Saint Basil the Great of Caesarea (330 - 375) documents early non-scriptural traditions including the sign of the cross, turning East for prayer, and the oil of chrism

Icon of St. Basil the Great (330 - 375) from the St. Sophia Cathedral of Kiev.

The solemnity of the mysteries: Non-Scriptural teachings include the sign of the cross, turning east for prayer, blessing the water of baptism and the oil of chrism, etc.

Chrismatory for ritual oil from Germany, 1636 (silver-gilt, Victoria and Albert Museum, London).

Of the dogmas and proclamations that are guarded in the Church, we hold some from the teaching of the Scriptures, and others we have received in mystery as the teachings of the tradition of the apostles.  Both hold the same power with respect to true religion.  No one would deny these points, at least no one who has even a little experience of ecclesiastical institutions.  For if we attempt to reject non-scriptural customs as insignificant, we would, unaware, lose the very vital parts of the Gospel, and even more, we would establish the proclamation merely in name.  For instance -- I will mention the first and most common -- who has learned through the Scriptures that those who hope in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ are marked with the sign of the cross?  What sort of scriptural text teaches us to turn to the east for prayer?  Which saint has left us a scriptural account of the words of the epiclesis at the manifestation of the bread of the Eucharist and the cup of blessing?  We are not satisfied with the [Eucharistic] words that the Apostle or the Gospel mentions, but we add other words before and after theirs, since we have received non-scriptural teaching that these words have great power in regard to the mystery.  We bless the water of baptism and the oil of chrism in addition to the very one who is to be baptized.  By what Scriptures?  It is not by the secret and mystical tradition?  But why?  What scriptural authority teaches the annointing itself of oil?  Where does a man being immersed three times come from?  How much of the baptismal ritual is for the renunciation of Satan and his angels, and what scriptural text does it come from?  Does it not come from this secret and unspoken teaching, which our fathers guarded with a simple and unprying silence, since they were well taught that the solemnity of the mysteries is preserved by silence?  Such matters must not be seen by the uninitiated, and how is it appropriate that this teaching be published abroad in writing?

Basil argues that the non-scriptural traditions come from the Law of Moses



Jewish High Priest wearing Hoshen and Ephod in the Holy of Holies.  Illustrators of the 1890 Holman Bible

What did the great Moses intend when he made it so that all the things of the sanctuary were not accessible to everyone?  He made the profane to stand outside of the sacred precincts, he gave those who were purer access to the first courts, and he judged the Levites alone worthy of being ministers of God.  He assigned sacrifices, holocausts, and the rest of the holy work to the priests and admitted only one of all of them  who was chosen to enter the Holy of Holies, and not even this one at any time, but on only a single day of the year.  He established a fixed hour of this day for the priest's entry, so that astonished by its strangeness and unusualness he may behold the Holy of Holies, and not even this one at any time, but on only a single day of the year.  He established a fixed hour of this day for the priest's entry, so that astonished by its strangeness and unusualness he may behold the Holy of Holies.  Moses saw well and wisely that disdain readily belongs to what is trite and easily understood, while that which is much desired is somehow naturally coupled with retirement and scarcity.

Basil explains that the apostles and fathers claim the same authority as Moses

Adriaen van de Venne's Fishers of Men. Oil on panel, 1614.

In the same way, the apostles and fathers ordained from the first the matters of the Church and guarded the solemnity of the mysteries in secrecy and silence, for what is made known for a public and casual hearing is no mystery at all.  This is the reason for non-scriptural traditions, that knowledge of dogmas not be neglected or despised by the many because of familiarity.  For doctrine is one thing, and proclamation is another.  One is kept in silence, but proclamations are made public.  Now, obscurity is a form of silence used in Scripture, which makes the meaning of dogmas difficult to see for the benefit of the readers.  Because of this we all look to the East for prayers, but few of us know that our ancient fatherland, the paradise that God planted in Eden, was in the East.  We say our prayers standing of the first day of the week, but not all  know the reason why.  By standing for prayer we remind ourselves of the grace given to us on the day of the resurrection, as if we are rising to stand with Christ and being bound to seek what is above.  Not only this, it also seems somehow to be an image of the age to come.  On account of this, although it is the beginning of days, Moses names it not "first" but "one."  For it is written, "There was evening, and there was morning, one day" (Gen 1:5), as if the same one often repeated.  Now, "One" and "Eighth" are the same, which indicates of itself that the really "one" and true "eighth" which the Psalmist mentions in some titles of psalms -- are the state of after this time, the unceasing, unending, perpetual day, that never-ending and ever-young age.  Necessarily, then, the Church teaches her foster children to pray standing on this day, so that we would not neglect the provisions for our journey to everlasting life by a constant reminder of it.  And the whole of Pentecost is a reminder of the resurrection to come in eternity, for that "one" and first day, multiplied by seven seven times, fills up the seven weeks of sacred Pentecost.  It begins on the first day and ends on the same day, revolving fifty times through similar days in between.  Eternity is like a circular movement, beginning from the same points where it ends.  The ordinances of the Church well taught us to prefer to stand at prayer on this day, as if we were leading our minds from the present to the future.  With each going down on the knee and rising up we indicate in deed that we have fallen through sin to the earth and are called up to heaven by the love of our creator.

Source: St. Basil the Great. On the Holy Spirit. Translated by Stephen Hildebrand. Yonkers, New York: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2011, 27.66, pages 104-106.