07 November 2011
Patristic Quote of the Day
They fight each other with harsh words; they nearly fill the Church with meaningless cries and unintelligible shouts of their incessant clamor. They continually pervert the teachings of true religion, sometimes by adding to them, and other times by reducing them. On the one hand are those who confuse the Persons and revert to Judaism; on the other are those who oppose the natures, and are swept away into Greek polytheism. Inspired Scripture is powerless to mediate between these two parties, nor can apostolic tradition offer them terms of reconciliation.... The jostling for high position is incredible, as every ambitious man tries to thrust himself into high office. - St. Basil, On the Holy Spirit, par. 77 (describing the state of the "holy" church in his day...)
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4 comments:
The things St. Basil lists undercut the holiness of the Church as little as the blows rained on Christ endangered his incarnation. That some who belong(ed) to the Church act badly cannot change the fact that She is the holy, pure, and ever-virgin Bride of God.
Absolutely! I didn't mean to imply other than that at times and in fact quite frequently the Church's holiness is hidden and believed; rather than seen and observed. Hence the "holy."
Ah, but neither the Church nor her holiness is hidden. In every generation (including the very time in which St. Basil wrote), she has produced saints. Because she has produced them, she is manifest (for the presence of any agent is revealed in its actions); because she has produced saints, she is manifest as holy.
Again, no disagreement there! His point was that it wasn't apparent in the hierarchical structure of the church then; right in line with Nazianzus' comment about those useless Synods of bishops so concerned with their own dignity!
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