Heresy and Schism
I found the following quotes on 'heresy' and 'schism' rather interesting.
Pelikan:
The presupposition of [the writings of the church fathers] was that the primitive deposit of Christian truth had been given by Christ to the apostles and by them in turn to the succession of orthodox bishops and teachers, while the heretics were those who forsook this succession and departed from this deposit.Origen on heretics:
Heretics all begin by believing, and afterwards depart from the road of faith and the truth of the church's teaching."Augustine on heretics:
[those who] in holding false opinions regarding God do injury to the faith itself.Augustine on schismatics:
[those who] in wicked separations break off from brotherly charity, although they may believe just what we believeSt. Basil on heretics:
men who were altogether broken off and alienated in matters relating to the actual faithSt. Basil on schismatics:
men who had separated for ecclesiastical reasons and questions capable of mutual solutionThomas Aquinas on heretics:
A heretic no longer adheres to the teaching of the church as to an infallible rule, but to his own will.Posted by jeremy stock at November 24, 2002 09:16 PM
Fantastic quotes, Jer. Keep 'em coming...
Posted by: Toshikazu at November 25, 2002 09:28 AMThere's some words of warning for you philosopher types too Wayne oh.
Tertullian warns:
Heresies are themselves instigated by philosophySimilarly, Hippolytus writes against heretics:
they seek not for what the Sacred Scriptures declare, but laboriously set themselves to find a form of syllogism which may support their godlessnessPosted by: jeremy at November 26, 2002 09:57 AM
Indeed. I don't know if I ever mentioned this before, but one of the reasons that I dropped philosophy as a professional activity (at least on the contemporary problem-solving side of things) was for fear of being unable to discern the good from the bad, especially as my views were evolving in light of the Orthodox faith. In other words, I just wasn't so sure about things as I once was, and this being the case the stakes were too high for me. At least in studying ancient philosophy I don't necessarily have to make sense of contemporary issues as I would being a professional philosopher, and now I am free to do so more for personal interest. But even so (and while still attempting to make sense of contemporary issues) I pray that God will grant me the grace to faithfully wade through both the good and the bad.
You know, it's interesting. Through a cursory reading of Hippolytus he seems to take a very different view of philosophy than Clement of Alexandria, though perhaps that could simply be a reflection of the intent of their respective treatises. Hippolytus attacks the philosophical systems of the Greeks for their attempts to discern the origin of the world and the nature of the divine apart from the revelation entrusted to the Church. On the other hand, Clement of Alexandria views philosophy in a very positive light. He sees the philosophy of the Greeks as a preparatory stage in the divine economy for the coming of Christ, even going so far as to call philosophy the 'hand-maiden of theology', saying that "philosophy was necessary to the Greeks for righteousness."
One of the things that I hope to accomplish, at least in so far as my service to the Church and to the world is concerned, is to one day be able to make sense of this relationship between philosophy and divine truth. I don't think that philosophy is in itself a bad thing, but at the same time we (I) have to be careful not to drift too far out into useless speculation that can often be a destructive force in the life of the Church. But I do think that there is good out there to be found, and hopefully I will be able to discern it in due time. Then perhaps I will be able to make sense of it in light of divine truth and will thus be able to speak to at least one part of the world in its own langauge.
Posted by: Toshikazu at November 26, 2002 12:24 PM