Editing Sacred Tradition (section)

== Early Church Fathers ==
The [[Church Fathers]] consistently recognized apostolic Tradition as a distinct and authoritative source of Christian truth:

* '''St. Irenaeus of Lyons''' (''Against Heresies'', III.3.1-4):

> “It is within the power of all, therefore, in every Church, who may wish to see the truth, to contemplate clearly the tradition of the Apostles manifested throughout the whole world; and we are in a position to reckon up those who were by the Apostles instituted bishops in the Churches, and to demonstrate the succession of these men to our own times… For if the Apostles had not left writings to us, would it not be necessary to follow the course of the tradition which they handed down to those to whom they committed the Churches?”

* '''Tertullian''' (''De Praescriptione Haereticorum'', 21):

> “If the Lord Jesus Christ sent the Apostles to preach, no others ought to be received as preachers than those whom Christ appointed. For 'no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son has revealed Him' [Matthew 11:27]. Hence we must inquire whether there be any apostolic Church; for where the Apostolic Churches are found, there also the true faith exists.”

* '''St. Basil the Great''' (''On the Holy Spirit'', 27):

> “Of the dogmas and messages preserved in the Church, some we possess from written teaching and others we receive from the tradition of the Apostles, handed on to us in mystery; both of these have the same force in true religion.”