If traditions are universal and everyone agrees on them, it is clearly in accordance with the heart of orthodoxy. Though, I wonder how the early apologists would have accomplished this. It’s not like they could google what saints say on the matter! They would have had to inquire for some time, I would imagine, write letters, and study the outcomes of the churches and parishioners who followed certain paths, for example, maybe in the partaking of the Eucharist. Many of the people were sick and even dying after partaking; how did they figure out why? Did they ask God directly? Did they inquire with those sick how they were living? Or discerned from the outside that they were not participating in the fullness of the Church or seeking God truly but merely taking action steps without any true heart? I wonder. So if you are an apologist trying to teach people how to prepare for the eucharist and the depth of this reality, where did you start as an early apologist? How did you gather information and determine the best way to speak on this? Perhaps they simply had lots of help from the Holy Spirit, and I am overthinking it. 🙂
