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high God is summed up, commanded the
apostles to preach the Gospel, which had been promised
beforehand by the prophets, and which he fulfilled in his
own person and promulgated with his own lips. In preaching
the Gospel, they were to communicate the
saving truth and moral discipline.’32 In the apostolic preaching... 76 In keeping with the Lord’s command, the
Gospel was handed on in two ways:
— orally ‘by the apostles who handed on, by
the spoken word of their preaching, by the example they
gave, by the institutions they established, what they
themselves had received — whether from the lips of
Christ, from his way of life and his works, or whether
they had learned it at the prompting of the Holy
Spirit’;33 — in writing
‘by those apostles and other men associated with the
apostles who, under the inspiration of the same Holy Spirit,
committed the message of salvation to writing’.34 continued in apostolic succession 77 ‘In order that the full and living Gospel
might always be pre 86i served in the Church the
apostles left bishops as their successors.
They gave them “their own position of teaching
authority”.’35 Indeed, ‘the apostolic
preaching, which is expressed in a special way in the
inspired books, was to be preserved in a continuous line
of succession until the end of time.’~6
78 This living transmission, accomplished in the Holy
Spirit, is
closely connected to it. Through
Tradition, ‘the Church, in her
eration all that she herself is, all that
she believes.’37 ‘The sayings of the holy Fathers
are a witness to the life-giving presence of this Tradition,
showing how its riches are poured out in the practice and
life of the Church, in her belief and her prayer.’~8
79 The Father’s self-communication made through
his Word in the Holy Spirit, remains present and active in
the Church: ‘God, who spoke in the past, continues to
converse with the Spouse of his beloved Son. And the Holy
Spirit, through whom the living voice |
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