy.
Letters to Serapion 1.28Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357–360 · The church’s faith from the beginning is in one holy Triad, Father, Son, and Spirit, one in nature and activity, as Christ commanded in the baptismal formula.
Letter 28Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil consoles the church of Neocaesarea on the death of its bishop Musonius, praises his faithfulness to ancient tradition, and urges them to choose a worthy successor in peace.
Letters 89, 90Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil asks Meletius to direct Dorotheus's mission to the West and to receive Athanasius into communion; a second letter, to the Western bishops, describes the ruin of the Eastern churches and asks for help.
On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 14Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 (additions 361) · By rejecting their fathers the Acacians reverse Paul’s praise of tradition; Athanasius appends the writings of Arius and the creeds of their councils to show their inconsistency.
Moral Rules (Moralia) 12Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-370 · Basil's twelfth rule: every word of the Lord must be accepted without contradiction, human tradition must not override God's commandment, all that the Lord handed down must be kept, and God's will must be preferred to one's own.
Apology 4Eunomius of Cyzicus · ca. 360 · Eunomius turns to his confession of faith and proposes the fathers' tradition as the standard for judging it.
On the Orthodox Faith against the Arians 1Gregory of Elvira · ca. 360-392 · The author warns that heretics who share much with the Catholics are the most dangerous, and argues that the removal of the word “substance” is meant to bring in the Arian teaching that the Son was made from nothing.
Letter 199Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory explains why Damasus condemned Vitalius's confession, and ridicules the Apollinarian slogan “not a God-bearing man but a flesh-bearing God”, as if the faith were only thirty years old.
Tractates 1.1.4Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno asks whether faith consists in teaching or believing, laments a faith built of arguments and factions, and warns against curious disputation.
Homilies 24.4Basil of Caesarea · ca. 363-378 · One essence without two gods: the Son is the Father's perfect image and radiance; the Spirit is a distinct person, inseparable from Father and Son, ranked with them in baptism, and not a creature, as the Pneumatomachians' sophisms claim.
Commentary on 2 Thessalonians 2:14Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Paul urges them to hold the apostolic traditions, and naming the Son before the Father shows their one divinity, the Father who gave his Son for our life and justification.
Commentary on 2 Timothy 2:1–2Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Timothy must be strong in grace and entrust the teaching only to faithful men able to teach others.
Letter 71.6Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome advises Lucinius that on fasting on the Sabbath and daily Communion each church should keep its own received tradition.
Letter 84.9Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome says he opposes Origen only because his supporters treat him as infallible, defends the ancient faith of Rome, and professes his love for the flesh sanctified in Christ and martyrdom.
On the Holy Spirit 7.16Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · The church uses both "with" and "through": "with" to glorify the Son, "through" to give thanks for his gifts, and "with" is the old usage of the fathers.
On the Holy Spirit 10.25Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · The attack on the church's doxology is really an attack on the faith and on the apostolic tradition.
On the Holy Spirit 10.26Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · We were saved and baptised into Father, Son, and Spirit, and must never abandon that baptismal confession.
On the Holy Spirit 27.66Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Much that the church holds comes from unwritten apostolic tradition—the sign of the cross, facing east, the words of the epiclesis, the blessings and threefold immersion of baptism, standing to pray on Sunday and at Pentecost—kept in silence to guard the mysteries.
On the Holy Spirit 27.67Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Even the confession of faith in Father, Son, and Spirit is not written as such; if it follows from baptism, the doxology may follow from the faith, and one word handed down from the fathers should be allowed.
On the Holy Spirit 29.71Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Unwritten apostolic traditions are to be kept, and the doxology "with the Spirit" is one of them, attested by many ancient witnesses; Basil received it from the man who baptized him.
On the Holy Spirit 29.74Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Gregory the Wonderworker, whose tradition his churches kept unchanged, handed down the disputed doxology; Firmilian, Meletius, the East, Mesopotamia, Cappadocia, and the West use it too.
On the Holy Spirit 29.75Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Basil is no innovator, since his usage has the support of nations, custom, and great teachers; he will endure persecution rather than fear the Lord's threats against blasphemy of the Spirit.
On the Holy Spirit 30.79Basil of Caesarea · ca. 374–375 · Love for Amphilochius and the example of the three youths in Babylon moved Basil to speak; he entrusts the work to his friend's discretion and invites further questions.
Ancoratus 118.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The faith is received from the apostles and handed on.
Ancoratus 118.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · The addressees hand on the apostolic teaching.
Ancoratus 118.7Epiphanius of Salamis · 374 · Keep the faith received from the apostles.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 15.2.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The Scribes had four bodies of tradition.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 15.2.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The traditions are boasted of as superior teaching.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.31.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Churches in every region believe and hand down the same tradition.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 31.31.4Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · No church leader, eloquent or not, adds to or diminishes the one faith.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 55.3.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Apostolic tradition, Scripture, and the succession of teachers guard the truth.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 61.6.5Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The apostles handed down both Scripture and tradition.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 61.6.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Tradition forbids a vowed virgin to marry, yet Paul says a virgin who marries does not sin.
Liber Orsiesii 12Orsiesius · ca. 380-390 · The brothers should hold to the founder's precepts, and heads of monasteries should care for their flocks with mercy rather than harshness.
Canons on the Letters of Paul 50Priscillian · ca. 380–400 · Avoid those who serve their belly instead of the apostolic tradition; such will abound in the last times.
Petition to the Emperors (Libellus precum) 27Faustinus · ca. 383–384 · The petitioners reject the name "Luciferians": they follow Christ, not a man, and Lucifer taught nothing new; his books against Constantius were praised and translated by Athanasius.
Letter 5 to the bishops of Africa, chapter 1Siricius, bishop of Rome · 385 · The council at Peter's tomb sends the African bishops a reminder of existing apostolic and patristic rules, neglected by some who follow popular will rather than God's judgment.
Letter 10, canons of the Roman synod to the bishops of Gaul, chapter 2Siricius, bishop of Rome · 385 · Some bishops have changed the fathers' tradition and fallen into heresy; the Gallic bishops' questions, first on chastity, will be answered in order.
Letter 10, canons of the Roman synod to the bishops of Gaul, chapter 9Siricius, bishop of Rome · 385 · One faith requires one tradition and one discipline in all churches; the question is not baptism itself but the fitness of its ministers.
Letter 36.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine answers that fasting on Saturday is not unlawful in itself, but that where Scripture is silent the custom of the church is to be followed without contention.
Letter 36.22Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine says that disputes over which apostolic custom is original are endless, and that the one faith of the church may be clothed in varied observances like the queen's embroidered robe.
Letter 54.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine says that practices which vary locally, such as Saturday fasting and the frequency of communion, are free, and one should follow the local church.
Letter 54.6Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine classifies the question of the Maundy Thursday Eucharist as a local custom, in which each should follow the church he is in.
Letter 55.32Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine distinguishes what rests on Scripture (Easter, Pentecost) from what rests on church agreement (Lent, the octave of the newly baptized) and from local variation (Alleluia, standing at prayer).
Letter 55.34Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine gives the rule for local customs: follow what helps a better life unless it causes greater harm, and he commends the singing of psalms against Donatist criticism.
Letter 55.35Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine deplores the multiplication of local observances not grounded in Scripture, councils, or universal custom, and would abolish them where possible.
Homilies on Matthew 51.1John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The Jerusalem scribes, guardians of human traditions, accuse the disciples of eating with unwashed hands; Christ answers not by defending the act but by turning on them a greater charge, that their tradition voids God’s command to honor parents.
Homilies on Matthew 51.2John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Christ exposes the Corban practice, by which sons robbed their parents in the name of an offering, as a tradition contrary to God’s law, confirms the charge from Isaiah, and only then, after many proofs of his Godhead, turns to the question of foods.
On the Profit of Believing 31Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391–392 · Heretics who urge belief in Christ contradict their own rejection of belief, since faith in Christ rests on the report of the Catholic peoples, who should therefore be asked what Christ taught.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 13.4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine asks on what authority the Manichaeans believe Mani, a late self-styled apostle, and notes that the apostles' books speak against him.
Against Faustus the Manichaean 32.21Augustine of Hippo · ca. 398–400 · Augustine argues that the apostolic authorship of the New Testament is known through continuous succession, just as the Manichaeans know their books are Mani’s.
Letter 2, inscription and introductionInnocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · Innocent sends Victricius of Rouen a book of Roman rules for church discipline, not as new laws but as apostolic tradition that some have neglected.
Letter 25, inscription and introductionInnocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · Writing to Decentius of Gubbio, Innocent argues that the Western churches, founded by Peter or his successors, must follow Roman liturgical custom.
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 2Rufinus of Aquileia · ca. 404 · The Creed was composed by the apostles before they separated, as a token (symbolum) of their common preaching, to be kept in the heart and not in writing.
On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins 3.12Augustine of Hippo · 411–412 · Jerome, in his commentary on Jonah, takes original sin as certain, and Augustine knows of no earlier Christian, catholic or not, who denied it; the new view he first heard casually at Carthage is now defended in writing.
Letter 2, chapter 8Zosimus, bishop of Rome · 417–418 · Zosimus urges the African bishops to submit their minds to the Scriptures as received by tradition, and dates the letter 417.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 4.20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine announces that, besides Scripture, he will cite earlier Catholic writers to show that the doctrine he defends is ancient, while ranking them below the canonical books.
Against Two Letters of the Pelagians 4.32Augustine of Hippo · ca. 420–421 · Augustine concludes that Cyprian and Ambrose show the faith he defends to be ancient, continuous, and Catholic.
The Conferences 2.15John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · Christ sent Paul to Ananias, and Paul compared his gospel with the apostles in Jerusalem; no one who despises the elders' teaching will be shown the way of perfection.
The Conferences 10.3John Cassian · ca. 426–429 · The venerable Sarapion, persuaded by the deacon Photinus that God’s image is spiritual and not bodily, accepted the catholic faith but wept in prayer that his God had been taken from him; Cassian and Germanus return to Isaac.
Celestine, ACO I.2, letter 2.5Celestine I, bishop of Rome · 430-432 · Celestine rebukes Nestorius as a wolf in the fold, warns him of the account he must give for his talent, and declares that nothing may be added to or taken from the apostolic faith.
Letters 1Capreolus of Carthage · 431-433 · Capreolus of Carthage excuses the African bishops' absence from the Council of Ephesus (431), caused by the Vandal invasion, and urges the council to hold to the ancient faith; Cyril and the bishops approve the letter.
Letter 4, chapter 7Sixtus III, bishop of Rome · 432–440 · Sixtus urges John to hold the one ancient faith without novelty and commends Maximian of Constantinople, who learned that faith at Rome.
Commonitory 1Vincent of Lérins · 434 · Writing as Peregrinus from a monastery, Vincent explains why he sets down in a 'reminder' what he received from the fathers.
Commonitory 2Vincent of Lérins · 434 · Vincent's rule: the faith is guarded by Scripture and by the church's tradition, holding what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all.
Commonitory 3Vincent of Lérins · 434 · How to apply the rule when part of the church, or the whole, is infected by error, or when error appears in antiquity itself.
Commonitory 5Vincent of Lérins · 434 · Vincent cites Ambrose on the Arian persecution and praises the confessors who defended the whole church's ancient faith.
Commonitory 8Vincent of Lérins · 434 · Paul's anathema on anyone, even an apostle or an angel, who preaches another gospel shows that the faith once handed down may not be changed.
Commonitory 9Vincent of Lérins · 434 · Paul's ban on another gospel binds all churches and all ages, against which the Pelagians call for a new faith.
Commonitory 17Vincent of Lérins · 434 · Origen, with all his genius, learning, holiness and influence, became the greatest test of the church when he interpreted Scripture in new ways.
Commonitory 20Vincent of Lérins · 434 · The true catholic prefers the ancient universal faith to any teacher; heresies come so that the approved may be made manifest, and the wavering should return to the church.
Commonitory 21Vincent of Lérins · 434 · Vincent marvels at those who keep changing the faith, against the Scriptures that forbid moving the ancient landmarks and against Paul's charge to guard the deposit.
Commonitory 22Vincent of Lérins · 434 · Vincent expounds 'guard the deposit': the faith is something received and to be handed on unchanged, though it may be explained more clearly.
Commonitory 23Vincent of Lérins · 434 · There is real progress in the church's understanding of the faith, like the growth of a body or a seed, but never a change into something else; councils only define more clearly what was always believed.
Commonitory 24Vincent of Lérins · 434 · Heresies are always novelties with a known founder, place and date, such as Pelagius, Caelestius, Arius, Sabellius, Novatian and Simon Magus; catholics keep what was handed down.
Commonitory 27Vincent of Lérins · 434 · Catholics distinguish truth from error in Scripture by interpreting it according to the church's tradition: universality, antiquity, and consent.
Commonitory 28Vincent of Lérins · 434 · The consent of the fathers is to be used chiefly on the rule of faith and against new heresies, holding what all or most taught and setting aside any one teacher's private opinion.
Commonitory 29Vincent of Lérins · 434 · Vincent recapitulates his rule and recalls how the Council of Ephesus (431) condemned Nestorius by reading the agreeing opinions of the fathers.
Commonitory 30Vincent of Lérins · 434 · Vincent lists the ten fathers whose writings were read at Ephesus, from Alexandria, Cappadocia, Rome, Carthage and Milan.
Commonitory 31Vincent of Lérins · 434 · At Ephesus Cyril and the bishops endorsed Capreolus's plea to keep the ancient faith and reject novelty, against Nestorius's claim to understand Scripture alone.
Commonitory 32Vincent of Lérins · 434 · Vincent adds the judgments of the Roman bishops Sixtus III and Celestine I against any novelty that attacks the ancient faith.
Commonitory 33Vincent of Lérins · 434 · Vincent concludes that to reject these decrees is to reject the council, the popes, the fathers, the church and Paul himself; catholics must hold fast the faith of the fathers.