The New Testament took on its present form during the 4 th century A.D. when the Canon of Saint Athanasios prevailed, which for the first time added the book of Revelations to the New Testament. Up to that time, no Canons had included it. So, how can anyone accept the book of Revelations (which was a 4 th century choice) and reject older texts of the Church as unreliable ones?
Various Protestant religions, as by-products of the 16 th century Reform era and lacking any historical continuity from the time of the Apostles, have placed in doubt the pre-existing (to Protestantism) Church and arbitrarily declare that the Church was in apostasy. In this way, they have acknowledged only the Holy Bible, which apparently dates back to the time of the Apostles. The truth is, that the 4 th century Church (which they do not acknowledge) was the one that defined which books were to comprise the Holy Bible. There were other, 1 st century writings at the time; on the basis of the 4 th century’s tradition, Saint Athanasios selected those books that concurred with Ecclesiastic Tradition. To the extent, therefore, that Sacred Tradition is considered apostatic and wrong during the 4 th century, to the same extent the Holy Bible must be considered equally apostatic and wrong .
Timothy I, 4/IV 15 - 16, 6/VI 3 - 14: “ these you should study, in these you should stand, so that your diligence is evident to everyone. Keep for yourself also the teaching, persistently. In doing this, you save yourself as well as those who listen to you.” “If someone teaches other things and does not listen to the healthy words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teachings of reverence…. falling sick over conversations… you must keep the commandment unblemished, irreproachable, until the epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
As any logical person can see, neither here is there any mention that we should accept ONLY the Holy Bible; in fact, it isn’t even talking about the Holy Bible. On the contrary, it talks of “words”, which directs us basically to spoken tradition, given that they were later recorded in a multitude of texts (including the Holy Bible).
Ephesians 2/II 19 - 22: “... being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, whose cornerstone is Jesus Christ”.
Here it doesn’t even refer to writings a all, only to the building of the Church. But even if was referring to writings, the fact that something is built upon the foundation of the apostles, would prove that newer, divinely inspired books are also acceptable.
The Holy Bible says that there are other sources apart from it. In the last verse of John the Evangelist, it says: “… Jesus did many other things, which, if written down one by one, there would not be enough room in the world to hold those writings”.
And elsewhere, the Holy Bible itself asks us –by the mouth of the Apostle Paul- not to reject Sacred Tradition; In Thessalonians II, 2/II 15 we read: “Therefore my brethren, stay steadfast and preserve the traditions that you were taught, either verbally, or through an Epistle of ours .”
So, apart from everything that was written in the Epistles of the Apostles, their word was also recorded, and preserved to this day, along with the remaining tradition. Why then, don’t the deniers of tradition accept these words of the Holy Bible?
They should be very careful when invoking the words of the Lord that were directed against the tradition of the Pharisees, because those words were directed against Judean tradition, and not Christian tradition.
Christian tradition also includes “solid sustenance”, which the Apostle Paul refers to in his Epistle to Hebrew, in chapter 5/V 11-14. In this most difficult epistle of the Holy Bible, the author refers to all of these as “milk”. But if that is the case, then the Holy Bible mustn’t contain the “solidsustenance”!! Consequently, “solid sustenance” must be sought in the rest of the Sacred Tradition.
The same thing is apparent in verse 19 in Peter’s Epistle II. In there, the divinely inspired prophetic word is merely a lamp that glows in a dark place, until the light-bearer comes forth inside our hearts.
