Orthodox Forge

Introduction to the Coptic Catechism

Has Church worship taken anything from holy tradition?

Q86 · Holy Tradition

What was said about the ethical program applies also to the Church’s order of worship. Without doubt, we receive our “Church life in Jesus Christ” not only through Christian doctrines, teaching, the Holy Bible, and the ethical program, but also through tradition: the Church’s liturgies, rites, canons, and all that concerns worship. We have received a true life of worship in an apostolic and patristic spirit, which upholds our true faith.

261 Dom Guéranger, Examen des Institutions Liturgiques (Librairie Liturgique et Catholique de L. Lesort, 1846); Yves Congar, Tradition and the Life of the Church (London: Burns and Oats, 1964): p. 125.
262 St. Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus 1.2 (ANF 2:89).