Wisdom of Saints: St Cyprian of Carthage

The Feast of Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, Martyr, 258

ALMIGHTY God, by whose grace and power thy Martyr Cyprian was enabled to witness to the truth and to be faithful unto death: Grant that we, who now remember him before thee, may likewise so bear witness unto thee in this world, that we may receive with him the crown of glory that fadeth not away; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 St Cyprian of Carthage was a bishop and martyr of the early and mid-third century, and an important early Church Father whose many writings continue to exist today. St Cyprian was born sometime around 200 AD in North Africa to pagan parents. He received a good education and became a lawyer and teacher of rhetoric. He was successful and well-known throughout Carthage, having become wealthy due to his legal and teaching success.

He converted to Christianity in the 240s and was likely baptised during the Easter Vigil of 246. He embraced asceticism and engaged in chastity and poverty during his catechesis and early years. He gave his income to the poor and sold his properties in Carthage for further revenues for the poor, and became chaste.

He was made Bishop of Carthage only two years later in 248, at the demand of the people despite his initial reluctance to take up the charge. Shortly after his consecration as Bishop of Carthage, Decius became Emperor and initiated a persecution of Christians in an effort to restore Roman paganism and, in his mind, the fortunes of the Roman Empire.

During the previous thirty-eight years of tolerance, the Church had become relatively prosperous with many bishops falling into worldliness and scandal. Many of them were, during the Decian persecution, put to death, while priests and lay Christians forced to recant their faith. Due to the deaths of so many bishops and the need to maintain the governance of the Church, rather than face death, St Cyprian want into hiding, recognizing that it would be impossible to elect and appoint new bishops during the ongoing persecution.

Many Christians apostatized rather than face rape, torture and death. They would go to the Pagan temples and offer sacrifice to receive their libelli, certificates that proved they had sacrificed to the pagan gods and were thus not Christians (though some Christians sought to buy forged libelli in order to avoid both persecution and needing to sacrifice to pagan gods).

By 251 the Decian persecution began to wane as political challenges to Emperor Decius turned his attention elsewhere. A Council was called in Carthage to address some of the issues that had arisen during the persecution, but Cyprian himself was challenged by some of the priests who had opposed his election, who schemed to keep him from participating in the Council. He famously composed a letter against one of them and also around this time published a number of works extolling the virtues of Christian unity and seeking to address some of the controversies that were dividing the Christians of the day.

He wrote several other famous works in this time, and his works were widely regarded.

In 258 a major plague broke out in Carthage, and while many of the government officials fled to avoid infection, St Cyprian remained and co-ordinated relief efforts for the city, including medical care for the sick who were being abandoned by family and friends. Despite this care for the dying, Christians were blamed for the plague by pagan Romans who felt it was the punishment of the Gods for the spread of Christianity and abandonment of Roman pagan religion. The Emperor Valerian began a persecution of Christians. This time, St Cyprian did not flee into hiding but stayed in Carthage. He was arrested, tried and beheaded on the 14th of September 258. A record of his trial and martyrdom exists along with many of his writings, the most famous of which concern the unity of the Church and the sacraments of Holy Baptism and the Holy Eucharist.

St Cyprian has extensive writings on the power and use of the Holy Eucharist, something he referred to many times in his collected epistles. In his Epistle 54, he wrote, “We may not arouse and exhort those to battle unarmed and naked, but may fortify them with the protection of Christ’s Body and Blood. The Eucharist is designate for this very purpose, that it may be a safeguard to those who receive it.” He continues in Epistle 63, outlining more of his high doctrine of the Eucharist and the role of the priest in ministering it:

If Christ Jesus, our Lord and God, is himself the high priest of God the Father; and if he offered himself as a sacrifice to the Father; and if he commanded that this be done in commemoration of himself, then certainly the priest, who imitates that which Christ did, truly functions in place of Christ.

Writing on Unity, St Cyprian addressed the issue of doctrinal disagreements and they way they should be resolved. In his 53rd Epistle he writes:

When truth is missing from practice and tradition, this is rather indicative of the longevity of falsehood. There is a very safe method for spiritual souls to discern between truth and falsehood: it suffices to return to the beginning of the divine teaching, there where the human falsehood ends. Let us return there, to the evangelical beginning, the original teaching given by our Lord; and to the apostolic tradi­tion, there where the word of our thoughts and actions emanates.

Here is a simple truth. When there is a doctrinal disagreement, first turn to the Evangelical witness, the primacy of Scripture. That is not enough, however, because there can be disagreements on the interpretation of Holy Scripture, so there he says to turn to the Apostolic Witness, the teachings of the Church Fathers, Christ’s Apostle’s and their successors to hear their interpretations of the Scriptures. Their viewpoints are not infallible, however they speak with some authority, particularly where they speak in unity, and what has traditionally been rejected by the Fathers can also speak to the limits of acceptable interpretation of the Holy Scriptures.

St Cyprian, one of the earliest writers, provides us with a wealth of writing on the understanding and early developments of Christian doctrine, reminding us that even from the earliest days the Church held a great reverence for the grace and value of the Holy Eucharist and also placed great importance on the unity of the Church and the role of priests and bishops in maintaining that unity and doctrinal orthodoxy, under the authority of Holy Scripture.

On the Articles: Article XVII

The Second Sunday after Trinity 

O LORD, who never failest to help and govern them whom thou dost bring up in thy stedfast fear and love: Keep us, we beseech thee, under the protection of thy good providence, and make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

XVII. Of Predestination and Election
Predestination to Life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby (before the
foundations of the world were laid) he hath constantly decreed by his counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation, as vessels made to honour. Wherefore, they which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God be called according to God’s purpose by his Spirit working in due season: they through Grace obey the calling: they be justified freely: they be made sons of God by adoption: they be made like the image of his only-begotten Son Jesus Christ: they walk religiously in good works, and at length, by God’s mercy, they attain to everlasting felicity.
As the godly consideration of Predestination, and our Election in Christ, is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons, and such as feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh, and their earthly members, and drawing up their mind to high and heavenly things, as well because it doth greatly establish and confirm their faith of eternal Salvation to be enjoyed through Christ, as because it doth fervently kindle their love towards God: So. for curious and carnal persons, lacking the Spirit of Christ, to have continually before their eyes the sentence of God’s Predestination, is a most dangerous downfall, whereby the Devil doth thrust them either into desperation, or into wretchlessness of most unclean living, no less perilous than desperation.
Furthermore, we must receive God’s promises in such wise, as they be generally set forth to us in holy Scripture: and, in our doings, that Will of God is to be followed, which we have expressly declared unto us in the Word of God.

Predestination. Article XVII is the longest and perhaps most linguistically complex of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion. It also deals with an extremely important issue, but due to the complexity, it does so in a way which is often misunderstood and misinterpreted, because it doesn’t necessarily use terms in the same way they were being used by Continental Reformers.

The Article begins with the statement “Predestination to Life is the everlasting purpose of God. The entire first paragraph goes on to expand this understanding of God’s promises and grace offered through Christ to his chosen people. There are many themes elucidated that correspond quite strictly with St Paul’s writings in Romans 8.

From the outset, therefore, two things are clear. A form of predestination is supported, and that it is a Scriptural version of predestination. There are several, many of which remain familiar today and others of which are less common.

The form many people are familiar with today is the Calvinist view of predestination by which God pre-selected only a few for salvation and that this salvic grace is irresistible. This doctrine, however, seems on its merits to fall afoul both of Holy Scripture (I Tm 2. 4) and also of existing Anglican Formularies (Article XI On Free Will and also the Homily on Justification mentioned both in Article XI and in Article XXXV).

Arminius countered Calvinist doctrine with his own form of predestination in which still only some are saved, but that this is the result merely of God’s foreknowledge. By his sovereignty he knows how individuals will respond and therefore some are saved and others are not. This doctrine can be viewed to be far more consistent with the Holy Scriptures and with the Articles.

John Locke, the English philosopher, much later elucidated a form of predestination which had previously been supported by a small group of others that much like the nation of Israel was God’s Elect in the Old Testament, God worked through elect nations in the New Testament. This is a minority view, however, and it becomes clear that such a doctrine could only be developed at the earliest after the Edict of Milan in 313 which legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire, but more accurately could only have been adopted after the conversion of Constantine the Great and the conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity. Prior to that time there was no Christian nation, merely Christian believers, primarily in Rome because at the time Rome was the known world. This doctrine also seems inconsistent with the Scriptures, which clearly state a far more personal relationship with God. We are adopted into Christ, Christ died to save sinners, not nations (Rm 8. 15; I Tm 1. 15).

Ecclesiastical Election is a doctrine which again becomes more prima facie consistent both with Holy Scripture and with the Articles. It suggests that the Elect are the Body of Christ, entry into which is through Baptism by water and the Spirit. God desires that all be saved, but it is only those who respond in faith who are predestined to eternal life by Christ’s atoning sacrifice.

There are a number of other minor doctrines of election and predestination, but their use is far more limited than the Calvinist doctrines which tend to be most commonly referred to in relation to predestination today.

While there is no clear elucidation of this doctrine among the Fathers, nor is there necessarily one mind on the matter throughout the fathers, a number of them do seem to favour a notion of God’s elect as his Church. As Fr EH Browne noted in his Exposition of the Thirty Nine Articles of Religion, in exploring the works of St Clement of Rome, St Ignatius of Antioch, St Justin the Martyr and Philosopher, St Clement of Alexandria and Origen himself, in any of their works touching on the issues of election and predestination, “there is no marked trace of any of the three schemes which have been designated respectively as Calvinism, Arminianism, or Nationalism.” And going further he notes that while there was no unanimity on election and predestination itself, there was far greater concurrence on doctrines such as that of free will which would discount any doctrine of predestination which relies on the Calvinist concept of irresistible grace.

It seems then the first section of this Article speaks to a form of election and predestination that is Ecclesiatical in nature: God’s elect in the new covenant are the members of Christ’s Church.

The second section of the Article goers on to point out that this doctrine is helpful to those who are part of the Elect. It is a sweet and pleasant comfort to a Christian to know they are saved and the benefits of God’s mercy and adoption that they have received, but it is not, the Article suggests, helpful to go to someone who has yet to come to faith and condemn them through this doctrine. Essentially, it says, that it is not God’s way to simply go up to a non-believer and tell them they are going to hell, because, as the Article says, such an action will be used by the devil to, “thrust them either into desperation, or into wretchlessness of most unclean living, no less perilous than desperation.” Here, wretchlessness should be interpreted as carelessness, a sense of nihilist existentialism by which they have no free will over their lives and no matter what they do they cannot be saved. This is consistent with many modern evangelists who have noted that not only is there a time and place for such discussions, but also that it is the complete opposite of the model of evangelism provided by Christ himself, as suggested by Rev Dr Glen Taylor in reference to Christ’s appearance to the Apostles in St Luke 24. This Article has been used by some more Reform minded Anglicans to suggest a more Calvinist interpretation of the Article, as this warning mirrors a sermon given by Martin Bucer in Cambridge the year before Cranmer composed this Article, however it again seems on the whole to simply show that Cranmer was happy to borrow concept from the Continental reformers when their words and language were consistent with Holy Scripture, but the doctrines set forth in the Articles were far more consistent with the broader goal of restoring the English Church to the faith and order of the Early Church, under the authority of Holy Scripture.

Finally, the third section of the Article again provides an Anglican reminder of the primacy of Holy Scripture. It tells us that God’s promises must be understood not through human will, but through God’s word. It also reminds us of the importance of obedience to God’s will laid out in his Word. For some who follow Calvinist doctrines of double predestination (the logical conclusion that if some are destined to salvation then all others must be destined to condemnation) there is no reason to evangelize and no matter how one lives, one is either saved or not and no act of individual will can affect it.

Ultimately this article is long and confusing, but when taken in the context of Holy Scripture and seen through the lense of the Fathers, it seems more  clearly to articulate a doctrine that reinforces our salvation in Christ, adoption through Baptism into the family of God, and God’s promises assuredly given through Holy Scripture.

On the Articles: Article VIII

The Octave Day of Easter

ALMIGHTY Father, who hast given thine only a Son to die for our sins, and to rise again for our justification: Grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may alway serve thee in pureness of living and truth; through the merits of the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Easter

O GOD, who makest us glad with the yearly remembrance of the resurrection from the dead of thy only Son Jesus Christ: Grant that we who celebrate this Paschal feast may die daily unto sin, and live with him evermore in the glory of his endless life; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

VIII. Of the Creeds
The Three Creeds, Nicene Creed, Athanasius’s Creed, and that which is commonly called the Apostles’ Creed, ought thoroughly to be received and believed: for they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scripture.

 While many of the more mainline reformation churches on the continent did not express objection to the creeds, their understanding and legitimacy had been, to some degree, put into question particularly by more radical reformers. Rome itself had upheld them by virtue of Holy Tradition, which was quite suspect by most continental reformers. In the Christian East, the Athanasian creed had never been accepted, and the Apostle’s creed had never been used.

Article VIII declares all three to be valid and received by the Church in England, and  goes further in stating why: because they may be proved by Holy Scripture. No longer do we accept the Nicene Creed solely because it was the creed of the early Church Councils, but also because the doctrine set forth in the creed is in agreement with Holy Scripture. Going back to Article VI, this emphasis on the prima sciptura mindset of the English Reformation makes it clear that in its having the highest form of divine inspiration, the Holy Scriptures remain at all times the rule and standard by which every other tradition of the Church is judged, even while in their symbiotic relationship it is through Holy Tradition by which we know the right interpretation of Holy Scripture. To quote Fr Kenneth Ross, it is the responsibility of, “the Church to teach and the Bible to prove.”

This also helps to explain why all three creeds are accepted, and in particular the Athanasian Creed, which was not written by St Athanasius the Great but rather was attributed to him, leading many in the East to reject it as inauthentic. Because of its still widespread use throughout the West, and because its doctrines were Biblically sound, the Church continued to accept the validity of the Creed as a doctrinal statement.

Article VIII speaks well to the idea of the symbiosis between the role of Holy Scripture as the rule of faith against which all else is judged, and also the reality that Holy Scripture itself is not always easily understood and Holy Tradition, and in this case the Creeds, help us to rightly understand Holy Scripture. St Vincent of Lerins once noted that we must take care to, “cleave to antiquity, which cannot now be led astray by any deceit of novelty.” The Nicene Creed cannot accept some new heresy because its words and meaning were fixed in antiquity; in the same way the ancient authors help us to interpret Scripture because they cannot be accepted by some new novelty in that they are no longer among the living to debate the merits of new interpretations.

It is particularly important to affirm this fact in modern times when the understanding of the Creeds is becoming more complicated. Some Anglicans simply cannot profess the truths they proclaim, either refusing to say the Creed or omitting portions of it which they find distasteful. This practice goes completely against the Anglican tradition, in which they are not merely proclaimed, but as the Article states are, “thoroughly to be received and believed.”

When an individual has a problem accepting or believing some particular aspect of the Creed, which is a sufficient statement of the Christian faith, the issue is not with the Creed but rather with their lack of education to understand the Creed and its meaning. The Creeds themselves speak to something unchanging: God and his historical interactions with mankind, particularly through the incarnation of Christ Jesus. In what way would the passage of time change the nature of God or the historicity of the incarnation? Even two thousand years is a small passage of time for the eternal and immutable God. The Scriptures themselves are presented as timeless and unchanging in their message; and in a similar way the Creeds must be understood. They speak to a particular Truth about God.

In our modern society, where there are concerns or unbelief, there are two solutions. The first is prayer, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (St Mk 9. 24b). The second is education. Particularly with many children breaking with faith during their teenage years—a time critical to Christian formation among young people—they may not have the foundations of understanding often assumed for adults who profess the Christian faith. Greater opportunities need to be made available to address these critical gaps in understanding of Christian doctrine and faith.

While that solution is there, Article VIII remains as a reminder of why it is needed. As Anglicans, we profess the historic faith in Christ, and will for all times as a matter of our inherent Anglican identity.

On the Articles: Article VI

The Fifth Sunday in Lent commonly called Passion Sunday

WE beseech thee, Almighty God, mercifully to look upon thy people; that by thy great goodness they may be governed and preserved evermore, both in body and soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Lent

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

VI. Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation.
Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation. In the name of the holy Scripture we do understand those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church.
Of the Names and Number of the Canonical Books
Genesis,          The First Book of Samuel,           The Book of Esther,
Exodus,           The Second Book of Samuel,      The Book of Job,
Leviticus,        The First Book of Kings,             The Psalms,
Numbers,        The Second Book of Kings,         The Proverbs,
Deuteronomy, The First Book of Chronicles,      Ecclesiastes or Preacher,
Joshua,            The Second Book of Chronicles, Cantica, or Songs of Solomon,
Judges,            The First Book of Esdras,            Four Prophets the greater,
Ruth,         The Second Book of Esdras        Twelve Prophets the less.

And the other Books (as Hierome saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine; such are these following:
The Third Book of Esdras,
The Fourth Book of Esdras,
The Book of Tobias,
The Book of Judith,
The rest of the Book of Esther,
The Book of Wisdom,
Jesus the Son of Sirach, Baruch the Prophet,
The Song of the Three Children,
The Story of Susanna,
Of Bel and the Dragon,
The Prayer of Manasses,
The First Book of Maccabees,
The Second Book of Maccabees.
All the Books of the New Testament, as they are commonly received, we do receive, and account them Canonical.

Article VI is interesting in that it highlights both how the English Church sought to distinguish itself from Roman Catholics, by teaching contrary to Rome that all Scripture itself was sufficient in teaching all that was necessary for salvation, while also highlighting through the Canon that it was accepting the Roman influenced Canon of Scripture which had been set by St Jerome in the 5th century, influenced as it was by St Jerome’s emphasis on the Hebrew-language masoretic texts over the Septuagint Greek-language Old Testament manuscripts which had been normative for Christians until that time.

What is interesting is that Article VI also distinguishes itself from Sola Scriptura the continental Protestant doctrine of “Scripture Alone” by recognizing that there were teachings that were valid beyond simply what was contained explicitly in Scripture, but they were not to be taught as being required to be believed for the purposes of salvation in the way that Rome had taught certain doctrines as “must believes” (for instance, the authority of the Bishop of Rome and the doctrine of transubstantiation as a philosophical explanation of how Christ is present in the Eucharist).

This aspect of Article VI is universally accepted, however there is some greater controversy over the listing of the Canonical books of the Scriptures, particularly the Old Testament. The controversy over the Canon involves the historical development of the Jewish Scriptures.

Over the centuries, Jews before and leading up to the time of Christ no longer lived exclusively in modern-day Israel. Following the various conquests of Israel, many Jews had spread out throughout the Persian Empire and then the Roman Empire. Culture at this time was Hellenistic, which is to say Greek, and the Jews of Diaspora had become thoroughly Hellenised to the point that many did not even speak Hebrew. This led at first to texts of the Hebrew Scriptures being prepared that used Greek phonetics to present the Hebrew words because no one in the Synagogue could read or speak the Hebrew. Eventually this led to wholly Greek translations of the Scriptures, known as the Septuagint. Over time, particularly due to the growth of Gentile Christians who did speak Greek but not Hebrew, the Septuagint version became associated with Christians. Jews, on the other hand, particularly after drawing a greater distinction between Jews and Christians following the destruction of the Temple around 70 AD, began to reassert Hebrew as the language of the Jews, discouraging the use of Greek and the Septuagint. The Masoretic texts were created in the 4th century AD in an effort to create a new Hebrew language version of the Jewish Scriptures. Because of the animosity between Jews and Christians, some translation decisions and decisions over which books to include in their Canon reflected efforts to disprove Christian claims of Christ as the promised Messiah. St Jerome was influenced by the newer Hebrew language scriptures over the older Greek Septuagint, and brought into question the Canon of the Old Testament, something which continues to be debated today.

Even within the Article there is ambiguity over whether or not the “Apocryphal” books are counted as part of the Canon. Note that these books are not to be confused with post-Christian Apocrypha such as the Gospel of Judas or Gospel of James, which are universally accepted as being false books not written by the claimed authors. The Apocrypha here are books which were Canonically accepted as Scripture by the Jews and Christians until hundreds of years after the time of Christ.

The way the Article is written lends itself to multiple possible interpretations:

Of the names of the Canonical Books: [the list of the Old testament books], and [the Apocryphal books, and the New Testament.

Of the names of the Canonical Books are [the list of Old Testament books], and the Apocrypha is read only for example of life and manners, and the New Testament which is also Canon.

While the term Apocrypha is more commonly used for them, this term is both confusing (again due to false New Testament books called Apocrypha) and imprecise as it implies the books are somehow hidden. Another term, also used by the Roman Catholic Church, is Deuterocanon or Deuterocanonical Books, which means the Secondary Canon. This again highlights the status of the Books by which they, either as the lowest part of the Canon or highest form of sub-Canonical books form their own “secondary Canon” which is used for particular purposes but not entirely in the same way as the remaining books of the Old and New Testaments.

Article VI historically also represents only the second official and clearly delineated list of the Canon following the Roman Catholic Canon articulated at the Council of Trent. The Early Church had many canons, but they often differed and the early councils of the Church often affirmed them all or affirmed the books being used in lectionaries, creating ambiguity among modern scholars.

Wisdom of Saints: St Cyril of Jerusalem

The Feast of Cyril, Doctor and Bishop of Jerusalem, 386

O GOD, who by thy Holy Spirit hast given unto one man a word of wisdom, and to another a word of knowledge, and to another the gift of tongues: We praise thy Name for the gifts of grace manifested in thy servant Cyril, and we pray that thy Church may never be destitute of the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

St Cyril of Jerusalem is another of the saints of whom little is known of his early life. He was born around 315 AD in or near Jerusalem, and died in 386 AD. He was trained in the Church fathers and seems to have had a secular education in the pagan philosophers as well. He was ordained as a deacon in 335 AD, a priest in 343 AD and as Bishop of Jerusalem in 350 AD.

St Cyril was a Nicene Christian and developed an animosity with the Arian bishop of Caesarea. While some scholars have argued the dispute was over issues of precedence, most seem to believe it ultimately was rooted in their opposing Christologies and the general Arian Controversy which had divided Christianity in the 4th century. Bishop Acacius ultimately caused St Cyril to be exiled briefly in 359. Restored in 360, he was then again driven out by the Emperor before finally being restored by the succession of a new Emperor in 361. In 367, his restoration was revoked, along with all other Bishops who had been restored by Emperor Julian in 361, and he lived in exile until the death of Emperor Valens in 378. He remained as Bishop of Jerusalem for the rest of his days, and attended the Second Ecumenical Council held in Constantinople in 381, which affirmed the Nicene Creed and finally put to rest the Arian controversy.

While the details of St Cyril’s life are relatively unknown, several important writings of his survive, the most prominent of which are his Catechetical Lectures, which includes 18 lessons presented to catechumens in Lent prior to Baptism, and five more lessons on the Holy Mysteries presented in Easter after they had been baptised.

The complete work survives, and gives keen insight into the minds of the Early Church, on numerous Christian topics. His lessons include discussions of the understanding of the forgiveness of sin, the nature of Christ, his resurrection and ascension, while the final five discuss issues related to Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Communion and the Sacred Liturgy.

In his lectures are a number of important points about Christianity. This quote from his lesson IV On the Ten Points of Doctrine, in which St Cyril examines a number of doctrines from the Nicene Creed as well as other Christian doctrines more generally:

Have thou ever in thy mind this seal [the Nicene Creed], which for the present has been lightly touched in my discourse, by way of summary, but shall be stated, should the Lord permit, to the best of my power with the proof from the Scriptures.  For concerning the divine and holy mysteries of the Faith, not even a casual statement must be delivered without the Holy Scriptures; nor must we be drawn aside by mere plausibility and artifices of speech.  Even to me, who tell thee these things, give not absolute credence, unless thou receive the proof of the things which I announce from the Divine Scriptures.  For this salvation which we believe depends not on ingenious reasoning, but on demonstration of the Holy Scriptures.

Here, St Cyril lays out that these catechumens must test all he teaches them against Holy Scripture, for the Christian is to believe nothing which cannot be proved by Holy Scripture. Later in that same chapter he discusses at length the canon of Scripture, and exhorts the catachumens not be taken in by false teachings:

Then of the New Testament there are the four Gospels only, for the rest have false titles and are mischievous. The Manichæans also wrote a Gospel according to Thomas, which being tinctured with the fragrance of the evangelic title corrupts the souls of the simple sort.  Receive also the Acts of the Twelve Apostles; and in addition to these the seven Catholic Epistles of James, Peter, John, and Jude; and as a seal upon them all, and the last work of the disciples, the fourteen Epistles of Paul.

Here, St Cyril identifies all the canonical books of the New Testament, aside from the Apocalypse of John which was one of the final books to be recognized in the Canon, and which would not be fixed among Christians for another ten years after St Cyril’s death. An important point here, is his denunciation of the apocryphal gospels which were then being promoted and which have, in modern times, become popular to write about again, particularly by secular authors. The Da Vinci Code and similar works use the gnostic gospels as bases for speaking of secret knowledge that Christians should know, but these so-called gospels have been known of, and have been known to be false since the time of the Early Church. Unlike the canonincal gospels which were written in the Apostolic Age, the apocryphal gospels were forged in the early 4th century, so it is not shocking that St Cyril would mention them as they were new, the canon was not fully fixed, and many Christians would not have known they were false teachings.

St Cyril’s lecture on the Holy Spirit was able to address a number of pressing issues, both in exploring the description of the Holy Spirit in the Creed as well as in addressing a number of heresies surrounding the Holy Spirit and related aspects of Christian faith:

Spiritual in truth is the grace we need, in order to discourse concerning the Holy Spirit; not that we may speak what is worthy of Him, for this is impossible, but that by speaking the words of the divine Scriptures, we may run our course without danger.  For a truly fearful thing is written in the Gospels, where Christ has plainly said, Whosoever shall speak a word against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come. And there is often fear, lest a man should receive this condemnation, through speaking what he ought not concerning Him, either from ignorance, or from supposed reverence.  The Judge of quick and dead, Jesus Christ, declared that he hath no forgiveness; if therefore any man offend, what hope has he?
It must therefore belong to Jesus Christ’s grace itself to grant both to us to speak without deficiency, and to you to hear with discretion; for discretion is needful not to them only who speak, but also to them that hear, lest they hear one thing, and misconceive another in their mind.  Let us then speak concerning the Holy Ghost nothing but what is written; and whatsoever is not written, let us not busy ourselves about it. The Holy Ghost Himself spoke the Scriptures; He has also spoken concerning Himself as much as He pleased, or as much as we could receive.  Let us therefore speak those things which He has said; for whatsoever He has not said, we dare not say.

Here, St Cyril discusses how we are commanded to speak truthfully about the Spirit, lest our ill-speech not be forgiven. He goes on to describe how the only way thus to speak truthfully, and to have discerning ears, is to speak and listen through the Scriptures. While he again examines a number of heresies concerning the Holy Spirit, once he finishes, he concludes saying, “Let then thus much suffice concerning those outcasts; and now let us return to the divine Scriptures,” and does just that, spending the remainder of the lecture examining what the Scriptures have to say about the Holy Spirit.

St Cyril, and his Catechetical Lectures are a treasure of the early Church, which give us insight into the doctrines, teachings and practices of early Christians. It is a work well-worth reading today as the truths St Cyril teaches are timeless.

On Evangelical Sacramentalism

The Fourth Sunday in Lent

GRANT, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of thy grace may mercifully be relieved; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Lent

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all them that are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we worthily lamenting our sins, and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The seven sacraments recognized in Anglicanism are those which are commonly recognized, but throughout history there have been others, and other perspectives on sacramentalism. In Eastern Orthodoxy, for instance, all of life is viewed sacramentally. Life can be viewed sacramentally in that humans are vessels for God’s grace. Our physical bodies are an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. If pressed to name the number of sacraments, though, they would still recognize the seven historic sacraments, the same as orthodox Anglicans.

That said, among Anglicans, particularly those of an evangelical Low Churchmanship, the importance of the seven sacraments is diminished. While the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is accepted, evangelical Anglicans would tend to not place as much importance on the Eucharist as a method of transmission of God’s grace and power. While they would still tend to emphasize Holy Baptism, for many that would be something that occurs at a young age. Confirmation would not be viewed as necessary, Holy Orders are not taken by those who are not called to the Priesthood, Unction is unnecessary and simply gathering to pray for one another is sufficient, Reconciliation is unnecessary because confession can be made directly to God at any time and Holy Matrimony is perhaps the only other sacrament which is viewed as truly significant and common place in the Christian’s life, though even then the emphasis would be on Holy Matrimony as a covenant between husband and wife, more so than as a means again of transmission of grace and God’s indwelling of that relationship.

That does not mean, however, that evangelical Anglicans lack a true sacramental nature, though they would likely not describe it in such terms, nor would they be apt to necessarily accept such a definition. Not is it only those who place less importance on the recognized sacraments of the Church who can have a sacramental view of other aspects of Christian life.

Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, describes the sufficiency of Holy Scripture for salvation, saying that all that is necessary for salvation is recorded in Scripture, and nothing may be required of someone as necessary that cannot be proved by Scripture. In St Mark’s Gospel, Christ says that to be saved, one must believe and be baptised (Mk 16. 16). Nothing can be added to that requirement. Article VI informs the doctrine of Prima Scriptura, which itself is summarised by St Paul in his Epistle to the Romans when he describes the Gospel as, “for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek,” (Rm 1. 16).

It is this concept of Holy Scripture as the power of God that comes to the fore in evangelical thinking. The Bible is God’s word. It is the means by which we learn first and foremost of God’s creation of the universe, his covenants with the Jews and the laws he put down. We learn of the fulfilment of the law in Christ; his life, death, resurrection and ascension. We learn of God’s nature, his love for us and his desire to be in communion with us.

For evangelicals, though, there is more to God’s word than that; God’s word is the power through which we are released from sin, the power through which we overcome temptation and the power of salvation. In St Mark’s Gospel, just prior to saying that belief and baptism will lead to salvation, Christ had given the great commission, calling on all believers to, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation,” (Mk 16.15). Proclaiming the Gospel was considered an integral component of salvation, in that it is the means by which we believe, and the knowledge of what we are to believe.

Without the Scriptures, we would not know God. The Bible is God’s word, and the means through which he conveys his presence, his power, his nature and grace. Evangelicals, though they would not necessarily think it, view the Holy Scripture sacramentally.

To again look to the practices of the East, while Anglicanism defines a sacrament in the Book of Common Prayer as, “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace,” the Eastern Orthodox Church views sacraments, also called Holy Mysteries because what we see is not the same as their spiritual effects, are defined generally the same way, though they can be more broadly viewed as vessels by which grace is transmitted to participate in our physical life. Also interestingly, in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, there is an emphasis on the personal nature of the sacraments, which is clearly mirrored in the evangelical sacramental view of Holy Scripture.

Holy Scripture is a vessel through which God’s grace and power are transmitted, and to the evangelical, while Holy Scripture is for all, it is also very personal. As a tool for release from sin and overcoming temptation, Holy Scripture can be extremely personal. A particular verse may aid one Christian in overcoming a particular temptation, while being of no use to another. I have always viewed the nature of Holy Scripture as being a mirror of Christ’s dual nature. He was both fully God and fully man, and in the same way, Holy Scripture is wholly universal and wholly personal.

This sacramental view of Scripture, is something that should be encouraged in Anglicanism. While the importance of Holy Scripture for the determination of doctrine and teaching is important, under this sacramental view of the Scriptures, their importance as a means for the transmission of God’s grace is reinforced. Reading Scripture is not merely a Christian obligation, it is a Christian joy. Not only do we learn of God’s love and grace, but it is a means by which it is transmitted to us; it is the power to be more Christlike in our own lives.

Recognizing sacramentalism in our Christian walk is not simply something restricted to evangelicals, nor should it be. Taking this Eastern Christian view of the sacramentality of life is something all Anglicans should consider. It is perhaps a distinct characteristic of someone who considers themselves to be an evangelical Catholic Anglican, and yet it is fully in keeping with the traditional Anglican doctrines and practices, and is truly just a different way of looking at our faith, and perhaps importantly, one which encourages certain evangelical practices and respect towards the Holy Scriptures among some Anglicans who hold themselves to some kind of Anglo-Catholic definition in which they limit the importance of Holy Scripture to simply something which is read in Church from the lectionary.

On the Essentials

The Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity

LORD we pray thee that thy grace may always prevent and follow us, and make us continually to be given to all good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Harvest Thanksgiving

O ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who crownest the year with thy goodness, and hast given unto us the fruits of the earth in their season: Give us grateful hearts, that we may unfeignedly thank thee for all thy loving-kindness, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

There is a maxim, often mis-attributed to St Augustine of Hippo, which reads in its original Latin in necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas. It is usually rendered into English along these lines of, “in the essentials, unity; in the non-essentials, diversity; in all things, charity.” The question, then, becomes what is essential?

For Anglicans, it might be confusing. We have the Book of Common Prayer, ordinal and 39 Articles as our formularies. They define the practice of Anglican tradition, but are they essential to the Christian faith itself? Clearly not. The Lambeth Quadrilateral is in fact the document which defines the essentials for Anglicans, but in reference not merely to the Anglican tradition, but the Christian tradition as a whole.

The Lambeth Quadrilateral was a resolution of the 1888 Lambeth Conference, an international gathering of Bishops from throughout the Anglican Communion, made in response to the 1886 declaration of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America which included the following in its preamble:

we do hereby affirm that the Christian unity...can be restored only by the return of all Christian communions to the principles of unity exemplified by the undivided Catholic Church during the first ages of its existence; which principles we believe to be the substantial deposit of Christian Faith and Order committed by Christ and his Apostles to the Church unto the end of the world, and therefore incapable of compromise or surrender by those who have been ordained to be its stewards and trustees for the common and equal benefit of all men.

The full declaration of the American bishops was not adopted at the Lambeth Conference, however the four key points were adopted, declaring that the Anglican Communion would continue to affirm the historic faith of the undivided Catholic Church, and in doing so identified four specific areas.

First and foremost, the Lambeth Quadrilateral affirms the one canon of Holy Scripture as the ultimate standard of faith, and to quote Article VI of the Articles of Religion, the Quadrilateral affirms that Holy Scripture contains all things necessary to salvation. While the canon of Scripture was not fixed in the Apostolic Age, primarily because most of what would become the New Testament was not committed to writing until near the end of the Apostolic Age, yet still Scripture was recognized as containing the revealed Truth of God, and the New Testament faithfully reproduced the faith of the Apostles and the Truth revealed by Christ during his ministry. The placement of the Scripture in the Quadrilateral again itself affirms Prima Scriptura which demands that Holy Scripture be held as the standard by which the faith, order and practice of the Church is measured.

Next, the Lambeth Quadrilateral affirmed the Catholic creeds, specifically the Apostle's Creed and the Nicene Creed as faithfully articulating the doctrines of the Catholic Church, and to quote the Quadrilateral itself, "as the sufficient statement of the Christian faith." A key characteristic of the Catholic Church was that it held one faith, articulated in the Creeds and councils accepted both east and west. The Apostle's creed as the symbol of baptism, and the Nicene creed as a necessary articulation of orthodoxy in relation to the Christological controversies of the early Church. These creeds form the definition of orthodox Christianity precisely because they were accepted by the Catholic Church during the age of the fathers.

Third, the Quadrilateral affirms the two Sacraments of the Gospel. The sacramental life of the Catholic Church was universally held. One baptism, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and being born to new life, followed by the Supper of the Lord ministered, in the words of the Quadrilateral, with, "unfailing use of Christ's words of Institution," used to nourish Christians in their new lives in Christ. The Quadrilateral in no way rejects the Sacraments of the Church, but again merely reflects that the two Sacraments of the Gospel were the only two Sacraments universally received by the east and west, while other Sacraments of the Church have been received only in certain places and at certain times.

Finally, the Quadrilateral ends by affirming the importance of the Historic Episcopate and the three-fold order of ministry through bishops, priests and deacons. Implicit in this is the importance of Apostolic Succession, the idea that the authority of ordained ministers is derived from their following in the Apostolic commission. It is a further reminder that the Anglican Churches do not claim their own ministry. There is no such thing as an Anglican Priest, but rather a priest in the Catholic Church who ministers in the Anglican tradition.

Taken together, these are an affirmation of the faith, order and practice of the Catholic Church by which Christian unity may be affirmed. When any controversy arises in a given tradition, it must be reviewed in the context of these universal standards.

For instance, throughout history there have been controversies over issues such as how many altar candles may be present on the altar during Holy Communion. In order to determine if the issue is essential, the question asked is, first and foremost, is it addressed in Scripture? Then, is it addressed in the Creeds? Third, does it affect the administration of the Sacraments of the Gospel? Finally, does it affect the understanding of Apostolic Succession and the Apostolic ministry? If not, it is not an essential matter and there is room for diversity. In the case of altar candles, it is not a matter addressed in Scripture or the creeds. It doesn’t impact the Sacraments of the Gospel and neither does it impact the Apostolic ministry. Whether it be none, two or six, there is room for diversity on the number of altar candles as they are not essential to the faith.

This example may seem somewhat flippant, however it would equally apply to many of the controversies that cause major schisms these days, namely the ordination of women and proposed changes to the sacrament of Holy Matrimony to allow for the blessing of same-sex marriages.

The former Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsay was a strong proponent of Quadrilateral as a model for ecumenical reunion, particularly with the Eastern Orthodox Church. He had made significant progress in developing understanding on the basis of the Quadrilateral and the idea of the Anglican Communion as maintaining the Catholic faith, order and practice of the patristic Church. He had made significant progress in clearing the way on major issues; however, as is recorded in his personal journal, he was woken up in the middle of the night in 1976 and informed that the General Convention of the Episcopal Church of the United States had authorized the ordination of women as priests. He immediately began to weep, recognizing that the Anglican Communion had surrendered its claim to Catholicity over the issue, and had ended the immediate prospects for ecumenical reunion with the Eastern Orthodox Church.

The official status of the Lambeth Quadrilateral has come into question in some national Provinces in the Anglican Communion, however in the traditional view of Anglicanism, the Lambeth Quadrilateral remains an important document which records a defining characteristic of Anglicanism, which is to say that it seeks a return to the faith, order and traditions of the patristic Catholic Church, and its authority to determine doctrine is derived from that formula.

On the Three-Legged Stool

The Feast of St Bartholomew the Apostle

O ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who didst give to thine Apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach thy Word: Grant, we beseech thee, unto thy Church, to love that Word which he believed, and both to preach and receive the same; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Tenth Sunday after Trinity

LET thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of thy humble servants; and that they may obtain their petitions make them to ask such things as shall please thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In the 16th century, Richard Hooker was a priest of the Church of England and an influential theologian whose works continue to influence Anglicans today. His famous Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie was a response to emerging Puritanism and a defence of the organization and governance of the Church of England. His work had long-lasting influence on the development of coherent Anglican theology over the next centuries.

Of particular note was Hooker’s emphasis on the importance of Scripture, reason and Tradition. While he never expressed it as such, this has been commonly termed the “three-legged stool” which underpins Anglican theology and doctrine. As he did describe it,

Be it in matter of the one kind or of the other, what Scripture doth plainly deliver, to that the first place both of credit and obedience is due; the next whereunto is whatsoever any man can necessarily conclude by force of reason; after this the Church succeedeth that which the Church by her ecclesiastical authority shall probably think and define to be true or good, must in congruity of reason overrule all other inferior judgments whatsoever. (Book V, 8:2)

Richard Hooker’s writing established a classical understanding of the hierarchy of Scripture, reason and Tradition with Scripture as the ultimate authority on God’s revelation and reason and Tradition as tools we use to help understand Scripture.

This understanding of authority on doctrine provides for a balanced approach that rejects the Protestant sola scriptura practice of Holy Scripture as the sole authority as much as it rejects the notion of Papal Infallibility in teaching. Scripture, reason and Tradition are held together and against one another as a method of balanced discernment of the will of God towards true understanding and doctrine.

It is not, however, an approach which is always understood in its classical sense, particularly by those who know it on the basis of the “three-legged stool” which itself implies an equality between the three ‘legs’ which does not exist.

In Hooker’s words, “to [Holy Scripture] the first place both of credit and obedience is due.” The doctrine of the Anglican Church rejects sola scriptura of the Protestant Reformation in favour of prima scriptura. The primacy of Holy Scripture is the fundamental principle of Anglican doctrine. While not the only source of doctrine, it is the standard by which other doctrines are measured. Interestingly, prima scriptura is also the doctrine of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and although the Roman Catholic Church officially holds Tradition in equality with Holy Scripture, in practice Tradition is still measured against Holy Scripture as the ultimate revealed Truth.

After the primacy of Scripture, Hooker follows with, “whatsoever any man can necessarily conclude by force of reason.” Reason is a God-gifted faculty granted to man, and is useful for the understanding of Holy Scripture and the application of it in a modern context. The Bible was written to be understood by the people in the time it was written; the further we are from that time the more difficult it is for us to fully understand a simple reading of it. William of St-Thierry argued this in his The Golden Epistle, saying, “The Scriptures need to be read and understood in the same spirit in which they were created. You will never enter into Paul’s meaning until, by good intention in reading and diligent zeal in meditating, you drink of his spirit.” This is even made even clearer in Scripture itself:

So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” (Acts 8. 30-31)

In this passage, the Ethiopian is able to read the Book of Isaiah, but is not able to interpret it because his cultural and historical context is too far removed from the time and culture of Isaiah. While we have long traditions of Biblical exegesis dating back to the Church Fathers to help us understand much of the meaning of Scripture, reason is what allows us to further interpret and apply the revealed Truth of Scripture in our modern lives.

Reason, along with Tradition, helps to interpret Holy Scripture, however there are limits to the ability of reason to produce theologically sound interpretation. Reason can, for instance, be used to explain the nature of God on the basis of revealed Truth in Holy Scripture. Where reason causes theological error is when it is used to extrapolate, rather than simply interpret, the nature of God on the basis of Holy Scripture. While reason comes from God, it is shaped by our human natures, human logic and human understanding. If there is one thing shown repeatedly in the Bible, it is that God’s nature constantly confounds human expectations (viz. Mt 20. 1-16, Lk 15. 11-32) and therefore to apply human logic and understanding to extrapolate on the nature of God would doubtless lead to theological error and would be unprovable, lacking the standard of Holy Scripture to be properly measured against.

In Hooker’s age, the word Tradition had so many negative connotations but in its current use we deem to mean what Hooker was referring to when he said, “that which the Church by her ecclesiastical authority shall probably think and define to be true or good.” While Holy Scripture was the full standard by which all doctrine must be measured, unlike sola scriptura, prima scriptura leaves room for the Church to discern doctrine in areas where Scripture provides no clear doctrine, by applying the lessons of Scripture to new situations, after discernment and prayer, and with the aid of the Holy Spirit. According to the Articles of Religion, the Church has no authority to promulgate doctrine in conflict with Holy Scripture, supporting Hooker’s hierarchy.

The problem with the notion of a three-legged stool is that it implies equality between its legs while, in reality, Holy Scripture is the standard by which reason and Tradition are judged. To place them on an equal footing denies the supremacy of Scripture, which is laid out in Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles, and muddles the importance of God’s revealed Truth to us. While the concept of a three-legged stool sounds Anglican on its face--striking a middle way through the supreme authority of Scripture and Tradition in the Protestant and Roman Catholic traditions, classical Anglicanism demands a hierarchical approach to the understanding of Scripture, reason and Tradition.