What Has Been Handed Down

The Christian faith is participation in the life of Christ, not an adaptation to the spirit of the age. It is received reality, not constructed system. It is inherited, not innovated. St. Vincent of Lérins, in his Commonitorium (AD 434), famously described the faith of the Church as, “What has been believed everywhere, always, and by all.” So, as Orthodox theologian Georges Florovsky taught, Christian renewal is not reinvention but return to the Fathers. Not archaeological imitation but re-entering the mind of the Church.

The word that describes this is tradition, the relationship between what has been received (paralambano) and what has been handed on (paradidomi). Our English word, “tradition,” comes from the Latin, tradere, “to deliver, or hand over” (from trans- “over” + dare “to give”). The Greek word for it is paradosis (para, “over” + didomai, “to give”). We find it and comparable forms in several places in the New Testament.

For I received [paralambano] from the Lord what I also passed on [paradidomi] to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread ... (1 Corinthians 11:23) 

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received [paralambano] and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For I passed on [paradidomi] to you as of first importance what I also received [paralambano] – that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures ... (1 Corinthians 15:1-3)

Whatever you have learned or received [paralambano] or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:9)

I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the traditions [paradosis] just as I passed them on [paradidomi] to you. (1 Corinthians 11:2)

So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions [paradosis] we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. (2 Thessalonians 2:15)

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust [paratithiemi] to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2:2) 

Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted [paradidomi] to God’s holy people. (Jude 3) 

Scripture itself is part of the tradition, passed on to us by the Church, but we can see in the above passages that the handing down of the Christian faith was not through Scripture alone but also through liturgical act, through preaching, through what was heard and seen and was practicable. It was oral and visible as well as written. This was not the tradition of men but divine revelation, the faith handed down from the apostles to the saints. 

The Nature of Faith in Christ

Faith in Christ is different from faith in propositions about Christ. The latter makes faith nothing more than an abstraction, disembodied and detached from the person of Christ, and from relationship with Christ — because Christ is not the object of such a faith. True faith in Christ is a living, dynamic, and personal relationship with Christ. 

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:27-28)

Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:1-3) 

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Galatians 5:6)

Salvation Is Life Lived in Christ

Salvation is a Life lived in Self-Giving, Other-Centered, Cross-Shaped Love, the Life of Christ in me. It is not merely a status, but a way of life — participation in the life of Christ.

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

The Logos of God and of All Things

Jesus Christ is the Logos of God — the Reason, Meaning, Purpose, and Truth of God. As the Creator of all, He is also the Reason, Meaning, Purpose, and Truth of creation. He is the Logos of creation, and everything that exists is a logos of Him, revealing Him. For all things in heaven and on earth are created by Him, through Him, and for Him, and in Him all things hold together, finding their being and fulfillment.

The Interprenetration of Heaven and Earth

By Creation, the Incarnation and the Cross, our Lord Jesus Christ is the interpenetration of heaven and earth, of eternity and time, of divinity and humanity – of God and humankind. He is the image of the invisible God, in whom all the fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form, and in whom we are made complete and become partakers of the divine nature. All are created through Christ, by Christ, for Christ and in Christ. All are in Christ, and Christ is in all, giving being to all. 

The Son is the Image of the Invisible God, the Firstborn Over All Creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the Head of the Body, the Church; he is the Beginning and the Firstborn from Among the Dead, so that in everything he might have the Supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all, whether on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Colossians 1:15-20) 

The eternal purpose of God in Christ is the reconciliation of all in heaven and on earth to himself and to each other, through Christ, through the blood of the Cross — to bring all together in unity, everything in heaven and on earth summed up in Christ. The word St. Paul uses for this in Ephesians 1 is anakephalaiomai, using a root, kephale, that refers to the head. 

God did this when he revealed to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, toward the administration of the fullness of the times, to head up [anakephalaiomai] all things in Christ – the things in heaven and the things on earth. (Ephesians 1:9-10 NET)

Christ has not merely come in the fullness of time but he himself is the fullness of time, in which all in heaven and on earth are made one — with Christ as the Head. What does this mean, then, but that all in heaven and on earth finally become the Body of Christ? For there is no Head without a Body. Just a few verses later, Paul deepens the significance of this:

That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be Head [kephale] over everything for the Church, which is his Body, the Fullness of Him Who Fills everything in every way. (Ephesians 1:19-23) 

Christ is the one who fills all things, the whole of creation, in every way — and the Church is that fullness. Christ and His Body, the Church, are the interpenetration of heaven and earth. Heaven and earth mutually indwell one another, yet there is no separation or confusion. They truly meet and participate in one another, but neither loses its identity. Nothing is erased but everything finds its true meaning and purpose as all are gathered together in Christ. 

Christ the Unity of All Things

All Creation participates in the being of our Lord Jesus Christ. Everything is created by him, through him, for him, and in him. Everything holds together in him. St. Paul speaks of the mystery of God’s eternal will and pleasure, to bring all in heaven and on earth to unity, all summed up in Jesus Christ.

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:15-17)

God made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment — to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. (Ephesians 1:9-10) 

Creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:19-23)

We are each connected with one another and with all that is. Through Christ, God created all things and formed us from the earth. In the Incarnation, Christ united Himself with humankind — and so with all creation. The whole world groans together with us, awaiting the revelation of the children of God.

Eucharist and the Moment of the Cross

When we come to the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, we come to the moment of the Cross. Not to a moment like it, but to that very moment. For in God there is only one moment, neither past nor future, but eternal. The Eucharist is not another sacrifice, but participation in the once-for-all sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Let Your Heart Be Silent and Still

“Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)

“The LORD is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him.” (Habakkuk 2:20)

“The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ Then Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’” (1 Samuel 3:10)

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” (John 14:1) 

“My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.” (John 10:27)

“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30) 

Let your heart be silent and still, 
for only then can you hear the voice 
of the Shepherd whisper softly, “All is well.”