NOTE: - 45 -

If they were unacquainted with ecclesiastical histories and unskilled in apostolic traditions, it was incumbent upon them indeed to hearken to the counsel of the Holy Apostle Pōghos [Paul]: “Be not wise in your own conceits” (Rom. 12:16). Concerning this saying, Saint Yovhan Oskiberan [John Chrysostom] says: “This is a malady born of pride, which utterly casts harmonious society into confusion.” Behold, unto such as these Soghomon [Solomon] gives counsel with Divine wisdom: “Be not wise in thine own eyes, but fear the Lord, and depart from all evil” (Prov. 3:7). But with a more vehement rebuke the Prophet Esayi [Isaiah] writes: “Woe unto them that seek deep counsel, and not through the Lord” (29:15). Now, if they had observed all these things with attentive care, then, having perceived their own perverse and fallible discernment, they would never have dared to write: “If we discern rightly,” and so forth. Can the mental discernment of a perfect Christian truly be right and true when he rejects apostolic traditions—following novel and innovative doctrines, and embracing and acknowledging newly devised traditions contrary to the true traditions delivered unto us whether by writing or by word? As Saint Kiwregh [Cyril] says concerning the words of Saint At‘anas [Athanasius] and the confession of the holy Council of Nikia [Nicaea]: “We permit neither ourselves nor others to remove anything of what is there, or to transgress by even a single syllable, remembering that which was said: ‘Remove not the ancient landmarks which thy fathers have set’; for it was not they that spoke, but the Spirit of God and the Father.” Therefore, if anyone among Christians, contrary to and against the true, upright, and apostolically established traditions, thinks, speaks, or defines the contrary, he undoubtedly opposes the Holy Spirit of truth. Like unto them in ancient times were Janēs and Jamrēs [Jannes and Jambres], the chiefs of the sorcerers of Egypt, who resisted the Mosaic legislation and the visibly manifested miracles. Likewise, in the times of the Apostles, there arose certain corruptors of minds and utter stumbling-blocks unto many—false teachers, regarding whom the Holy Apostle Pōghos writes unto Timot‘ēos [Timothy], his beloved disciple: “Having a form of godliness, but [denying] the power [thereof]...”