TRADITION, HOLY

TRADITION, HOLY. Literally, “tradition” in both Greek and Latin derives from the verb meaning “to hand over, pass on” (paradidomi, trado). In the Orthodox Church the phrase “Holy Tradition” signifies the Christian faith and that which enables and expresses it: worship (sacraments and liturgical offices), the Scriptures, the writings of the Church Fathers, the decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, and the witness of the lives of the saints (qq.v.). More deeply, tradition has been defined by Fr. Georges Florovsky as the life of the Holy Spirit (qq.v.), the current or continuum of the Church as the body of Christ and presence of the age to come. Not bound by documents or ritual actions, nor enclosed by them, nor expressed particularly and infallibly by any one office or officer of the Church, Holy Tradition is enshrined and protected by writings, rites, and offices within the Church.

Holy Tradition (with a capital “T”) is to be distinguished from tradition (with a lower case “t”) or custom. Custom and/or tradition are the different bodies of behavior and attitudes that have accompanied Holy Tradition down through the ages, but that are themselves necessarily bound to time and place, and might even obscure Holy Tradition. Similarly, indigenous traditions, whether originating in Orthodox environs or permitted by the Church following a people’s conversion, may be deemed harmonious with the faith, or at least not in conflict with it, but never simply identified with it. The distinction is firm in theory, although its precise application in practice is often thorny.