{"id":4901,"date":"2012-06-28T06:21:13","date_gmt":"2012-06-28T13:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/?p=4901"},"modified":"2016-01-26T11:20:42","modified_gmt":"2016-01-26T19:20:42","slug":"continuity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/continuity\/","title":{"rendered":"Continuity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\nA<\/span> post-Protestant friend of mine has a particular fondness for that great Doctor of the Church, Saint Iren\u00e6us of Lyons<\/a>, whose feast day is today. He occasionally quotes from the saint’s great work, Adversus H\u00e6reses<\/i> (Against Heresies), and he is particularly fond of the saying “the proper glory of God is man fully alive.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>He refers to the saint as a “pre-Roman Catholic”. He draws distinctions between the “spiritual” Church and the “hierarchical” Church, which he sees as profoundly anti-Christian.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, I bristle at his “pre-Roman Catholic” terminology, and indeed, at the theology and reading of history that gives rise to it.<\/p>\n

Perhaps one could refer this way to the Church prior to the Roman missions of Saints Peter and Paul, but by the time of Iren\u00e6us, that would be impossible. In contradiction to the claims of those who repudiate the Catholic Church with its hierarchy and tradition, the saint, who was taught the faith by Saint Polycarp, who was in his turn taught the faith by the Apostle Saint John (the beloved disciple) has this to say:<\/p>\n

\nB<\/span>ut since it would be too long to enumerate in such a volume as this the succession of all the churches, we shall confound all those who, in whatever manner, whether through self-satisfaction or vainglory, or through blindness and wicked opinion, assemble other than where it is proper, by pointing out here the successions of the bishops of the greatest and most ancient church known to all, founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul, that church which has the tradition and the faith which comes down to us after having been announced to men by the apostles. <\/p>\n

With that church, because of its superior origin, all the churches must agree, that is, all the faithful in the whole world, and it is in her that the faithful everywhere have maintained the apostolic tradition.<\/p>\n

(Saint Iren\u00e6us of Lyons, Adversus H\u00e6reses<\/i> 3:3:2 [A.D. 189])<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Saint Iren\u00e6us died for his faith and his Church. <\/p>\n

There is a beautiful, flowing continuity through time and spirit from Christ to Peter and the Apostles to the Fathers to the Bishops of the present day.<\/p>\n

The spiritual Church is<\/i> the hierarchical Church is<\/i> the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.<\/p>\n

We stand in an uninterrupted progression of tradition and apostolic succession from Christ, through the Apostles, through the Church to the present moment of the present day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A post-Protestant friend of mine has a particular fondness for that great Doctor of the Church, Saint Iren\u00e6us of Lyons, whose feast day is today. He occasionally quotes from the saint’s great work, Adversus H\u00e6reses (Against Heresies), and he is particularly fond of the saying “the proper glory of God is man fully alive.” He refers to the saint as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,15,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-meditations","category-saint"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1aGBK-1h3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":90072,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/did-saint-francis-go-to-compostella\/","url_meta":{"origin":4901,"position":0},"title":"Did Saint Francis go to Compostella?","author":"Thom","date":"04 October 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The tradition that Saint Francis of Assisi made the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela is found in some of the earliest hagiographies of the saint. The Little Flowers of Saint Francis, composed in the 14th century, says this: Saint Francis of Asissi the first beginning of the Order, when there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Camino"","block_context":{"text":"Camino","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/camino\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Saint Francis of Asissi","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Francis.jpg?fit=400%2C579&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3502,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/saint-joan\/","url_meta":{"origin":4901,"position":1},"title":"Saint Joan","author":"Thom","date":"30 May 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"On this day in 1431, Saint Joan of Arc was burned at the stake by the English at the age of 19. I've written about Saint Joan before, here and here, and I'm not going to go over old ground today. I'm simply going to say that in this, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Saints"","block_context":{"text":"Saints","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/saint\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Jeanne_dArc-Fauquembergue.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":86641,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/saint-polycarp\/","url_meta":{"origin":4901,"position":2},"title":"Saint Polycarp: a Link on a Golden Chain","author":"Thom","date":"26 January 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"the memorial of the blessed martyr Saint Polycarp. Burned alive in Rome for the crime of being a Christian bishop, he was a disciple of Saint John the Apostle. In fact, he was ordained bishop of Smyrna by Saint John. He wrote many letters, though only one has survived the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "History"","block_context":{"text":"History","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/history\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/succession.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/succession.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/succession.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/succession.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":86407,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/saint-sylvester\/","url_meta":{"origin":4901,"position":3},"title":"Saint Sylvester","author":"Thom","date":"31 December 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Happy seventh day of Christmas! Today the Church celebrates the optional memorial of Saint Sylvester I, pope and confessor. He was born in the southern Italian town of Sant'Angelo a Scala to two Roman citizens, Rufinus and Justa. He was ordained by Pope Saint Marcellinus just before the persecutions of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Prayer"","block_context":{"text":"Prayer","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/pray\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pope Saint Sylvester I","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Silvestru-Roma-San-Marco-s12-IN-240x232.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":84014,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/feast-of-the-holy-abbots-of-cluny\/","url_meta":{"origin":4901,"position":4},"title":"Feast of the Holy Abbots of Cluny","author":"Thom","date":"29 April 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm a frustrated Oblate today. Perhaps I should explain. Today is the (combined) feast of four great Abbots of the Benedictine Order: Saints Odo, Majolus, Odilo, and Hugh. They were all good and holy men, and during the course of their reigns over the Abbey of Cluny and its associated\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Divine Office"","block_context":{"text":"Divine Office","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/sacred-liturgy\/divine-office\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Saint Odo of Cluny","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Saint-Odo-of-Cluny.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":88433,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/feast-of-the-holy-abbots-of-cluny-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":4901,"position":5},"title":"Feast of the Holy Abbots of Cluny","author":"Thom","date":"29 April 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is the (combined) feast of four great Abbots of the Benedictine Order: Saints Odo, Majolus, Odilo, and Hugh. They were all good and holy men, and during the course of their reigns over the Abbey of Cluny and its associated priories, they reformed western monasticism \u2013 indeed, it could\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Divine Office"","block_context":{"text":"Divine Office","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/sacred-liturgy\/divine-office\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Abbots of Cluny","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Odo-768x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4901"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86643,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4901\/revisions\/86643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}