How can we hold fast to the tradition of the Church in contemporary life?

Some assume that “tradition” means “conservation” or “solidification,” as if it prevents any progress in the life of the Church. From our Orthodox point of view, tradition is the life of the Church throughout history, which is guided and renewed by the Holy Spirit. The Church will never be satisfied until the perfection of all mankind. Sergius Bulgakov declares, “Tradition is not a book which records a certain moment in the development of the Church and stops itself, but a book always being written by the Church’s life. Tradition continues always and now not less than formerly; we live in tradition and create it. And nevertheless the sacred tradition of the past exists for us as present; it lives in our own life and consciousness … Ecclesiastical tradition does not put the voice of the past in the place of the voice of the present; in it the past does not kill the present, but gives it full force.”²⁷³

Tradition must be creative and at the same time conservative . There is no contradiction between these two elements, but they are essential and are indispensable to each other. Tradition cannot be conserved unless it is continually developing, and it cannot develop unless it stands on the shoulders of the past.²⁷⁴ Conservation and development are two facets of the same process, which we call tradition .