Holy Tradition

Overview

• Holy Tradition is the living life of the Holy Spirit in the Church — the faith "once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 1.3), handed down from the apostles in Scripture, the Creed and Councils, the Fathers, the Liturgy, and the sacraments. It is not a second source competing with Scripture but the living stream in which Scripture itself is given and rightly read.

Summary

For the Orthodox, Tradition (paradosis, "what is handed on") is not a collection of old customs but the continuous presence of the Holy Spirit leading the Church into all truth. St. Paul tells the Thessalonians to "hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by our letter" (2 Thessalonians 2.15) — Scripture is itself part of the one apostolic Tradition, not a rival to it. Its expressions are held together as a single deposit: the Scriptures, the Nicene Creed and the Ecumenical Councils, the writings of the Fathers, the Liturgy and the icons, and the canons of the Church.[^1]

Sources

[^1]: OrthodoxWiki, Holy Tradition — Tradition as the entire life of the Church in the Holy Spirit, expressed in Scripture, the Councils, the Fathers, the liturgy, canon law, and iconography.