Faith Q&A › Catechism › 5. Holy Tradition

What does St. Epiphanius the bishop of Salamis say about tradition?

The answer

This saint teaches that it is the Church alone and not the heretics that has received the tradition, preserved it, and handed it down. He also states, “But tradition must be used too, for not everything is available from the sacred scripture. Thus the holy apostles handed some things down in scriptures but some in traditions.”²⁵⁰

Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty

Notes

²⁵⁰ St. Epiphanius of Salamis, The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis: Books 2 & 3. De Fide, 2^nd ed., trans. Frank Williams (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2013), 61.6.5: p. 121 (PG 41:1048); Ancoratus 63.7 (FOTC 128:149).

Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty, Catechism of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Volume 1, Books 1–3. First English Edition, 2023. Published by St. George Coptic Orthodox Church, Sporting, Alexandria, and Queen St. Mary & Prince Tadros Coptic Orthodox Church, South Brunswick, NJ. Copyright © 2023. Translation and Editing: Youth of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, Arabian Gulf, and Egypt.