- Nov 26, 2019
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The reason why you have the Acts of the Apostles in your New Testament, and not some alternative falsehood such as the Acts of Thomas or the Acts of Andrew, is because of the Fathers of the Early Church, including St. Ignatius the Martyr, preserving a canonical tradition of which books were of apostolic origin, in opposition to various sects which sought to introduce corrupt materials into the New Testament, such as the “Gospel of Judas”, the “Gospel of Mary”, the Tripartite Tractate, the Pistis Sophia, and other heretical texts. What kept those out, and what kept the good stuff in, was the early church. That is how we are able to read the Acts of the Apostles.
And indeed it was St. Athanasius of Alexandria who was responsible for the final edit to the canon of the New Testament, that affirmed the inclusion of all twenty seven books we are used to, including Revelation, 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John and Jude, and certain other disputed books, which were omitted by several churches just a few years before (for example, they were not included in the original edition of the Peshitta, the otherwise excellent fourth century Syriac language translation of the Bible, but were added in by the Syriac Orthodox later, having been translated by St. Thomas of Harqel).
And it was also St. Athanasius of Alexandria who upheld the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and the Incarnation against the false teachings of Arius, who had the support of Emperor Constantius, the heir to St. Constantine, and most of his successors through the reign of Emperor Valens, so in between the reign of Emperor St. Constantine and Emperor St. Theodosius, except for a brief period of neo-Platonism under Julian the Apostate, the state religion of the Roman Empire was Arianism rather than Christianity.
That’s a totally false and baseless accusation against both the Roman Catholic Church and other churches such as the Orthodox. I have personally witnessed miraculous healings connected to the sacraments in these churches. I have personally seen evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in those denominations.
These include the clergy, in the Orthodox Church, who among other things are required to beg their congregations forgiveness and also declare themselves to be chief among sinners during the course of a typical liturgy. There is no shortage of meekness or humility. And they aren’t paid much, if anything, in contrast to the very large salaries that some megachurch pastors of the “Prosperity Gospel” are able to pull.
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