17 October 2011

Patristic Quote of the Day

The succession of doctrine is to be sought, not the succession of persons. -- Epiphanius, Haeres. 55 (cited in Gerhard, The Church)

8 comments:

Fr. Gregory Hogg said...

Can you give a bit more context? A quick search of online editions doesn't show such a quote.

William Weedon said...

It's why I indicated it from Gerhard; I haven't access to check out the work itself. It's on my "to do" list. In general, though, I've found Gerhard is far more reliable on his patristic citations than Chemnitz (whom I think relied more on memory). I'd not be surprised if the context will show something along these lines:

succession in persons might be necessary, but not sufficient; where there is succession in doctrine, the succession of persons has failed.

That's my best guess, anyway. I'm eager to track down the Epiphanius. Will let you know if I do locate it. FWIW!

William Weedon said...

oops. "Where there is NO succession in doctrine, the succession of persons has failed."

Fr. Gregory Hogg said...

Freudian slip? :-)

I have a hunch that Epiphanios' view would be as you set forth. Interestingly, on one numbering, #55 is dealing with Aerius...

William Weedon said...

Now I found an online version (Google) where 55 was dealing with Melchizidekians or whatever you want to call them. That holds promise because the matter of succession is involved: not the priesthood of the Levites, but a succession that is not through persons. The nearest I could come to the Gerhard, though, is this: "A seed is no longer chosen [for priesthood] because of succession; a type is looked for, because of virtue." I'm wondering how the Latin version of it he had in front of him (at least, I'm assuming Latin) rendered that.

But the juiciest part of that section is when Epiphanius begins preaching - he can never help himself - "For He abides forever to offer gifts for us - after first offering Himself by the cross, to abolish every sacrifice of the old covenant by presenting the more perfect, living sacrifice for the whole world. He Himself is temple, sacrifice, priest, altar, God, man, king, high-priest, lamb, sacrificial victim - became all in all for us that life might be ours in every way, and to lay the changeless foundation of his priesthood forever, no longer allotting it by descent and succession, but granting that, in accordance with His ordinance, it may be preserved in the Holy Spirit." FANTASTIC STUFF.

Fr. Gregory Hogg said...

I'm working (putting it kindly--I'm overwhelmed) on a text that claims to demonstrate that the filioque is an error, written by a former Lutheran, and which makes extensive use of patristic quotes. The problem is that he uses editions that are no longer standard. The real work, then, is not just the translation but also tracking down the references in modern editions.

When we're looking at texts from the era of Lutheran scholasticism, I think it's a crucial exercise to track down the citations and check their context. Tedious, but crucial.

Let me know if you find more; somewhere I've got a Epiphanios in Greek, and I'll try to find it too. Thanks!

William Weedon said...

Yup, it's a pain. And I'm frustrated that the text on google books only includes SOME of Epiphanius, but even so "never trust a translator" and it would require more than a bit of work to find out what Gerhard actually had in front of him. Sometimes Latinized versions can veer pretty widely from the koine.

Fr. Gregory Hogg said...

I have a pdf of Epiphanios, if you'd like it. I'll try to send you what seems to be ch. 55 in a separate email.