Memento Mori. Admirer of liturgy and *patrology*. Studying Undergraduate Theology. Localism/ruralism. Christian Englishman. Reforming.
Jan 18 ā¢ 23 tweets ā¢ 8 min read
Thread š§µ
I hereby publicly retract certain claims I have made in past exchanges concerning the relationship between Augustine and the North African Bishops with the Bishop of Rome, specifically Pope Zosimus.
A few years ago James White dedicated a segment of his programme toā¦
ā¦this subject, and cited sources (Schaff, Warfield and Merdinger) to support the notion that Zosimus, a Greek supposedly relatively ignorant of the issue, straight up exonerated the Pelagians and that this alongside his āplaying popeā was emphatically rejected by the Africans.
Apr 27, 2023 ā¢ 32 tweets ā¢ 6 min read
A thread on question 1 of the Confession of Dositheus š§µ
In recent years more people have become aware of the Eastern Orthodox Churchās historical confessional and catechetical documents.
This material, obscured by 20th century āneo-patristicsā, is good to know.
Yet there areā¦
ā¦some issues that have arisen, due to ignorance either of the terminology being used or the contexts in which certain documents were written.
In the last year or so some online Protestant apologists have latched onto a particular passage of an EO confession as evidence thatā¦
Dec 28, 2022 ā¢ 25 tweets ā¢ 5 min read
Here it is.
A survey of the Greek/Eastern Fathers/Patristic literature in
the Western Church prior to
the schism, especially before the fall of Rome.
A thread š§µ:
We begin with background.
As is known, Christianity arose in Palestine in the 1st century, and all the NT documentsā¦
ā¦as we have them today were
written in Greek.
In the Roman Empire at the time,
Koine Greek was the Lingua Franca
especially in the east, where Rome
had subsumed previously existing
Hellenised areas.
As the Romans expanded
westward from Rome they brought
with them theā¦
Aug 28, 2022 ā¢ 42 tweets ā¢ 9 min read
Late last year I started to realise that I couldnāt reconcile the witness of the early church re the veneration of relics and saints, with any of the Protestant traditions.
Neither Lutheran, nor Reformation Anglican, nor the Reformed, allow or say anything good about this.
There are two options: 1. The veneration of saints and relics demonstrates deep corruption of doctrine + practice that was universal, *at the latest*, by 400AD 2. The veneration of saints + relics passes the Vincentian canon of catholicity, so the Reformation was wrong on this.
Aug 19, 2022 ā¢ 8 tweets ā¢ 2 min read
Re-creating a thread from my old account because I think it is wonderful:
The Rig Veda, composed in the early 2nd millennium BC, is the oldest piece of literature from pre-Hindu, Vedic India.
Amidst hundreds of hymns to various gods there is a hidden gem.
10th Mandala hymn 121.
It goes like this:
āIn the beginning, there arose the Golden Child; as soon as born, he alone was the Lord of all that is.
Who is the God to whom we shall offer sacrifice?
He who gives breath, he who gives strength, whose commandments all the gods revere; the Lord of deathā¦
Aug 16, 2022 ā¢ 5 tweets ā¢ 2 min read
Refutation š§µ 1/4 Kauffmanās argument in the video fails miserably.
The manuscript of Clementās Stromata is Greek not a supposed Latin translation by Cassiododus, and Juniper Carol (more accurately, Philip J Donnelly in Carolās volume) does not say what Kauffman claims he says.
2/4 First, to go back to the issue of text/manuscript, Donnelly refers to a Latin adaptation of Clement; he is thus referring to something different from the Stromata.
In fact the adaptation in question is of Clementās Hypotypses, a totally different work!
Aug 15, 2022 ā¢ 4 tweets ā¢ 2 min read
Short thread:
Look how easy it is to refute this with one simple trick; citing two 3rd century Church Fathers.
First up, St Hippolytus of Rome in Against Beron and Helix, (see attached image).
Second, Clement of Alexandria (see following tweet for a thread covering what he says).
Long thread:
Contrary to what most Protestants claim, the word ĪøĪµĻĻĪ½ĪµĻ ĻĻĪæĻ which Paul uses to describe scripture in 2 Timothy 3:16 is not reserved for scripture by the early church.
As incredible as it may sound to some, the Fathers did not limit divine inspiration to scripture.
Our views tend to be coloured by more recent theology, be it Sola Scriptura or the continuationist vs cessationist debate.
The Fathers were not cessationists btw, neither did they resemble Pentecostals, but putting that aside it is striking that the ancient understandingā¦
Jun 21, 2022 ā¢ 22 tweets ā¢ 12 min read
This simply isnāt the case.
The following is a thread of examples of prayers to saints from the first 5 centuries.
Far from exhaustive, I want to give some substantive examples pre-dating Chalcedon to show that saints were actively invoked.
š§µ
I have deliberately limited myself to very specific examples.
Veneration of relics, sleeping at shrines of saints, praises of saints in prayers and other forms of the cult of saints have been left out.
Iāve only included examples of direct invocation, via prayer, as intercessors.
Jun 16, 2022 ā¢ 13 tweets ā¢ 3 min read
Thread:
Iāve been studying two āopposite endsā of Christianity; my own Celtic/Anglo Saxon heritage, and the East Syriac/Assyrian Tradition.
This has not only been generally informative and edifying, but has also finalised the settlement of certain theological points in my mind.
Primarily, the use and veneration of religious art/icons.
Over the last 50 years scholarship has demonstrated beyond any doubt that the Church of the East in pre-modern times was not iconoclastic or even aniconic as was claimed by Protestant figures in the 19th century.
Jun 3, 2022 ā¢ 14 tweets ā¢ 6 min read
Thread:
Letās read the Fathers to see what they said about infant baptism.
For the sake of brevity Iāll only cite Gregory of Nazianzus, John Chrysostom, Jerome and Augustine.
This selection will be more than sufficient to demonstrate that the Fathers affirmed paedobaptism.
Prolegomenon: the issue of delaying baptism until oneās death bed was an issue that arose in the 4th century and was rigorously opposed by the clergy; it was not the positive preaching of the church to do this, but rather an impulse in certain circles because it was believedā¦
Mar 23, 2022 ā¢ 25 tweets ā¢ 8 min read
Counter thread: @potamopotosā thread has already been sufficiently refuted by what I said in my original response.
The cult of the saints involves honours offered to the saints.
That which @potamopotos limits this to, simply remembering those before us, is not what Augustine did.
The entire premise of my response was precisely the opposite of making Augustine war against himself, which is what you do if you claim that he rejected the cult of the saints.
A cultus *properly so called* (that is, giving divine worship) for saints is rejected, as the quotesā¦
Mar 23, 2022 ā¢ 17 tweets ā¢ 5 min read
Thread:
One of the best examples I know, of how ecclesiastical tradition can be demonstrated to err, is that of the ā2nd Cephas.ā
As is well known Simon son of Jonah was renamed Cephas (Peter) by Jesus.
Over time, the early church began to feel uneasy about the fact thatā¦
ā¦two apostles, Peter and Paul, were at conflict with one another so openly and strongly, as recorded in the New Testament.
Most often, this was dealt with by fanciful (and false) interpretations of scripture, such as the popular one whereby Peter wasnāt *really* disagreeingā¦
Mar 19, 2022 ā¢ 10 tweets ā¢ 5 min read
Counter thread:
This is precisely the sort of out-of-context patristic citation/misrepresentation that drives me up the wall with Romanists, but also with Protestants.
Augustine is not writing contra the cult of the saints, unless you want to accuse him of being two-faced.
Augustine is, rightly, reserving divine worship for God alone.
The veneration of the saints is not divine worship in Augustineās eyes.
Augustine makes clear the distinction in Sermon 273, see attached images.
This is standard stuff; saints arenāt worshipped as gods.
