Common Objections to the Faith and Church and the answers:
1. The Church places Tradition on the same level as the Bible.”
It is indeed true that the Church regards Holy Tradition and Holy Scripture as inseparably united and mutually confirming. The Church is not an external institution alongside the Bible, but its mother and guardian. The writings of the New Testament arose within the Church, were preserved by the Church, and can only be truly understood within the Church (cf. 1 Tim 3:15: “…the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth”).
As St. Irenaeus of Lyons († c. 202) writes:
“Where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church and all grace. But the Spirit is truth.” (Against Heresies III, 24,1).
The Fathers make it clear that Scripture is not independent from the Church. St. Athanasius († 373) states:
“But what we have received from the Apostles, and what the Church has preserved, and what the Scriptures have testified, this is what we hold fast to.” (To Epictetus, 5).
It is also an historical fact that it was the Church that established the canon list of the New Testament, for example at the Synods of Hippo (393) and Carthage (397). Without the Church, there is no canon of Scripture.
That the Ecumenical Councils are binding follows from Christ’s promise:
• Matt 28:20 – “And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
• John 16:13 – “When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth.”
• Luke 10:16 – “He who hears you hears Me.”
Furthermore, the Fathers have quoted the New Testament more than one million times. Through the writings of St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and St. Athanasius, nearly the entire New Testament can be reconstructed.
According to the Orthodox hermeneutical approach, a noetic purification (κάθαρσις) is necessary to understand Scripture. St. Gregory Palamas († 1359) says:
“He who wishes to understand the Word of God must first be united to Him through a pure life and prayer.” (The Triads, III,1,27).
Thus, the reading of the Bible is inseparably bound to the sacramental life of the Church. Whoever refuses to receive grace cannot penetrate into its innermost meaning (cf. 1 Cor 2:14).
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2. “You engage in idolatry through your icons and statues.”
An icon is not an idol (εἴδωλον) but a window into eternity (εἰκών = image). Unlike the idol, which remains within creation, the icon points to the Creator and manifests the mystery of the Incarnation.
St. John of Damascus († 749) defends the use of icons:
“We do not worship matter, but we worship the Creator of matter, who for our sake became matter and through matter accomplished our salvation.” (On the Divine Images, I, 16).
The Seventh Ecumenical Council (Nicea II, 787) established the distinction between latreia (worship, due to God alone) and proskynesis (veneration, given to holy persons and objects):
“The honor paid to the icon passes to its prototype.” (Decrees of Nicea II).
The icon is a confession of the reality of the Incarnation: if God became man, then man can be depicted sanctified by His grace (2 Pet 1:4).
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3. “You praise Mary as if she were a goddess.”
The Church entirely rejects any deification of the Theotokos. She is not God, but she is the Mother of God in accordance with the Council of Ephesus (431), since she bore Christ, God and man in one person.
St. Cyril of Alexandria († 444) states:
“If anyone does not confess that Emmanuel is God in truth and therefore that the holy virgin is the Mother of God (Theotokos), for she bore according to the flesh the Word of God made flesh… let him be anathema.” (Ephesus, Anathemas, 1).
The Church praises her in accordance with Scripture:
• Luke 1:48 – “For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed.”
Her “yes” to God reversed Eve’s disobedience, as St. Irenaeus expresses it:
“As the disobedience of Eve became the cause of death for mankind, so the obedience of Mary became the cause of salvation for her and for the whole human race.” (Against Heresies, III,22,4).
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4. “You impose legalism where the Gospel offers freedom.”
Paul criticizes in Rom 3:28 and Gal 2:16 the old law as a way to righteousness, but he affirms works in Christ as the fruit of faith (Gal 5:6; Rom 2:13).
St. James speaks clearly:
• James 2:17 – “So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”
• James 2:19 – “Even the demons believe—and shudder.”
The Church understanding is synergistic: salvation is by grace through faith, but faith works through love (Gal 5:6). The canonical order of the Church is therefore not “legalism” in a Pharisaic sense, but an expression of the guidance of the Holy Spirit. St. Basil the Great († 379) writes:
“The law in Christ is the law of the Spirit, written in the heart, and it leads us to perfection.” (On the Holy Spirit, 15,36).
– Nikodemus Ungh