The 110 AD Discovery That Terrifies the Reformation

From Totus Catholica

Protestants Cherry-Pick Church Fathers - Here's What They Skip When Protestant apologists quote Ignatius of Antioch on Scripture, they celebrate his reverence for God's Word. But when Ignatius writes that heretics reject the Eucharist because they refuse to confess it is "the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ," those same apologists go silent. 📌 The Point: The real question isn't whether the Fathers loved Scripture - they did. But whether Scripture alone was their rule of faith, or whether they operated within a living Church transmitting apostolic teaching through bishops, sacraments, and unwritten traditions. 📖 Three Case Studies Case 1 - St. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 110 AD): Skipped: "They abstained from the Eucharist because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins" (Letter to the Smyrnaeans) Ignatius doesn't say the Eucharist symbolises Christ's flesh - he says it is the flesh. Also skipped - Letter to the Philadelphians: "One altar (thusiasterion - the word for a place of sacrifice)." The early Church didn't speak of a memorial meal - they spoke of an altar and the flesh of Jesus. Case 2 - St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 AD): Skipped: His defence of apostolic succession - "The tradition in the church and the preaching of the truth has come down to us through this succession" of bishops from Peter and Paul. This mirrors 2 Timothy 2:2: "What you have heard from me, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." Case 3 - St. Basil the Great (375 AD): Skipped: "Of the beliefs and practices preserved in the Church, some we possess from written teaching, others from the tradition of the apostles. And both of these, in relation to true religion, have the same force." Basil lists unwritten apostolic traditions: the sign of the cross, the words of Eucharistic consecration, the blessing of baptismal water. He asks: "From what Scripture do we derive these?" Answer: "From that unpublished teaching which our fathers guarded in silence." A 4th century Doctor of the Church - not medieval corruption. ⛪ Catholic Teaching CCC: "The Church does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the Holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted with equal sentiments of devotion because both flow from the same divine wellspring." The Structural Problem: Without the Church's teaching authority, Protestant engagement with the Fathers becomes structurally selective - accept Augustine on grace, reject Augustine on the Eucharist as sacrifice, based on conformity to a pre-existing framework. 🛡️ Objections Answered "The Fathers disagreed, so they can't prove Catholic claims"? The Catholic standard is moral unanimity - consensus across time and geography on matters the Fathers themselves identified as apostolic. Where you find that consensus (Real Presence, baptismal regeneration, episcopal authority), there you find the faith once delivered to the saints. "Tradition undermines Scripture"? Scripture is the inspired written component; Tradition is the living transmission; the Magisterium serves both. This is reception of the whole apostolic inheritance, not addition to it. 📺 Chapters 0:00 - The Pattern: Selective Quotation Across the Fathers 1:43 - Why Cherry-Picking Is Structurally Built Into Sola Scriptura 2:28 - Case 1: Ignatius on the Eucharist as Flesh 3:56 - Case 2: Irenaeus on Apostolic Succession 4:47 - Case 3: Basil - Unwritten Tradition Has "The Same Force" 6:18 - Objections Answered 7:45 - Three Takeaways on Authority and Unity 🌐 Connect 📿 https://totuscatholica.org/rosary 🌍 https://totuscatholica.org/ ✉️ https://totuscatholica.org/contact 🔍 https://catholicexaminationofconscien... 💬 Question If St. Basil explicitly states unwritten apostolic traditions carry "the same force" as Scripture - and lists the Eucharistic consecration as one - how does Sola Scriptura account for what a 4th-century Doctor of the Church taught?