Dear David,
I will invoke your website patron, St David Lewis for you!
With respect to "Sola Scriptura," there is an excellent article written by a former Protestant pastor, now an Orthodox Priest of the Jordanville jurisdiction, totally taking sola scriptura apart.
This article has been translated into several languages.
The article is on this site and Fr. John Whiteford would be more than happy to assist you further:
http://pages.prodigy.net//frjohnwhiteford/services.htm As for Sola Scriptura itself, let's not go as far as the Fathers.
Let's begin with Scripture itself shall we?
Remember the story of Nathaniel under the sycamore tree in John?
I always wondered what was meant when Christ told him that He saw him under the sycamore tree, since that was the first and only reference to it in the New Testament.
In fact, the story of how Nathaniel got to be under the sycamore tree is told in an apocryphal Gospel where Nathaniel, as a child, was dying of a sickness and the Mother of Jesus told his mother to place Nathaniel on Jesus' bedclothes, yes, under a sycamore tree where Nathaniel was totally healed.
That is one non-scriptural source that is assumed by Christ Himself!
Also, what about the Seat of Moses that is mentioned in the New Testment?
Where in the entire Bible is that ever mentioned?
Nowhere, in fact. It was a part of the oral tradition of Judaism, not written in the Hebrew Scriptures, that Christ and the Apostles accept as legitimate and matter of fact.
There are other such references e.g. the story of the struggle for Moses' body, again this is part of oral Jewish tradition accepted as legitimate revealed truth by St Paul.
But Fr. John Whiteford does an excellent job of dealing with Scripture Alone.
A nun who converted (from Protestantism) to the Eastern Catholic church (and is now an Anchorite, our parish's first - any other volunteers?) once
told me that Protestants knew what the Scriptures said. But we, she said with a devastating smile, know what they MEAN.
Alex
