If you haven’t checked out this article on this subject check that out to see the Scriptures on this subject.

The Church Fathers confirm the very principles we established in that post. Namely: the entire early Church shared the same beliefs and the same faith because they were handed down from the Apostles, who preached throughout the world what they had received from Christ—and Christ, in turn, received His teaching from God the Father. The Apostles faithfully taught and passed on only what Christ had given them, and their successors preserved and transmitted these apostolic teachings and traditions without adding anything of their own. Therefore, when we find the early Church universally united for 300 years in any teaching of Christianity, it is because that teaching originates with the Apostles, from Christ, and ultimately from the Father Almighty. Up to this point, our aim has been to demonstrate that these principles are confirmed by Scripture, are logically sound, and are consistent with testimony of the Church Fathers. The Church Fathers quoted many of the verses we provided in the other article when they wanted to prove this doctrine of truth being from the beginning. This is the Rule of Faith.

Church Fathers:

Apostle Peter:

“Then Peter: Do not rashly take exception, O Simon, against the things which you do not understand. In the first place, I shall answer your assertion, that I set forth the words of my Master, and from them resolve matters about which there is still doubt. Our Lord, when He sent us apostles to preach, enjoined us to teach all nations the things which were committed to us. We cannot therefore speak those things as they were spoken by Himself. For our commission is not to speak, but to teach those things, and from them to show how every one of them rests upon truth. Nor, again, are we permitted to speak anything of our own. For we are sent; and of necessity he who is sent delivers the message as he has been ordered, and sets forth the will of the sender. For if I should speak anything different from what He who sent me enjoined me, I should be a false apostle, not saying what I am commanded to say, but what seems good to myself.” Peter, Recognitions of Clement, book 2, chapter 33

“Peter answered: O Simon, they are wont to conceive such absurdities against God who do not read the law with the instruction of masters, but account themselves teachers, and think that they can understand the law, though he has not explained it to them who has learned of the Master.” — Apostle Peter, Recognitions of Clement, Book 2, chapter 55

• Peter is rebuking Simon Magus by saying that people who misunderstand and speak falsely about God (“absurdities”), do so because they read the Scriptures (the Law) without being taught by qualified teachers (“masters”). These self-appointed interpreters act as if they are capable of teaching others, even though they themselves have never been properly taught by someone who has learned from “the Master”—meaning either Christ directly or His appointed apostles. Peter shows that proper understanding of Scripture requires a chain of authoritative instruction

The Master (Christ) teaches 

↓ 

The apostles or authentic teachers receive that instruction

↓

The apostles or authentic teachers receive that instruction

↓

Others learn from them, and only then may someone teach or interpret.

“Then says Peter: But if I first show Him to be a prophet, it will follow that what seems to be inconsistency is not such. For no one can be proved to be a prophet merely by consistency, because it is possible for many to attain this; but if consistency does not make a prophet, much more inconsistency does not. Because, therefore, there are many things which to some seem inconsistent, which yet have consistency in them on a more profound investigation; as also other things which seem to have consistency, but which, being more carefully discussed, are found to be inconsistent; for this reason I do not think there is any better way to judge of these things than to ascertain in the first instance whether He be a prophet who has spoken those things which appear to be inconsistent. For it is evident that, if He be found a prophet, those things which seem to be contradictory must have consistency, but are misunderstood. Concerning these things, therefore, proofs will be properly demanded. For we apostles are sent to expound the sayings and affirm the judgments of Him who has sent us; but we are not commissioned to say anything of our own, but to unfold the truth, as I have said, of His words.” Peter, Recognitions of Clement, book 2, chapter 34 

It is good that every one of you [disciples], according to his ability, contribute to the advantage of those who are approaching to the faith of our religion; and therefore do not shrink from instructing the ignorant, and teaching according to the wisdom which has been bestowed upon you by the providence of God, yet so that you only join the eloquence of your discourse with those things which you have heard from me, and which have been committed to you. But do not speak anything which is your own, and which has not been committed to you, though it may seem to yourselves to be true; but hold forth those things, as I have said, which I myself have received from the true Prophet, and have delivered to you, although they may seem to be less full of authority. For thus it often happens that men turn away from the truth, while they believe that they have found out, by their own thoughts, a form of truth more true and powerful. — Apostle Peter, Recognitions of Clement, Book 8, chapter 37

I don’t want to give too much commentary on the church father excerpts but I feel that it is necessary here.

Peter tells his disciples that they can instruct those who are ignorant about the faith, but only teach the things they have received from Peter which he received from Christ himself! His disciples are commanded not to say anything of their own. This passage from Peter is a proof for why we obey the church fathers and why we do not reject what they teach. They would have only taught what they had received from the apostles. Peter tells his disciples not to teach anything to an ignorant person he did not handed down to them and Peter says he’s handing down to them what he received from Jesus Christ. Think about this: Ignatius commands Christians to obey their bishop since he holds the place of Christ in the Church, he says the presbyters hold the place of the apostles, he teaches that the Eucharist is the bread of the eternal life and it is the flesh and blood of Christ… and given what Peter just explained and the fact that Ignatius was a disciple of the Apostle John and the second bishop of Antioch after the Apostle Peter, would these teachings of Ignatius be false? Be very careful to condemn Ignatius’ teachings. If what the apostolic fathers taught is not what the apostles taught then we are essentially saying that the disciples of the apostles disobeyed them and taught false teachings even though we see Peter commands his disciples to only teach others what they received from himself, and he says he received these teachings from Christ. Ignatius, Polycarp, Clement of Rome all taught things that Protestants and non denomination churches reject, or anybody who rejects the early church. Clement of Rome is the one who literally recorded these words of Peter in this book Recognitions of Clement. Clement is literally passing on what Peter taught him, and he’s writing it down in this Book, he understood this principle that Peter taught him and he was passing on Peter’s teachings from Peter’s own mouth. So he understood these teachings, and yet he would teach things in his epistles that are not what the Apostles taught him? Be cautious before condemning the teachings of the apostolic fathers, because that condemnation goes back to the apostles and ultimately to Christ and God. If Ignatius teaches us to obey bishops and that bishops are in the place of Christ in the church then this is what the apostles handed down to their disciples: which then also tells us that we must obey the church fathers, who were the bishops and teachers of the Church. 

Another example out of many of what the Apostolic Fathers taught is that Polycarp in chapter 1 of his epistle to the Philippians teaches us that we are “saved by grace through faith,” yet in the very next chapter says that God will raise us up from the dead if we obey His commandments, both things are true and his interpretation contradicts the Protestants and other heretics about faith alone, and you can’t claim Polycarp taught heresy since even Polycarp in the same letter (chapter 7) tells us to “forsake false doctrine and return to the word which was handed down in the beginning.” Irenaeus tells us that he heard Polycarp preaching when he (Irenaeus) was young, and he says that Polycarp only taught and handed down what he had received from the apostles, so again these teachings from Polycarp help us understand what the apostles taught their disciples. Remember that Polycarp was the disciple of John. Condemn Polycarp’s teaching you ultimately condemn the apostles and claim their disciples disobeyed them by handing down false teachings.  And if you want to reject what Peter says in the Recognition of Clement, you have Paul telling Timothy, a bishop, to only pass down to faithful men what he taught him, so these receivers can also teach others (2 Tim. 2:2), so either way your hands are tied, their disciples could only teach what they learned from the apostles. Therefore, read the apostolic fathers and learn what else the apostles taught.

Christ

↓

Peter

↓

Disciples

↓

Other disciples

↓

*Continues

“Many, as I see, my intelligent friend, draw plausible meanings from what they read, and therefore it must be carefully observed that the law of God, when it is read, should not be interpreted according to one’s own understanding. For there are many words in the divine Scriptures which can be twisted to the sense that each one has presumed for himself of his own accord; this must not be done. 2 Peter 3:15-17 For you should not seek a sense which you have brought in from outside, foreign and alien, and then try to confirm it by the authority of the Scriptures, but rather draw from the Scriptures themselves the sense of the truth; and therefore one must learn the meaning of the Scriptures from him who preserves it as it was faithfully handed down to him from his fathers, so that he also may be able properly to assert what he has rightly received. For when one has received from the divine Scriptures a complete and firm rule of truth, it will not be unreasonable if he adds something also from common learning and from the liberal studies which he may perhaps have touched upon in childhood, to support the true doctrine, provided that wherever he has learned what is true, he rejects what is false and counterfeit.” — Peter, Recognitions of Clement, book 10, chapter 42

Peter’s teaching is similar to his own teachings in his second letter when he speaks about the untaught and unstable twisting the holy scriptures (3:15-17). Peters teaching is also similar to Paul’s command to Timothy in his second letter (2:2-3), and if Peter is handing down to his hearers only what he received from Christ himself, then when Paul says “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” this means these things handed down to Timothy were what Paul received directly from Jesus Christ Himself.

For we speak nothing of ourselves, nor announce things gathered by human judgment; for this were to deceive our hearers. But we preach the things which have been committed and revealed to us by the true Prophet [Jesus]. — Peter, Recognitions of Clement, Book 10, chapter 51

Apostle Barnabas:

Accordingly, since I have concluded that if I care enough about you to share something of what I have received, I will be rewarded for having ministered to such spirits,……Now concerning the water, it is written with reference to Israel that they would never accept the baptism that brings forgiveness of sins, … we descend into the water laden with sins and dirt, we rise up bearing fruit in our heart and with fear and hope in Jesus in our spirits. “And whoever eats from these will live forever” means this: whoever, he says, hears these things spoken and believes them will live forever…… To the extent that it is possible clearly to explain these things to you, I hope, in accordance with my desire, that I have not omitted anything of the matters relating to salvation.” — The Epistle of Barnabas chapter 1, 11, 17

Note: This is just a sample connecting that the Apostle Barnabas said he is sharing in this letter what he has “received” with some teachings he writes down later on. The entire letter is Barnabas teaching what he received. Now Barnabas was an apostle, he was one of the seventy who Jesus sent out in the Gospels. It’s more likely he is talking about what he received from Jesus Christ Himself and is handing down Christ’ doctrines. Just like the Apostle Peter said. Christ taught all His Apostles and sent them out. 

Mathetes (disciple of the apostles):

“I do not speak of things strange to me, nor do I aim at anything inconsistent with right reason; but having been a disciple of the Apostles, I have become a teacher of the Gentiles. I minister the things delivered to me to those that are disciples worthy of the truth. For who that is rightly taught and begotten by the loving Word, would not seek to learn accurately the things which have been clearly shown by the Word to His disciples, to whom the Word being manifested has revealed them, speaking plainly [to them], not understood indeed by the unbelieving, but conversing with the disciples, who, being esteemed faithful by Him, acquired a knowledge of the mysteries of the Father? For which reason He sent the Word, that He might be manifested to the world; and He, being despised by the people [of the Jews], was, when preached by the Apostles, believed on by the Gentiles. This is He who was from the beginning, who appeared as if new, and was found old, and yet who is ever born afresh in the hearts of the saints. This is He who, being from everlasting, is today called the Son; through whom the Church is enriched, and grace, widely spread, increases in the saints, furnishing understanding, revealing mysteries, announcing times, rejoicing over the faithful, giving to those that seek, by whom the limits of faith are not broken through, nor the boundaries set by the fathers passed over. Then the fear of the law is chanted, and the grace of the prophets is known, and the faith of the gospels is established, and the tradition of the Apostles is preserved, and the grace of the Church exults; which grace if you grieve not, you shall know those things which the Word teaches, by whom He wills, and when He pleases. For whatever things we are moved to utter by the will of the Word commanding us, we communicate to you with pains, and from a love of the things that have been revealed to us.” — The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus chapter 11 (130 AD)

God the Father

↓

Christ

↓

Apostles

↓

Diognetus (Disciple of the Apostles and Teacher of the Gentiles)

↓

Disciples worthy of the truth

Clement of Rome:

Our apostles also knew, through our Lord Jesus Christ, that there would be strife on account of the office of the episcopate. For this reason, therefore, inasmuch as they had obtained a perfect fore-knowledge of this, they appointed those [ministers] already mentioned, and afterwards gave instructions, that when these should fall asleep, other approved men should succeed them in their ministry. We are of opinion, therefore, that those appointed by them, or afterwards by other eminent men, with the consent of the whole church, and who have blamelessly served the flock of Christ, in a humble, peaceable, and disinterested spirit, and have for a long time possessed the good opinion of all, cannot be justly dismissed from the ministry. For our sin will not be small, if we eject from the episcopate those who have blamelessly and holily fulfilled its duties. — Clement of Rome, Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 44

These are instructions that are not clearly stated in Scripture, this is an apostolic tradition of a rule the apostles instituted to be done after they died.

We write these things, dear friends, not only to admonish you but also to remind ourselves. For we are in the same arena, and the same contest awaits us. Therefore let us abandon empty and futile thoughts, and let us conform to the glorious and holy rule of our tradition; indeed, let us note what is good and what is pleasing and what is acceptable in the sight of the one who made us. Let us fix our eyes on the blood of Christ and understand how precious it is to his Father, because, being poured out for our salvation, it won for the whole world the grace of repentance. – Clement of Rome, 1 Clement chapter 7

Polycarp (disciple of the apostle John):

Wherefore, forsaking the vanity of many, and their false doctrines, let us return to the word which has been handed down to us from the beginning. – Polycarp, Letter to the Philippians, chapter 7 (150 AD)

Notice what Polycarp says is very similar to what Clement of Rome says.

But Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna, whom I also saw in my early youth, for he tarried [on earth] a very long time, and, when a very old man, gloriously and most nobly suffering martyrdom, departed this life, having always taught the things which he had learned from the apostles, and which the Church has handed down, and which alone are true…There is also a very powerful Epistle of Polycarp written to the Philippians, from which those who choose to do so, and are anxious about their salvation, can learn the character of his faith, and the preaching of the truth.  – Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3.4

Polycarp disciple of the apostle John and by him ordained bishop of Smyrna was chief of all Asia, where he saw and had as teachers some of the apostles and of those who had seen the Lord… He wrote a very valuable Epistle to the Philippians which is read to the present day in the meetings in Asia. – Jerome, On Illustrious Men, chapter 17

Earlier I explained the chain of doctrine being handed down from the Father – Jesus – The Apostles – the Church/Disciples, giving the examples of Timothy, Titus and Clement of Rome. But this same thing can be applied to Polycarp, given what Irenaeus teaches about him and what Polycap himself teaches. He was instructed by the apostles, appointed as a bishop (which shows the Apostles approval of him and his faithfulness), and always taught the things which the apostles handed down to him. 

Then instruct your wives to continue in the faith delivered to them and in love and purity, cherishing their own husbands in all fidelity and loving all others equally in all chastity, and to teach their children with instruction that leads to the fear of God. – Polycarp, Letter to the Philippians, chapter 7

“Let us fear the Lord Jesus Christ, whose blood was given for us. Let us respect our leaders; let us honor the older men; let us instruct the young with instruction that leads to the fear of God.” – Clement of Rome, 1 Clement chapter 21

Polycarp repeating the same teaching as Clement of Rome. They most likely knew each other and Polycarp also was likely familiar with Clement’s letter.

God the Father

↓

Christ

↓

The Apostles (Such as John)

↓

Polycarp (hands down these teachings)

↓

Others who are taught such as Irenaeus of Lyons

The teachings of Christ and the Apostles would have been preserved by Polycarp well into the 150s when he died, and many men would have learned the faith from him and continued to pass it onto the next generation of Christians, such as Irenaeus. The claim that the Church fell away after the apostles makes no sense, since the Apostles had taught many men the faith to preserve it when they died. If you believe this stupidity, tell me, what do you do with Polycarp? Clement? Ignatius? Mathetes? And so on? Did they really leave all their disciples knowing the church would immeditatly fall into worldwide heresy and fail to prepare them for it? 

Irenaeus (disciple of Polycarp):

But Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna, whom I also saw in my early youth, for he tarried [on earth] a very long time, and, when a very old man, gloriously and most nobly suffering martyrdom, departed this life, having always taught the things which he had learned from the apostles, and which the Church has handed down, and which alone are true…There is also a very powerful Epistle of Polycarp written to the Philippians, from which those who choose to do so, and are anxious about their salvation, can learn the character of his faith, and the preaching of the truth.  – Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3.4

Irenæus, a presbyter under Pothinus the bishop who ruled the church of Lyons in Gaul, being sent to Rome as legate by the martyrs of this place, on account of certain ecclesiastical questions, presented to Bishop Eleutherius certain letters under his own name which are worthy of honour. Afterwards when Pothinus, nearly ninety years of age, received the crown of martyrdom for Christ, he was put in his place. It is certain too that he was a disciple of Polycarp, the priest and martyr, whom we mentioned above. – Jerome, On Illustrious Men chapter 35

In the letter to Florinus, of which we have spoken, Irenæus mentions again his intimacy with Polycarp, saying: “These doctrines, O Florinus, to speak mildly, are not of sound judgment. These doctrines disagree with the Church, and drive into the greatest impiety those who accept them. These doctrines, not even the heretics outside of the Church, have ever dared to publish. These doctrines, the presbyters who were before us, and who were companions of the apostles, did not deliver to you. For when I was a boy, I saw you in lower Asia with Polycarp, moving in splendor in the royal court, and endeavoring to gain his approbation. I remember the events of that time more clearly than those of recent years. For what boys learn, growing with their mind, becomes joined with it; so that I am able to describe the very place in which the blessed Polycarp sat as he discoursed, and his goings out and his comings in, and the manner of his life, and his physical appearance, and his discourses to the people, and the accounts which he gave of his intercourse with John and with the others who had seen the Lord. And as he remembered their words, and what he heard from them concerning the Lord, and concerning his miracles and his teaching, having received them from eyewitnesses of the ‘Word of life,’ 1 John 1:1 Polycarp related all things in harmony with the Scriptures. These things being told me by the mercy of God, I listened to them attentively, noting them down, not on paper, but in my heart. And continually, through God’s grace, I recall them faithfully. And I am able to bear witness before God that if that blessed and apostolic presbyter had heard any such thing, he would have cried out, and stopped his ears, and as was his custom, would have exclaimed, O good God, unto what times have you spared me that I should endure these things? And he would have fled from the place where, sitting or standing, he had heard such words. And this can be shown plainly from the letters which he sent, either to the neighboring churches for their confirmation, or to some of the brethren, admonishing and exhorting them.” — Irenaeus (Eusebius, Church History, Book 5, chapter 28.1-6)

God the Father

↓

Christ

↓

The Apostles (Such as John)

↓

Polycarp (hands down these teachings)

↓

Irenaeus of Lyons

Tell me, you who think the Church fell into apostasy after the apostles died, did Polycarp hand down heresy to the Church instead of the Apostles doctrines? Did he somehow get it wrong? If so how can you prove it?

“Now the Church, although scattered over the whole civilized world to the end of the earth, received from the apostles and their disciples its faith in one God, the Father Almighty who made the heaven, and the earth, and the seas, and all that is in them, and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who was made flesh for our salvation, and in the Holy Spirit, who through the prophets proclaimed the dispensations of God – Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.10.1

 “But when we appeal again to that tradition which has come down from the apostles and is guarded by the successions of elders in the churches, they [heretics] oppose the tradition, saying that they are wiser not only than the elders, but even than the apostles, and have found the genuine truth… What it comes to is that they [heretics] will not agree with either Scripture or tradition. It is such people, my dear friend, that we have to fight with, who like slippery snakes are always trying to escape us. Therefore we must resist them on all sides, hoping that by cutting off their escape we may be able to bring them to turn to the truth. For although it is not easy for a soul which has been seized by error to turn back, still it is not absolutely impossible to put error to flight by putting the truth beside it. The tradition of the apostles, made clear in all the world, can be clearly seen in every church by those who wish to behold the truth. We can enumerate those who were established by the apostles as bishops in the churches, and their successors down to our time, none of whom taught or thought of anything like their mad ideas (the heretics). Even if the apostles had known of hidden mysteries, which they taught to the perfect secretly and apart from others, they would have landed them down especially to those to whom they were entrusting the churches themselves. For they certainly wished those whom they were leaving as their successors, handing over to them their own teaching position, to be perfect and irreproachable, since their sound conduct would be a great benefit [to the Church], and failure on their part the greatest calamity.” Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 1

 “As I have already observed, the Church, having received this preaching and this faith, although scattered throughout the whole world, yet, as if occupying but one house, carefully preserves it. She also believes these points [of doctrine] just as if she had but one soul, and one and the same heart, and she proclaims them, and teaches them, and hands them down, with perfect harmony, as if she possessed only one mouth. For, although the languages of the world are dissimilar, yet the import of the tradition is one and the same. For the Churches which have been planted in Germany do not believe or hand down anything different, nor do those in Spain, nor those in Gaul, nor those in the East, nor those in Egypt, nor those in Libya, nor those which have been established in the central regions of the world. But as the sun, that creature of God, is one and the same throughout the whole world, so also the preaching of the truth shines everywhere, and enlightens all men that are willing to come to a knowledge of the truth. Nor will any one of the rulers in the Churches, however highly gifted he may be in point of eloquence, teach doctrines different from these (for no one is greater than the Master); nor, on the other hand, will he who is deficient in power of expression inflict injury on the tradition. For the faith being ever one and the same, neither does one who is able at great length to discourse regarding it, make any addition to it, nor does one, who can say but little diminish it…The Catholic Church possesses one and the same faith throughout the whole world.” Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.10.2, 1.10.3

“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; those who neither taught nor knew of anything like what these [heretics] rave about.” – Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3.1

But, again, when we refer them to that tradition which originates from the apostles, [and] which is preserved by means of the succession of presbyters in the Churches, they object to tradition, saying that they themselves are wiser not merely than the presbyters, but even than the apostles, because they have discovered the unadulterated truth. For [they maintain] that the apostles intermingled the things of the law with the words of the Saviour; and that not the apostles alone, but even the Lord Himself, spoke as at one time from the Demiurge, at another from the intermediate place, and yet again from the Pleroma, but that they themselves, indubitably, unsulliedly, and purely, have knowledge of the hidden mystery: this is, indeed, to blaspheme their Creator after a most impudent manner! It comes to this, therefore, that these men do now consent neither to Scripture nor to tradition.” – Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.2

In the time of this Clement [of Rome], no small dissension having occurred among the brethren at Corinth, the Church in Rome dispatched a most powerful letter to the Corinthians, exhorting them to peace, renewing their faith, and declaring the tradition which it had lately received from the apostles, proclaiming the one God, omnipotent, the Maker of heaven and earth, the Creator of man, who brought on the deluge, and called Abraham, who led the people from the land of Egypt, spoke with Moses, set forth the law, sent the prophets, and who has prepared fire for the devil and his angels. From this document, whosoever chooses to do so, may learn that He, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, was preached by the Churches, and may also understand the apostolic tradition of the Church, since this Epistle is of older date than these men who are now propagating falsehood, and who conjure into existence another god beyond the Creator and the Maker of all existing things. – Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3.3

In this order, and by this succession, the ecclesiastical tradition from the apostles, and the preaching of the truth, have come down to us. And this is most abundant proof that there is one and the same vivifying faith, which has been preserved in the Church from the apostles until now, and handed down in truth. – Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3.3

But the Church throughout all the world, having its origin firm from the apostles, perseveres in one and the same opinion with regard to God and His Son. – Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.12.7

But that both the apostles and their disciples thus taught as the Church preaches, and thus teaching were perfected, wherefore also they were called away to that which is perfect — Stephen, teaching these truths, when he was yet on earth, saw the glory of God, and Jesus on His right hand, and exclaimed, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Acts 7:56 – Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.12.13

But that Paul taught with simplicity what he knew, not only to those who were [employed] with him, but to those that heard him, he does himself make manifest. For when the bishops and presbyters who came from Ephesus and the other cities adjoining had assembled in Miletus, since he was himself hastening to Jerusalem to observe Pentecost, after testifying many things to them, and declaring what must happen to him at Jerusalem, he added: “I know that you shall see my face no more. Therefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed, therefore, both to yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost has placed you as bishops, to rule the Church of the Lord, which He has acquired for Himself through His own blood.” Acts 20:25, etc. Then, referring to the evil teachers who should arise, he said: “I know that after my departure shall grievous wolves come to you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. I have not shunned,” he says, “to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” Thus did the apostles simply, and without respect of persons, deliver to all what they had themselves learned from the Lord. Thus also does Luke, without respect of persons, deliver to us what he had learned from them, as he has himself testified, saying, “Even as they delivered them unto us, who from the beginning were eye-witnesses and ministers of the Word”. Luke 1:2 – Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.14.2

But again, we allege the same against those who do not recognise Paul as an apostle: that they should either reject the other words of the Gospel which we have come to know through Luke alone, and not make use of them; or else, if they do receive all these, they must necessarily admit also that testimony concerning Paul, when he (Luke) tells us that the Lord spoke at first to him from heaven: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? I am Jesus Christ, whom you persecute,” Acts 22:8, Acts 26:15 and then to Ananias, saying regarding him: “Go your way; for he is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name among the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him, from this time, how great things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” Acts 9:15-16 Those, therefore, who do not accept of him [as a teacher], who was chosen by God for this purpose, that he might boldly bear His name, as being sent to the forementioned nations, do despise the election of God, and separate themselves from the company of the apostles. For neither can they contend that Paul was no apostle, when he was chosen for this purpose; nor can they prove Luke guilty of falsehood, when he proclaims the truth to us with all diligence. It may be, indeed, that it was with this view that God set forth very many Gospel truths, through Luke’s instrumentality, which all should esteem it necessary to use, in order that all persons, following his subsequent testimony, which treats upon the acts and the doctrine of the apostles, and holding the unadulterated rule of truth, may be saved. His testimony, therefore, is true, and the doctrine of the apostles is open and steadfast, holding nothing in reserve; nor did they teach one set of doctrines in private, and another in public. – Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.15.1

“But [it has, on the other hand, been shown], that the preaching of the Church is everywhere consistent, and continues in an even course, and receives testimony from the prophets, the apostles, and all the disciples— as I have proved— through [those in] the beginning, the middle, and the end, and through the entire dispensation of God, and that well-grounded system which tends to man’s salvation, namely, our faith; which, having been received from the Church, we do preserve, and which always, by the Spirit of God, renewing its youth, as if it were some precious deposit in an excellent vessel, causes the vessel itself containing it to renew its youth also. For this gift of God has been entrusted to the Church, as breath was to the first created man, for this purpose, that all the members receiving it may be vivified; and the [means of] communion with Christ has been distributed throughout it, that is, the Holy Spirit, the earnest of incorruption, the means of confirming our faith, and the ladder of ascent to God. For in the Church, it is said, God has set apostles, prophets, teachers, 1 Corinthians 12:28 and all the other means through which the Spirit works; of which all those are not partakers who do not join themselves to the Church, but defraud themselves of life through their perverse opinions and infamous behaviour. For where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church, and every kind of grace; but the Spirit is truth.” – Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.24.1

“Wherefore it is incumbent to obey the presbyters who are in the Church — those who, as I have shown, possess the succession from the apostles; those who, together with the succession of the episcopate [bishops], have received the certain gift of truth, according to the good pleasure of the Father. But [it is also incumbent] to hold in suspicion others who depart from the primitive succession, and assemble themselves together in any place whatsoever, [looking upon them] either as heretics of perverse minds, or as schismatics puffed up and self-pleasing, or again as hypocrites, acting thus for the sake of lucre and vainglory. For all these have fallen from the truth. And the heretics, indeed, who bring strange fire to the altar of God — namely, strange doctrines— shall be burned up by the fire from heaven, as were Nadab and Abiud. Leviticus 10:1-2 But such as rise up in opposition to the truth, and exhort others against the Church of God, [shall] remain among those in hell (apud inferos), being swallowed up by an earthquake, even as those who were with Chore, Dathan, and Abiron. Numbers 16:33 But those who cleave asunder, and separate the unity of the Church, [shall] receive from God the same punishment as Jeroboam did. 1 Kings 14:10″ – Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.26.2-3

From all such persons [heretics], therefore, it behooves us to keep aloof, but to adhere to those who, as I have already observed, do hold the doctrine of the apostles, and who, together with the order of priesthood, display sound speech and blameless conduct for the confirmation and correction of others. – Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.26.4

Such presbyters does the Church nourish, of whom also the prophet says: I [God] will give your rulers in peace, and your bishops in righteousness. Isaiah 60:17 Of whom also did the Lord declare, Who then shall be a faithful steward (actor), good and wise, whom the Lord sets over His household, to give them their meat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when He comes, shall find so doing. Matthew 24:45-46 Paul then, teaching us where one may find such, says, God has placed in the Church, first, apostles; secondly, prophets; thirdly, teachers. 1 Corinthians 12:28 Where, therefore, the gifts of the Lord have been placed, there it behooves us to learn the truth, [namely,] from those who possess that succession of the Church which is from the apostles, and among whom exists that which is sound and blameless in conduct, as well as that which is unadulterated and incorrupt in speech. For these also preserve this faith of ours in one God who created all things; and they increase that love [which we have] for the Son of God, who accomplished such marvellous dispensations for our sake: and they expound the Scriptures to us without danger, neither blaspheming God, nor dishonouring the patriarchs, nor despising the prophets. – Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.26.5

True knowledge is [that which consists in] the doctrine of the apostles, and the ancient constitution of the Church throughout all the world, and the distinctive manifestation of the body of Christ according to the successions of the bishops, by which they have handed down that Church which exists in every place, and has come even unto us, being guarded and preserved without any forging of Scriptures, by a very complete system of doctrine, and neither receiving addition nor [suffering] curtailment [in the truths which she believes]; and [it consists in] reading [the word of God] without falsification, and a lawful and diligent exposition in harmony with the Scriptures, both without danger and without blasphemy; and [above all, it consists in] the pre-eminent gift of love, 2 Corinthians 8:1; 1 Corinthians 13 which is more precious than knowledge, more glorious than prophecy, and which excels all the other gifts [of God]. – Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.33.8

 “I have pointed out the truth, and shown the preaching of the Church, which the prophets proclaimed (as I have already demonstrated), but which Christ brought to perfection, and the apostles have handed down, from whom the Church, receiving [these truths], and throughout all the world alone preserving them in their integrity, has transmitted them to her sons.” Irenaeus, Against Heresies Book 5, Preface

Now all these [heretics] are of much later date than the bishops to whom the apostles committed the Churches; which fact I have in the third book taken all pains to demonstrate. It follows, then, as a matter of course, that these heretics aforementioned, since they are blind to the truth, and deviate from the [right] way, will walk in various roads; and therefore the footsteps of their doctrine are scattered here and there without agreement or connection. But the path of those belonging to the Church circumscribes the whole world, as possessing the sure tradition from the apostles, and gives unto us to see that the faith of all is one and the same, since all receive one and the same God the Father, and believe in the same dispensation regarding the incarnation of the Son of God, and are cognizant of the same gift of the Spirit, and are conversant with the same commandments, and preserve the same form of ecclesiastical constitution, and expect the same advent of the Lord, and await the same salvation of the complete man, that is, of the soul and body. And undoubtedly the preaching of the Church is true and steadfast, in which one and the same way of salvation is shown throughout the whole world. For to her is entrusted the light of God; and therefore the wisdom of God, by means of which she saves all men, is declared in [its] going forth; it utters [its voice] faithfully in the streets, is preached on the tops of the walls, and speaks continually in the gates of the city. Proverbs 1:20-21 For the Church preaches the truth everywhere, and she is the seven-branched candlestick which bears the light of Christ. – Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.20.1

…This, beloved, is the preaching of the truth, and this is the manner of our redemption, and this is the way of life, which the prophets proclaimed, and Christ established, and the apostles delivered, and the Church in all the world hands on to her children. This must we keep with all certainty, with a sound will and pleasing to God, with good works and right-willed disposition. Irenaeus, The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching ch. 98

Now faith occasions this for us; even as the Elders, the disciples of the Apostles, have handed down to us. First of all it bids us bear in mind that we have received baptism for the remission of sins, in the name of God the Father, and in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was incarnate and died and rose again, and in the Holy Spirit of God. And that this baptism is the seal of eternal life, and is the new birth unto God, that we should no longer be the sons of mortal men, but of the eternal and perpetual God; and that what is everlasting and continuing is made God; and is over all things that are made, and all things are put under Him; and all the things that are put under Him are made His own; for God is not ruler and Lord over the things of another, but over His own; and all things are God’s; and therefore God is Almighty, and all things are of God. Irenaeus, The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching (180 AD)

“True knowledge, then, consists in the understanding of Christ, which Paul terms the wisdom of God hidden in a mystery, which the natural man receives not, 1 Corinthians 2:14 the doctrine of the cross; of which if any man taste, 1 Peter 2:3 he will not accede to the disputations and quibbles of proud and puffed-up men, 1 Timothy 6:4-5 who go into matters of which they have no perception. Colossians 2:18 For the truth is unsophisticated (ἀσχημάτιστος); and the word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart, Romans 10:8; Deuteronomy 30:14 as the same apostle declares, being easy of comprehension to those who are obedient. For it renders us like to Christ, if we experience the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings. Philippians 3:10 For this is the affinity of the apostolic teaching and the most holy faith delivered unto us, Jude 3 which the unlearned receive, and those of slender knowledge have taught, not giving heed to endless genealogies, 1 Timothy 1:4 but studying rather [to observe] a straightforward course of life; lest, having been deprived of the Divine Spirit, they fail to attain to the kingdom of heaven.” — Irenaeus Fragments, Fragment 36

Athenagoras:

 The discourse concerning the truth, as being necessary to all men for certainty and safety, holds the first place, whether in nature, or order, or usefulness: in nature, as furnishing the knowledge of the subject; in order, as being in those things and along with those things which it informs us of; in usefulness, as being a guarantee of certainty and safety to those who become acquainted with it. The discourse in defense of the truth is inferior in nature and force, for the refutation of falsehood is less important than the establishment of truth; and second in order, for it employs its strength against those who hold false opinions, and false opinions are an aftergrowth from another sowing and from degeneration. But, notwithstanding all this, it is often placed first, and sometimes is found more useful, because it removes and clears away beforehand the disbelief which disquiets some minds, and the doubt or false opinion of such as have but recently come over. And yet each of them is referrible to the same end, for the refutation of falsehood and the establishment of truth both have piety for their object: not, indeed, that they are absolutely one and the same, but the one is necessary, as I have said, to all who believe, and to those who are concerned about the truth and their own salvation; but the other proves to be more useful on some occasions, and to some persons, and in dealing with some. — Athenagoras, The Resurrection of the Dead, Chapter 11

• Establishing The Truth Comes Before Refuting Falsehood. The Truth Leaves No Room For The Lie.

Clement of Alexandria:

Clement wasn’t just another early Christian thinker speculating about the faith—he was directly connected to those who stood in the apostolic line. In The Stromata, Clement makes it clear that what he teaches is not his own invention, but what he received from men who themselves had been taught by the apostles. These weren’t vague influences or distant traditions, Clement traced his instruction back through a clear and living chain of discipleship rooted in Peter, James, John, and Paul. 

“Now this work of mine in writing is not artfully constructed for display; but my memoranda are stored up against old age, as a remedy against forgetfulness, truly an image and outline of those vigorous and animated discourses which I was privileged to hear, and of blessed and truly remarkable men. Of these the one, in Greece, an Ionic; the other in Magna Græcia: the first of these from Cœle-Syria, the second from Egypt, and others in the East. The one was born in the land of Assyria, and the other a Hebrew in Palestine. When I came upon the last (he was the first in power), having tracked him out concealed in Egypt, I found rest. He, the true, the Sicilian bee, gathering the spoil of the flowers of the prophetic and apostolic meadow, engendered in the souls of his hearers a deathless element of knowledge. Well, they preserving the tradition of the blessed doctrine derived directly from the holy apostles, Peter, James, John, and Paul, the sons receiving it from the father (but few were like the fathers), came by God’s will to us also to deposit those ancestral and apostolic seeds. And well I know that they will exult; I do not mean delighted with this tribute, but solely on account of the preservation of the truth, according as they delivered it.” — Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata, Book 1, chapter 1

This fits perfectly with everything I’ve been teaching: the faith was handed down, not reinvented. Clement didn’t develop a personal theology apart from apostolic truth. He received the doctrine that came directly from the apostles through trustworthy teachers, and his stated purpose was not speculation or creativity, but preservation. His role was to guard and pass on the same apostolic truth that he had received. This is the same Clement who went on to teach Origen, and it shows that even generations later, there were still men faithfully passing on the original apostolic message. Think of about it, Clement met the successors of the apostles directly and had the opportunity to actually talk with them and learn the faith from them, and he himself was appointed a presbyter in the Church and had apostolic succession back to the apostles (as Ireneaus says about the presbyters), and Clement’s book the Stromata was written between 190-200 AD, that’s around 100 years after the last Apostle died, yet the faith they handed down was still preserved. 

Clemens, presbyter of the Alexandrian church, and a pupil of the Pantaenus mentioned above, led the theological school at Alexandria after the death of his master and was teacher of the Catechetes…Origen is known to have been his disciple. — Jerome, On Illustrious Men, chapter 38

God the Father teaches 

↓

Jesus Christ teaches 

↓ 

The Apostles receive that instruction

↓

Apostolic men receive that instruction

↓

Clement of Alexandria receive that instruction

↓

Origen of Alexandria (Pupil and disciple of Clement)

But that Gnostic of whom I speak, himself comprehends what seems to be incomprehensible to others; believing that nothing is incomprehensible to the Son of God, whence nothing incapable of being taught. For He who suffered out of His love for us, would have suppressed no element of knowledge requisite for our instruction. Accordingly this faith becomes sure demonstration; since truth follows what has been delivered by God. But if one desires extensive knowledge, he knows things ancient, and conjectures things future; he understands knotty sayings, and the solutions of enigmas. The disciple of wisdom foreknows signs and omens, and the issues of seasons and of times. Wisdom 7:17-18 Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata, Book 6, chapter 8

...The liars, then, in reality are not those who for the sake of the scheme of salvation conform, nor those who err in minute points, but those who are wrong in essentials, and reject the Lord, and as far as in them lies deprive the Lord of the true teaching; who do not quote or deliver the Scriptures in a manner worthy of God and of the Lord; for the deposit rendered to God, according to the teaching of the Lord by His apostles, is the understanding and the practice of the godly tradition. “And what you hear in the ear” — that is, in a hidden manner, and in a mystery (for such things are figuratively said to be spoken in the ear)— “proclaim,” He says, “on the housetops,” Matthew 10:27 understanding them sublimely, and delivering them in a lofty strain, and according to the canon of the truth explaining the Scriptures; for neither prophecy nor the Saviour Himself announced the divine mysteries simply so as to be easily apprehended by all and sundry, but express them in parables. The apostles accordingly say of the Lord, that “He spoke all things in parables, and without a parable spoke He nothing unto them;” Matthew 13:34 and if “all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made,” John 1:3 consequently also prophecy and the law were by Him, and were spoken by Him in parables. “But all things are right,” says the Scripture, Proverbs 8:9 “before those who understand,” that is, those who receive and observe, according to the ecclesiastical rule, the exposition of the Scriptures explained by Him; and the ecclesiastical rule is the concord and harmony of the law and the prophets in the covenant delivered at the coming of the Lord. – Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata, Book 6, chapter 15

First, then, they make this objection to us, saying, that they ought not to believe in account of the discord of the sects. For the truth is warped when some teach one set of dogmas, others another. To whom we say, that among you who are Jews, and among the most famous of the philosophers among the Greeks, very many sects have sprung up. And yet you do not say that one ought to hesitate to philosophize or Judaize, because of the want of agreement of the sects among you between themselves. And then, that heresies should be sown among the truth, as tares among the wheat, was foretold by the Lord; and what was predicted to take place could not but happen. And the cause of this is, that everything that is fair is followed by a foul blot. If one, then, violate his engagements, and go aside from the confession which he makes before us, are we not to stick to the truth because he has belied his profession? But as the good man must not prove false or fail to ratify what he has promised, although others violate their engagements; so also are we bound in no way to transgress the canon of the Church. …There being demonstration, then, it is necessary to condescend to questions, and to ascertain by way of demonstration by the Scriptures themselves how the heresies failed, and how in the truth alone and in the ancient Church is both the exactest knowledge, and the truly best set of principles.” – Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata, Book 7, chapter 15

Now all men, having the same judgment, some, following the Word speaking, frame for themselves proofs; while others, giving themselves up to pleasures, wrest Scripture, in accordance with their lusts. And the lover of truth, as I think, needs force of soul. For those who make the greatest attempts must fail in things of the highest importance; unless, receiving from the truth itself the rule of the truth, they cleave to the truth. But such people, in consequence of falling away from the right path, err in most individual points; as you might expect from not having the faculty for judging of what is true and false, strictly trained to select what is essential. For if they had, they would have obeyed the Scriptures. As, then, if a man should, similarly to those drugged by Circe, become a beast; so he, who has spurned the ecclesiastical tradition, and darted off to the opinions of heretical men, has ceased to be a man of God and to remain faithful to the Lord. But he who has returned from this deception, on hearing the Scriptures, and turned his life to the truth, is, as it were, from being a man made a god. ….. Seeing, therefore, the danger that they are in (not in respect of one dogma, but in reference to the maintenance of the heresies) of not discovering the truth; for while reading the books we have ready at hand, they despise them as useless, but in their eagerness to surpass common faith, they have diverged from the truth. For, in consequence of not learning the mysteries of ecclesiastical knowledge, and not having capacity for the grandeur of the truth, too indolent to descend to the bottom of things, reading superficially, they have dismissed the Scriptures. ….. So, then, they are not pious, inasmuch as they are not pleased with the divine commands, that is, with the Holy Spirit. And as those almonds are called empty in which the contents are worthless, not those in which there is nothing; so also we call those heretics empty, who are destitute of the counsels of God and the traditions of Christ; bitter, in truth, like the wild almond, their dogmas originating with themselves, with the exception of such truths as they could not, by reason of their evidence, discard and conceal. ….. Our Gnostic [the Christian] then alone, having grown old in the Scriptures, and maintaining apostolic and ecclesiastic orthodoxy in doctrines, lives most correctly in accordance with the Gospel, and discovers the proofs, for which he may have made search (sent forth as he is by the Lord), from the law and the prophets. For the life of the Gnostic, in my view, is nothing but deeds and words corresponding to the tradition of the Lord. – Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata, Book 7, chapter 16

Such being the case, it is evident, from the high antiquity and perfect truth of the Church, that these later heresies, and those yet subsequent to them in time, were new inventions falsified [from the truth]. From what has been said, then, it is my opinion that the true Church, that which is really ancient, is one, and that in it those who according to God’s purpose are just, are enrolled. For from the very reason that God is one, and the Lord one, that which is in the highest degree honourable is lauded in consequence of its singleness, being an imitation of the one first principle. In the nature of the One, then, is associated in a joint heritage the one Church, which they strive to cut asunder into many sects. Therefore in substance and idea, in origin, in pre-eminence, we say that the ancient and Catholic Church is alone, collecting as it does into the unity of the one faith – which results from the peculiar Testaments, or rather the one Testament in different times by the will of the one God, through one Lord – those already ordained, whom God predestinated, knowing before the foundation of the world that they would be righteous. But the pre-eminence of the Church, as the principle of union, is, in its oneness, in this surpassing all things else, and having nothing like or equal to itself. But of this afterwards. Of the heresies, some receive their appellation from a [person’s] name, as that which is called after Valentinus, and that after Marcion, and that after Basilides, although they boast of adducing the opinion of Matthew [without truth]; for as the teaching, so also the tradition of the apostles was one. Some take their designation from a place, as the Peratici; some from a nation, as the [heresy] of the Phrygians; some from an action, as that of the Encratites; and some from peculiar dogmas, as that of the Docetae, and that of the Harmatites; and some from suppositions, and from individuals they have honoured, as those called Cainists, and the Ophians; and some from nefarious practices and enormities, as those of the Simonians called Entychites. – Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata, Book 7, chapter 17

Hegesippus:

On my arrival at Rome, I drew up a list of the succession of bishops down to Anicetus, whose deacon was Eleutherus. To Anicetus succeeded Soter, and after him came Eleutherus. But in the case of every succession, and in every city, the state of affairs is in accordance with the teaching of the Law and of the Prophets and of the Lord….Therefore was the Church called a virgin, for she was not as yet corrupted by worthless teaching. Thebulis it was who, displeased because he was not made bishop, first began to corrupt her by stealth. He too was connected with the seven sects which existed among the people, like Simon, from whom come the Simoniani; and Cleobius, from whom come the Cleobiani; and Doritheus, from whom come the Dorithiani; and Gorthaeus, from whom come the Gortheani; Masbothaeus, from whom come the Masbothaei. From these men also come the Menandrianists, and the Marcionists, and the Carpocratians, and the Valentinians, and the Basilidians, and the Saturnilians. Each of these leaders in his own private and distinct capacity brought in his own private opinion. From these have come false Christs, false prophets, false apostles-men who have split up the one Church into parts through their corrupting doctrines, uttered in disparagement of God and of His Christ… – Hegesippus, Ante Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 764 (170 AD) 

Theophilus:

“And as in the sea there are islands, some of them habitable, and well-watered, and fruitful, with havens and harbours in which the storm-tossed may find refuge — so God has given to the world which is driven and tempest-tossed by sins, assemblies — we mean holy churches — in which survive the doctrines of the truth, as in the island-harbours of good anchorage; and into these run those who desire to be saved, being lovers of the truth, and wishing to escape the wrath and judgment of God.” Theophilus, To Autolycus 2.14

Tertullian:

• Get quotes from truth from beginning on lateness

For now, I refuse to grant that the custom of letting virgins go unveiled has anything to do with truth. Let’s just call it what it is—mere custom—so I can pit their custom of unveiling against our custom of veiling. Across Greece and in some of its barbarian territories, many churches keep their virgins veiled. This custom is also found under our own sky in some places, so that no one can claim it belongs only to Greek or barbarian culture. But I have pointed to those churches that were founded by the Apostles themselves—or by apostolic men—and, I believe, founded earlier than some others. These churches, therefore, carry the same authority of custom, and appeal to their antiquity and their founders far more than these later churches do. So which custom will we follow? Which will we choose? We cannot reject a custom we cannot condemn, since it is not foreign to us nor from outsiders, but from those with whom we share the right of peace and the name of brotherhood. We have one faith with them, one God, the same Christ, the same hope, the same sacrament of baptism. I’ll say it once for all: we are one Church. – Tertullian, On the Veiling of Virgins, chapter 2

On this point, however, we dwell no longer, since it is the same Paul who, in his Epistle to the Galatians, counts heresies among the sins of the flesh, Galatians 5:20 who also intimates to Titus, that a man who is a heretic must be rejected after the first admonition, on the ground that he that is such is perverted, and commits sin, as a self-condemned man. Titus 3:10-11 Indeed, in almost every epistle, when enjoining on us (the duty) of avoiding false doctrines, he sharply condemns heresies. Of these the practical effects are false doctrines, called in Greek heresies, a word used in the sense of that choice which a man makes when he either teaches them (to others) or takes up with them (for himself). For this reason it is that he calls the heretic self-condemned, because he has himself chosen that for which he is condemned. We, however, are not permitted to cherish any object after our own will, nor yet to make choice of that which another has introduced of his private fancy. In the Lord’s apostles we possess our authority; for even they did not of themselves choose to introduce anything, but faithfully delivered to the nations (of mankind) the doctrine which they had received from Christ. If, therefore, even an angel from heaven should preach any other gospel (than theirs), he would be called accursed by us. – Tertullian, On Prescription Against Heretics chapter 6

I now purposely relinquish this ground of argument. Let it be granted, that the words, “Seek, and you shall find,” were addressed to all men (equally). Yet even here one’s aim is carefully to determine the sense of the words consistently with (that reason), which is the guiding principle in all interpretation. (Now) no divine saying is so unconnected and diffuse, that its words only are to be insisted on, and their connection left undetermined. But at the outset I lay down (this position) that there is some one, and therefore definite, thing taught by Christ, which the Gentiles are by all means bound to believe, and for that purpose to seek, in order that they may be able, when they have found it, to believe. However, there can be no indefinite seeking for that which has been taught as one only definite thing. You must seek until you find, and believe when you have found; nor have you anything further to do but to keep what you have believed provided you believe this besides, that nothing else is to be believed, and therefore nothing else is to be sought, after you have found and believed what has been taught by Him who charges you to seek no other thing than that which He has taught. When, indeed, any man doubts about this, proof will be forthcoming, that we have in our possession that which was taught by Christ. Meanwhile, such is my confidence in our proof, that I anticipate it, in the shape of an admonition to certain persons, not to seek anything beyond what they have believed— that this is what they ought to have sought, how to avoid interpreting, “Seek, and you shall find,” without regard to the rule of reason. Now the reason of this saying is comprised in three points: in the matter, in the time, in the limit. In the matter, so that you must consider what it is you have to seek; in the time, when you have to seek; in the limit, how long. What you have to seek, then, is that which Christ has taught, (and you must go on seeking) of course for such time as you fail to find, — until indeed you find it. But you have succeeded in finding when you have believed. For you would not have believed if you had not found; as neither would you have sought except with a view to find. Your object, therefore, in seeking was to find; and your object in finding was to believe. All further delay for seeking and finding you have prevented by believing. The very fruit of your seeking has determined for you this limit. This boundary has He set for you Himself, who is unwilling that you should believe anything else than what He has taught, or, therefore, even seek for it. – Tertullian, On Prescription Against Heretics chapter 9-10

I might be thought to have laid down this position to remedy distrust in my case, or from a desire of entering on the contest in some other way, were there not reasons on my side, especially this, that our faith owes deference to the apostle, who forbids us to enter on questions, or to lend our ears to new-fangled statements, 1 Timothy 6:3-4 or to consort with a heretic after the first and second admonition, Titus 3:10 not, (be it observed,) after discussion. – Tertullian, On Prescription Against Heretics chapter 16

But with respect to the man for whose sake you enter on the discussion of the Scriptures, with the view of strengthening him when afflicted with doubts, (let me ask) will it be to the truth, or rather to heretical opinions that he will lean? Influenced by the very fact that he sees you have made no progress, while the other side is on an equal footing (with yourself) in denying and in defense, or at any rate on a like standing he will go away confirmed in his uncertainty by the discussion, not knowing which side to adjudge heretical. For, no doubt, they too are able to retort these things on us. It is indeed a necessary consequence that they should go so far as to say that adulterations of the Scriptures, and false expositions thereof, are rather introduced by ourselves, inasmuch as they, no less than we maintain that truth is on their side. Our appeal, therefore, must not be made to the Scriptures; nor must controversy be admitted on points in which victory will either be impossible, or uncertain, or not certain enough. But even if a discussion from the Scriptures should not turn out in such a way as to place both sides on a par, (yet) the natural order of things would require that this point should be first proposed, which is now the only one which we must discuss: With whom lies that very faith to which the Scriptures belong. From what and through whom, and when, and to whom, has been handed down that rule, by which men become Christians? For wherever it shall be manifest that the true Christian rule and faith shall be, there will likewise be the true Scriptures and expositions thereof, and all the Christian traditions. – Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics, chapter 18-19

Since this is the case, in order that the truth may be adjudged to belong to us, as many as walk according to the rule, which the church has handed down from the apostles, the apostles from Christ, and Christ from God, the reason of our position is clear, when it determines that heretics ought not to be allowed to challenge an appeal to the Scriptures, since we, without the Scriptures, prove that they have nothing to do with the Scriptures. For as they are heretics, they cannot be true Christians, because it is not from Christ that they get that which they pursue of their own mere choice, and from the pursuit incur and admit the name of heretics. Thus, not being Christians, they have acquired no right to the Christian Scriptures. – Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics, chapter 37

Immediately, therefore, so did the apostles, whom this designation indicates as  the sent. Having, on the authority of a prophecy, which occurs in a psalm of David, chosen Matthias by lot as the twelfth, into the place of Judas, they obtained the promised power of the Holy Ghost for the gift of miracles and of utterance; and after first bearing witness to the faith in Jesus Christ throughout Judæa, and founding churches (there), they next went forth into the world and preached the same doctrine of the same faith to the nations. They then in like manner founded churches in every city, from which all the other churches, one after another, derived the tradition of the faith, and the seeds of doctrine, and are every day deriving them, that they may become churches. Indeed, it is on this account only that they will be able to deem themselves apostolic, as being the offspring of apostolic churches. Every sort of thing must necessarily revert to its original for its classification. Therefore the churches, although they are so many and so great, comprise but the one primitive church, (founded) by the apostles, from which they all (spring). In this way all are primitive, and all are apostolic, while they are all proved to be one, in (unbroken) unity, by their peaceful communion, and title of brotherhood, and bond of hospitality — privileges which no other rule directs than the one tradition of the selfsame mystery. – Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics, chapter 20

He therefore directs this second rule: that no other preachers are to be received than those whom Christ appointed; and consequently, that doctrine alone is to be accepted, which undoubtedly holds to what the Church received from the Apostles, both by their living voice and by their letters; the Apostles from Christ, Christ from God. This, then, is the testimony of the truth of our doctrine: that we have communion with the apostolic churches. Hence, therefore, we direct the rule: if the Lord Jesus Christ sent the Apostles to preach, no other preachers are to be received than those whom Christ appointed; for neither does anyone know the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son has revealed Him, nor does it appear that the Son revealed Him to any others than the Apostles, whom He sent to preach—indeed, to preach what He revealed to them. But what they preached, that is, what Christ revealed to them, I now also lay down must be proved in no other way than through those very churches which the Apostles themselves founded, by preaching to them, both with their living voice, as it is said, and afterward by their letters. If this is so, it follows clearly that every doctrine which agrees with those apostolic churches, the wombs and origins of the faith, must be reckoned as true—undoubtedly holding what the Churches received from the Apostles, the Apostles from Christ, Christ from God; but all other doctrine must be prejudged as false, which savors contrary to the truth of the Churches, and of the Apostles, and of Christ, and of God. It remains, therefore, that we show whether this our doctrine, whose rule we set forth above, is to be considered of apostolic tradition, and thereby, whether all others come from falsehood. We have communion with the apostolic churches, because our doctrine differs from none: this is the testimony of truth. – Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics, chapter 21

• Whatever the whole church has believed since the beginning of Christianity is how you can know what the apostles truly taught, because they taught the same faith and beliefs everywhere they went. 

Now then, let us suppose all were mistaken; that the Apostle was deceived in giving testimony to certain persons; that the Holy Spirit had regard to none, although He was sent by Christ for this very purpose, and requested from the Father, that He might be the teacher of truth; that the steward of God, the vicar of Christ, neglected His office, allowing the churches in the meantime to understand and to believe differently than what He Himself preached through the Apostles: is it at all likely that so many and so great ones erred into one and the same faith? No outcome among many occurrences is identical unless it be the result of truth: if it had been error, the doctrine of the churches ought to have varied. But, as it is, that which among many is found to be one is not an error, but a tradition. Let anyone then dare to say that those who handed it down were in error. – Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics, chapter 28

• In other words: Tertullian is saying that it’s impossible for all the apostles, the Holy Spirit, and the entire early Church to have been mistaken in the same way about the same faith. If what they taught had been error, their teachings would have been inconsistent and varied. But the fact that the whole Church — in many places and among many people — believed the same thing shows it wasn’t error but true apostolic tradition. Therefore, to claim the Church was wrong on any doctrine they universally believed is to accuse the apostles, the Spirit, and Christ Himself of failing in their mission to teach all nations.

In whatever manner error came, it reigned of course only as long as there was an absence of heresies? Truth had to wait for certain Marcionites and Valentinians to set it free. During the interval the gospel was wrongly preached; men wrongly believed; so many thousands were wrongly baptized; so many works of faith were wrongly wrought; so many miraculous gifts, so many spiritual endowments, were wrongly set in operation; so many priestly functions, so many ministries, were wrongly executed; and, to sum up the whole, so many martyrs wrongly received their crowns! Else, if not wrongly done, and to no purpose, how comes it to pass that the things of God were on their course before it was known to what God they belonged? That there were Christians before Christ was found? That there were heresies before true doctrine? Not so; for in all cases truth precedes its copy, the likeness succeeds the reality. Absurd enough, however, is it, that heresy should be deemed to have preceded its own prior doctrine, even on this account, because it is that (doctrine) itself which foretold that there should be heresies against which men would have to guard! To a church which possessed this doctrine, it was written — yea, the doctrine itself writes to its own church — “Though an angel from heaven preach any other gospel than that which we have preached, let him be accursed.“ – Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics chapter 29

Let me return, however, from this digression to discuss the priority of truth, and the comparative lateness of falsehood, deriving support for my argument even from that parable which puts in the first place the sowing by the Lord of the good seed of the wheat, but introduces at a later stage the adulteration of the crop by its enemy the devil with the useless weed of the wild oats. For herein is figuratively described the difference of doctrines, since in other passages also the word of God is likened unto seed. From the actual order, therefore, it becomes clear, that that which was first delivered is of the Lord and is true, while that is strange and false which was afterwards introduced. This sentence will keep its ground in opposition to all later heresies, which have no consistent quality of kindred knowledge inherent in them — to claim the truth as on their side. – Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics chapter 31

But if there be any (heresies) which are bold enough to plant themselves in the midst of the apostolic age, that they may thereby seem to have been handed down by the apostles, because they existed in the time of the apostles, we can say: Let them produce the original records of their churches; let them unfold the roll of their bishops, running down in due succession from the beginning in such a manner that bishop shall be able to show for his ordainer and predecessor some one of the apostles or of apostolic men, — a man, moreover, who continued steadfast with the apostles. For this is the manner in which the apostolic churches transmit their registers: as the church of Smyrna, which records that Polycarp was placed therein by John; as also the church of Rome, which makes Clement to have been ordained in like manner by Peter. In exactly the same way the other churches likewise exhibit (their several worthies), whom, as having been appointed to their episcopal places by apostles, they regard as transmitters of the apostolic seed. Let the heretics contrive something of the same kind. For after their blasphemy, what is there that is unlawful for them (to attempt)? But should they even effect the contrivance, they will not advance a step. For their very doctrine, after comparison with that of the apostles, will declare, by its own diversity and contrariety, that it had for its author neither an apostle nor an apostolic man; because, as the apostles would never have taught things which were self-contradictory, so the apostolic men would not have inculcated teaching different from the apostles, unless they who received their instruction from the apostles went and preached in a contrary manner. To this test, therefore will they be submitted for proof by those churches, who, although they derive not their founder from apostles or apostolic men (as being of much later date, for they are in fact being founded daily), yet, since they agree in the same faith, they are accounted as not less apostolic because they are akin in doctrine. Then let all the heresies, when challenged to these two tests by our apostolic church, offer their proof of how they deem themselves to be apostolic. But in truth they neither are so, nor are they able to prove themselves to be what they are not. Nor are they admitted to peaceful relations and communion by such churches as are in any way connected with apostles, inasmuch as they are in no sense themselves apostolic because of their diversity as to the mysteries of the faith. – Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics chapter 32

Challenged and refuted by us, according to these definitions, let all the heresies boldly on their part also advance similar rules to these against our doctrine, whether they be later than the apostles or contemporary with the apostles, provided they be different from them; provided also they were, by either a general or a specific censure, precondemned by them. For since they deny the truth of (our doctrine), they ought to prove that it also is heresy, refutable by the same rule as that by which they are themselves refuted; and at the same time to show us where we must seek the truth, which it is by this time evident has no existence among them. Our system is not behind any in date; on the contrary, it is earlier than all; and this fact will be the evidence of that truth which everywhere occupies the first place. The apostles, again, nowhere condemn it; they rather defend it — a fact which will show that it comes from themselves. For that doctrine which they refrain from condemning, when they have condemned every strange opinion, they show to be their own, and on that ground too they defend it. – Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics chapter 35

Truth is older than all things—unless I am mistaken…Even when the truth was simple, human meddling refused faith and changed it, so that what was certain they mixed into uncertainty…. As each one thought, so he brought it forward or changed it. No wonder, then, if the old scriptures were twisted and corrupted by the wits of the philosophers. From their seed even among us, some men have adulterated this new (Christian) teaching of ours with their own opinions, turning it toward philosophical doctrines, and from one straight road they cut out many crooked and endless paths. I mention this so that no one, noticing the variety of this sect, might think we are just like the philosophers, and from the diversity of our defenses judge against the truth. But we can easily lay down this rule against our adulterators: that the true rule of truth is the one that comes from Christ, handed down through his companions. And compared with them, all these later commentators will be shown up as nothing. — Tertullian, Apology chapter 47

“So I ask you—where’s your authority for all this? If you’re a prophet, then announce something! If you’re an apostle, then preach in public! If you’re from the apostles, then agree with the apostles! If you’re just a Christian, then believe what was handed down! But if you’re none of these, then I have every right to say: go die!” Tertullian, On the Flesh of Christ Chapter 2

“What you believed to be of a different character, had been handed down just as you believed it. Now that which had been handed down was true, inasmuch as it had been transmitted by those whose duty it was to hand it down. Therefore, when rejecting that which had been handed down, you rejected that which was true. You had no authority for what you did.” – Tertullian the Flesh of Christ chapter 2

“We are accustomed, for the purpose of shortening argument, to lay down the rule against heretics of the lateness of their date. For in as far as by our rule, priority is given to the truth, which also foretold that there would be heresies, in so far must all later opinions be prejudged as heresies, being such as were, by the more ancient rule of truth, predicted as (one day) to happen. Now, the doctrine of Hermogenes has this taint of novelty.” – Tertullian, Against Hermogenes chapter 1

“That this rule of faith has come down to us from the beginning of the gospel, even before any of the older heretics, much more before Praxeas, a pretender of yesterday, will be apparent both from the lateness of date which marks all heresies, and also from the absolutely novel character of our new-fangled Praxeas. In this principle also we must henceforth find a presumption of equal force against all heresies whatsoever — that whatever is first is true, whereas that is spurious which is later in date.” – Tertullian, Against Praxeas 

But I must take some further pains to rebut their arguments, when they make selections from the Scriptures in support of their opinion, and refuse to consider the other points, which obviously maintain the rule of faith without any infraction of the unity of the Godhead, and with the full admission of the Monarchy. For as in the Old Testament Scriptures they lay hold of nothing else than, I am God, and beside me there is no God; Isaiah 45:5 so in the Gospel they simply keep in view the Lord’s answer to Philip, I and my Father are one; John 10:30 and, He that has seen me has seen the Father; and I am in the Father, and the Father in me. John 14:9-10 They would have the entire revelation of both Testaments yield to these three passages, whereas the only proper course is to understand the few statements in the light of the many. But in their contention they only act on the principle of all heretics. For, inasmuch as only a few testimonies are to be found (making for them) in the general mass, they pertinaciously set off the few against the many, and assume the later against the earlier. The rule, however, which has been from the beginning established for every case, gives its prescription against the later assumptions, as indeed it also does against the fewer. – Tertullian Against Praxeas chapter 20

For the cynic Diogenes used to go about, lantern in hand, at mid-day to find a man; whereas Marcion has quenched the light of his faith, and so lost the God whom he had found. His disciples will not deny that his first faith he held along with ourselves; a letter of his own proves this; so that for the future a heretic may from his case be designated as one who, forsaking that which was prior, afterwards chose out for himself that which was not in times past. For in as far as what was delivered in times past and from the beginning will be held as truth, in so far will that be accounted heresy which is brought in later. But another brief treatise will maintain this position against heretics, who ought to be refuted even without a consideration of their doctrines, on the ground that they are heretical by reason of the novelty of their opinions. – Tertullian, Against Marcion, Book 1 chapter 1

“Doubt, after the time of the apostles, the truth respecting the belief of God suffered corruption, but it is equally certain that during the life of the apostles their teaching on this great article did not suffer at all; so that no other teaching will have the right of being received as apostolic than that which is at the present day proclaimed in the churches of apostolic foundation.” – Tertullian, Against Marcion, Book 1 chapter 21

“You will, however, find no church of apostolic origin but such as reposes its Christian faith in the Creator. But if the churches shall prove to have been corrupt from the beginning, where shall the pure ones be found? Will it be among the adversaries of the Creator? Show us, then, one of your churches, tracing its descent from an apostle, and you will have gained the day.”– Tertullian, Against Marcion, Book 1, chapter 21

“For, inasmuch as error is falsification of truth, it must needs be that truth therefore precede error.” Tertullian against Marcion Book 4, chapter 4  

“It too, of course, has its churches, but specially its own — as late as they are spurious; and should you want to know their original, you will more easily discover apostasy in it than apostolicity, with Marcion forsooth as their founder, or some one of Marcion’s swarm.” – Tertullian, Against Marcion, Book 4, chapter 5 

Such are the summary arguments which we use, when we take up arms against heretics for the faith of the gospel, maintaining both that order of periods, which rules that a late date is the mark of forgers, and that authority of churches which lends support to the tradition of the apostles; because truth must needs precede the forgery, and proceed straight from those by whom it has been handed on.” Tertullian, Against Maricon, Book 4, chapter 5

I am accustomed in my prescription against all heresies, to fix my compendious criterion (of truth) in the testimony of time; claiming priority therein as our rule, and alleging lateness to be the characteristic of every heresy. This shall now be proved even by the apostle, when he says: “For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; which has come unto you, as it is unto all the world.” Colossians 1:5-6 For if, even at that time, the tradition of the gospel had spread everywhere, how much more now! Now, if it is our gospel which has spread everywhere, rather than any heretical gospel, much less Marcion’s, which only dates from the reign of Antoninus, then ours will be the gospel of the apostles. But should Marcion’s gospel succeed in filling the whole world, it would not even in that case be entitled to the character of apostolic. For this quality, it will be evident, can only belong to that gospel which was the first to fill the world; in other words, to the gospel of that God who of old declared this of its promulgation: Their sound is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. – Tertullian, Against Marcion, Book 5, chapter 19

• According to Tertullian, the clearest mark of the true gospel is its antiquity and universality. The gospel first preached by the apostles and spread throughout the world from the beginning is the only one that can rightly be called apostolic and therefore the true gospel. Even if a false gospel — like Marcion’s — were to reach every corner of the earth, it would still be disqualified, because it came later. Truth belongs to what is original and apostolic, not to what is recent and novel. And since Tertullian appeals to the rule he gave in his Prescription Against All Heretics, this reasoning applies far beyond the gospel itself — it extends to every doctrine. The first universally accepted teaching in the Church carries apostolic authority. Later innovations, even if they gain wide acceptance, lack that foundation. Therefore, on any doctrine, if it bears the marks of antiquity and universality, it is the truth. This is a very short summary of the Rule Tertllians gives in his book “Prescription Against All Heresies.”

But while he exposes these tempers as the sole cause of the diversity, he avoids inculpating the regular mysteries of the faith, and affirms that there is, notwithstanding, but one Christ and His one God, whatever motives men had in preaching Him. Therefore, says he, it matters not to me whether it be in pretence or in truth that Christ is preached, Philippians 1:18 because one Christ alone was announced, whether in their pretentious or their truthful faith. For it was to the faithfulness of their preaching that he applied the word truth, not to the rightness of the rule itself, because there was indeed but one rule; whereas the conduct of the preachers varied: in some of them it was true, i.e. single-minded, while in others it was sophisticated with over-much learning. This being the case, it is manifest that that Christ was the subject of their preaching who was always the theme of the prophets. Now, if it were a completely different Christ that was being introduced by the apostle, the novelty of the thing would have produced a diversity (in belief). For there would not have been wanting, in spite of the novel teaching, men to interpret the preached gospel of the Creator’s Christ, since the majority of persons everywhere now-a-days are of our way of thinking, rather than on the heretical side. So that the apostle would not in such a passage as the present one have refrained from remarking and censuring the diversity. Since, however, there is no blame of a diversity, there is no proof of a novelty. – Tertullian, Against Marcion, Book 5, chapter 20

Hippolytus (disciple of Irenaeus):

We have set forth as was necessary that part of the discourse which relates to the spiritual gifts, all that God, right from the beginning, granted to people according to his will, bringing back to himself this image which had gone astray. Now, driven by love towards all the saints, we have arrived at the essence of the tradition which is proper for the Churches. This is so that those who are well informed may keep the tradition which has lasted until now, according to the explanation we give of it, and so that others by taking note of it may be strengthened (against the fall or error which has recently occurred because of ignorance and ignorant people), with the Holy Spirit conferring perfect grace on those who have a correct faith, and so that they will know that those who are at the head of the Church must teach and guard all these things……[Final chapter:] Thus, if these things are heard with grace and correct faith, they bestow edification on the Church and eternal life on the believers. ‘I counsel that these things be observed by all with good understanding. For if all who hear the apostolic tradition follow and keep it, no heretic will be able to introduce error, nor will any other person at all. It is in this manner that the many heresies have grown, for those who were leaders did not wish to inform themselves of the opinion of the apostles, but did what they wanted according to their own pleasure, and not what was appropriate. If we have omitted anything, beloved ones, God will reveal it to those who are worthy, steering Holy Church to her mooring in the quiet haven. — Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition, chapters 1 and 43

Origen (Pupil of Clement of Alexandria and knew Hippolytus):

So we will take His saying, “As the lily among thorns, so is my neighbour among the daughters” (Song of Songs 2:2), as denoting the Church of the Gentiles, either because she has come forth among the infidels and unbelievers, as from among thorns, or else because she may be said to be placed in the midst of thorns because of the vexations of the heretics who clamour round her. And this last will seem the more exact interpretation, because He says: “So is my neighbour among the daughters”; He would not have used “the daughters” for those souls that had never come to faith at all. For heretics all begin by believing, and afterwards depart from the road of faith and the truth of the Church’s teaching, as the Apostle John also says in his epistle: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us” (1 John 2:19). – Origen, Commentary on the Songs of Songs, Book 3, chapter 2

“For as we ceased to seek for truth (notwithstanding the professions of many among Greeks and Barbarians to make it known) among all who claimed it for erroneous opinions, after we had come to believe that Christ was the Son of God, and were persuaded that we must learn it from Himself; so, seeing there are many who think they hold the opinions of Christ, and yet some of these think differently from their predecessors, yet as the teaching of the Church, transmitted in orderly succession from the apostles, and remaining in the Churches to the present day, is still preserved, that alone is to be accepted as truth which differs in no respect from ecclesiastical and apostolic tradition. Now it ought to be known that the holy apostles, in preaching the faith of Christ, delivered themselves with the utmost clearness on certain points which they believed to be necessary to every one…” – Origen, On First Principles, Preface, paragraph 2-3 (220 AD)

• “The teaching of the Church, handed down in unbroken succession from the apostles, is still preserved and continues to exist in the churches up to the present day, we maintain that that only is to be believed as the truth which in no way conflicts with the tradition of the church and the apostles. Now it ought to be known that the holy apostles, in preaching the faith of Christ, delivered with utmost clarity to all believers,…” Origen, On First Principles, Preface, paragraph 2-3 (220 AD) John Behr translation.

Now the reason of the erroneous apprehension of all these points on the part of those whom we have mentioned above, is no other than this, that holy Scripture is not understood by them according to its spiritual, but according to its literal meaning. And therefore we shall endeavour, so far as our mod­erate capacity will permit, to point out to those who believe the holy Scriptures to be no human compo­sitions, but to be written by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and to be transmitted and entrusted to us by the will of God the Father, through His only-begot­ten Son Jesus Christ, what appears to us, who ob­serve things by a right way of understanding, to be the standard and discipline delivered to the apostles by Jesus Christ, and which they handed down in suc­cession to their posterity, the teachers of the holy Church. – Origen, On First Principles 4.1.9 (220 AD)

But as for what is said, “and you will be hated by all nations because of my name,” Matthew 29:9 one may resolve it in this way, that never indeed have “all nations” with one consent been against the Christians: but when those things which Christ foretold shall happen, then, as though being inflamed, all will begin to accuse the Christians, stirred up by certain Gentiles, so that persecutions will then take place, not partially as before, but universally everywhere against the people of God. Then it will happen that “many” will fall away who seem to stand in the faith, and they will “betray one another,” and there will be hatred even among those who seem to be believers. Then many “false prophets” will arise, “deceiving the multitude” of the senseless; then, with “love growing cold” not only among unbelievers, but even among the believers themselves, the fervor of love “will grow cold because of many iniquities,” so that few will remain contending for the truth until the end, who alone will be saved…But also in disputes and questions there will be few who are intent on fully attaining the truth. Many, however, will stumble and fall away from the truth, becoming “traitors and accusers of one another” because of the disagreement of doctrines of truth, which not all can grasp: and this will be the cause that they “hate one another.” And when such questions have spread among many, there will indeed be many who give unsound teaching about future events, and who interpret the prophets in ways they should not; whom no one will be wrong in calling “false prophets,” since they “deceive many.” But very few will be those investigating the truth. And false doctrines, deviating from the purpose of truth, will indeed overthrow those who were strong [in the faith] and will multiply those with itching ears, speaking things contrary to God’s law for their pleasure. The contradictory words of many teachers will cause such great harm, that they will even make the fervent love — which once existed in the simplicity of faith — “to grow cold,” through the presumption of having comprehended the divine mysteries and the truth. But he who is able, seeing all these things, to remain in the first purpose of apostolic tradition and the teaching of the Church “will be saved.” Matthew 24:13 — Origen of Alexandria (Commentary on Matthew, Commentary Series 39, PG 13)

The next quote from Origen can help understand what Origen means by “But he who is able, seeing all these things, to remain in the first purpose of apostolic tradition and the teaching of the Church “will be saved” if its not clear enough: Origen below explains that we must not depart from the primary tradition of the church which is handed down from the beginning, this is the apostolic tradition and Church teaching we must cling to to be saved:

[Quotes Matthew 24:23-28] Since we have said that the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place is the word of the lie because it is seen to stand in the holy place of the Scriptures, someone will say: And how does someone say to the disciples of Christ, “Behold, here is Christ; Behold, there,” as if the lie were not standing there? And another will say, “Behold, he is in the wilderness,” and another, “Behold, he is in the houses”? Consider, then, if we can reply to this objection that it says, “Behold, here; Behold, there,” because what it says, “Behold, here; Behold, there,” is not to be looked for outside Scripture. For he who will wish to deceive us and maintain things contrary to the truth will say, “Behold, here is Christ,” mentioning, for example, this passage of the Gospel. But the author of another error will say, “Behold, here is Christ,” offering another text as an example that appears to defend the word of that lie that he has proposed to champion. And so, from the law, from the prophets, from the apostles, each one produces the texts that appear to defend that lie as the truth. Or rather what it says is fulfilled in this way: “Behold, here is Christ; Behold, there,” disclosing not Christ, but some fiction of the same name, as in the teaching of Marcion and the traditions of Valentinus, or the lengthy fabulous invention of Basilides, or in the false testimony of Apelles against Paul. And there will be many others who will say to the disciples based on the divine Scriptures, adding their own private understanding to them: “Behold, here is Christ; Behold, there.” For hidden Scriptures are correctly called wildernesses in which either a few believe or no one at all, but every time they offer the canonical Scriptures to which every Christian gives consent and believes in, they appear to say: “Behold” the word of truth “is in the houses”. But we should not believe them nor “go out” from the primary tradition of the church, nor believe otherwise than just as they handed the tradition down to us through the succession of the church of God. Or consider it as follows: Some of those who are professors of those false words indeed do not even imitate the Scriptures from the beginning, and thus they attempt to deceive. Therefore (I think), wishing to indicate those words that are completely outside Scripture he said: “If they shall say to you, Behold, he is in the wilderness, do not go out” from the rule of faith. But, wishing to indicate those who imitate the divine Scriptures for the sake of schism, he said: “If they shall say to you: Behold, he is in the houses, do not believe it.” “Do not believe” what is said, whatever they have avowed as proof from the Scriptures and from the mysteries that are in them. For the truth is like lightning that “comes out of the east and is seen as far as the west.” The truth of the church of God is like this, for from it alone has ‘the sound gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the circle of the earth’, and the truth of God alone truly runs swiftly. – The Commentary of Origen on Matthew, Volume 2, Series 46

And one is a scribe “made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven” in the simpler sense, when he comes from Judaism and receives the teaching of Jesus Christ as defined by the Church; but he is a scribe in a deeper sense, when having received elementary knowledge through the letter of the Scriptures he ascends to things spiritual, which are called the kingdom of the heavens. – Origen, Commentary on Matthew, Book 10, chapter 14

…Now, every lover of truth should struggle in his own mind to understand these things concerning the resurrection, to preserve the tradition of the ancients, and to beware of falling into the nonsense of impoverished notions, which are at the same time impossible for and unworthy of God….Origen, Commentary on Psalms, Psalm 1.5

“For thy voice is sweet” (Song of Songs 2:14). Who would not admit that the voice of the Catholic [Universal] Church is sweet in her confession of the true faith; whereas the voice of the heretics, who speak not the doctrines of the truth, but blasphemies against God and iniquity on high (Psalm 73:9), is harsh and unpleasing? In the same way, the face of the Church is fair, but that of heretics is hideous and ugly—if indeed anyone is able to discern this beauty of face, if he is spiritual, that is to say, and a person who knows how to sift all things out. For with ignorant and sensual men the fallacies of falsehood appear more beautiful than do the dogmas of the truth. As to the outwork in this passage, we can, moreover, add this: that the outwork may be the bosom of the Father, whence the Only-Begotten Son declares all things and tells His Church whatsoever things are hidden in the secrets of the Father’s heart. — Origen, Commentary on the Song of Songs, Book 3, chapter 15

“Moreover, in the ecclesiastical observances there are some things of this sort, which everyone is obliged to do, and yet not everyone understands the reason for them. For the fact that we kneel to pray, for instance, and that of all the quarters of the heavens, the east is the only direction we turn to when we pour out prayer, the reasons for this, I think, are not easily discovered by anyone. Moreover, who would readily explain the reasons for the way we receive the Eucharist, or for the rite of explanation by which it is celebrated, or for the things that are done in baptism, the words, actions, sequences, questions and answers? And yet, we carry all these things on our shoulders, though they are covered and veiled, when we fulfill them and follow them in such a way that we have received them as handed down and commended by the great high priest [Jesus Christ] and his sons.” – Origen, Homilies on Numbers 5.1.4

Cyprian (according to Jerome, he read Tertullian everyday and called him “master”):

“For this, my brother, we especially both labour after, and ought to labour after, to be careful to maintain as much as we can the unity delivered by the Lord, and through His apostles to us their successors, and, as far as in us lies, to gather into the Church the dispersed and wandering sheep which the wilful faction and heretical temptation of some is separating from their Mother; those only being left outside, who by their obstinacy and madness have persisted, and have been unwilling to return to us; who themselves will have to give an account to the Lord of the dissension and separation made by them, and of the Church that they have forsaken.” Cyprian, Epistle 41

It’s like he’s saying the unity that existed when the apostles were alive, is the same unity they’re to maintain. To me clearly Cyprian didn’t believe the Church all believed differently, the unity stayed the same for hundreds of years.

“…Nevertheless, Peter, upon whom by the same Lord the Church had been built, speaking one for all, and answering with the voice of the Church, says, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we believe, and are sure that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God: Matthew 15:13 signifying, doubtless, and showing that those who departed from Christ perished by their own fault, yet that the Church which believes on Christ, and holds that which it has once learned, never departs from Him at all.” Cyprian, Epistle 54.7 

“Moreover, the blessed Apostle Paul, chosen and sent by the Lord, and appointed a preacher of the Gospel truth, lays down these very things in his epistle, saying, The Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, This is my body, which shall be given for you: do this in remembrance of me. After the same manner also He took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do, as oft as you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you shall show forth the Lord’s death until He come. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 But if it is both enjoined by the Lord, and the same thing is confirmed and delivered by His apostle, that as often as we drink, we do in remembrance of the Lord the same thing which the Lord also did, we find that what was commanded is not observed by us, unless we also do what the Lord did; and that mixing the Lord’s cup in like manner we do not depart from the divine teaching; but that we must not at all depart from the evangelical precepts, and that disciples ought also to observe and to do the same things which the Master both taught and did. The blessed apostle in another place more earnestly and strongly teaches, saying, “I wonder that you are so soon removed from Him that called you into grace, unto another gospel, which is not another; but there are some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any otherwise than that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be anathema.” Galatians 1:6-9 Since, then, neither the apostle himself nor an angel from heaven can preach or teach any otherwise than Christ has once taught and His apostles have announced, I wonder very much whence has originated this practice, that, contrary to evangelical and apostolic discipline, water is offered in some places in the Lord’s cup, which water by itself cannot express the blood of Christ.” – Cyprian, Epistle 62.10-11

“Concerning which matters, since you have desired our advice, know that we do not depart from the traditions of the Gospel and of the apostles…” Cyprian, Epistle 61.1

“But if there be among us, most beloved brother, the fear of God, if the maintenance of the faith prevail, if we keep the precepts of Christ, if we guard the incorrupt and inviolate sanctity of His spouse, if the words of the Lord abide in our thoughts and hearts, when he says, Do you think, when the Son of man comes, shall He find faith on the earth Luke 18:8 then, because we are God’s faithful soldiers, who war for the faith and sincere religion of God, let us keep the camp entrusted to us by God with faithful valour. Nor ought custom, which had crept in among some, to prevent the truth from prevailing and conquering; for custom without truth is the antiquity of error.” Cyprian, Epistle 73.9

“But that they who are at Rome do not observe those things in all cases which are handed down from the beginning, and vainly pretend the authority of the apostles; any one may know also from the fact, that concerning the celebration of Easter, and concerning many other sacraments of divine matters, he may see that there are some diversities among them, and that all things are not observed among them alike, which are observed at Jerusalem, just as in very many other provinces also many things are varied because of the difference of the places and names. And yet on this account there is no departure at all from the peace and unity of the Catholic Church.“ – Firmilian to Cyprian, Epistle 74.6 (Cyprian)

And this indeed you Africans are able to say against Stephen, that when you knew the truth you forsook the error of custom. But we join custom to truth, and to the Romans’ custom we oppose custom, but the custom of truth; holding from the beginning that which was delivered by Christ and the apostles. Firmilian, Epistle 74.19 (Cyprian)

• Such are the summary arguments which we use, when we take up arms against heretics for the faith of the gospel, maintaining both that order of periods, which rules that a late date is the mark of forgers, and that authority of churches which lends support to the tradition of the apostles; because truth must needs precede the forgery, and proceed straight from those by whom it has been handed on.” Tertullian, Against Maricon, Book 4, chapter 5

• “Custom of truth” (Firmilian) is the tradition handed down to the churches from the apostles (according to Firmilian above). Just because something is old doesn’t automatically mean it’s true. What we should ask is was this a tradition held by the early churches – for custom without truth is the antiquity of error. Firmilian is also echoing Tertullian, “For custom often begins from some ignorance or simplicity, gains strength by succession, and so comes to be defended against the truth. But our Lord Christ called Himself the Truth, not “Custom.” If Christ is forever and before all things, then Truth is eternal and ancient as well. Let those for whom this seems “new” consider that for truth it is ancient. It is not novelty, but truth, that defeats heresy; for anything that opposes truth is heresy—even an ancient custom.” (On the Veiling of Virgins chapter 1)….Firmilian says “And this indeed you Africans are able to say against Stephen, that when you knew the truth you forsook the error of custom. But we join custom to truth, and to the Romans’ custom we oppose custom, but the custom of truth; holding from the beginning that which was delivered by Christ and the apostles.” (Epistle 74.19, Cyprian)

For the Lord, when He would urge unanimity and peace upon His disciples, said, I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth touching anything that you shall ask, it shall be given you by my Father which is in heaven. For wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name, I am with them;  showing that most is given, not to the multitude, but to the unanimity of those that pray. If, He says, two of you shall agree on earth: He placed agreement first; He has made the concord of peace a prerequisite; He taught that we should agree firmly and faithfully. But how can he agree with any one who does not agree with the body of the Church itself, and with the universal brotherhood? How can two or three be assembled together in Christ’s name, who, it is evident, are separated from Christ and from His Gospel? For we have not withdrawn from them, but they from us; and since heresies and schisms have risen subsequently, from their establishment for themselves of diverse places of worship, they have forsaken the Head and Source of the truth. Cyprian, On the Unity of the Church 1.12

Dionysius of Alexandria:

“Inasmuch as you have written thus, setting forth the pious legislation, which we continually read and now have in remembrance—namely that it shall suffice only to lay hands on those who shall have made profession in baptism, whether in pretence or in truth,14 of God Almighty and of Christ and of the Holy Spirit; but those over whom there has not been invoked the name either of Father or of Son or of the Holy Spirit, these we must baptise, but not rebaptise. This is the sure and immovable teaching and tradition, begun by our Lord after his resurrection from the dead, when he gave his apostles the command 15 : Go ye, make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This then was preserved and fulfilled by his successors, the blessed apostles, and by all the bishops prior to ourselves who have died in the holy church and shared in its life 16; and it has lasted down to us, because it is firmer than the whole world. For, he said, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”” Dionysius of Alexandria, Of the same from the first letter to Xystus, chief bishop of Rome.

Acts of the Disputation with Manes:

“I wish you to know, most pious father, that in these days there has arrived in our parts a certain person named Manes, who gives out that he is to complete the doctrine of the New Testament. And in the statements which he has made there have been some things, indeed, which may harmonize with our faith; but there have been also certain affirmations of his which seem very far removed from what has come down to us by the tradition of our fathers. For he has interpreted some doctrines in a strange fashion, imposing on them certain notions of his own, which have appeared to me to be altogether foreign and opposed to the faith….those who seek to set up any new dogma have the habit of very readily perverting into a conformity with their own notions any proofs they desire to take from the Scriptures. In anticipation, however, of this, the apostolic word marks out the case thus: If any one preach any other gospel unto you than that which you have received, let him be accursed. And consequently, in addition to what has been once committed to us by the apostles, a disciple of Christ ought to receive nothing new as doctrine.” Acts of the Disputation with Manes, chapter 40 (270 AD)

Lactantius (Pupil of Arnobius):

“They approach the gods, therefore not so much on account of religion, which can have no place in badly acquired and corruptible things, as that they may gaze upon the gold, and view the brilliancy of polished marble or ivory, that they may survey with unwearied contemplation garments adorned with precious stones and colors, or cups studded with glittering jewels. And the more ornamented are the temples, and the more beautiful the images, so much the greater majesty are they believed to have: so entirely is their religion confined to that which the desire of men admires. These are the religious institutions handed down to them by their ancestors, which they persist in maintaining and defending with the greatest obstinacy. Nor do they consider of what character they are; but they feel assured of their excellence and truth on this account, because the ancients have handed them down; and so great is the authority of antiquity, that it is said to be a crime to inquire into it. And thus it is everywhere believed as ascertained truth.” Lactantius, The Divine Institutes, Book 2, chapter 7

• Even the pagans have their own rule of antiquity and preserving the traditions of their fathers, and believe it to be the truth, just like the Christian’s have their ancient fathers who hand down the truth.

Romulus, when he was about to found the city, called together the shepherds among whom he had grown up; and since their number appeared inadequate to the founding of the city, he established an asylum. To this all the most abandoned men flocked together indiscriminately from the neighbouring places, without any distinction of condition. Thus he brought together the people from all these; and he chose into the senate those who were oldest, and called them Fathers, by whose advice he might direct all things. And concerning this senate, Propertius the elegiac poet thus speaks:— “The trumpet used to call the ancient Quirites to an assembly; those hundred in the field often formed the senate. The senate-house, which now is raised aloft and shines with the well-robed senate, received the Fathers clothed in skins, rustic spirits.” These are the Fathers whose decrees learned and sagacious men obey with the greatest devotion; and all posterity must judge that to be true and unchangeable which an hundred old men clothed in skins established at their will; who, however, as has been mentioned in the first book, were enticed by Pompilius to believe the truth of those sacred rites which he himself delivered. Is there any reason why their authority should be so highly esteemed by posterity, since during their life no one either high or low judged them worthy of affinity? Lactantius, The Divine Institutes, Book 2, chapter 7

It is therefore right, especially in a matter on which the whole plan of life turns, that every one should place confidence in himself, and use his own judgment and individual capacity for the investigation and weighing of the truth, rather than through confidence in others to be deceived by their errors, as though he himself were without understanding. God has given wisdom to all alike, that they might be able both to investigate things which they have not heard, and to weigh things which they have heard. Nor, because they preceded us in time, did they also outstrip us in wisdom; for if this is given equally to all, we cannot be anticipated in it by those who precede us. It is incapable of diminution, as the light and brilliancy of the sun; because, as the sun is the light of the eyes, so is wisdom the light of man’s heart. Wherefore, since wisdom —that is, the inquiry after truth is natural to all, they deprive themselves of wisdom, who without any judgment approve of the discoveries of their ancestors, and like sheep are led by others. But this escapes their notice, that the name of ancestors being introduced, they think it impossible that they themselves should have more knowledge because they are called descendants, or that the others should be unwise because they are called ancestors. What, therefore, prevents us from taking a precedent from them, that as they handed down to posterity their false inventions, so we who have discovered the truth may hand down better things to our posterity? Lactantius, The Divine Institutes, Book 2, chapter 8

Eusebius:

At this time Clement [of Alexandria], being trained with him in the divine Scriptures at Alexandria, became well known. He had the same name as the one who anciently was at the head of the Roman church, and who was a disciple of the apostles. In his Hypotyposes he speaks of Pantænus by name as his teacher. It seems to me that he alludes to the same person also in the first book of his Stromata, when, referring to the more conspicuous of the successors of the apostles whom he had met, he says:  “This work is not a writing artfully constructed for display; but my notes are stored up for old age, as a remedy against forgetfulness; an image without art, and a rough sketch of those powerful and animated words which it was my privilege to hear, as well as of blessed and truly remarkable men. Of these the one — the Ionian — was in Greece, the other in Magna Græcia; the one of them was from Cœle-Syria, the other from Egypt. There were others in the East, one of them an Assyrian, the other a Hebrew in Palestine. But when I met with the last, — in ability truly he was first — having hunted him out in his concealment in Egypt, I found rest. These men, preserving the true tradition of the blessed doctrine, directly from the holy apostles, Peter and James and John and Paul, the son receiving it from the father (but few were like the fathers), have come by God’s will even to us to deposit those ancestral and apostolic seeds.” Eusebius, Church History, Book 5, chapter 11

There is said to be a certain village called Ardabau in that part of Mysia, which borders upon Phrygia. There first, they say, when Gratus was proconsul of Asia, a recent convert, Montanus by name, through his unquenchable desire for leadership, gave the adversary opportunity against him. And he became beside himself, and being suddenly in a sort of frenzy and ecstasy, he raved, and began to babble and utter strange things, prophesying in a manner contrary to the constant custom of the Church handed down by tradition from the beginning. — Eusebius, Church History 5.16.

 “For they say [heretics] that all the early teachers and the apostles received and taught what they now declare, and that the truth of the Gospel was preserved until the times of Victor, who was the thirteenth bishop of Rome from Peter, but that from his successor, Zephyrinus, the truth had been corrupted. And what they say might be plausible, if first of all the Divine Scriptures did not contradict them. And there are writings of certain brethren older than the times of Victor, which they wrote in behalf of the truth against the heathen, and against the heresies which existed in their day. I refer to Justin and Miltiades and Tatian and Clement and many others, in all of whose works Christ is spoken of as God. For who does not know the works of Irenæus and of Melito and of others which teach that Christ is God and man? And how many psalms and hymns, written by the faithful brethren from the beginning, celebrate Christ the Word of God, speaking of him as Divine. 6. How then since the opinion held by the Church has been preached for so many years, can its preaching have been delayed as they affirm, until the times of Victor? And how is it that they are not ashamed to speak thus falsely of Victor, knowing well that he cut off from communion Theodotus, the cobbler, the leader and father of this God-denying apostasy, and the first to declare that Christ is mere man? For if Victor agreed with their opinions, as their slander affirms, how came he to cast out Theodotus, the inventor of this heresy?” — Church History by Eusebius, Book 5, Chapter 28

In the letter to Florinus, of which we have spoken, Irenæus mentions again his intimacy with Polycarp, saying: “These doctrines, O Florinus, to speak mildly, are not of sound judgment. These doctrines disagree with the Church, and drive into the greatest impiety those who accept them. These doctrines, not even the heretics outside of the Church, have ever dared to publish. These doctrines, the presbyters who were before us, and who were companions of the apostles, did not deliver to you. For when I was a boy, I saw you in lower Asia with Polycarp, moving in splendor in the royal court, and endeavoring to gain his approbation. I remember the events of that time more clearly than those of recent years. For what boys learn, growing with their mind, becomes joined with it; so that I am able to describe the very place in which the blessed Polycarp sat as he discoursed, and his goings out and his comings in, and the manner of his life, and his physical appearance, and his discourses to the people, and the accounts which he gave of his intercourse with John and with the others who had seen the Lord. And as he remembered their words, and what he heard from them concerning the Lord, and concerning his miracles and his teaching, having received them from eyewitnesses of the ‘Word of life,’ 1 John 1:1 Polycarp related all things in harmony with the Scriptures. These things being told me by the mercy of God, I listened to them attentively, noting them down, not on paper, but in my heart. And continually, through God’s grace, I recall them faithfully. And I am able to bear witness before God that if that blessed and apostolic presbyter had heard any such thing, he would have cried out, and stopped his ears, and as was his custom, would have exclaimed, O good God, unto what times have you spared me that I should endure these things? And he would have fled from the place where, sitting or standing, he had heard such words. And this can be shown plainly from the letters which he sent, either to the neighboring churches for their confirmation, or to some of the brethren, admonishing and exhorting them.” — Irenaeus (Eusebius, Church History, Book 5, chapter 28.1-6)

…Given that these things have been laid out in brief to the same Galatians from the only letter addressed to them, and that the saving faith provides the mystical regeneration “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19), and that in addition to the divine writings the universal Church of God from one end of the earth to the other confirms the testimonies from the divine Scriptures by its unwritten tradition, now it remains also to examine in detail the statements of Marcellus and to undertake the demonstrations that were promised by us, lest anyone think that the man is unjustly disparaged by us. — Eusebius, Against Marcellus, Book 1, chapter 1.24-36

Eusebius defines “unwritten tradition” as the universal consensus and living practice of the Church. Specifically, he appeals to the universal baptismal formula as proof of distinct divine persons, countering Marcellus’s modalist arguments with established ecclesiastical tradition. By appealing to the Universal Church, he argues that because churches separated by vast distances all baptize using the threefold name, this shared “unwritten tradition” provides a historical and communal proof that their interpretation of the written Scriptures is the correct one. To Eusebius, this tradition is the “sacrament of rebirth” passed down from the Apostles, acting as an essential safeguard that prevents individuals from twisting the Scriptures to create new beliefs that the Church has never known. Scripture teaches one thing, and the Universal Church confirms if that interpretation is correct or not. 

“…This wonderful author [Marcellus, heretic] proposed this sort of end for the flesh of our Savior, having forgotten what he said about it in the previous remarks. Then, having declared clearly in this way that the saving body would be bereft of the Word after the time of judgment, he feigns piety and says he does not know how to answer if someone should ask him about the flesh, but would say to the one who asks, “Do not ask me about what I have not learned.” But someone who came across him could well say to him, “Why then do you mock yourself, man? Why indeed do you rush down the cliffs, offering definitive statements in writing things about which you have not learned? Why do you not preserve the things you have received from both the fathers and the teachers of the Church? But you innovate recklessly, introducing into its life a new and alien distortion, granting a beginning, both circumscribed in time and more recent, to the kingdom of Christ, and having determined an end of this, and denying the truly only-begotten Son of God and assuming that he is a mere word, without being and non-subsistent, which you say is nothing other than one and the same with God, which indeed even everyone would say with good reason if he were denying the Son of God. For the Word that does not subsist is not a Son, just as neither would the word that is in man ever be said to be a son of man, having arisen within the one speaking by virtue of activity alone. … From where then have you learned these things? Who is your authority for teaching these things—which of the bishops, what sort of synods, what sort of book of ecclesiastical men? Where do you think the immortal body of the Savior would go? …”” — Eusebius, Against Marcellus, Book 2, chapter 4

“…But [Marcellus] also finds fault with the necessity of following the fathers, although the divine Scripture says, “Ask your father, and he will inform you; your elders, and they will tell you” (Deuteronomy 32:7), and, “Do not remove the ancient landmark that your ancestors set up” (Proverbs 22:28).…” — Eusebius of Caesarea, Against Marcellus, Book 1, chapter 4

I thought that the citations of Marcellus’s own words that I assembled in the previous books were sufficient for their refutation. For they contained so clear and indisputable a denial of the Son of God that even without any counter-argument, the thought contained in these words had to be rejected by those who are nourished by the Church of God. But because I became concerned lest by chance some might later be drawn away from the Church’s theology by the frequent citations [of Scripture] that the man has used in order to make them believe what he thought would agree with his views, I judged that it was necessary under the present circumstances to expand the refutation of these remarks, so that every person might learn that not a single one of his quotations of the inspired Scripture provides a testimony that agrees with him [Marcellus] when he denies the Son of God; rather, all his quotations completely and incontrovertibly state the opposite and correct his erroneous interpretations of the divine Scriptures. And indeed, using the same method [the quotation of Scripture], I will bring to bear on that matter the theology concerning our Savior. I will have nothing new to say, nor will I relate any brilliant discovery of my own; rather, I offer the uncorrupted teaching of the Church of God. This teaching the Church now preserves, since it received it from those who from the beginning personally saw and heard the Word from heaven (Luke 1:2). — Eusebius, On Ecclesiastical Theology, Book 1, preface

The children of the Jews first received the confession of the one God in opposition to the polytheistic error of the Greeks. But the saving grace of recognizing that the same [God] is also Father of an only-begotten Son has been given to the Church as a special privilege. For as Son it knows Jesus Christ alone and no other, not according to the generation of the flesh that he assumed (for it has been taught to call this flesh the “form of a slave” and “Son of Man”), but according to his [generation] before all ages from God himself and the Father, [which is] unknowable to all. According to this [generation from God] the fullness of the paternal divinity also made him, the Son, God, and so as a result he possesses a divinity that is not his own, one separated from that of the Father, nor one that is without source and that is unbegotten, nor one that is foreign, from somewhere else, and different from the Father’s. Rather, he is filled with divinity by participating in the paternal [divinity] itself, which pours into him as from a fountain. For the great Apostle taught that “in him alone dwells all the fullness” of the paternal “divinity” (Colossians 2:9). For this reason, then, one God is proclaimed by the Church of God, “and there is no other besides him” (Isaiah 45:5), but also one only-begotten Son of God, the image of the paternal divinity, who, because of this, is God. So then, not having succeeded in understanding this theology, many contrived various pathways of error: [1.] those who granted that the Son is God, but who denied the man whom he has assumed; [2.] those who have supposed that [Christ] is a mere man, but did not recognize that God was in him; [3.] those who, from fear of seeming to have introduced a second God, defined Father and Son as the same [God]. The Church of God, having rejected these men, glories in the gospels’ proclamation of the truth. On the one hand, it boasts that there is one God who is over all; on the other, it affirms one only-begotten Son, God from God, Jesus Christ. It confesses that the same became Savior and Son of Man, being Son of God before he also became Son of Man, and that he became this, which he was not, because of the ineffable abundance of the Father’s love for humankind. The word of truth, indeed, proclaims this through the voice of the Church. — Eusebius, On Ecclesiastical Theology 1.2-4

“At that time [A.D. 150] there flourished in the Church Hegesippus, whom we know from what has gone before, and Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, and another bishop, Pinytus of Crete, and besides these, Philip, and Apollinarius, and Melito, and Musanus, and Modestus, and, finally, Irenaeus. From them has come down to us in writing, the sound and orthodox faith received from tradition” – Eusebius (Church History 4:21).

Council at Antioch 341 AD:

[Citation of a published letter by the Council at Antioch 341 AD:] “We have not been followers of Arius — how could Bishops, such as we, follow a Presbyter? — nor did we receive any other faith beside that which has been handed down from the beginning. But, after taking on ourselves to examine and to verify his faith, we admitted him rather than followed him; as you will understand from our present avowals.” – Athanasius, De Synodis chapter 22

[Another citation of a published letter by the Council at Antioch 341 AD:] Here follows what they published next at the same Dedication in another Epistle, being dissatisfied with the first, and devising something newer and fuller: “We believe , conformably to the evangelical and apostolic tradition, in One God, the Father Almighty, the Framer, and Maker, and Provider of the Universe, from whom are all things. …” ….. Holding then this faith, and holding it in the presence of God and Christ, from beginning to end, we anathematize every heretical heterodoxy. And if any teaches, beside the sound and right faith of the Scriptures, that time, or season, or age , either is or has been before the generation of the Son, be he anathema. Or if any one says, that the Son is a creature as one of the creatures, or an offspring as one of the offsprings, or a work as one of the works, and not the aforesaid articles one after another, as the divine Scriptures have delivered, or if he teaches or preaches beside what we received, be he anathema. For all that has been delivered in the divine Scriptures, whether by Prophets or Apostles, do we truly and reverentially both believe and follow. – Athanasius, De Synodis chapter 23

Athanasius:

But, beyond these sayings, let us look at the very tradition, teaching, and faith of the Catholic Church from the beginning, which the Lord gave, the Apostles preached, and the Fathers kept. Upon this the Church is founded, and he who should fall away from it would not be a Christian, and should no longer be so called. There is, then, a Triad, holy and complete, confessed to be God in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, having nothing foreign or external mixed with it, not composed of one that creates and one that is originated, but all creative; and it is consistent and in nature indivisible, and its activity is one. The Father does all things through the Word in the Holy Spirit. Thus the unity of the holy Triad is preserved. Thus one God is preached in the Church, ‘who is over all, and through all, and in all’—’over all’, as Father, as beginning, as fountain; ‘through all’, through the Word; ‘in all’, in the Holy Spirit. It is a Triad not only in name and form of speech, but in truth and actuality. For as the Father is he that is, so also his Word is one that is and God over all. And the Holy Spirit is not without actual existence, but exists and has true being. Less than these (Persons) the Catholic Church does not hold, lest she sink to the level of the modern Jews, imitators of Caiaphas, and to the level of Sabellius. Nor does she add to them by speculation, lest she be carried into the polytheism of the heathen. And that they may know this to be the faith of the Church, let them learn how the Lord, when sending forth the Apostles, ordered them to lay this foundation for the Church, saying: ‘Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’ The Apostles went, and thus they taught; and this is the preaching that extends to the whole Church which is under heaven. — Athanasius, Epistle One to Serapion, Chapter 28 

• Whatever the whole church has believed since the beginning of Christianity is how you can know what the apostles truly taught, because they taught the same faith and beliefs everywhere they went. 

In accordance with the Apostolic faith delivered to us by tradition from the Fathers, I have delivered the tradition, without inventing anything extraneous to it. What I learned, that have I inscribed conformably with the holy Scriptures; for it also conforms with those passages from the holy Scriptures which we have cited above by way of proof. — Athanasius, Epistle One to Serapion, Chapter 33

• Here Athanasius is doing exactly what the Apostle Peter says to do: “Many, as I see, my intelligent friend, draw plausible meanings from what they read, and therefore it must be carefully observed that the law of God, when it is read, should not be interpreted according to one’s own understanding. For there are many words in the divine Scriptures which can be twisted to the sense that each one has presumed for himself of his own accord; this must not be done. 2 Peter 3:15-17 For you should not seek a sense which you have brought in from outside, foreign and alien, and then try to confirm it by the authority of the Scriptures, but rather draw from the Scriptures themselves the sense of the truth; and therefore one must learn the meaning of the Scriptures from him who preserves it as it was faithfully handed down to him from his Fathers, so that he also may be able properly to assert what he has rightly received. For when one has received from the divine Scriptures a complete and firm rule of truth, it will not be unreasonable if he adds something also from common learning and from the liberal studies which he may perhaps have touched upon in childhood, to support the true doctrine, provided that wherever he has learned what is true, he rejects what is false and counterfeit.” — Peter, Recognitions 10.42 – This helps us understand that even from the year 40 all the way until the year 357 when Athanasius wrote this letter, the teaching on the interpretation of scripture and rule of truth was preserved.

“… This is the character of the faith which we have received from the Apostles through the Fathers.” – Athanasius of Alexandria, Epistle Two to Serapion, chapter 8

But the Bishop endeavoured to convince him, reasoning with him thus: ‘How is it possible for me to do this against Athanasius? How can we condemn a man, whom not one Council only, but a second assembled from all parts of the world, has fairly acquitted, and whom the Church of the Romans dismissed in peace? Who will approve of our conduct, if we reject in his absence one, whose presence among us we gladly welcomed, and admitted him to our communion? This is no Ecclesiastical Canon; nor have we had transmitted to us any such tradition from the Fathers, who in their turn received from the great and blessed Apostle Peter. — Athanasius, History of the Arians 36

The knowledge of our religion and of the truth of things is independently manifest rather than in need of human teachers, for almost day by day it asserts itself by facts, and manifests itself brighter than the sun by the doctrine of Christ. Still, as you nevertheless desire to hear about it, Macarius, come let us as we may be able set forth a few points of the faith of Christ: able though you are to find it out from the divine oracles, but yet generously desiring to hear from others as well. For although the sacred and inspired Scriptures are sufficient to declare the truth — while there are other works of our blessed teachers compiled for this purpose, if he meet with which a man will gain some knowledge of the interpretation of the Scriptures, and be able to learn what he wishes to know — still, as we have not at present in our hands the compositions of our teachers, we must communicate in writing to you what we learned from them — the faith, namely, of Christ the Saviour; lest any should hold cheap the doctrine taught among us, or think faith in Christ unreasonable. – Athanasius, Against the Heathen, Part 1, chapter 1

“The blessed Apostle approves of the Corinthians because, he says, ‘you remember me in all things, and keep the traditions as I delivered them to you.’ [1 Corinthians 11:2] But they [heretics], as entertaining such views of their predecessors, will have the daring to say just the reverse to their flocks: ‘We praise you not for remembering your fathers, but rather we make much of you when you hold not their traditions.’… For, what our Fathers have delivered, this is truly doctrine; and this is truly the token of doctors, to confess the same thing with each other, and to vary neither from themselves nor from their fathers; whereas they who have not this character are to be called not true doctors but evil… See, we are proving that this view has been transmitted from father to father; but you, O modern Jews and disciples of Caiaphas, how many fathers can you assign to your phrases? Not one of the understanding and wise; for all abhor you, but the devil alone.” Athanasius (De Decretis, chapter 4–6)

Who then but must approve of the conscientious conduct of the Bishops at Ariminum? Who endured such labour of journey and perils of sea, that by a sacred and canonical resolution they might depose the Arians, and guard inviolate the definitions of the Fathers. For each of them deemed that, if they undid the acts of their predecessors, they were affording a pretext to their successors to undo what they themselves then were enacting. And who but must condemn the fickleness of Eudoxius, Acacius, and their fellows, who sacrifice the honour due to their own fathers to partizanship and patronage of the Ario-maniacs ? For what confidence can be placed in their acts, if the acts of their fathers be undone? Or how call they them fathers and themselves successors, if they set about impeaching their judgment? And especially what can Acacius say of his own master, Eusebius, who not only gave his subscription in the Nicene Council, but even in a letter signified to his flock, that that was true faith, which the Council had declared? For, if he explained himself in that letter in his own way , yet he did not contradict the Council’s terms, but even charged it upon the Arians, that their position that the Son was not before His generation, was not even consistent with His being before Mary. What then will they proceed to teach the people who are under their teaching? That the Fathers erred? And how are they themselves to be trusted by those, whom they teach to disobey their Teachers? And with what eyes too will they look upon the sepulchres of the Fathers whom they now name heretics? And why do they defame the Valentinians, Phrygians, and Manichees, yet give the name of saint to those whom they themselves suspect of making parallel statements? Or how can they any longer be Bishops, if they were ordained by persons whom they accuse of heresy? But if their sentiments were wrong and their writings seduced the world, then let their memory perish altogether; when, however, you cast out their books, go and cast out their remains too from the cemeteries, so that one and all may know that they are seducers, and that you are parricides. The blessed Apostle approves of the Corinthians because, he says, ‘ye remember me in all things, and keep the traditions as I delivered them to you‘ 1 Corinthians 11:2; but they [the heretics mentioned above], as entertaining such views of their predecessors, will have the daring to say just the reverse to their flocks: ‘We praise you not for remembering your fathers, but rather we make much of you, when you hold not their traditions.’ And let them go on to accuse their own unfortunate birth, and say, ‘We are sprung not of religious men but of heretics.’ For such language, as I said before, is consistent in those who barter their Father’s fame and their own salvation for Arianism, and fear not the words of the divine proverb, ‘There is a generation that curses their father’ Proverbs 30:11; Exodus 21:17, and the threat lying in the Law against such. They then, from zeal for the heresy, are of this obstinate temper; you, however, be not troubled at it, nor take their audacity for truth. For they dissent from each other, and, whereas they have revolted from their Fathers, are not of one and the same mind, but float about with various and discordant changes. — Athanasius, De Synodis 1.13-14

What then I have learned myself, and have heard men of judgment say, I have written in few words; but do you, remaining on the foundation of the Apostles, and holding fast the traditions of the Fathers, pray that now at length all strife and rivalry may cease, and the futile questions of the heretics may be condemned. – Athanasius, De Synodis chapter 54

Such are the machinations of these men against the truth: but their designs are manifest to all the world, though they attempt in ten thousand ways, like eels, to elude the grasp, and to escape detection as enemies of Christ. Wherefore I beseech you, let no one among you be deceived, no one seduced by them; rather, considering that a sort of judaical impiety is invading the Christian faith, be ye all zealous for the Lord; hold fast, every one, the faith we have received from the Fathers, which they who assembled at Nicaea recorded in writing, and endure not those who endeavour to innovate thereon. And however they [the heretics] may write phrases out of the Scripture, endure not their writings; however they may speak the language of the orthodox, yet attend not to what they say; for they speak not with an upright mind, but putting on such language like sheeps’ clothing, in their hearts they think with Arius, after the manner of the devil, who is the author of all heresies. For he too made use of the words of Scripture, but was put to silence by our Saviour. For if he had indeed meant them as he used them, he would not have fallen from heaven; but now having fallen through his pride, he artfully dissembles in his speech, and oftentimes maliciously endeavours to lead men astray by the subtleties and sophistries of the Gentiles. Had these expositions of theirs proceeded from the orthodox, from such as the great Confessor Hosius, and Maximinus of Gaul, or his successor, or from such as Philogonius and Eustathius, Bishops of the East, or Julius and Liberius of Rome, or Cyriacus of Moesia, or Pistus and Aristaeus of Greece, or Silvester and Protogenes of Dacia, or Leontius and Eupsychius of Cappadocia, or Caecilianus of Africa, or Eustorgius of Italy, or Capito of Sicily, or Macarius of Jerusalem, or Alexander of Constantinople, or Paederos of Heraclea, or those great Bishops Meletius, Basil, and Longianus, and the rest from Armenia and Pontus, or Lupus and Amphion from Cilicia, or James and the rest from Mesopotamia, or our own blessed Alexander, with others of the same opinions as these;–there would then have been nothing to suspect in their statements, for the character of apostolical men is sincere and incapable of fraud. But when they proceed from those who are hired to advocate the cause of heresy, and since, according to the divine proverb, ‘The words of the wicked are to lie in wait,’ and ‘The mouth of the wicked pours out evil things,’ and ‘The counsels of the wicked are deceit :’ it becomes us to watch and be sober, brethren, as the Lord has said, lest any deception arise from subtlety of speech and craftiness; lest any one come and pretend to say, ‘I preach Christ,’ and after a little while he be found to be Antichrist. These indeed are Antichrists, whosoever come to you in the cause of the Arian madness. For what defect is there among you, that any one need to come to you from without? Or, of what do the Churches of Egypt and Libya and Alexandria stand so much in need, that these men should make a purchase of the Episcopate instead of wood and goods, and intrude into Churches which do not belong to them? Who is not aware, who does not perceive clearly, that they do all this in order to support their impiety? Wherefore although they should make themselves dumb, or although they should bind on their garments larger borders than the Pharisees, and pour themselves forth in long speeches, and practise the tones of their voice , they ought not to be believed; for it is not the mode of speaking, but the intentions of the heart and a godly conversation that recommend the faithful Christian. And thus the Sadducees and Herodians, although they have the law in their mouths, were put to rebuke by our Saviour, who said to them, ‘You do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God Matthew 22:29:’ and all men witnessed the exposure of those who pretended to quote the words of the Law, as being in their minds heretics and enemies of God. Others indeed they deceived by these professions, but when our Lord became man they were not able to deceive Him; ‘for the Word was made Flesh,’ who ‘knows the thoughts of men that they are vain.’ Thus He exposed the carping of the Jews, saying, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth from the Father, and have come to you.’ In like manner these men seem now to act; for they disguise their real sentiments, and then make use of the language of Scripture for their writings, which they hold forth as a bait for the ignorant, that they may inveigle them into their own wickedness. — Athanasius (Ad Episcopos Aegypti et Libyae 8-9; A.D. 372)

Scripture + Tradition

Zeno of Verona:

How arrogant, when it demands that its newfangled traditions be believed more than ancient truths, more than God Himself, who says: “You reject the commandment of God and replace it with your own tradition!” (Mark 7:9) – Zeno of Verona, Book 1, Treatise 1, chapter 4 

Basil the Great:

But all the apparatus of war has been got ready against us; every intellectual missile is aimed at us; and now blasphemers’ tongues shoot and hit and hit again, yet harder than Stephen of old was smitten by the killers of the Christ. And do not let them succeed in concealing the fact that, while an attack on us serves for a pretext for the war, the real aim of these proceedings is higher. It is against us, they say, that they are preparing their engines and their snares; against us that they are shouting to one another, according to each one’s strength or cunning, to come on. But the object of attack is faith. The one aim of the whole band of opponents and enemies of sound doctrine 1 Timothy 1:10 is to shake down the foundation of the faith of Christ by levelling apostolic tradition with the ground, and utterly destroying it. So like the debtors — of course bona fide debtors — they clamour for written proof, and reject as worthless the unwritten tradition of the Fathers. But we will not slacken in our defense of the truth. We will not cowardly abandon the cause. The Lord has delivered to us as a necessary and saving doctrine that the Holy Spirit is to be ranked with the Father. Our opponents think differently, and see fit to divide and rend asunder, and relegate Him to the nature of a ministering spirit. — Basil the Great, On the Holy Spirit chapter 10

In answer to the objection that the doxology in the form with the Spirit has no written authority, we maintain that if there is no other instance of that which is unwritten, then this must not be received. But if the greater number of our mysteries are admitted into our constitution without written authority, then, in company with the many others, let us receive this one. For I hold it apostolic to abide also by the unwritten traditions. I praise you, it is said, that you remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances as I delivered them to you; 1 Corinthians 11:2 and Hold fast the traditions which you have been taught whether by word, or our Epistle. 2 Thessalonians 2:15 One of these traditions is the practice which is now before us, which they who ordained from the beginning, rooted firmly in the churches, delivering it to their successors, and its use through long custom advances pace by pace with time. — Basil the Great, On the Holy Spirit, chapter 29

First, he [Eunomius] sets out a faith composed of simple and undefined terms that even some of the fathers used. They did not concern themselves with the questions suggested by the terms, but spoke in this way imprecisely for themselves in their simplicity of heart. And even if it is said that Arius proposed this faith to Alexander in order to deceive him (for this is what is claimed), Eunomius nonetheless proposes this faith as if it agrees with his own opinion. He does this for two reasons: (1) that he might escape the suspicion of innovation by accepting the faith of the fathers as being correct, and (2) that all who place their trust in the simplicity of these terms might unexpectedly fall into the snares of his sophisms. But at the same time he also knows that he can introduce his opinion in an attractive manner by expounding the very words of the fathers, and especially that he can be impious without it being noticed. Therefore, even if he were to be detected, he would appear to be blameless seeing that he has said nothing of his own or on his own authority, but was expounding the ideas of someone else. Yet in doing this he did not notice that he actually makes an utter fool of himself. For after he showered so much praise upon the faith, a little further on, he in turn heaped upon it the most shameful reproaches. To make my point clearer, I will examine his text by dividing it into sections… (A little further Basil says:) On the one hand, he keeps silent about his own ideas lest he make himself unconvincing and hard to accept by actually presenting them to untrained ears. On the other hand, he puts forward the faith of the fathers as a defense. Because this faith contains ambiguous words, it will not be an obstacle to the argument of his own treatise and will easily lend itself to having its meaning changed by him, under the guise of explaining it, to whatever he wants. The truth of this is evident from the fact that as soon as he has set forth the faith of the fathers, he immediately rushes into its interpretation on some other pretext, namely, that it is insufficient for the resolution of the accusation made against him. Why, then, did you bother to cite this faith rather than directly advancing to those precise statements which would have cleared you of the accusations? Instead he offers this faith as an inerrant criterion, then in turn corrects it as if it were unsound. Now everyone can recognize that he is wrapping the simplicity of this faith around his ideas like bait around a fish-hook that drags its catch to death. And so, when the less experienced run after the appearance of good, they are caught off-guard and hooked by the evil of impiety. — Basil the Great (Against Eunomius, Book 1.4)

If all those upon whom the name of our God and Savior Jesus Christ had been invoked had preferred not to tamper with the truth of the gospel and to content themselves with the tradition of the apostles and the simplicity of the faith, there would be no need for our present treatise. Instead, we would have maintained even now the complete silence we have honored from the beginning. But the enemy of truth ceaselessly proliferates evil, adding to the weeds he sowed in the church of God at the beginning. Finding at present instruments for executing his entire scheme all at once, he introduces on the pretext of Christianity the denial of the divinity of the Only-Begotten. With this empty external wisdom he disturbs what is pure and simple in the teaching of the divine Spirit and misleads the innocent through the use of plausible arguments. — Basil the Great (Against Eunomius, Book 1)

Gregory of Nyssa:

The first point, then, of the unfair dealings in this statement to be noticed is that in professing to expound the mystery of the Faith, he corrects as it were the expressions in the Gospel, and will not make use of the words by which our Lord in perfecting our faith conveyed that mystery to us: he suppresses the names of ‘Father, Son and Holy Ghost,’ and speaks of a ‘Supreme and Absolute Being’ instead of the Father, of ‘another existing through it, but after it’ instead of the Son, and of ‘a third ranking with neither of these two’ instead of the Holy Ghost. And yet if those had been the more appropriate names, the Truth Himself would not have been at a loss to discover them, nor those men either, on whom successively devolved the preaching of the mystery, whether they were from the first eye-witnesses and ministers of the Word, or, as successors to these, filled the whole world with the Evangelical doctrines, and again at various periods after this defined in a common assembly the ambiguities raised about the doctrine; whose traditions are constantly preserved in writing in the churches. If those had been the appropriate terms, they would not have mentioned, as they did, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, granting indeed it were pious or safe to remodel at all, with a view to this innovation, the terms of the faith; or else they were all ignorant men and uninstructed in the mysteries, and unacquainted with what he calls the appropriate names — those men who had really neither the knowledge nor the desire to give the preference to their own conceptions over what had been handed down to us by the voice of God. – Gregory of Nyssa, (Against Eunomius, Book I, 13)

[The universal agreement of the apostolic churches is a witness to what the apostles taught; and because the apostles received that doctrine from Christ, that inherited teaching carries the authority of the voice of God. Christ Himself gave the names Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; the apostles and eyewitnesses preached that mystery; their successors filled the world with those evangelical doctrines; the churches preserved these traditions in writing; and councils defined ambiguities without replacing the inherited faith. Therefore, Eunomius has no right to invent new philosophical names and set his private terminology above the universal apostolic teaching.]

Marius Victorinus:

“But even if we or an angel from heaven preach anything beyond what we preached to you, let that one be accursed” (Galatians 1:8). He has drawn the necessary conclusion in a rather sharp and forceful manner: all are in error if they announce anything beyond the gospel of Christ. It is an error, even if it is we ourselves who add anything to what you have already believed. Still more: it would be an error if an angel, even an angel from heaven, would have preached differently to you—differently, clearly, beyond the gospel which we indeed preached to you. For he has said this: anything beyond what we preached to you. So if I preach differently, let me too, let an angel, even an angel from heaven, be accursed, if he announces—Paul says—anything differently from how we announced it the first time. This is what we explained above: let him be rejected, be without recompense, and instead get punished for his evil-doings. – Marius Victorinus, Commentary on Galatians

Cyril of Jerusalem:

[The Church] is called Catholic then because it extends over all the world, from one end of the earth to the other; and because it teaches universally and completely one and all the doctrines which ought to come to men’s knowledge, concerning things both visible and invisible, heavenly and earthly ; and because it brings into subjection to godliness the whole race of mankind, governors and governed, learned and unlearned; and because it universally treats and heals the whole class of sins, which are committed by soul or body, and possesses in itself every form of virtue which is named, both in deeds and words, and in every kind of spiritual gifts. – Cyril of Jerusalem, Lecture 18, section 23

John Cassian (360 – 435):

Nor has there ever been anyone who quarrelled with this faith, without being guilty of unbelief: for to deny what is right and proved is to confess what is wrong. The agreement of all ought then to be in itself already sufficient to confute heresy: for the authority of all shows undoubted truth, and a perfect reason results where no one disputes it: so that if a man endeavours to hold opinions contrary to these, we should in the first instance rather condemn his perverseness than listen to his assertions, for one who impugns the judgment of all announces beforehand his own condemnation, and a man who disturbs what has been determined by all, is not even given a hearing. For when the truth has once for all been established by all men, whatever arises contrary to it is by this very fact to be recognized at once as falsehood, because it differs from the truth. And thus it is agreed that this alone is sufficient to condemn a man; viz., that he differs from the judgment of truth. But still as an explanation of a system does no harm to the system, and truth always shines brighter when thoroughly ventilated, and as it is better that those who are wrong should be set right by discussion rather than condemned by severe censures, we should cure, as far as we can with the Divine assistance, this old heresy appearing in the persons of new heretics, that when through God’s mercy they have recovered their health, their cure may bear testimony to our holy faith instead of their condemnation proving an instance of just severity. – John Cassian, On The Incarnation, book 1, chapter 6

If you were an assertor of the Arian or Sabellian heresy, and did not use your own creed, I would still confute you by the authority of the holy Scriptures; I would confute you by the words of the law itself; I would refute you by the truth of the Creed which has been approved throughout the whole world. I would say that, even if you were void of sense and understanding, yet still you ought at least to follow universal consent: and not to make more of the perverse view of a few wicked men than of the faith of all the Churches: which as it was established by Christ, and handed down by the apostles ought to be regarded as nothing but the voice of the authority of God, which is certainly in possession of the voice and mind of God. – John Cassian, On the Incarnation of the Lord, Against Nestorius, book 6, chapter 5

Therefore, as I said above, if you had been a follower and assertor of Sabellianism or Arianism or any heresy you please, you might shelter yourself under the example of your parents, the teaching of your instructors, the company of those about you, the faith of your creed. I ask, O you heretic, nothing unfair, and nothing hard. As you have been brought up in the Catholic faith, do that which you would do for a wrong belief. Hold fast to the teaching of your parents. Hold fast the faith of the Church: hold fast the truth of the Creed: hold fast the salvation of baptism. – John Cassian,  On the Incarnation of the Lord, Against Nestorius, Book 6, ch. 5

He then must of course be outside the Church, who does not hold the faith of the Church. – John Cassian, On the Incarnation of the Lord, Against Nestorius, Book 3, ch. 14

For that reason, those things which we see were handed down neither by the ancient saints who laid the foundations of this profession, nor by the fathers of our own time who even now preserve their institutions through succession, must likewise be cut away by us as superfluous and useless. Therefore they have altogether rejected the hairshirt as a garment conspicuous to all and easily noticed—since from that fact alone it can not only fail to profit the spirit, but can even plant the vanity of pride in the heart, and because it is unfit and unsuitable for the necessary labor which requires the monk always to be vigorous and ready for work. If we have heard that certain men, clothed in that garment, proved themselves virtuous, it is not for that reason that a rule for monasteries should be established, nor should the ancient decrees of the holy Fathers be disturbed, as though a few individuals—presuming upon themselves, and believed, because of other virtues, to be free from reproach even in those practices which were not in accord with the catholic rule—ought to overturn the tradition. For the opinion of a few must not be preferred to, nor allowed to prejudge, the common constitution of all. We must render unquestioning faith and unshaken obedience to those institutions and rules which were not introduced by the will of a few, but which the antiquity of so many ages and the great number of holy Fathers, by a united judgment, have handed down for the future. — John Cassian, The Institutes Book 1, chapter 3 

Hilary of Poitiers:

[Here begins the definition made by all Catholic bishops, before they, terrified by the earthly power of the heretics, would join their fellowship in the Ariminian council.] – We have decided that it should not be possible for all Catholics to depart from the creed they have received, since in comparison among all it was recognized as complete, nor to fall away from the faith, which we have received from God the Father through Christ our Lord, teaching by the Holy Spirit, both in the Gospels and in all the Apostles, and through the tradition of the Fathers according to the succession of the Apostles, up to the decree held at Nicaea against the heresy that had arisen at that time, which now continues to this day. To all of this we believe that nothing should be added, nor can it be diminished. It is therefore decided that nothing new should be done, and that the name and reality of the substance, which has been intimated to our minds by many holy Scriptures, ought to retain its firmness. This is the matter which the Catholic Church, together with the divine teaching, has always been accustomed to confess and profess. – Hilary of Poitiers (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (CSEL) volume 65, A. Collectanea Antiariana Parisina, Series A VIII 1-IX, page 95-96)

But I trust that the Church, by the light of her doctrine, will so enlighten the world’s vain wisdom, that, even though it accept not the mystery of the faith, it will recognise that in our conflict with heretics we, and not they, are the true representatives of that mystery. For great is the force of truth; not only is it its own sufficient witness, but the more it is assailed the more evident it becomes; the daily shocks which it receives only increase its inherent stability. It is the peculiar property of the Church that when she is buffeted she is triumphant, when she is assaulted with argument she proves herself in the right, when she is deserted by her supporters she holds the field. It is her wish that all men should remain at her side and in her bosom; if it lay with her, none would become unworthy to abide under the shelter of that august mother, none would be cast out or suffered to depart from her calm retreat. But when heretics desert her or she expels them, the loss she endures, in that she cannot save them, is compensated by an increased assurance that she alone can offer bliss. This is a truth which the passionate zeal of rival heresies brings into the clearest prominence. The Church, ordained by the Lord and established by His Apostles, is one for all; but the frantic folly of discordant sects has severed them from her. And it is obvious that these dissensions concerning the faith result from a distorted mind, which twists the words of Scripture into conformity with its opinion, instead of adjusting that opinion to the words of Scripture. And thus, amid the clash of mutually destructive errors, the Church stands revealed not only by her own teaching, but by that of her rivals. They are ranged, all of them, against her; and the very fact that she stands single and alone is her sufficient answer to their godless delusions. The hosts of heresy assemble themselves against her; each of them can defeat all the others, but not one can win a victory for itself. The only victory is the triumph which the Church celebrates over them all. Each heresy wields against its adversary some weapon already shattered, in another instance, by the Church’s condemnation. – Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity, Book 7, chapter 4

Gregory of Elvira:

Finally, if you should attend more diligently and accurately to why they [Arians] wished the term “substance” to be removed from the evangelical and apostolic faith and from the tradition of the Fathers, you will undoubtedly prove that the Arian heresy has been introduced—condensed into a subtle shortcut—by the removal of this word. I do not assert this as something gathered from suspicion or opinion, nor do I stand here as an “Academic” disputant (as they themselves think) to twist simple meanings with the subtlety of words. Rather, I seek to bring into the light of understanding those things which have been twisted, distorted, and put together with thin arguments; so that, once this iniquity is known and discovered, it may be more easily avoided by men. For indeed, what cause or what reason has emerged, that what had been handed down to all Churches to be taught and believed—and what our Fathers, apostolic men, purified by the Holy Spirit, established by catholic reason as a certain barrier of truth against all heresies, and especially the Arian one, by which they might block all entries of pestilential doctrine—should now be labored for with great effort to be removed by those who are bound by the curse of the Arian stain? unless it be so that they may falsely claim the Son of God is mutable and changeable, as one who did not consist of the Father’s own substance, and so that they may now freely, safely, and without hesitation deliver and instill into the Churches that He has a beginning in time, an origin from nothing, and a name from another—just as they have always taught, and for which they have often been condemned? — Gregory of Elvira, De Fide Orthodoxa Contra Arianos chapter 1 (360 AD)

Ambrosiaster:

“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel to you contrary to what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: if anyone preaches a gospel to you contrary to what you have received, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:8-9 Let no one be surprised that the Apostle, who used to temper harsh conduct with gentleness, is thus stirred up; for it is out of concern for the salvation of the Galatians that he is indignant against the enemies of Christian teaching. For this indignation shows that it is no light sin to turn to the Law after receiving the faith: indeed, he asserts that the Gospel he preached to them is so firm and true that even if they themselves—that is, the apostles—should perchance change and preach differently, they should not be heeded, though their reputation as apostles of Christ had spread throughout every place. Or if perchance the devil, disguising himself as an angel of God so that he might more easily be heard, were to appear from heaven preaching against these things, it would be known to be contrary and regarded as abomination. Therefore, if the apostles of Christ, whose renowned reputation lay in the working of signs and wonders, and an angel from heaven, whom a spiritual understanding might recommend, are to be anathematized if they teach differently from what they were taught by the Apostle Paul, how much more should those be rejected whom no testimony can commend to lead others astray? For this reason he repeats the declaration, so that he may confirm them in the original tradition; for a repeated law makes the negligent more attentive. – Ambrosiaster, Commentary on Galatians 1:8-9

“Just as I urged you to remain at Ephesus, when I was going into Macedonia, so that you might charge certain people not to teach differently, nor to occupy themselves with myths and endless genealogies, which produce questions rather than the edification of God which is in faith —so do.” 1 Timothy 1:3-4 A son ought not to be urged by his father; but because of the affection of love, and so that he might show him a model of humility, the bishop centreats his fellow bishop not to allow the Jews to teach the people otherwise than what was handed down by the Apostle; not to let them be captivated by the myths which the Jews are accustomed to tell about the origin of their generations, about Abraham and Isaac and the other patriarchs, and about circumcision and the things that were later handed down by Moses; lest they be led astray to observe those things which were given in a carnal way. – Ambrosiaster, Commentary on 1 Timothy 1.3-4

“You therefore, my son, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and in the things which you have heard from me through many witnesses: these entrust to faithful men, who will be able also to teach others.” (2 Timothy 2:1–2) He commands him to be steadfast and strong in teaching the grace of God, which has been given in Christ Jesus; and not only in grace, but also in the mysteries that concern Christ. He desires that sacred things be handed down to the faithful and worthy, who are able to teach others—not indiscriminately to the common and careless; for a teacher must be chosen with great care. – Ambrosiaster, Commentary on 2 Timothy 2.1-2

“One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all of us.” (Ephesians 4:5–6) He still commends unity, so that, since unity is what we are called to, we may disagree in nothing. For if there is one Lord, that is, Christ—just as He Himself also says in the Gospel: “For your teacher is one, Christ” (Matthew 23:10)—one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all things, and through all things, and in all believers, then there ought to be one mind and one heart among the people; because these things which he enumerates pertain to unity, for they agree in all respects. – Ambrosiaster, Commentary on Ephesians 4.5-6 

Is Paul talking about the Church today when they cannot agree? A hundred Protestants will argue with eachother over what Scripture teaches, calling eachother heretics and false prophets, while the Cathodox Church has split, Catholics call Orthodox heretics and vise verse, and even among the Orthodox there are many sects that condemn eachother and claim their version of Christianity is the truth! Is this the “one faith” Paul talks about? If we submit to the Church Fathers and obey them, we will have unity on all the essential Doctrines of the Faith. If all believers had the same mind and faith everywhere and did not disagree in anything about the faith, then the whole Church already had the truth, and all the doctrines were handed down by the apostles once for all to the saints (Jude 3). We ought to have the mind of the early church and be on the same mind with them, because that is Christianity. 

“Therefore I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 4:17) He exhorts them through this same Timothy, whom he declares to be a beloved and faithful son in the Lord, so that by this they might learn how they were sinning; for when he gives testimony to him, he is in turn reproving them. “Who will remind you of my ways which are in Christ Jesus, just as I teach everywhere in every Church.” (1 Corinthians 4:17) Through this one, whom he affirms as a faithful son in the Lord, he desires them to return to the rule of truth handed down by himself; so that, reminded by his words and the example of his deeds, they might repent, recognizing that they were not wrongly taught by the Apostle, since they would learn that all the Churches hold the same doctrine. – Ambrosiaster, Commentary on 1 Corinthians 4.17-18

“As I teach in all the Churches.” 1 Corinthians 7:17 That he may persuade them not to give themselves to these in any other way than to others; that when they hear others of this faith being taught this, they may more readily follow. For a man is easily inclined if he sees that his companion has consented. – Ambrosiaster, Commentary on 1 Corinthians 7.17

Severian of Gabala:

[Galatians 1:8–10] ‘Even if an angel…’ Why even we? When we preached, we preached by the power of the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit does not change its mind. Therefore, if we now say something different, we have abandoned the things of the Spirit. Let even the preacher be anathema if he annuls the gospel. ‘From what you received’: I did not merely preach and you not receive, but I both preached and you received. I do not regret having preached, and you should hold fast to what you received.  – Severian of Gabala, Fragmenta in epistulam ad Galatas (Fragments on Galatians)

Ephrem the Syrian:

I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away, not from me, but from him who called you through me into his grace, to go to a different Gospel. Even if I thought the talk was about Simon’s preaching, still it is not another, because the time of the Law in which it was preached has been fulfilled. There is not another—neither another Christ nor another Truth—but people, by their own will, want to turn you away from that Gospel of Christ. If you see powers among them, or because they have called themselves disciples of Simon you have been captured by their words, if I myself were to come and walk among you with a different Gospel, or if an angel—who has not come down—were to come down for this, to add to or to take away from what I gave you, let him be accursed. — Ephrem the Syrian, Commentary on Galatians. (Ephrem the Syrian’s Commentary on the Pauline Epistles, translated by the Mekhitarist Fathers)

Let us take it further, That we even be heard by the deaf. You I make an arbiter! You choose, O hearer, Which is greater and more praiseworthy: That you be called Christian, Or named Marcionite, That they call you Christian, Or a Daisanite weed!

Response: Blessed is the one for whom all ardently long!

 While as yet Bardaisan is, And Marcion is named, 

Let us go to the ancients, Who are older than Marcion;

 Let us see how the ancient churches Were named, 

And with that name let us be named! 

Let us throw and cast off appellations Of names that came afterward! 

Response: Blessed is the one who has been perpetuated by his names!

– Ephraim the Syrian, Hymns Against Heresies, Hymn 23

Tyconius:

And turning to the good part of the same angel, he says: “But to you I say, to the rest who are in Thyatira.” When he says “to you I say, to the rest,” he shows what the angel is, to whom he says: “Whoever does not have this doctrine, nor has known the depths of Satan.” To be sure, the Lord speaks to those who kept their minds from the doctrines of the devil, lest they turn from the dogma of the truth of the church. For they were taught that they should follow no man but rather the truth of the faith, for the Lord said to those who had left the faith, “I never knew you, you evildoers.” For just as those who do iniquity do not know God, although they speak of him, so also God does not acknowledge the workers of iniquity, although he knows them all. In this way, the righteous do not know the teaching of Satan, although they might hear it and feel the attraction of his temptations. And so it can happen that the righteous do not hear evil things from which they abstain by righteous living, since it is written, “There must be heresies so that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.” And again, “Should they say to you, Lo, Christ is in the inner rooms, do not believe it.” — Tyconius (Commentary on Revelation 2:24-25, 390 AD)

Jerome:

“Because your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world” (Romans 1:8). He shows how the faith of the Romans is known to all the Churches—or certainly, that the same faith which the Romans hold is that which is preached by the apostles throughout the whole world. – Pseudo-Jerome, In Epistolam Ad Romanos

“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel to you other than what we have preached to you…” (Galatians 1:8). In this, he wished briefly to exclude the authority of every person, since he did not permit even an apostle to be heard if he preached contrary to what had first been proclaimed, nor even the voice of an angel speaking from heaven. This statement applies against all heretics, who attempt to alter the apostolic traditions. – Pseudo-Jerome, In Epistolam Ad Galatas

Now in what he added, “as we said before and now I say again,” he shows that at the beginning he had warned those to whom he was in any case going to preach to beware of an anathema. And now, after he has first spoken, he decrees the anathema that he had previously spoken about. So the reason he pronounced an anathema against himself, whom they were accusing of doing one thing in Judea and of teaching something else among the Gentiles, and against an angel, which it was agreed is greater even than his apostolic predecessors, is so that the authority of Peter and John should not be held in excessive regard. For it was permitted neither to himself, who had previously taught them, nor to an angel, to preach otherwise than they had once learned. — Jerome, Commentary of Galatians 1.8-9

“And hold fast the traditions which you have learned, whether by our word or by our epistle.” 2 Thessalonians 2:15 When he wishes his own teachings to be held, he does not want foreign ones to be added. But apostolic tradition is that which is proclaimed throughout the whole world, such as the sacraments of baptism. – Pseudo-Jerome, In Secundam Epistolam Ad Thessalonicenses.

Don’t you know that the laying on of hands after baptism and then the invocation of the Holy Spirit is a custom of the Churches? Do you demand Scripture proof? You may find it in the Acts of the Apostles. And even if it did not rest on the authority of Scripture the consensus of the whole world in this respect would have the force of a command. For many other observances of the Churches, which are due to tradition, have acquired the authority of the written law, as for instance the practice of dipping the head three times in the laver, and then, after leaving the water, of tasting mingled milk and honey in representation of infancy; and, again, the practices of standing up in worship on the Lord’s day, and ceasing from fasting every Pentecost; and there are many other unwritten practices which have won their place through reason and custom. So you see we follow the practice of the Church, although it may be clear that a person was baptized before the Spirit was invoked. — Jerome, The Dialogue Against the Luciferians chapter 8

Cyril of Alexandria:

But those who pay no heed to the apostolic and evangelical tradition and honor the newer, useless and truly ridiculous invention of their own mind, let them hear from all, “Pass not beyond the ancient bounds which your fathers have set.” For the way of such is not charming but “their ways are perverse” and bring them to harbor into “the snare of hell” and the trap of death. – Cyril of Alexandria, Letter 31

“…Paul, who is God’s mouthpiece, in his role as steward of the divine mysteries and the one through whom Christ himself speaks, clarified for everyone just how the Only-Begotten Word of God became a man. He says, “For surely it was not angels he took for himself, but Abraham’s seed; that is why he had to become like his brothers in every way, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest with respect to God.” (Hebrews 2:16–17) Our statements are protected by absolutely orthodox judgments. We are constantly guided by the divinely inspired Scriptures, and we hold what the Fathers have said in the highest esteem. In fact we treat that as divine law. We therefore deny that the Word of God the Father took for himself either the nature of the holy angels or even his own nature. Instead, in line with what the Holy Scriptures say, we believe that he overshadowed the holy Virgin (that is, the power of the Most High Father did) (Luke 1:35) and formed for himself a body from her, albeit through the working of the Holy Spirit, and became a man and was called son of Abraham and of David. He did not in any way, by becoming a man, cease to be what he truly is, the Son of God the Father; rather, even when he became flesh, he remained in his divine nature, transcendence, and glory, because, as God, he is unalterable and above all change.” – Cyril of Alexandria, Against Bishops of Oriens, (Fathers of the Church vol. 129 page 139-140)

“…Maybe one of those academic types will say: if everything has been given to you by your Father because you lacked glory and if you needed to have infinite power bestowed upon you because you are human, then how can you go on and say that it is impossible for anyone to know you merely with their human understanding in just the same way as one cannot know the Father? Quite right, he would reply; in terms of what you can see, knowledge about me is not veiled, for I am God in flesh and blood, and one may know me in terms of my flesh, but in terms of my actual divine nature and glory I am God’s equal and I transcend all understanding and every description. So, then, we will hold onto what has been prescribed and will not deny the apostolic sayings, God forbid! Neither would we oppose descriptions of the Incarnation by either thinking or saying anything unreasonable. Instead we consistently follow the Holy Scriptures and treat what the Fathers have said with the greatest importance. We only oppose people who are perverting the church’s orthodox doctrines. No one would doubt that when it says that the Father raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, this refers to him acting specifically upon the flesh. But he himself is the life-giver and God’s active power, who gave life to his own temple and said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up again in three days.” (John 2:19) So, then, this body to which he imparted life was not a different thing, nor did it belong to some other man like us. It was the Word’s very own.” – Cyril of Alexandria, Against Bishops of Oriens, (Fathers of the Church vol. 129 page 154)

“God’s mouthpiece Paul spoke with great insight when he said, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are still in the faith.” (2 Corinthians 13:5) You see, whenever the human mind veers off the highway or shifts its position away from orthodox thinking, then its love of itself tends to make it wary and fearful of ever calling its own ideas false. But it may very easily correct itself by attending carefully to the hard work that was exerted by those holy Fathers who are justly and universally renowned for the orthodoxy and precision of their doctrine, and then by carefully testing one’s own faith against theirs. Anyone with common sense would be sure to follow their judgments, because they also filled their own minds with the apostolic and evangelical tradition and based their own theological writings purely and flawlessly upon the Holy Scriptures. They were “stars in the universe, holding out the word of life,” (Philippians 2:15–16) as the Scripture puts it. So, our father and bishop Athanasius, who is held in such very high regard, wrote as follows on the subject of our universal Savior Christ: …” – Cyril of Alexandria, Against Bishops of Oriens, (Fathers of the Church vol. 129 page 156)

“…These citations [from the Fathers] are quite sufficient, I reckon, to make the point to sensible folk, since the divine Scripture is quite explicit that “every saying shall be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.” (2 Corinthians 13:1) If anyone still wants to argue about this, then let him listen to me: he has gone off by himself; I am the one who is stating the truth and keeping in line with both the sacred Scriptures and the faith of the holy Fathers. I am thereby winning the prize of the heavenward calling in Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to our God and Father, together with the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen. – Cyril of Alexandria, Against Bishops of Oriens, (Fathers of the Church vol. 129 page 182)

…The disciple is not above his Master, nor would I stretch the measure of my narrow brain above the Fathers…. But I return to the point which especially I had in mind. And now I urge you, as a brother in the Lord, to propose the word of teaching and the doctrine of the faith with all accuracy to the people, and to consider that the giving of scandal to one even of the least of those who believe in Christ, exposes a body to the unbearable indignation of God. And of how great diligence and skill there is need when the multitude of those grieved is so great, so that we may administer the healing word of truth to them that seek it. But this we shall accomplish most excellently if we shall turn over the words of the holy Fathers, and are zealous to obey their commands, proving ourselves, whether we be in the faith according to that which is written, and conform our thoughts to their upright and irreprehensible teaching.” – Cyril of Alexandria, The Epistle of Cyril to Nestorius (“Intelligo quosdam meæ”)

John Chrysostom:

“But though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach unto you any Gospel other than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema.” Galatians 1:8-9 See the Apostle’s wisdom; to obviate the objection that he was prompted by vainglory to applaud his own doctrine, he includes himself also in his anathema; and as they betook themselves to authority, that of James and John, he mentions angels also saying, Tell me not of James and John; if one of the most exalted angels of heaven corrupt the Gospel, let him be anathema. The phrase of heaven is purposely added, because priests are also called angels. For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger [angel] of the Lord of hosts. Malachi 2:7 Lest therefore it should be thought that priests are here meant, by the term angels, he points out the celestial intelligences by the addition, from heaven. And he says not, if they preach a contrary Gospel, or subvert the whole of the true one, let them be anathema; but, if they even slightly vary, or incidentally disturb, my doctrine. …He says, “if any man” preach another Gospel to you than that which we have preached — not if this or that man: and herein appears his prudence, and care of giving offense, for what needed there still any mention of names, when he had used such extensive terms as to embrace all, both in heaven and earth? In that he anathemized evangelists and angels, he included every dignity, and his mention of himself included every intimacy and affinity. “Tell me not,” he exclaims, “that my fellow apostles and colleagues have so spoken; I spare not myself if I preach such doctrine.” And he says this not as condemning the Apostles for swerving from the message they were commissioned to deliver; far from it, (for he says, whether we or they thus preach;) but to show, that in the discussion of truth the dignity of persons is not to be considered. – John Chrysostom, Homily 1 on Galatians

They [the Galatians] had, in fact, only introduced one or two commandments, circumcision and the observance of days, but he [Paul] says that the gospel was subverted, in order to show that a slight adulteration vitiates the whole. For as he who but partially pares away the image on a royal coin renders the whole spurious, so he who swerves ever so little from the pure faith soon proceeds from this to graver errors and becomes entirely corrupted. Where then are those who charge us with being contentious in separating from heretics and say that there is no real difference between us except what arises from our ambition? Let them hear Paul’s assertion, that those who had but slightly innovated, subverted the gospel. – John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON GALATIANS 1

“Which has come unto you, even as it is also in all the world…” Colossians 1:6 Paul speaks metaphorically when he writes, “is come.” He means, it did not come and go away, but that it remained and was there. Many doctrines are most strongly confirmed if they are held in common with many. Therefore Paul added, “As also it is in all the world.” The gospel is present everywhere, everywhere victorious, everywhere established. — John Chrysostom, Homily 1 on Colossians

We read in the Acts of the Apostles: “The Spirit said, Separate me Paul and Barnabas.” Acts 13:2 And everywhere in his writings Paul adds the name of Apostle, to instruct his hearers not to consider the doctrines he delivered as proceeding from man. For an Apostle can say nothing of his own, and by calling himself an Apostle, he at once refers his hearers to Him that sent him. In all his Epistles therefore he begins by assuming this title, thus giving authority to his words, as here he says, Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ according to the commandment of God our Saviour. Now it does not appear that the Father anywhere commanded him. It is everywhere Christ who addresses him. Thus, He said to me, Depart, for I will send you far hence unto the Gentiles Acts 22:21; and again, You must be brought before Cæsar. Acts 27:24 But whatever the Son commands, this he considers to be the commandment of the Father, as those of the Spirit are the commandments of the Son. John 7:16-17, 8:28, 16:13-14 etc. – John Chrysostom, Homily 1 on 1 Timothy 

[As Peter explains in the first few quotes, he himself only taught the things he learned from Christ, and he says if he teaches anything of his own then he is a false apostle. Paul delivered to the Church the doctrines he received directly from Christ himself, which was the same doctrine the rest of the Apostles preached. Doesn’t it make sense that those whom the Apostles taught, they also couldn’t contradict anything they were taught by the apostles? Yes, this is what Paul tells Timothy and Titus. (1 Timothy 6:20 2 Timothy 1:13-14, Titus 1:7-9). Truth comes first.]

Then, carrying his argument higher, he adds, which be in Christ; ascribing all, as was his wont, unto the Lord, and on that ground establishing the credibility of what is to follow. Wherefore he subjoins, “Even as I teach every where in every church.” 1 Corinthians 4:17 [as if Paul was saying]  “Nothing new have I spoken unto you: of these my proceedings all the other Churches are cognizant as well as you.” – John Chrysostom, Homily 14 on 1 Corinthians 

“That ye remember me in all things, and hold fast the traditions, even as I delivered them to you.” 1 Corinthians 11:2 It appears then that he used at that time to deliver many things also not in writing, which he shows too in many other places. But at that time he only delivered them, whereas now he adds an explanation of their reason: thus both rendering the one sort, the obedient, more steadfast, and pulling down the others’ pride, who oppose themselves. – John Chrysostom, Homily 26 on 1 Corinthians 

“But if any man seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the Churches of God.” 1 Corinthians 11:16 It is then contentiousness to oppose these things, and not any exercise of reason. Notwithstanding, even thus it is a measured sort of rebuke which he adopts, to fill them the more with self-reproach; which in truth rendered his saying the more severe. “For we,” says he, “have no such custom,” so as to contend and to strive and to oppose ourselves. And he stopped not even here, but also added, “neither the Churches of God;” signifying that they resist and oppose themselves to the whole world by not yielding. However, even if the Corinthians were then contentious, yet now the whole world has both received and kept this law. [i.e. veiling the head] – John Chrysostom, Homily 26 on 1 Corinthians 

“Because your faith is proclaimed in the whole world” (Romans 1:8). What then? Had the whole earth heard of the faith of the Romans? Yes, from that city it had, and there is nothing unlikely in this; for the city was not obscure, but, lying as it were upon some summit, it was visible to all everywhere. But do you consider with me the power of the preaching, how in a short time, through tax collectors and fishermen, it laid hold even of the very summit of cities, and Syrian men became teachers and guides of the Romans. Therefore he bears witness to them for two achievements: both that they believed, and that they believed with boldness—and with such great boldness that the report about them spread through the whole earth. “For your faith,” he says, “is proclaimed in the whole world”—your faith, not your word-battles, nor your disputes, nor your reasonings, although there were many hindrances there to the teaching. For they had only just received the rule of the inhabited world, and thought highly of themselves, living together with wealth and luxury; and it was fishermen who brought them the proclamation, Jews and men from the Jews, from a nation hated and abhorred by all. And they were being commanded to worship the Crucified One, the One brought up in Judea. And together with the doctrine, the teachers also proclaimed an austere manner of life to men trained in luxury and panic-stricken over present things.  And those who proclaimed it were poor and ordinary men, low-born and from the lowly. But none of these things hindered the course of the word; so great was the power of the Crucified, as to carry the word everywhere. For, he says, “it is proclaimed in the whole world.” And he did not say, it is made known, but, it is proclaimed, as though all had them upon their lips. To the Thessalonians, then, when bearing witness to this, he adds something else also; for after saying, “From you the word of God has sounded forth,” he added, “so that we have no need to say anything” (1 Thessalonians 1:8). For the disciples were established in the rank of teachers, instructing everyone by their boldness and drawing them to themselves. For the preaching did not stand still anywhere, but advanced over the whole inhabited world more fiercely than fire. Here, however, he says only this much: that it is proclaimed. He rightly said, it is proclaimed, showing that nothing needed to be added to what had been said, nor taken away from it; for this is the work of an angel [i.e. messanger], to convey only the things spoken. For this reason the priest also is called an angel (Malachi 2:7), because he declares not his own things, but the things of the One who sent him. And yet Peter preached there [at Rome], but Paul counts even Peter’s work as his own; so completely, as I said before, was he cleansed from every trace of envy. – John Chrysostom, Homily 2 on Romans, PG 60.401-402

Rufinus:

“And since he had given himself wholly to God’s service, he [Gregory of Nazianzus] presumed upon his companion’s love to such an extent that he removed Basil from the professor’s chair which he was occupying and forced him to accompany him to a monastic house, where for thirteen years, they say, having put aside all the writings of the worldly pagans, they gave their attention solely to the books of holy scripture, the understanding of which they did not presume to derive from themselves, but from the writings and authority of those of old who were themselves known to have received the rule of understanding from apostolic tradition. They sought the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden in these vessels of clay by examining their commentaries on the prophets in particular.” (Church History, book 11, chapter 9)

As for me, I declare in Christ’s name that I never held, nor ever will hold, any other faith but that which I have set forth above, that is, the faith which is held by the Church of Rome, by that of Alexandria, and by my own church of Aquileia; and which is also preached at Jerusalem; and if there is any one who believes otherwise, whoever he may be, let him be Anathema. – Rufinus (Apology sent to Anastasius, Bishop of the City of Rome, 8)

Augustine:

“But in regard to those observances which we carefully attend and which the whole world keeps, and which derive not from Scripture but from Tradition, we are given to understand that they are recommended and ordained to be kept, either by the apostles themselves or by plenary [ecumenical] councils, the authority of which is quite vital in the Church” — Augustine, Letter to Januarius [A.D. 400]

[Augustine appeals to the universal church to show the Donatist schism is not the truth, since Donatist’ was only in one region of the world and not the Church that was prophsied to be around the world:] We are not wont to say, “He was a slanderer,” but “He was a murderer.” But we ask how it was that the devil was a murderer from the beginning; and we find that he slew the first man, not by drawing a sword, nor by applying to him any bodily violence, but by persuading him to sin, and thus driving him from the happiness of Paradise. What, then, was Paradise is now represented by the Church. Therefore those are the sons of the devil who slay men by withdrawing them from the Church. But as by the words of God we know what was the situation of Paradise, so now by the words of Christ we have learned where the Church is to be found: “Throughout all nations,” He says, “beginning at Jerusalem.” Whosoever, therefore, separates a man from that complete whole to place him in any single part, is proved to be a son of the devil and a murderer. But see, further, what is the application of the expression which you yourself employed in saying of the devil, “He was a slanderer, and abode not in the truth.” For you bring an accusation against the whole world on account of the sins of others, though even those others themselves you were more able to accuse than to convict; and you abode not in the truth of Christ. For He says that the Church is “throughout all nations, beginning at Jerusalem;” but ye say that it is in the party of Donatus. – Augustine, Answer to the Letters of Petilian the Donatist 2.13.30

Augustine is pointing out that Donatism cannot possibly be truth because it sprang up with Donatist, in one region of the world, and isn’t the Universal faith of the Church. We know Donatist was wrong because his beliefs aren’t found anywhere else in the Church, it isn’t Universal. This same logic applies to any teaching today, if someones belief is not what the Ancient Church Universally held to, if it wasn’t part of the apostolic deposit when when they laid the foundations of the Church around the world, then this belief is false. 

But if nothing is more true than that which Christ said, that His Church should be throughout all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, then there is nothing more false than that which you say, that it [His Church] is in the party of Donatus. – Augustine, Answer to the Letters of Petilian the Donatist 2.15.35

Petilianus said: “The Lord Christ also warns us, saying, ‘Beware of false prophets, which come unto you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves; and you shall not know them by their fruits.'” Matthew 7:15-16 37. Augustine answered: If I were to inquire of you by what fruits you know us to be ravening wolves, you are sure to answer by charging us with the sins of other men, and these such as were never proved against those who are said to have been guilty of them. But if you should ask of me by what fruits we know you rather to be ravening wolves, I bring against you the charge of schism, which you will deny, but which I will straightway go on to prove; for, as a matter of fact, you do not communicate with all the nations of the earth, nor with those Churches which were founded by the labor of the apostles. Hereupon you will say, “I do not communicate with traditors and murderers.” The seed of Abraham answers you, “These are those charges which you made, which are either not true, or have no reference to me.” But these I set aside for the present; do you meanwhile show me the Church. Now that voice will sound in my ears which the Lord showed was to be avoided in the false prophets who made a show of their several parties, and strove to estrange men from the Catholic Church, “Lo, here is Christ, or there.” But do you think that the true sheep of Christ are so utterly destitute of sense, who are told, “Believe it not,” Matthew 24:23 that they will hearken to the wolf when he says, “Lo, here is Christ,” and will not hearken to the Shepherd when He says, “Throughout all nations, beginning at Jerusalem?” – Augustine, Answer to the Letters of Petilian the Donatist 2.16

Hence we understand both that the good shepherds are those who seek not their own, but the things of Jesus Christ, and that the good sheep, though imitating the works of the good shepherds by whose ministry they have been gathered together, do not place their hope in them, but rather in the Lord, by Whose blood they are redeemed; so that when they may happen to be placed under bad shepherds, preaching Christ’s doctrine and doing their own evil works, they will do what they teach, but will not do what they do, and will not, on account of these sons of wickedness, forsake the pastures of the one true Church. For there are both good and bad in the Catholic Church, which, unlike the Donatist sect, is extended and spread abroad, not in Africa only, but through all nations; as the apostle expresses it, “bringing forth fruit, and increasing in the whole world.” Colossians 1:6 – Augustine, Letter 208, To Felicia 

Vincent of Lerins (Commonitorium) Selections:

[1.] I, Peregrinus, who am the least of all the servants of God, remembering the admonition of Scripture, Ask your fathers and they will tell you, your elders and they will declare unto you, Deuteronomy 32:7 and again, Bow down your ear to the words of the wise, Proverbs 22:17 and once more, My son, forget not these instructions, but let your heart keep my words: Proverbs 3:1 remembering these admonitions, I say, I, Peregrinus, am persuaded, that, the Lord helping me, it will be of no little use and certainly as regards my own feeble powers, it is most necessary, that I should put down in writing the things which I have truthfully received from the holy Fathers, since I shall then have ready at hand wherewith by constant reading to make amends for the weakness of my memory.

[6.] Moreover, in the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all. For that is truly and in the strictest sense Catholic, which, as the name itself and the reason of the thing declare, comprehends all universally. This rule we shall observe if we follow universality, antiquity, consent. We shall follow universality if we confess that one faith to be true, which the whole Church throughout the world confesses; antiquity, if we in no wise depart from those interpretations which it is manifest were notoriously held by our holy ancestors and fathers; consent, in like manner, if in antiquity itself we adhere to the consentient definitions and determinations of all, or at the least of almost all priests and doctors.

[7.] What then will a Catholic Christian do, if a small portion of the Church have cut itself off from the communion of the universal faith? What, surely, but prefer the soundness of the whole body to the unsoundness of a pestilent and corrupt member? What, if some novel contagion seek to infect not merely an insignificant portion of the Church, but the whole? Then it will be his care to cleave to antiquity, which at this day cannot possibly be seduced by any fraud of novelty.

[8.] But what, if in antiquity itself there be found error on the part of two or three men, or at any rate of a city or even of a province? Then it will be his care by all means, to prefer the decrees, if such there be, of an ancient General Council to the rashness and ignorance of a few. But what, if some error should spring up on which no such decree is found to bear? Then he must collate and consult and interrogate the opinions of the ancients, of those, namely, who, though living in various times and places, yet continuing in the communion and faith of the one Catholic Church, stand forth acknowledged and approved authorities: and whatsoever he shall ascertain to have been held, written, taught, not by one or two of these only, but by all, equally, with one consent, openly, frequently, persistently, that he must understand that he himself also is to believe without any doubt or hesitation.

[10.] So also when the Arian poison had infected not an insignificant portion of the Church but almost the whole world, so that a sort of blindness had fallen upon almost all the bishops of the Latin tongue, circumvented partly by force partly by fraud, and was preventing them from seeing what was most expedient to be done in the midst of so much confusion, then whoever was a true lover and worshipper of Christ, preferring the ancient belief to the novel misbelief, escaped the pestilent infection.

[16.] Once on a time then, Agripinnus, bishop of Carthage, of venerable memory, held the doctrine — and he was the first who held it — that Baptism ought to be repeated, contrary to the divine canon, contrary to the rule of the universal Church, contrary to the customs and institutions of our ancestors. This innovation drew after it such an amount of evil, that it not only gave an example of sacrilege to heretics of all sorts, but proved an occasion of error to certain Catholics even. When then all men protested against the novelty, and the priesthood everywhere, each as his zeal prompted him, opposed it, Pope Stephen  of blessed memory, Prelate of the Apostolic See, in conjunction indeed with his colleagues but yet himself the foremost, withstood it, thinking it right, I doubt not, that as he exceeded all others in the authority of his place, so he should also in the devotion of his faith. In fine, in an epistle sent at the time to Africa, he laid down this rule: “Let there be no innovation — nothing but what has been handed down.” (AD. 255) For that holy and prudent man well knew that true piety admits no other rule than that whatsoever things have been faithfully received from our fathers the same are to be faithfully consigned to our children; and that it is our duty, not to lead religion whither we would, but rather to follow religion whither it leads; and that it is the part of Christian modesty and gravity not to hand down our own beliefs or observances to those who come after us, but to preserve and keep what we have received from those who went before us. What then was the issue of the whole matter? What but the usual and customary one? Antiquity was retained, novelty was rejected. – Vincent of Lerins, Commonitorium chapter 6

[22.] Why does he say “Though we?” Why not rather though I? He means, “though Peter, though Andrew, though John, in a word, though the whole company of apostles, preach unto you other than we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” Tremendous severity! He spares neither himself nor his fellow apostles, so he may preserve unaltered the faith which was at first delivered. Nay, this is not all. He goes on Even though an angel from heaven preach unto you any other Gospel than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. It was not enough for the preservation of the faith once delivered to have referred to man; he must needs comprehend angels also. “Though we,” he says, “or an angel from heaven.” Not that the holy angels of heaven are now capable of sinning. But what he means is: Even if that were to happen which cannot happen — if any one, be he who he may, attempt to alter the faith once for all delivered, let him be accursed.

[24.] But, possibly, this warning was intended for the Galatians only. Be it so; then those other exhortations which follow in the same Epistle were intended for the Galatians only, such as, If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit; let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another, etc.; Galatians 5:25 which alternative if it be absurd, and the injunctions were meant equally for all, then it follows, that as these injunctions which relate to morals, so those warnings which relate to faith are meant equally for all; and just as it is unlawful for all to provoke one another, or to envy one another, so, likewise, it is unlawful for all to receive any other Gospel than that which the Catholic Church preaches everywhere.

[25.] Or perhaps the anathema pronounced on any one who should preach another Gospel than that which had been preached was meant for those times, not for the present. Then, also, the exhortation, Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh, Galatians 5:16 was meant for those times, not for the present. But if it be both impious and pernicious to believe this, then it follows necessarily, that as these injunctions are to be observed by all ages, so those warnings also which forbid alteration of the faith are warnings intended for all ages. To preach any doctrine therefore to Catholic Christians other than what they have received never was lawful, never is lawful, never will be lawful: and to anathematize those who preach anything other than what has once been received, always was a duty, always is a duty, always will be a duty.

[26.] Which being the case, is there any one either so audacious as to preach any other doctrine than that which the Church preaches, or so inconstant as to receive any other doctrine than that which he has received from the Church? That elect vessel, that teacher of the Gentiles, that trumpet of the apostles, that preacher whose commission was to the whole earth, that man who was caught up to heaven, 2 Corinthians 12:2 cries and cries again in his Epistles to all, always, in all places, If any man preach any new doctrine, let him be accursed. On the other hand, an ephemeral, moribund set of frogs, fleas, and flies, such as the Pelagians, call out in opposition, and that to Catholics, Take our word, follow our lead, accept our exposition, condemn what you used to hold, hold what you used to condemn, cast aside the ancient faith, the institutes of your fathers, the trusts left for you by your ancestors and receive instead — what? I tremble to utter it: for it is so full of arrogance and self-conceit, that it seems to me that not only to affirm it, but even to refute it, cannot be done without guilt in some sort.

[48.] This being the case, he is the true and genuine Catholic who loves the truth of God, who loves the Church, who loves the Body of Christ, who esteems divine religion and the Catholic Faith above every thing, above the authority, above the regard, above the genius, above the eloquence, above the philosophy, of every man whatsoever; who sets light by all of these, and continuing steadfast and established in the faith, resolves that he will believe that, and that only, which he is sure the Catholic Church has held universally and from ancient time; but that whatsoever new and unheard-of doctrine he shall find to have been furtively introduced by some one or another, besides that of all, or contrary to that of all the saints, this, he will understand, does not pertain to religion, but is permitted as a trial, being instructed especially by the words of the blessed Apostle Paul, who writes thus in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, There must needs be heresies, that they who are approved may be made manifest among you: 1 Corinthians 2:9 as though he should say, This is the reason why the authors of Heresies are not immediately rooted up by God, namely, that they who are approved may be made manifest; that is, that it may be apparent of each individual, how tenacious and faithful and steadfast he is in his love of the Catholic faith.

[52.] After words such as these, is there any one of so hardened a front, such anvil-like impudence, such adamantine pertinacity, as not to succumb to so huge a mass, not to be crushed by so ponderous a weight, not to be shaken in pieces by such heavy blows, not to be annihilated by such dreadful thunderbolts of divine eloquence? Shun profane novelties, he says. He does not say shun antiquity. But he plainly points to what ought to follow by the rule of contrary. For if novelty is to be shunned, antiquity is to be held fast; if novelty is profane, antiquity is sacred. 

[53.] But it is worth while to expound the whole of that passage of the apostle more fully, “O Timothy, keep the deposit, avoiding profane novelties of words. O!” 1 Timothy 6:20 The exclamation implies fore-knowledge as well as charity. For he mourned in anticipation over the errors which he foresaw. Who is the Timothy of today, but either generally the Universal Church, or in particular, the whole body of The Prelacy, whom it behooves either themselves to possess or to communicate to others a complete knowledge of religion? What is Keep the deposit? Keep it, because of thieves, because of adversaries, lest, while men sleep, they sow tares over that good wheat which the Son of Man had sown in his field. Keep the deposit. What is The deposit? That which has been entrusted to you, not that which you have yourself devised: a matter not of wit, but of learning; not of private adoption, but of public tradition; a matter brought to you, not put forth by you, wherein you are bound to be not an author but a keeper, not a teacher but a disciple, not a leader but a follower. “Keep the deposit.” Preserve the talent of Catholic Faith inviolate, unadulterate. That which has been entrusted to you, let it continue in your possession, let it be handed on by you. You have received gold; give gold in turn. Do not substitute one thing for another. Do not for gold impudently substitute lead or brass. Give real gold, not counterfeit.

[59.] But the Church of Christ, the careful and watchful guardian of the doctrines deposited in her charge, never changes anything in them, never diminishes, never adds, does not cut off what is necessary, does not add what is superfluous, does not lose her own, does not appropriate what is another’s, but while dealing faithfully and judiciously with ancient doctrine, keeps this one object carefully in view — if there be anything which antiquity has left shapeless and rudimentary, to fashion and polish it, if anything already reduced to shape and developed, to consolidate and strengthen it, if any already ratified and defined, to keep and guard it. 

[60.] But let us return to the apostle. O Timothy, he says, Guard the deposit, shunning profane novelties of words. Shun them as you would a viper, as you would a scorpion, as you would a basilisk, lest they smite you not only with their touch, but even with their eyes and breath. What is to shun? Not even to eat 1 Corinthians 5:11 with a person of this sort. What is shun? If anyone, says St. John, come to you and bring not this doctrine. What doctrine? What but the Catholic and universal doctrine, which has continued one and the same through the several successions of ages by the uncorrupt tradition of the truth and so will continue for ever — Receive him not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed, for he that bids him Godspeed communicates with him in his evil deeds. 2 John 10

[72.] But the opinions of those Fathers only are to be used for comparison, who living and teaching, holily, wisely, and with constancy, in the Catholic faith and communion, were counted worthy either to die in the faith of Christ, or to suffer death happily for Christ. Whom yet we are to believe in this condition, that that only is to be accounted indubitable, certain, established, which either all, or the more part, have supported and confirmed manifestly, frequently, persistently, in one and the same sense, forming, as it were, a consentient council of doctors, all receiving, holding, handing on the same doctrine. But whatsoever a teacher holds, other than all, or contrary to all, be he holy and learned, be he a bishop, be he a Confessor, be he a martyr, let that be regarded as a private fancy of his own, and be separated from the authority of common, public, general persuasion, lest, after the sacrilegious custom of heretics and schismatics, rejecting the ancient truth of the universal Creed, we follow, at the utmost peril of our eternal salvation, the newly devised error of one man.

[73.] Lest any one perchance should rashly think the holy and Catholic consent of these blessed fathers to be despised, the Apostle says, in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, “And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers….” 1 Corinthians 12:28 Whosoever, therefore, shall despise these, who had their appointment of God in His Church in their several times and places, when they are unanimous in Christ, in the interpretation of some one point of Catholic doctrine, despises not man, but God, from whose unity in the truth, lest any one should vary, the same Apostle earnestly protests, “I beseech you, brethren, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” (1 Corinthians 1:10) But if any one dissent from their unanimous decision, let him listen to the words of the same apostle, “God is not the God of dissension but of peace;” (1 Corinthians 14:33) that is, not of him who departs from the unity of consent, but of those who remain steadfast in the peace of consent: as, he continues, “I teach in all Churches of the saints,” 1 Corinthians 4:17 that is, of Catholics, which churches are therefore churches of the saints, because they continue steadfast in the communion of the faith.

[79.] These then are the men whose writings, whether as judges or as witnesses, were recited in the Council [of Ephesus]: St. Peter, bishop of Alexandria… St. Athanasius… St. Theophilus… Cyril… St. Gregory of Nazianzus… St. Basil of Cæsarea… St. Gregory of Nyssa…. St. Felix… St. Julius, both bishops of Rome…. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage…. [and] St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan.

[80.] These all then, to the sacred number of the decalogue, were produced at Ephesus as doctors, councillors, witnesses, judges. And that blessed council holding their doctrine, following their counsel, believing their witness, submitting to their judgment without haste, without foregone conclusion, without partiality, gave their determination concerning the Rules of Faith. A much greater number of the ancients might have been adduced; but it was needless, because neither was it fit that the time should be occupied by a multitude of witnesses, nor does any one suppose that those ten were really of a different mind from the rest of their colleagues.

[82.] Next we expressed our admiration of the humility and sanctity of that Council, such that, though the number of priests was so great, almost the more part of them metropolitans, so erudite, so learned, that almost all were capable of taking part in doctrinal discussions, whom the very circumstance of their being assembled for the purpose, might seem to embolden to make some determination on their own authority, yet they innovated nothing, presumed nothing, arrogated to themselves absolutely nothing, but used all possible care to hand down nothing to posterity but what they had themselves received from their Fathers.

[83.] We inveighed also against the wicked presumption of Nestorius in boasting that he was the first and the only one who understood holy Scripture, and that all those teachers were ignorant, who before him had expounded the sacred oracles, forsooth, the whole body of priests, the whole body of Confessors and martyrs, of whom some had published commentaries upon the Law of God, others had agreed with them in their comments, or had acquiesced in them. In a word, he confidently asserted that the whole Church was even now in error, and always had been in error, in that, as it seemed to him, it had followed, and was following, ignorant and misguided teachers.

[84.] The foregoing would be enough and very much more than enough, to crush and annihilate every profane novelty. But yet that nothing might be wanting to such completeness of proof… Holy Pope Sixtus then says in an Epistle which he wrote on Nestorius’s matter to the bishop of Antioch… “Let no license be allowed to novelty, because it is not fit that any addition should be made to antiquity. Let not the clear faith and belief of our forefathers be fouled by any muddy admixture.” A truly apostolic sentiment! He enhances the belief of the Fathers by the epithet of clearness; profane novelties he calls muddy.

[86.] … The holy bishops of almost the whole East… decreed, under divine guidance, that nothing ought to be believed by posterity save what the sacred antiquity of the holy Fathers, consentient in Christ, had held, who with one voice, and with loud acclaim, testified that these were the words of all, this was the wish of all, this was the sentence of all…. But if neither apostolic injunctions nor ecclesiastical decrees may be violated, by which, in accordance with the sacred consent of universality and antiquity, all heretics always… have been rightly and deservedly condemned, then assuredly it is incumbent on all Catholics who are anxious to approve themselves genuine sons of Mother Church, to adhere henceforward to the holy faith of the holy Fathers, to be wedded to it, to die in it; but as to the profane novelties of profane men — to detest them, abhor them, oppose them, give them no quarter.

Theodore of Mopsuestia:

“And so, brothers, stand and hold fast to the traditions that you have learned, whether by word or by our letter.” 2 Thess. 2:15 Now he referred this to the whole discussion; that is, “do not be persuaded by those who want to lead you astray, but remain in what we have handed down to you, whether by word when we were present or by letter when we were absent.” — Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on 2 Thessalonians

What, then, is it? “I want you (he says) above all to dissuade those who want to teach in the church things different from what the account of true religion demands.” For it is clear that he makes his statement, so that you may give orders to certain people, about his own people and not about strangers. For it was not Timothy’s job to give notice to outsiders, since at that time especially, the teachers of true religion by no means claimed the right to reprove their rivals, but on the contrary endured a good many evils from them. And he says they ought not to teach false doctrine in reference to those from the circumcision who had believed, since by speaking much as though for the law, they were striving to teach the Gentile Christians what contradicted the established teaching of Christian doctrine. — Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on 1 Timothy 1.3-4

“You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and the things you have heard from me through many witnesses, these entrust to faithful people, who may be fitted also to teach others.” 2 Timothy 2:1-2 Therefore, for every reason display by the facts themselves the grace given you by Christ for the benefit of others. Your eager pursuit should be to do with care everything whatsoever that is great. And what you have often heard from me while I was teaching others—for this is what he means by through many witnesses—these things be quick yourself to teach, not to just anyone, but to those you consider fitted to learn, who could profit by the teaching and bring it forth to others. — Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on 2 Timothy 2.1-2

When the blessed apostle went to Crete, he handed over the pattern of true religion to those who were dwelling there. But because the pattern of true religion itself compelled him to go on to other provinces in order to instruct people dwelling in many different places about the pattern of true religion, he left blessed Titus in Crete, just as he left Timothy at Ephesus, putting him in charge of the churches there. Therefore, Paul writes to Titus, if I may speak succinctly, about ordination, instructing him how he ought to perform the ordinations themselves. At the same time he also furnished him with advice about everything else, teaching him also how he ought to act in the case of individuals. And he mentions those from the circumcision, just as he also mentioned them in the first letter he had written to Timothy, vigorously instructing him that he should not teach anything contradictory of true religion himself or allow others so to teach. — Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on Titus, Preface

Just as with royal currency – anyone who cuts off a little from the impress has debased the whole currency – so one who makes even the smallest change in sound Faith adulterates the whole. – Theodore of Mopsuestia, Commentary on Galatians 1:7

Theodoret of Cyrus:

Having left the gospel, you will not find another, for the Lord does not proclaim one gospel through us and a different one through the other apostles. Rather, all of us who are lovers of the truth preach the same message. Those who think differently offer you nothing divine; they only seek to corrupt the divine. Then, inflamed by the memory of his opponents and burning with righteous zeal, he calls anyone who attempts to proclaim a different gospel alien to godliness and cries out: “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach a gospel to you contrary to what we preached to you, let him be accursed.” Because those men were claiming that the divine apostles kept the Law, the blessed Apostle left them aside—lest he seem to act out of envy or hostility—and turned instead to a greater assertion, encompassing all by means of the greater statement, and even placing himself under the curse before all others. He mentioned angels—not as if suspecting that any of the holy angels might teach contrary to the divine gospel, for he knew that such a thing is impossible—but through this he reprehended every novelty of humanity.…“But I make known to you, brothers, the gospel that was preached by me, that it is not according to man.” That is, it is not composed of human reasoning. How so? “For I neither received it from man nor was I taught it.” But from whom did you receive instruction? “But through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” He has most wisely said “through a revelation,” for the Lord Christ had already ascended and was no longer visibly present to all. But to Paul He was revealed on the road, and he was deemed worthy of the ministry of preaching. These things he set forth again in response to their slanders, teaching that he is in no way inferior to the other apostles—just as they received their instruction from Christ, so too did he have Christ Himself as his teacher. Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Galatians 1:8-9, PG 82.464, 465

Short excerpt

He mentioned the angels Gal.1:8, not speculating that any of the holy angels would say something contrary to the divine gospel, for he knew this to be impossible. But through this he reprehended every novelty of humanity. — Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Galatians 1.8

“And you, once alienated and enemies in mind by wicked works, now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.” (Colossians 1:22)…Then Paul alludes to the deviation that occurred and gives a caution: “If indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and not shifting from the hope of the gospel which you heard” (Colossians 1:23). You will be holy and blameless and above reproach, provided you remain in what you were taught from the beginning and keep the doctrine delivered to you as firm. He calls the hope of the gospel the resurrection, the immortal life, and the kingdom of heaven (Colossians 1:5). Then he teaches that the proclamation was not made only to them, but has been offered to all mankind: “Of the gospel which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister” (Colossians 1:23). For he himself was entrusted with the cultivation of the nations. — Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Colossians 1:23, PG 82.601, 604

 “And the things you heard from me through many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” 2 Timothy 2:2 These are the things you heard while I was teaching many; for this is what he means by “through many witnesses”—he is continually proclaiming the same message. And just as you were appointed by me as a teacher, so also you should teach those adorned with faith the things you have learned, so that they in turn may pass on the teaching to others. — Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on 2 Timothy 2:2, PG 82.837, 840

Orthodox: “It would have been better for us to agree and preserve the apostolic teaching in its integrity. But since you have for some reason destroyed harmony and are now offering us worthless doctrines, let us please search for the truth together without quarreling.” Eranistes: “We do not need a search, for we clearly possess the truth.” Orthodox: “Every heretic has assumed this. Why, even the Jews and the Greeks think that they are defending doctrines of truth, and this includes, not only the devotees of Plato and Pythagoras, but also the followers of Epicurus, outright atheists, and agnostics. We should not, however, be slaves of preconception, but should rather seek true knowledge.” Eranistes: “I yield to your recommendation and accept your proposal.” Orthodox: “In that case, since you willingly accepted my first request, I also beg you not to entrust the search for truth to human arguments, but to look instead for the tracks of the apostles, the prophets, and the holy people who followed them. For this is what travelers like to do when they go off the main road; they examine the paths carefully and look for footprints that show the comings and goings of people, horses, donkeys, or mules. And when they find some, they track them, like dogs, and do not stop until they recover the right road.” … [Much further down, After citing over a dozen fathers]… Orthodox: “So as not to wear out your ears with sheer numbers, I have offered you a few quotations from many preachers of the truth. And these should suffice to reveal the meaning of what praiseworthy men think. And now it would be your turn to express your opinion about what has been said.” Eranistes: “They have all spoken harmoniously, and those who tend the field in the West agree with those who cultivate the East; but I did observe great diversity in their words.” Orthodox: “These men were successors of the divine apostles. Some even enjoyed the privilege of hearing their holy words and of seeing those admirable men; many were adorned with the crown of martyrdom. Do you think it is right, then, to speak blasphemy against them?” Eranistes: “I’m afraid to do that, but I do not accept the great diversity.” Orthodox: “Well then, I’ll again provide you with an unexpected remedy. For I shall bring in Apollinarius, one of the teachers of your amazing heresy, and I shall show that he understood the text, “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14) in the same way as the holy fathers. Hear, therefore, what he wrote about this in the book, A Summary. … Eranistes: “I didn’t realize that Apollinarius thought this, for I had different ideas about him.” Orthodox: “See then, you have learned that in addition to the prophets, the apostles, and those who were officially appointed teachers of the world after them, Apollinarius, the writer of heretical foolishness, also confesses that God the Word is immutable, and he does not say that he changed into flesh, but that he assumed flesh; he even made this confession often, as you have heard. Do not struggle, therefore, to surpass your teacher in blasphemy. “For a disciple is not above the master,” (Matthew 10:24) as the Lord said.” – Theodoret of Cyrus, Immutable Dialogue One (Fathers of the Church volume 106, page 30, 85-88)” – Theodoret of Cyrus, Immutable Dialogue One (Fathers of the Church volume 106, page 30, 85-86)

Acacius of Beroea:

We reject all the doctrines introduced recently either through letters or through pamphlets as confusing the common people, since we are content with the ancient legislation of the fathers and obey the one who said, “Remove not the ancient landmarks which your fathers set up.” Proverbs 22:28 — Acacius of Beroea, Letter to Cyril of Alexandria 2, 437 AD

Procopius of Gaza:

“Do not move the ancient boundaries which your fathers set.” Proverbs 22:28 Do not alter the true dogmas of the truth which the teachers of truth handed down to you. – Procopius of Gaza, Commentary on Proverbs 22, Migne PG 87(1).1447

Cassiodorus:

“Let that which you have heard from the beginning remain in you,” and so on (1 John 2:24). He says they ought to remain in the faith they have received, so that they may also remain in the love of the Father and the Son, in order that they may obtain His promises—that is, the rewards of eternal life. Therefore, we must remain in Him, so that at His coming He may not find us estranged; for since He has granted us to be called His children, it is a great impiety if we are found to have become strangers to His ways. Thus we must act so that, when He appears, we may be able to behold Him as He is, with the fullness of reward. – Cassiodorus, On 1 John, PL 70.1371D

Bede (700 AD):

The Church in Bede’s time already adopted many heresies but the things he says can still be applied since its in line with the earlier witnesses.

“That which you have heard from the beginning, let it remain in you,” etc. (1 John 2:24). He says: follow with your whole heart that faith, those doctrines, which you received by the voice of the apostles from the first days of the newborn Church. For these alone are what make you partakers of divine grace. And if anyone says to you, “Behold, here is Christ; behold, there,” do not believe it. “For false prophets shall arise,” as the Lord foretold (Matthew 24:23–24). — Bede, On 1 John 2:24, PL 93:96.

“I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning” (1 John 2:13). He calls them fathers not because of age, but because they are greater and mature in wisdom. For old age is honorable not for its length or the number of years. “True gray hair is human understanding, and an unblemished life is old age” (Wisdom 4:8–9). It is the role of fathers to remember and to know ancient things and to pass them on to the younger. Hence it is written: “Ask your fathers, and they will tell you” (Deuteronomy 32:7). And so he rightly calls fathers those who have learned to know Him who is from the beginning—that is, the Lord Jesus Christ, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit—and to faithfully proclaim Him to their hearers. – Bede, On 1 John, PL 93:91D-92A

“The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth” (2 John 1:1)—that is, I love with true love, namely, that which is according to God. Or certainly, I love them because I see that they persevere in the truth. “And not I only, but also all who have known the truth” (2 John 1:1). Because he begins to write against heretics, who have fallen away from the truth of the faith, he rightly recalls that there is one love in the Holy Spirit shared by all who have come to know the truth, so that both by the unanimity and the multitude of the Catholics he might terrify those who, being few, have separated themselves from their communion. For truly, all Catholics throughout the world follow one rule of truth; but not all heretics and unbelievers agree in a united error—rather, “they will proceed further into ungodliness, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13), and they oppose not only one another but also “the way of truth” (2 Peter 2:2). — Bede, On 2 John 1, PL 93:120D-121A

“And now I beseech you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto you, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another” (2 John 1:5). By this statement he rebukes the heretics, who were attempting to introduce new doctrines, abandoning those which they had heard from the apostles, and thus were dissolving the bonds of brotherly charity. Therefore, he says that he is writing no new commandment, but is only exhorting that the ancient faith and unblemished love should remain in all things. “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh” (2 John 1:7). This can be understood of heretics who, though they confess Jesus Christ incarnate, hold false views in some part of His faith—whether they deny His true flesh, or His true soul, or His true divinity, or His true Father as God, or His true Holy Spirit as God almighty, or deny anything else that the right faith confesses. — Bede, On 2 John 1, PL 93:121C-122A 

“I would have written to the Church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us” (3 John 1:9). Diotrephes, it seems, was some proud and arrogant heresiarch of that time, preferring to usurp for himself the primacy of knowledge by teaching new things, rather than humbly listening to the ancient commands of the holy Church, which John proclaimed. Hence, fittingly, the name Diotrephes—interpreted as “glorious fool” or “mad with splendor”—symbolically expresses the treachery of his heart even in his very name. — Bede, On 3 John 9, PL 93:124A

“Beloved, while I was very diligent to write unto you” (Jude 1:3), etc. He speaks of their common salvation—that salvation which was common both to himself and to them. For the salvation, faith, and love of Christ are one and common to all the elect. “Exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3). He exhorts them not to learn another faith, but only that which was once delivered to them by the apostles, and for this to contend always, even unto death. — Bede, On Jude 1:3, PL 93:123

“But I want to remind you, who once knew all things” Jude 1:5 —that is, knowing all the mysteries of the faith and having no need to hear new things, as if they were holier, from new teachers.” — Bede, On Jude 1:5, PL 93:125B 

“Do not remove the ancient landmarks,” etc. [Proverbs 22:28] Do not transgress the boundaries of faith established by the Catholic teachers from the beginning. — Bede, Commentary on Proverbs