Saint Basil and the "unwritten tradition"
Saint Irenaeus already referred to the "faith" as had been received in baptism. Tertullian and Cyprian borrowed arguments in the liturgy [40] . St. Athanasius and Cappadocians made use of the same type of argument. It reaches its full development at St. Basil .
In his controversy with the Arians of the second generation, about the Holy Spirit, St. Basil his main argument builds on the analysis of doxologies, as they are said in churches . His treatise on the Holy Spirit was a book of fact, written in the heat and ardor of a fierce fight for and respond to a particular historical situation. Saint Basil found himself confronted with the question of principles and methods of theological investigation. His treatise attempted to demonstrate a particular point-that, indeed, is the crux of the sound doctrine of the Trinity-the homotimia [equal honor] of the Holy Spirit . He was referring mainly to a witness order liturgical doxology of the particular type that contains the words "with the Spirit" and who, as he could prove it was widespread in churches. This formula certainly was not in Scripture . Only tradition evidenced. But the opponents of St. Basil usually only admitted that the authority of Scripture. Circumstances led him to undertake therefore to demonstrate the legitimacy of the appeal to Tradition.
Saint Basil homotimie wanted to show that the Spirit is saying to his divinity, had always been an object of faith in the Church and that it was part and parcel of the profession of baptismal faith. As the Father Benedict Hemlock has correctly noted, the homotimos was for St. Basil, an equivalent of homoousios [41] . His conception of tradition offers little novelty, except that it is gaining consistency and accuracy. The way, however, he expressed is to completely unique. "Among dogmata and kerygmatic which are preserved in the church, some come from teaching writing (ek tes eggraphou didaskalia ), others arise from paradosis of the Apostles, which we was transmitted in musterioi . And as some others have the same authority - tèn Auten ischun - in piety [42] . At first glance, it seems that St. Basil authority introduced by a double and a double standard Scripture and Tradition . In fact, he could not have been farther away. The terms he uses are worthy of note. The kerygmatic are with him that further development of the language called the "dogmas" or "doctrines": it is a formal, authoritative, and playing a role in legislative issues of faith, in short, public education and reporting. In contrast, the dogmata form, he said, all organic all the "unwritten customs" (ta agrapha tôn ethôn ), that is to say, in reality, any organization the liturgical and sacramental life. Keep in mind that the concept and the very term dogma had not yet set at that time: the word dogma had not yet the strict and precise that it has acquired [43] . Anyway, we ought not to be embarrassed in front of St. Basil assertion , that dogmata were taught and transmitted by the Apostles in musterioi in mystery. Certainly, we would make a meaning-cons, if we translate by "secret". The only correct translation is: "by means of mysteries," that is to say in the form of rites and liturgical practices and customs. This is how Basil explains himself: Ta Pleister tôn mystikôn agraphos hemin empoliteuetai [Most mysteries have at our citizenship without written instrument]. The term refers tà mustika here, no doubt, to the rites of baptism and the Eucharist which, for St. Basil, the original "apostolic". He cited at this point, the reference by St. Paul himself to the "traditions" received by the faithful ( EITE dia logou, EITE di'epistolês , 2 Thess. 2, 15, 1 Cor. 11, 2 ).
The doxology mentioned St Basil is one of those "traditions [44] . In fact, all the examples cited in this regard by St. Basil are liturgical or ritual nature, whether the sign of the Cross in the rite of reception of catechumens, the eastward orientation for prayer, the custom of standing at the Sunday liturgy, epiclesis the Eucharistic rite, the blessing of water and oil, the renunciation of Satan and his pump, the last triple immersion in the rite of baptism . There are many other " unwritten mysteries of the Church [45] ," says St. Basil . It is not mentioned in Scripture. They nevertheless a lot of authority and significance. They are essential to preserving the true faith. They are real means of transmission and evidence. According St. Basil, they come from a tradition of "silent" and "private": "Venus of the silent and mystical tradition, teaching and non-public secret [46] .
This tradition silent and mystic, who has not been made public, is not an esoteric doctrine, reserved to an elite special . If there were elite, this elite was the Church. Indeed, the tradition to which St. Basil appeals here is the practice liturgy of the Church. It evokes what we now call the disciplina arcani , the "discipline of secrecy." In the fourth century, this "discipline" was widely used and advocated formally imposed in the Church. It was linked to the institution of the catechumenate and had, originally, an educational and didactic. On the other hand, Basil asserts itself, some traditions must be kept non-written to avoid that they were desecrated in the hands of the infidels. This remark was clearly referring to the habits and customs of the Church. It appropriate here to recall that, in practice the Fourth Century, the Creed and the Lord's Prayer, were part of this "secret discipline" and should not be revealed to the uninitiated. The Creed was reserved for candidates for baptism came in the final stages of their education after they had been formally enrolled and approved. The Creed was their release or "transmitted" by the Bishop and they had to orally recite before him: it was the ceremony of traditio and redditio symbolic, "Transmission and duplication by the insider, the Creed. " is strongly recommended to catechumens not to disclose the Creed to outsiders, and not put in writing. It should be written in their hearts. Only mention here the Procatechesis of St. Cyril of Jerusalem , chapters twelve and seventeen. In the West, Rufin as St. Augustine consider it inappropriate to lay the Creed on the paper. It is for this reason that in his Sozomen History not quote the text of the Nicene Creed, "that only insiders and mystagogues have the right to recite and hear [47] .
This is the historical and cultural context in which it is necessary to place the argument of St. Basil to hear it. Saint Basil strongly emphasizes the importance of the baptismal profession of faith which meant that commitment to believe in the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit ( op. cit., 67, 26). This "tradition" had been forwarded to the newbies "in the mystery" and should be kept "by the silence." We would have found himself in great danger of undermining "the very foundation of Christian faith" ( to stereoma tes eis Christon pisteos ), if we had put aside, ignored or dismissed this "unwritten tradition" ( op. cit., 25). The only difference between dogma and kérugma lies in the mode of transmission: the dogma is kept in silence and kerygma are published openly siopâtai boys to Men, ta kerugmata demosieuontai . But their purpose is the same: they convey the same faith, though by different routes. In addition, this particular tradition was not simply a tradition of the Fathers, because such a tradition would not have been sufficient: ouk exarkeî . In fact, the Fathers have learned their "principles" of "the underlying intention of Scripture" You boulémati tês ekolouthesan Graphs, ek tôn marturiôn ... heap Archas labonte [They followed the intent of Scripture, taking their principles of his testimony]. In this way, the "unwritten tradition" really adds nothing to the content of the scriptural faith, it only put this faith into the Light [48] .
The use of St. Basil the "unwritten tradition" was in fact a call to the faith of the Church, its sensus Catholicus, consciousness Church ( phronema ekklesiastikon ). He had to cut the Gordian knot created by the pseudo- biblicism short-sighted opponents Arians. And he argued that, apart from this rule of faith "Unwritten", it was impossible to grasp the real intentions and the teaching of Scripture itself.
St. Basil was in his theology, strictly faithful to Scripture: Scripture was for him the supreme criterion of doctrine (letter 189, 3). His exegesis was sober and measured. Yet Scripture itself was a mystery, a mystery of divine economy of salvation of man. There was in Scripture unfathomable depth, since it was an inspired book, whose author was the Spirit. Therefore the true exegesis must also be spiritual and prophetic. The gift of spiritual discernment was necessary for the proper understanding of the Word. "For he who considers the words must first have prepared as the author himself ... And I realize that, to the words of the Spirit, it is also impossible for anyone to undertake a review of his word, but to those who have the Spirit who gives them the discernment "(Letter 204) .
The Spirit is conferred by the sacraments of the Church. Scripture must be read in the light of faith, and in the community of believers. That is why the tradition, the tradition of faith as it is transmitted across generations, was for St. Basil the guide and the necessary support in the study and interpretation of Scripture. How he walked in the footsteps of Irenaeus and Athanasius . In the same way that St. Augustine used the Tradition of the Church, particularly its liturgical testimony [49] .
[40] See Federer op. cit., p. 59 ff; F. De Pauw, "The justification of unwritten traditions in Tertullian," Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses , T.19, 1 / 2, 1942, p. 5-46. See also Georg Kretschmar, Studien zur frühchristlichen Trinitätstheologie , Tübingen, 1956.
[41] See the introduction to his edition of From the Holy Spirit Treaty in the series "Christian Sources", Paris 1945, p. 28 ff.
[42] Treaty of the Holy Spirit, 66.
[43] See good study of Augustus Deneffe SJ "Dogma. Wort und Begriff " Scholastika , Jg. 6, 1931, p. 381-400 and 505-538.
[44] Saint Basil op. cit., 71, see also 66: Hoi peri ta heap Ekklesia kai exarchy diathesmothetésantes Apostoloi hooks in you to Semnon aphthégtoi kekrumménoi kai tois musteriois ephulasson : "The Apostles and the Fathers who since the beginning, established in Churches all regulations sacred, preserved the sanctity of the mysteries by means of secrecy and silence. "
[45] TA agrapha tes ekklesias mustéria, op cit ., 66 et 67th
[46] apo tes siopoménes mustikês paradoseos kai, kai ek tes ademosieutou defrosted aporrétou didaskalias.
[47] Sozomen, Histoire ecclésiastique , 1, 20
[48] Cf. Hermann Dörries, De Spiritu Sancto "The contribution of Basil at the end Dogmas of trinitarischen , Göttingen 1956; JA Jungmann, SJ, Die Stellung Christi im liturgischen Gebet , 2 Auflage, Münster i / W 1962, p. 155 ff and 163 ff; Dom David Aman, monastic asceticism of St. Basil , ed. Maredsous 1949, p. 75-85. The notes of critical editions of the Holy Spirit Treaty due to CFH Johnson, Oxford 1892 and Benedict Hemlock OP (Collection "Christian Sources", Paris 1945) are in the highest degree useful and instructive. On disciplina arcani , see O. Perler, sv Arkandisciplin, für Antike und Christentum Reallexikon , Bd 1, Stuttgart 1950, p. 671-676. Joachim Jeremias, Die in Abendmahlsworte Jesu, Göttingen 1949, p. 59 ff, 78 ff, supported the idea that disciplina arcani allowed himself already detected in the constitution of the text of the Gospels, and had also existed in Judaism; thesis radically criticized by RPC Hanson Tradition in the Early Church , London 1962, p. 27 ff.
[49] See German Martil, od, La Tradicion in San Agustin Travis of controversia Pelagians, Madrid 1942 (originally published in Revista Espanola de teologia , vol. 1, 1940, and 2, 1942); Wunibald Roetzer, Des heiligen Augustinus Schriften als liturgy-geschichtlich What , Munich 1930, see also the papers of Federer and Dom Capelle cited above.
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