Big T tradition is the tradition of the apostolic church. It’s the deposit of faith. Things like how we understand the verses which dictate an all-male priesthood fall under Big T Tradition. Small T traditions are how we do it. You think a person being old enough and of sufficient intelligence to know and comprehend the Eucharist before receiving it is a big T tradition?
First, there are very few among us who’d ever be able to receive. Second, that means all the Eastern Churches that practice infant communion are in violation of Sacred Tradition. Third, that means the west was in violation for a long time, and that time was closest to the apostolic age. Fourth, I understand now why you have a problem with the Melkite bishop’s direction to his faithful telling them to keep their traditions.
The Deposit of faith is the acruement of all revealled truth, all the tradtions, all the doctrines all the moral codes all the sacramental practices, all the norms for worship, all the canonized truths, all the Christian virtues all, all the Sacred teachings all the everything having to do with the one true faith of the one true church in all of it’s members in the living mystical body of Christ; and this is putting everything very briefly. Apostolic Traditions are the teachings of the Apostles and their successors in any time, from time to time by Apostolic reasoning and the guarantee of the Holy Spirit made by Christ. The Sacred Deposit of Faith is solidity itself, yet there is pliabilty in every time for growth, renewal, and reaffirmation of unchanging truth.
Things like how we understand that the priesthood is all male is more than just from the Scripture verses as we understand them, Sacred Tradition is necessary to establish that the all male priesthood is an absolute Sacred Doctrine, that is unchangeable.
Yes I do think it, they have to be of sufficient age and reasoning ability, and here’s the big one that’s been being left out; faith, to know what the Sacrament is and to know that they are entering into Communion themselves, they receive the Body of Christ. If someone presents for communion and they do not say amen, they will not be given it. We also have to realize by the Sacred teachings of the Church, that if we knowingly and conciously receive while knowingly in the state of mortal sin we commit a very grave sin against the Sacrament itself. All this has to do with the impeccable Holiness of the Eucharist. This does not require superhuman intelligence or perfection which none of us at all have.
None of us comprehend the Eucharist, Mary the Mother of God comprehends it but that’s just a personal belief of mine, but no of course we cannot comprehend it, that in itself should never stop anyone from receiving it.
Now if what you are getting at here is really who would be totally worthy to receive it, then you’re wrong there wouldn’t be a few there would be virtually none.
There there would have been no violations East or West, where no formal rule of Tradition was established. The Easterners all say that infant communion was given throughout the church from the beginining of the church, but the fact is little is really known about the exact practices for infants in the earliest history of the church which is contained, not in history books, but in the New Testament. The traditions we see there really have to do with persons older than infancy, and those traditions are very stringent as to who may even be baptized let alone charismated and communicated.This is a really vast subject to task on.
