Crossed The Tiber

An Evangelical Converts to Catholicism

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Location: Pennsylvania, United States

I was born into the Catholic faith. At 14, I was "born again" and found Jesus personally but lost His Church. After thirty years as an evangelical protestant, I have come full circle to find that He has been there all the time, in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I wish others to find the beauty and truth of the Catholic faith as I have found.

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Saint Basil the Great Speaks Out On Sacred Tradition


St. Basil, in the mid-fourth century, needed to correct those who would attempt to dismiss doctrine because it was handed down as St Paul would say, instead of being written down. He too must have heard one too many times "where does it mention the sign of the cross in the Bible, huh?" or similar questions. St. Basil's comments below could have come from a modern day Catholic apologist explaining sacred tradition to a bible-only believer.


"Time will fail me if I attempt to recount the unwritten mysteries of the Church. Of the rest I say nothing; but of the very confession of our faith in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, what is the written source? If it be granted that, as we are baptized, so also under the obligation to believe, we make our confession in like terms as our baptism, in accordance with the tradition of our baptism and in conformity with the principles of true religion, let our opponents grant us too the right to be as consistent in our ascription of glory as in our confession of faith. If they deprecate our doxology on the ground that it lacks written authority, let them give us the written evidence for the confession of our faith and the other matters which we have enumerated. While the unwritten traditions are so many, and their bearing on single word which has come down to us from the Fathers;--which we found, derived from untutored custom, abiding in unperverted churches;--a word for which the arguments are strong, and which contributes in no small degree to the completeness of the force of the mystery?" St Basil the Great, Bishop of Caesarea (329-379)

7 Comments:

Blogger George Weis said...

Ouch!

-g-

January 06, 2009 10:53 PM  
Blogger Russ Rentler, M.D. said...

I got this amazing software for Christmas called This is The Faith Database. It has all the writings of the early church, saints, doctors, encyclicals, councils etc. I was perusing the "Three Cappadocians"; St. Greg of Nazanian, St gregory of Nyssa and St Basil and found this quote. It blew me away to think that even then they were having the same debates we do now. Only then they were so much closer to the source chronologically and geographically.

January 06, 2009 11:12 PM  
Blogger George Weis said...

Well, that's it sign me up for RCIA :)

Actually, this week has been the closest my toes were ever to the Tiber... could also be due to Ashley's consideration. She already is a 90% catholic... just needs confirmed. I however have a long wait, I doubt I could make this years cut anyway :D

-g-

January 06, 2009 11:50 PM  
Blogger George Weis said...

I would LOVE to have that software BTW! What a cool gift!!!

-g-

January 07, 2009 12:12 AM  
Blogger Russ Rentler, M.D. said...

George, you probably know more than the average person who has done 9 months of RCIA! But, God will show you when the time is right.
Here's the link to that software

January 07, 2009 8:46 AM  
Blogger Deborah said...

George said: "Actually, this week has been the closest my toes were ever to the Tiber... could also be due to Ashley's consideration. She already is a 90% catholic... just needs confirmed."

That's just like me...I was never confirmed. She's still Catholic though. She doesn't need Confirmation to receive the Eucharist, but you will have to have your marriage "blessed." It's all so beautiful, you're gonna love it!

January 07, 2009 9:04 AM  
Blogger Deborah said...

To clarify: I was confirmed (along with 100 other adult Catholics) by our bishop on Pentecost Sunday 2005 one year after returning to the Church. It was an amazing day, thanks be to God.

January 07, 2009 9:20 AM  

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