The paper features the problem of correlation between two approaches to the phenomenon of tradition. The value approach sees tradition as a stable and transferable object. The communicative approach considers tradition as a construct that reflects the current perception of the past. The author analyzed the reasons for the formation of positions and their ratio. A phenomenological analysis proved that the separation and opposition of both approaches is structurally conditioned. The transfer of tradition involves its deconstruction, i.e. isolation of its substantial core from the context of the past to reconstruct it in the context of the present. Transfer depends on the type of communication, which, by developing from non-written to digital, increased the gap between the contexts of the transmitter and the recipient. As a result, the tradition is getting more deconstructed, while its core is becoming more susceptible to change. The value and communicative components of the tradition reflect the views on its different parts-reconstruction and deconstruction, respectively. The value approach assumes the point of view from the side of reconstruction, or reproduction of the core of tradition: this approach goes "from within" tradition and denies the deconstructive aspect. The communicative approach is a view from the side of deconstruction while striving to objectify the tradition. The communicative approach demonstrates the core of the tradition, thus putting the subject beyond the frame of values, outside the tradition. Hence, the principle of complementarity should be applied when considering tradition, both in its specific forms and in the conceptual aspect.