Heresy is a teaching contrary to orthodox doctrine. Origen's view of the Atonement, for example, would be considered heresy by most (it is contrary to both Protestant and Catholic doctrine). Apostasy deals not with orthodox faith but renounce of religious belief (an abandonment of the Christian faith would be apostasy). All apostasy is heresy, but not all heresy is apostasy.
I gave four examples from Scripture.
If you disagree with my statement, you should deal with those.
What I mean is that right from the start there was a downgrade in doctrine which led to a whole variety of errors.
For example, Ignatius of Antioch gives a good witness to the deity of Christ, but he teaches a monarchical episcopacy which sowed the seeds of the Papacy.
Justin Martyr is weak on the deity of Christ; J.W.s will quote him as someone who believed in their doctrines.
He was also the first to conflate baptism with regeneration.
Irenaeus was the first (I think) to teach the fallacy of Apostolic Succession ('the Apostle John taught Polycarp; Polycarp taught me, therefore I am teaching the truth').
Cyprian was the first to teach infant baptism.
And so on.
I don't say that no one should read the ECFs.
My favourites are the Letter to Diognetus, which is a wonderful witness to the doctrine of imputation, and Polycarp who shows how familiar he was with the Canon of Scripture.
But we shouldn't draw our doctrine from them.[/QUOTE]
"The" apostasy, as in, saints reverting or backsliding? Yes. This has always been happening in the history of sainthood. Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, etc. Is it any surprise we find backsliding in the centuries after the apostles then? No. Backsliding happened in their days too. Peter and Judas, to give some examples. To restrict backsliding to the church fathers is narrow minded prejudice. The Scripture you reference is nothing short of narrow minded prejudice too: acts 20:28ff is speaking of men like Marcion who used to be in the correct line of teaching and had great number of Christian followers, 2 Thessalonians 2 could not be attributed to the church fathers, same with 1 Timothy 1:18ff, which paul specifically restricts to Hymenaeus and Alexander and 1 John 2:18 is speaking of the antichrist. I don't know of anyone that would be so ignorantly daring to state that the church fathers were antichrist(s). Isaiah 8:20 doesn't support your position and doesn't disprove mine.
Prove to me that the bible itself, and no external authority, claims this.
Did you pay attention to my statement and quotation(s) of the church fathers that claim other non-16th-century-Protestantism-books are scripture?
Says who? Luther? He claimed that some of the bible wasn't inspired and questioned whether other books should be taken out of the bible. Not to mention his actual removal of some texts that the ancients considered "Scripture." Maybe it's time you lay aside the dogma you were taught in Sunday school and start thinking for yourself on these things.
And let me guess, Sunday school taught you they were "bad guys."
The Jews NEVER accepted other than the OT canon as being inspired by God, and was agreed upon those books atime of Jesus, and the early Church agreed upon thge NT canon by end of first century pretty much!
They alone witnessed to being insired, as others had false theology, inaccurate historical accounts eyc!
And liberal/critical Christians refuse to believe in what Jesus stated concerning the sceiptures and Himself!
Ya there's probably no point in saying anymore to you. You're wise in your own mind and repeat your ignorant mantra based on lack of study in place of the truth. Have a good one yesh
To those who may be interested, Irenaeus seems to have been the originator of the cult of Mary.
'Just as Eve was seduced by the word of an angel [Satan] so that she fled from God having disobeyed His word, so Mary received good news by the word of an angel, so that she might give birth to God in obeying His word.
And if Eve disobeyed God, mary was persuaded to be obedient to Him, so that the virgin Mary might become an intercessor for the virgin [!] Eve.
And thus, just as the human race fell into bondage to death through a virgin, so it is rescued by a virgin; the disobedience of a virgin has been balanced in the opposite scale by a virgin's obedience.'
[Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 3:22:4 and 5:19:1]