Anathema (Excommunication)

"Now if any man is obstinate and contemptuous, let him hear Christ saying even now, "If any one trespass against thee, go, tell him his fault between thee and him alone"; but if he will not be persuaded, "take with thee one or two." But if even so he contradict, "tell it to the Church, but if he shall also refuse to hear the Church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican." Matt. 18:.15, 16, 17

Beliefs and Practices

The Jewish Messiah both instituted practices and taught doctrines. As the High Priest and messenger of God, he revealed not only the Truth, but the Way. With speech he taught (to our perennial surprise) that the merciful are better off than the vengeful, the meek better off than the overbearing, the peacemakers better off than the conquering war heroes... And with deeds he showed that we ought to wash the feet of our employees and students, that we ought to be baptized in water, that we ought to break bread, bless it, and give thanks to God for it, in remembrance of him who was broken for us.

The disciples of this Divine Man, in obedience, followed Him in both word and deed. (Peter, James, Mathew, Paul) They both preached what they were taught, and did what they were modeled. The "apostolic fathers" in turn believed and obeyed, taught and modeled. (Polycarp, Ignatius, Clement, Barnabas)

Today, we preach what he taught. Do we do what he did?

APOSTOLIC TRADITIONS GENERALLY IN ABEYANCE.

1. Washing of feet. St. John xiii. 4-14.

2. Anointing of sick with prayer for healing. St. James v. 14, 15.

3. Anointing with Oil and Muron in Baptism.

4. Anointing with Muron for Consecration.

5. Trine immersion in Baptism.

6. Incense offered to God's Holy Name. Malachi i. 11.

Humility

"The road to humility is labor, bodily labor, while seeking to know oneself and to put oneself below everyone else and praying to God about everything: this is the road to humility, but humility itself is something divine and incomprehensible."

Abba Agathon

Did the Church Fall Away?

"Since an apostasy [of the church] was supposed to happen, and was underway even while the apostles were still alive, let us explore some of the side-effects of this falling away. The first such side-effect was the loss of the apostolic authority from the Church. That is, the Church was in rebellion so God took away the Apostles from the earth, and with them, the apostolic authority. Although [Christians] since the second century have been fond of calling their church "apostolic," by virtue of having descended from the churches established by the Apostles, we shall see that living apostles are meant to be part of the true Church of Christ. Otherwise, a church can't have apostolic authority."

Barry Bickmore, Mormon Apologist

Relics

"And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet."

-II Kings 13:20-21

"What power there was in his dead body: it communicated life to another dead body, v. 21. This great miracle, though very briefly related, was a decided proof of his mission and a confirmation of all his prophecies.

It was also a plain indication of another life after this. When Elisha died, there was not an end of him, for then he could not have done this. From operation we may infer existence. By this it appeared that the Lord was still the God of Elisha; therefore Elisha still lived, for God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

And it may, perhaps, have a reference to Christ, by whose death and burial the grave is made to all believers a safe and happy passage to life."

-Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary

On the Canon II

Decree from the Council of Rome in 382 AD:

"Now indeed we must treat of the divine scriptures, what the universal Church accepts and what she ought to shun. The order of the Old Testament begins here: Genesis, one book; Exodus, one book; Leviticus, one book; Numbers, one book; Deuteronomy, one book; Joshua... one book; Judges, one book; Ruth, one book; Kings, four books [that is, 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings]; Paralipomenon [Chronicles], two books; Psalms, one book; Solomon, three books: Proverbs, one book, Ecclesiastes, one book, Canticle of Canticles [Song of Songs], one book; likewise Wisdom, one book; Ecclesiasticus [Sirach], one book . . . . Likewise the order of the historical [books]: Job, one book; Tobit, one book; Esdras, two books [Ezra and Nehemiah]; Esther, one book; Judith, one book; Maccabees, two books..."

Damasus, Patriarch of Rome

On the Canon

Preface to the Epistles of St. James and St. Jude, Martin Luther (1522)

"Though this epistle of St. James was rejected by the ancients, 1 I praise it and consider it a good book, because it sets up no doctrines of men but vigorously promulgates the law of God. However, to state my own opinion about it, though without prejudice to anyone, I do not regard it as the writing of an apostle; and my reasons follow.In the first place it is flatly against St. Paul and all the rest of Scripture in ascribing justification to works. It says that Abraham was justified by his works when he offered his son Isaac; though in Romans 4 St. Paul teaches to the contrary that Abraham was justified apart from works, by his faith alone, before he had offered his son, and proves it by Moses in Genesis 15. Now although this epistle might be helped and an interpretation 2 devised for this justification by works, it cannot be defended in its application to works of Moses' statement in Genesis 15. For Moses is speaking here only of Abraham's faith, and not of his works, as St. Paul demonstrates in Romans 4. This fault, therefore, proves that this epistle is not the work of any apostle."