Stephen K. Ray

This Roman Catholic documentary attempts to "read" the 19th-century Roman Catholic dogma of papal infallibility back into first and second-century Christian texts. It also attempts to justify the innovational papal claim of worldwide supremacy--a presumptuous notion which lead to the Great Schism of A.D. 1054. Nevertheless, apart from these two doctrinal aberrations, the documentary appears to be true to Orthodox Christian tradition.

The following is a TRUE or FALSE quiz that can be printed out and used with this video. An Answer key is found at the bottom.

*********************************THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS**********************************
**************************************Passing on the Torch**************************************

TRUE OR FALSE

___ 1) The spiritual trail forged by the Apostolic Fathers was based on their personal interpretation of Holy Scripture.

___ 2) Of all the apostles, Peter was the only one to whom Christ said, “Whatsoever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.”

___ 3) The word “Tradition” means “inflexibility.”

___ 4) Polycarp was taught directly by the Apostle John.

___ 5) Justin Martyr and Ignatius never met the Apostles.

___ 6) There were only five apostolic fathers.

___ 7) The early Christians held onto the teachings of Christ which they gleaned from their interpretation of Holy Scripture.

___ 8) The Apostolic Fathers often walked a tightrope between the Jews on the one hand and the Bible-believing Christians on the other.

___ 9) The fullness of Christian truth was handed on mainly through the writings of the New Testament.

___ 10) Christian Oral tradition consists of preaching, teaching, and the life and liturgy of the Church.

___ 11) It took centuries before the writings we know as the New Testament were collected into one volume.

___ 12) The Bible is a Protestant book. It teaches distinctive Protestant teachings, was forged on the anvil of Protestantism, and owes its true interpretation to Protestant scholarship.

___ 13) Basing one’s Christian faith solely on the Bible, apart from the Church’s oral tradition and the teaching authority of the Magisterium (the union of all bishops within the one Church) is like trying to sit on a one-legged stool.

___ 14) The primary work of the Apostles was to write the New Testament—in which they deposited the Fulness of the Truth they received through the teaching of the Holy Spirit.

___ 15) According to the Bible, the Word of God is found only on the pages of Holy Scripture.

___ 16) The bishops, as successors of the Apostles, had the responsibility of safeguarding the rich treasure of the Sacred Tradition handed to them by the Apostles.

___ 17) Saint Paul commanded early Christians to give heed only to the written word of God and to reject oral tradition because it is vain philosophy and the commandments of men.

___ 18) Saint Paul rebuked the Corinthian church for trying to maintain traditions when they should have been rejecting whatever is not clearly mentioned within the text of Holy Scripture.

___ 19) Ignatius of Antioch, whose Christian name is “Theophoros,” was elected to the office of bishop by a democratic election held in the Church at Antioch.

___ 20) According to ancient Church tradition, the first bishop of Antioch was the Apostle Peter.

___ 21) The Epistles of Saint Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, give us a glimpse into the life of Christians in the latter half of the second century.

___ 22) Men like Ignatius taught early Christians to stay in communion with their bishop just as the true Church stays in communion with Jesus Christ.

___ 23) Ignatius taught that the Eucharist is a symbol of the Flesh of Jesus Christ.

___ 24) It is clear from the writings of the Apostolic Fathers that the early Church had only two offices—that of elder and deacon.

___ 25) The idea of clergy called “priests” was a later invention from the time of Constantine when the Church apostasized from the true Faith and began teaching lies.

___ 26) By the third century, the writings of Ignatius of Antioch had corrupted all Christian churches from western Europe to India and from Ethiopia to Greece.

___ 27) The Christians in Ignatius’ time did not give the Church at Rome any more honor than they gave to any other Church. The Roman Church had no claim to primacy.

___ 28) The tradition of the Bishop of Rome wearing a three-tiered tiara, representing his authority in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, dates from post-Great-Schism times.

___ 29) Clement of Rome rejected the doctrine of apostolic succession as a man-made tradition.

___ 30) Clement was the third successor of Peter and had seen the apostles and still had their preaching ringing in his ears and their authentic traditions “videotaped” in his memory.

___ 31) Although this documentary claims that Clement “wrote with a clear tone of papal authority” and “told the Corinthians he was writing through the Holy Spirit,” the actual Epistle does not even mention Clement’s name, but rather is addressed from “the Church at Rome to the Church in Corinth.”

___ 32) The Epistle lays claim to the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, not by virtue of “papal office,” but rather by virtue of its being saturated with quotes from Holy Scripture and also by virtue of the special honor ascribed to the Roman church by the other churches. The tone is not authoritarian, but rather the appeal of one sister church to another.

___ 33) The Epistle of Clement mentions the sacrifices as still being offered in the Temple in Jerusalem which was destroyed in AD 70, but Clement was not ordained Bishop of Rome until around AD 90, so the letter was likely written before Clement was Bishop of Rome.

___ 34) The Epistle of Clement is found in the earliest extant bound volume of the Bible which was found in Saint Catherine’s Monastery and is listed among the New Testament books in some of the earliest canonical listings.

___ 35) Ireneaus, who personally knew Polycarp, said that Polycarp added his own teachings to the teachings of the Apostles.

___ 36) The 13th and 14th Ecumenical Councils of the Roman Catholic Church convened in Lyons, France.

___ 37) The early Calvinists honored the tomb of Saint Irenaeus because he was an authentic witness of the apostolic tradition.

___ 38) History is unimportant to the Christian Faith. The only thing that matters is your own personal relationship with God.

___ 39) Justin Martyr was born near the place where Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well.

___ 40) The apostolic liturgy in Rome described by Justin Martyr differs somewhat from other apostolic liturgies found in the churches of the East, but it also shares many commonalities in its details.

___ 41) Justin Martyr, like the Apostolic Fathers, witnesses to the common faith of early Christians that the bread and wine of the Eucharist becomes the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

___ 42) The early Christians viewed the human body as fleshly rubbish once the soul had departed to be with Christ.

___ 43) We dishonor God when we honor his saints by paying respect to their relics.

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ANSWERS:

(1) F; (2) F; (3) F; (4) T; (5) F; (6) F; (7) F; (8) F; (9) F; (10) T; (11) T; (12) F; (13) T; (14) F; (15) F; (16) T; (17) F; (18) F; (19) F; (20) T; (21) F; (22) T; (23) F; (24) F; (25) F; (26) F; (27) F; (28) T; (29) F; (30) T; (31) T; (32) T; (33) T; (34) T; (35) F; (36) T; (37) F; (38) F; (39) T; (40) T; (41) T; (42) F; (43) F.… (altro)