So you accept the fathers of the Church before this? Good!
Perhaps you should reread Ignatius of Antioch, Iraeneus of Lyons and Justin Martyr. You will find there the Orthodox Catholic faith.
We have at least 3 living witnesses to that faith in those particular churches in communion with Rome, those in communion with Alexandria and those in communion with Constantinople.
Do you hold all of these in contempt or just those in communion with Rome?
If Rome is your stumbling block to joining the Feast, then come with Constantinopal , come with Alexandria, but Come!
The Spirit and the bride say, "Come." Let the hearer say, "Come." Let the one who thirsts come forward, and the one who wants it receive the gift of life-giving water
You too! Are welcome to come to the wedding feast of the Lamb of God!
Christ is risen!
Alleluia!
Philip James >> "So you accept the fathers of the Church before this? Good!"
I didn't say I accepted them as some sort of infallible truth. I read their works in an effort to understand the beliefs of the early church.
Philip James >> "Perhaps you should reread Ignatius of Antioch, Iraeneus of Lyons and Justin Martyr. You will find there the Orthodox Catholic faith."
I did not find any of these very early writers all that informative as to providing some sort of "denominational" dogma, I found it difficult to discover exactly what they believed in any formal sense, and Origen was the worst of the works. Tertullian, a Roman lawyer, was the first I recall as creating a strucuture to what he believed. I think he was the first trinitarian holy roller!
Philip James >> "We have at least 3 living witnesses to that faith in those particular churches in communion with Rome, those in communion with Alexandria and those in communion with Constantinople."
The church changed dramatically after Constantine took over, and made the bishops of Rome, those who courted political favour, and had nothing to with their beliefs. I recall the incident in Rome around AC 350. when the appointed church officials in Rome lost their lives to a completing force in the "church". The incumbents fled to a church for refuge, which resulted in the belligerent force tearing the roof off the church, and dropping rocks on all those inside, until they were all dead!! And thus the political church of Rome was born. :-(
Philip James >> "Do you hold all of these in contempt or just those in communion with Rome?"
Not sure who you are referring to, but many in that day, realized that the church in Rome was no longer of God, and separated themselves from the church in Rome.
My heavy duty study days are now over. I no longer consult my library full of expositors of the past. What I believe, is soundly supported by Athanasius, Eusebius, Irenaeus, et al, is the promise of the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come." John 16
I am 77 years old, and as a good and faithful servant, have effectively passed my legacy of faith, on to my children and teenaged grandchildren. Romanism is a small insignificant consideration compared to what is now transpiring in the church in these latter days.