06 — Tradition and Scripture
The Commonitorium gives one of the most balanced patristic statements of the relation of Scripture to the Church: the canon of Scripture is complete and sufficient, and yet, precisely because heretics quote it too, it must be read within the interpretation of the catholic Church. This section draws out that teaching and its deep Orthodox resonance, and then examines the consensus patrum — the appeal to the agreement of the fathers — that the canon presupposes and that Orthodoxy has made its own.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (pre-Schism West; the canon of catholicity)
Vincent is sometimes misread, in confessional polemic, as setting Tradition over Scripture or beside it as a second source. His actual position is subtler and closer to the Orthodox one: Scripture is complete; the problem is not its sufficiency but its interpretation, since “owing to the depth of Holy Scripture all do not accept it in one and the same sense.” The Church’s mind, expressed in the agreement of the fathers, is the rule by which the one true sense is discerned. This section sets out that teaching and the consensus principle, with attention to how Orthodoxy receives both.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| The Sufficiency and Interpretation of Scripture | The Commonitorium‘s teaching that the scriptural canon is complete and sufficient yet requires the Church’s interpretation because heretics too appeal to it; the Orthodox resonance of this position and its difference from later confessional readings. |
| Consensus Patrum | The patristic-consensus principle: Vincent’s appeal to “those alone who lived and taught holily, wisely, and with constancy,” its place in the canon, the supplementary rules he gives, and its Orthodox use as the discernment of the mind of the Church. |
See Also
- Quod Ubique, Quod Semper — the canon for which Scripture-and-interpretation is the premise
- The Threefold Test Examined — how consensus functions as a test
- The Canon in Orthodox Thought — the Orthodox reception of the consensus principle
- Holy Tradition — the Orthodox doctrine of Scripture within Tradition
- The Church Fathers — the fathers whose consensus the canon invokes
References
- Vincent of Lérins. The Commonitory. Trans. C. A. Heurtley. In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II, Vol. 11. 1894.
- Moxon, Reginald S., ed. The Commonitorium of Vincentius of Lérins. Cambridge Patristic Texts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1915.
- Florovsky, Georges. Bible, Church, Tradition: An Eastern Orthodox View. Belmont, MA: Nordland, 1972.
- Guarino, Thomas G. Vincent of Lérins and the Development of Christian Doctrine. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013.