The Main Doctrines of the Church

The Malankara Orthodox Church has pillars of Mystery through which it teaches and demonstrates its basic religious belief. They are called pillars due to the fact that they support and strengthen the faithful in their life as a pillar supports a roof. These pillars have Biblical foundation.

Scripture and Tradition

Tradition constitutes the Christian faith. It can be denoted as the act by which something is handed down from ancestors to posterity. The Orthodox churches hold the view that apart from the Holy Scripture, other sources of divine revelation manifested through the incarnate Jesus also form part of what churches believe and practice today. As social creatures, human beings depend not only on a contemporary group or literal writings, but also on earlier generations and their living conditions. They receive a heritage from a rich and diversified heritage, which may be called tradition. However, when we assume the terminology ecclesiologically, the concept has deeper and wide meanings. There could be a fundamental difference between tradition and traditions even. When traditions cover the concepts and practices which were handed down from ancestors, tradition embodies the integral part of everything—it includes all the socio-economic and religious background in its integrity. When we transfer this aspect into ecclesiology, we reach the point that "the Church itself is in the traditions."

What is Holy Scripture?

The Holy Scripture is the sacred book that reveals the divine plan of Salvation in Jesus, which God the Father began in the Old Testament times. The Holy Scripture relates the history of salvation revealed to Israel (OT) and the church (NT) for the benefit of the whole humanity.

The OT and NT are Holy Scripture. The OT predicted and expected a Saviour, the Messiah, in the fullness of time. In the incarnation of Jesus, the prediction of the OT—one part of the Holy Scripture—was fulfilled. This fulfilment was recorded and preserved in literary form, which is the NT.

Why the Holy Scripture?

Thus, since the NT reveals God through Jesus Christ, the Bible is holy scripture. According to the Church, God inspires the Holy Scripture. Therefore, the scripture is true, sacred, infallible and normative. In this sense, the Holy Scripture is a divine book.

Divine Inspiration of the Scripture

The Holy Scripture has divine origin. The inspired men of God under divine direction speak God's word or write it (cf. Ezekiel 3:4; Acts 1:16, 4:25; Rev. 2:1, 8, 15). The divine mysteries were revealed by God to persons who were then under spiritual compulsion to speak or to write. Consequently, the creative intuition of the writer is reflected in the Holy Scripture. In other words, the scripture reflects divine charisma by which the inspired words of God are written.

The divine inspiration is stated in the Bible as St. Peter, the chief of the apostles, says: "First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God" (II Pt. 1:20–21).

The Formation of OT and NT

The formation of both OT and NT has a long history. The primitive Church recognised the OT as divinely inspired and the Church needed the same for the expectation of Jesus as the promised Messiah. The preaching in Acts testifies to this fact. This means that the NT is the image and vision of the shadow in the OT.

The NT scripture contains a variety of writings: gospels, narration of the apostles' acts, letters, apocalypse, church orders, etc. The Christian community was in essence not a "bookish" one. It was called into existence by a series of events well remembered. The Church made use of the OT scripture for the benefit of the Christian community. The apostle Paul says, "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim 3:16–17).

Hence, Holy Scripture is a development within the living community, that is, the Church. The community is the apostolic community. They had used the OT to explain the holy tradition and to explain Jesus. Likewise, we rely on the apostolic teaching and their tradition. The Church's way of outlook is cyclic, and hence the tradition comes within the Church and not from any outside source. When we gather everything in its integrity, we understand that the Church itself is the tradition.

Tradition and Traditions

Tradition is, to be exact, a bond between the present and the past. The Greek word used is parodosis, meaning handing down, or to hand over, to deliver. Since it is a bond, there is certainly a relation within the Church—a cyclic one. Apostolic teachings are there which substantiate the concept of tradition and its need in the Church.

Hence, tradition includes tradition of mouth also. The advice by words that was observed by posterity may not be found in the Holy Scripture. This does not mean that the Holy Scripture is imperfect. It is perfect in itself, but the Church has the responsibility to observe and hand over the tradition in the Church.

However, in traditions, all minute observances and ceremonies may arise. There could be certain factors that are set apart. Tradition includes all traditions, but the tradition may not include every tradition in its integrity. What Paul meant in II Thes. 2:15 and in I Cor. 11:2 about 'traditions' is its integral aspect—that is, the Church itself. It is within this 'tradition', and all "traditions" in their integral aspect, that the Holy Scripture was formulated, and not the Holy Scripture that formed the Church. Behind every literal work, there lies an oral or written tradition.

The 'rabbis' in the NT made a distinction between the written Torah and oral tradition. The NT designates this unwritten tradition as the "tradition of the elders" (Mt. 15:2). Paul's expression "the tradition of my fathers" (Gal. 1:14) refers to both written and unwritten. Again, "the custom of our fathers" (Acts 28:17; 6:14; 15:1; 21:21) and "the law of our fathers" (Acts 23:3) have the same meaning.