The Lost Deposit of Faith
...they have taken away my Lord; and I know not where they have laid Him.
I saw this on Twitter the other day and was horrified:
“Motus in fine velocior” is an expression meaning that things seem to speed up near the end. So what is “The Deposit of Faith” and why might a Catholic be concerned about its deletion?
The origin of the term “Deposit of Faith”
The "Deposit of the Faith" refers to the body of divine revelation entrusted by Christ to the Apostles and faithfully passed down through the generations in the Catholic Church. It encompasses the teachings, doctrines, and truths found in Sacred Scripture and Tradition. This sacred deposit serves as the unchangeable foundation for Catholic beliefs and practices.
St. Paul commands Timothy to keep it guarded, “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding the profane novelties of words, and oppositions of knowledge falsely so called. Which some promising, have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.”1
The actual phrase originated with Saint Irenaeus of Lyon (130-202AD), who used it to argue against Gnostic heresies in in his book Adversus haereses during the 2nd century. Irenaeus emphasized the Church's duty to preserve and transmit intact the deposit entrusted to her.
Later, Saint Vincent of Lérins (480-540AD) further developed the concept. He maintained the immutable nature of the deposit of faith, meaning that they cannot be changed or added to, but that their application may change as the Church faced new circumstances. 2
Later References
A commentary on the Roman Catechism states:
“The Deposit of Faith is the body of saving truth entrusted by Christ to the Apostles and handed on by them to be preserved and proclaimed. Jesus ordered them to teach the nations all things whatsoever I have commanded you and assured them, I am with you always, even until the consummation of the world (Mt. xxviii. 18-20). Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition are the two unique sources of public Revelation, which together form the one Deposit of Faith.”3
It is also used at Vatican 1, “… the Church having received, together with the apostolic office of teaching, the command to keep the Deposit of the Faith, hath also the right and the duty of proscribing knowledge falsely so-called, lest any one should be deceived by philosophy or vain deceit.”4
Bishop Schneider’s Credo Catechism
Is divine revelation ongoing?
No. Public revelation concluded in the first Christian century with the death of St. John, the last of Christ’s apostles. It exists now as the depositum fidei, a fixed and stable “deposit of faith” (see 1 Tm 6:20; and 2 Tm 1:12–14) often simply called “the Faith.”5
What teachings of the Magisterium require the highest level of assent: that of divine faith?
Those truths “which are contained in the word of God as it has been written or handed down by Tradition, that is, in the single Deposit of Faith entrusted to the Church, and which are at the same time proposed as divinely revealed.”6
Where did it go?
Even post-”Spirit of Vatican II”, we see a bishop commanded to “maintain the deposit of faith, entire and incorrupt, as handed down by the apostles and professed by the Church everywhere and at all times.”7
The god of Teilhard vs the God of Athanasius
Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955AD), was a French Jesuit and paleontologist, who conceived of God as synonymous with the entire universe evolving towards ever-greater complexity and consciousness (an ideology known as "cosmic Christology"). By contrast, the Catholic Faith’s understanding is exemplified in St. Athanasius (298-373AD), one of the great Church Fathers, who taught the Truth that God is eternal, omnipotent and transcendent.
The Teilhardian god is fundamentally immanent, diffuse throughout the world as the unity behind all things evolving (synodal in the current usage). For St. Athanasius, this denies God's utter distinction from creation. God alone is self-existent, while all else depends totally on Him for its being.
Postmodern Christianity contrasts sharply with the God of normative Christianity. St. Athanasius argued that God cannot be contained or limited by the world, since He brought it into being ex nihilo through an act of Divine Will.
Teilhard's false god develops and "comes into being" over time along with the cosmos. Against this, the Catholic understanding asserts that God is immutable, the same yesterday, today and forever. He exists entirely outside of time and space in constant perfection. Time is not God’s medium, it is creature.
Moreover, evil and sin have no real place in Teilhard's philosophy. The material world is intrinsically good, developing according to its own inner logic. This is in opposition to the Catholic understanding because it denies the corruption of creation through the Fall as testified in Scripture. Sin is real, and impacts created beings endowed with free will.
The god of Teilhard’s world denies the existence of human free will and moral responsibility. By contrast, St. Athanasius affirms the reality of sin and Christ's incarnation as God's response to it. Only through God's gracious intervention could humanity be rescued from death and corruption.
Ultimately, Teilhard's impersonal god immersed in matter is irreconcilable with the personal, loving God of normative Christianity and Traditional Catholicism.
The two views derive from entirely different philosophical premises about the nature of reality. They point to two different religions that have different Foundation and Telos.
Trying to merge them results in incoherence and the defilement of normative Christianity. The choice between them is one of first principles rather than mere emphasis. St. Athanasius and all of the old saints, would contend that compromise on essential doctrines such as God's nature and the existence of sin inevitably leads to apostasy.
And that my friends would explain the nuncio’s reported words to Bishop Strickland, consistent with the teaching of the past ten years.
Old Faith and new are not reconcilable; the circle only squares so long.
Commonitory; Chapters 22-23.
1 Timothy 6:20-21 Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA).
Plese, Matthew. The Roman Catechism Explained for the Modern World (p. 131). Kindle Edition.
Scheeben, Matthias Joseph. A MANUAL OF CATHOLIC THEOLOGY: Based on Dogmatik (Complete in Two Volumes) . Lex De Leon Publishing. Kindle Edition.
Schneider, Bishop Athanasius. Credo: Compendium of the Catholic Faith (p. 24). Sophia Institute Press. Kindle Edition.
Schneider, Bishop Athanasius. Credo: Compendium of the Catholic Faith (p. 182). Sophia Institute Press. Kindle Edition.
The novus ordo Roman Pontifical
Thanks for a clear and concise understanding of all this!
God cannot be defined, completely known by sheer limited human rationalization, fully understood by humanity, limited by human reasoning, or placed within some philosophical human definitions. Our God is infinite, vibrant and has always been alive. God is the Divine Creator of our ever expanding, borderless and evermore unfolding universe. What human being(s) have the capacity to create a small continent, a small group of mountains or a new minute in time? Who might this human being be? It is NO human being. God is God! Humanity is human. The two natures are distinct and different. Man can pretend he is a god. But until humanity can take an ocean and pour it all into some man made container, I suggest we imperfect, yet good human benga take a moment or a lifetime to see, grasp and more fully comprehend and humbly acknowledge the countless signs of God’s presence which are all around us. John Donne had it right when he wrote his poem saying “no man is an island”. No person is alone. God is with us now and forever! Man is not God! Proof of this ancient fundamental declarative Truth cannot be replaced by the rationale composed by smart men or women. When you meet such people, simply ask them to create and hold in the palm of their hand the power of gravity! Then ask them to hold in their other hand their created version of time itself. God has already completed these tasks! Now in who do YOU believe and have Faith? Man or our One True God? Use your God-given spiritual common sense. The signs of God are all around us! Look! And you shall believe! Faith is your’s for the asking. Pursue Truth! You shall be humbled.