VOLUME 3

AN ANSWERE VNTO SIR THOMAS MORES DIALOGE
The Independent Works
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Commentary
Side notes
Textual notes
Bibliographic notes
Scriptural notes
Display all notes
Hide all notes
Show volumes [] (+/-)
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 6

Full Word   Starts With
LOCATION
< PreviousNext >
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.

What iff there had bene no scripture [1531]O

Grekes [1531] O

God to avoide heresies caused the scriptures to be written.[1573]

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).