|
KEY Commentary Side Textual Bibliographic Scriptural
|
In his third boke he procedith forth as
before to proue that the opinions which the popish teach with
out scripture are of equal
auctorite with the scripture. He axeth what iff
there had neuer bene scripture written? I answere / god careth
for his electe and therfore hath prouided them of scripture / to
trie all thynges and to defende them from all false prophetes.
And I saye morouer that if there had bene no scripture written /
that god for his mercy and fatherly loue and care toward his
electe / must haue prouided / that there shulde neuer haue bene
heresies or agenst all tymes when sectes shulde arise / haue
stered vpp preachers to confunde the heresies with miracles
. Take this ensample / the grekes haue the scripture
and serue god therin moch moare diligently then we. Now latt vs
geue that there were no scripture / but that we receaued all
our faith by the auctoryte of oure elders / and the grekes by
the auctorite of their
elders. When I shall dispute with a greke aboute the
articles of the faith which my elders taught me and his elders
denye / as eareconfession / the holy pardons of the pope and
all his power that he hath aboue other bisshopes & many
other thynges besyde the scripture which we hold for articles
of oure faith and they denye. If there be
no nother proffe of ether parte / then to saye / my
elders which can not erre so affirme and that he shuld answere
/ his elders whych can not erre so denie / what reason is it /
that I shuld leaue the auctorite
of my elders and goo and beleue his / or that he
shuld leaue the auctorite of his elders and come and beleue
myne? no
|
the opinions . . .
scripture. Cf. CWM 6/1.247/6–8.
He axeth . . .
written. Cf. CWM 6/1.252/7–8.
greke ...
eareconfession. In Obedience (N1),
Tyndale claims that auricular confession was abolished in Constantinople
after a deacon sexually assaulted a woman. Socrates Scholasticus reports
in his Ecclesiastical History 5.19 (PG 67.613–20;
2NPNF 2.128) that the woman told the priest penitentiary of her adultery
with a deacon, who was then excommunicated. In his parallel Ecclesiastical History 7.16 (PG
67.1457–64; 2NPNF 2.386–87), Sozomen gives another version:
the deacon raped the woman, whom he found alone in church offering
penitential prayers. Both Socrates and Sozomen correctly state that the
office of priest penitentiary was then abolished. One could mistakenly
conclude that Eastern Christians afterwards confessed their sins only to
God. However, Nectarius, Patriarch of Constantinople, did not abolish
private confession in 391 but an office established to reconcile the
many Christians who had apostasized during the Decian persecution (AD
250–51), cf. Watkins 1.477–78. St. Nicephorus I, Patriarch of
Constantinople from 806 to 815 (NCE 10.438–39), affirmed the bishop's
right to delegate authority to hear confessions (Canon 88) (FJO 183).
Auricular confession in the Eastern Church was recognized at the first
reunion council, Lyons II (1274), and continues to the present day. Cf.
Alexander P. Kazhdan, "Confession," 1.493; Robert F.
Taft SJ et al, "Penance," 3.1622–23 in The
Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, ed. Alexander P. Kazhdan, 3 vols. (New
York: Oxford UP, 1991).
|