Nolo Scriptura

Sola Scriptura is probably the most important of the Five Solas of the Reformation.  After all without the Scriptura from whence does one gather the other Solas of Fide, Gratia, Christus, and Deo Gloria?

There is an accusation that Sola Scriptura is an innovation of the Reformers and has no basis in the tradition of the Church or even in the Scriptures themselves. But this is not true. Even in the early church we see the Fathers pointing the church towards the Scriptures. 

We have learned from none others the plan of our salvation, than from those through whom the Gospel has come down to us, which they did at one time proclaim in public, and, at a later period, by the will of God, handed down to us in the Scriptures, to be the ground and pillar of our faith. For it is unlawful to assert that they preached before they possessed perfect knowledge, as some do even venture to say, boasting themselves as improvers of the apostles. For, after our Lord rose from the dead, [the apostles] were invested with power from on high when the Holy Spirit came down [upon them], were filled from all [His gifts], and had perfect knowledge: they departed to the ends of the earth, preaching the glad tidings of the good things [sent] from God to us, and proclaiming the peace of heaven to men, who indeed do all equally and individually possess the Gospel of God. Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome, and laying the foundations of the Church. After their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, did also hand down to us in writing what had been preached by Peter. Luke also, the companion of Paul, recorded in a book the Gospel preached by him. Afterwards, John, the disciple of the Lord, who also had leaned upon His breast, did himself publish a Gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia.    -Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.1.1

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103301.htm

Here we see Irenaeus calling the Scriptures, not the Church's interpretation of them, "the ground and pillar of our faith."  This is a very important argument against the Gnostics who taught there was an unwritten secret doctrine passed down from the Apostles.  Irenaus rejects that teaching and affirms that the pure teaching of the Apostles was passed down in written form in the Scriptures.  

Is this "Sola Scriptura?"  While it would be unwise to attribute to Irenaeus this doctrine since he does go on to interweave the use of tradition in his doctrine of Scripture I think it would be better to say that Irenaeus recognises that Scripture is the "Principium Cognoscendi Externum" of our faith.

The principium cognoscendi externum is the principle by which we know God. It is the instrumental means (the ‘how’) by which knowledge of God is communicated to us. 

Reformed theologians have argued that special revelation is the principium cognoscendi externum. 

https://theologiainvia.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/tcl-principium-cognoscendi-externum/

Long after Irenaeus a highly developed system of tradition had developed.  Many theologians had come and gone and gradually a "consensus patrum" had emerged.  Being that Irenaeus wrote in the 2nd century there was no way he could have made use of this consensus, either doctrinally or liturgically.  Whatever traditions he held onto would not be the same as those that came later.  For instance it would have been impossible for him to have worshipped using the liturgy of Chrysostom.

Basil of Caesarea in his work "On the Holy Spirit" has this to say about tradition:

Of the beliefs and practices whether generally accepted or publicly enjoined which are preserved in the Church some we possess derived from written teaching; others we have received delivered to us in a mystery by the tradition of the apostles; and both of these in relation to true religion have the same force.  -Basil of Caesarea, On the Holy Spirit 27.66

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3203.htm 

Basil goes on to elaborate a great many traditions such as making the sign of the cross and praying towards the East as having come not from Scripture but from oral tradition passed on by the Apostles.

This view of tradition contradicts Irenaeus who affirms that the oral tradition and the written Scripture are identical.

To which course many nations of those barbarians who believe in Christ do assent, having salvation written in their hearts by the Spirit, without paper or ink, and, carefully preserving the ancient tradition, believing in one God, the Creator of heaven and earth, and all things therein, by means of Christ Jesus, the Son of God; who, because of His surpassing love towards His creation, condescended to be born of the virgin, He Himself uniting man through Himself to God, and having suffered under Pontius Pilate, and rising again, and having been received up in splendour, shall come in glory, the Saviour of those who are saved, and the Judge of those who are judged, and sending into eternal fire those who transform the truth, and despise His Father and His advent. Those who, in the absence of written documents, have believed this faith, are barbarians, so far as regards our language; but as regards doctrine, manner, and tenor of life, they are, because of faith, very wise indeed; and they do please God, ordering their conversation in all righteousness, chastity, and wisdom. If any one were to preach to these men the inventions of the heretics, speaking to them in their own language, they would at once stop their ears, and flee as far off as possible, not enduring even to listen to the blasphemous address. Thus, by means of that ancient tradition of the apostles, they do not suffer their mind to conceive anything of the [doctrines suggested by the] portentous language of these teachers, among whom neither Church nor doctrine has ever been established.  -Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.4.2

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103304.htm

Long after Irenaeus and long after Basil in 1672 the Confession of Dositheus was written. This confession is a repudiation of the doctrines of the Protestant Reformation.  Following Basil down the path that leads to a high view of tradition and a low view of Scripture this confession actually prohibits Orthodox Christians from reading the Scriptures and declares that the Scriptures are obscure and need "learned and divine men to search out their true meaning."

http://www.crivoice.org/creeddositheus.html

No doubt it is the result of this Confession and the low view of Scripture throughout the Orthodox Church over all that led Eugene Rose (later Seraphim Rose) to take note of the Biblical illiteracy amongst the Russian Orthodox with whom he worshipped.

Father Seraphim Rose, pg 277

The solution to the low view of Scripture and of Biblical illiteracy is a return to the Scriptures as "the ground and pillar of our faith."  Let's hear what they say:

Isaiah 8:20: To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.