The Commonitory of Vincent of Lérins

St. Vincent of Lérins wrote his famous The Commonitory, or Commonitorium, in AD 434, under the pseudonym Peregrinus. A classic text affirming the authority of Scripture and the teachings of the Church Fathers, The Commonitory was written as a “reminder,” in an effort to preserve the authority of the Christian tradition. Citing Deuteronomy 32:7 (“ask thy father and he will show thee; thy elders and they will tell thee”), St. Vincent notes that “to commit to writing such things as I have faithfully received from the holy fathers, would be a work of no small utility.” The Commonitory is his effort to do so—a theological treatise in which he affirms authentic Christian teaching and advocates the necessity of interpreting Scripture under the authority of the Church and her tradition. An important window into Christian thought between the Council of Ephesus and the Council of Chalcedon, The Commonitory is rich with historical and theological insights; it’s the source the well-known definition of orthodoxy as “that which has been believed in the Church everywhere, always, by everyone.”