Articles for tag: baptism, canons, uniqueness of the Church

GIVING WITNESS TO THE TRUE CHURCH

Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.
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There is no “valid” baptism outside the Church — Part 2 of 2

The first half of this post is an excerpt from The Heavenly Banquet: Understanding the Divine Liturgy where we discuss the subject of baptism in our brief commentary on the Creed. The second half of this post is a collection of canons from The Rudder that pertain to Baptism.

The “one baptism” we confess is the one granted in and by the Church. According to St. Nektarios († 1920), “Those who are not reborn by the divine grace in the only ONE HOLY, CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH, do not belong to any church, either visible or invisible.”1 There are no Mysteries (Sacraments) outside the Church.2 The Church is the great Mystery (see Eph. 5:32) in which all the Mysteries of God are realized. The position of the Church concerning heretical baptism was stated once for all by St. Cyprian of Carthage. Here are two passages from his writings:

Some of our colleagues, by a curious presumption, are led to suppose that those who have been dipped among the heretics ought not to be baptized when they join us; because, they say, there is ‘one baptism’. Yes, but that one baptism is in the Catholic Church. And if there is one Church, there can be no baptism outside it. There cannot be two baptisms: if heretics really baptize, then baptism belongs to them. And anyone who on his own authority concedes them this privilege admits, by yielding their claim, that the enemy and adversary of Christ should appear to possess the power of washing, purifying, sanctifying a man. Our assertion is that those who come to us from heresy are baptized by us, not rebaptized. They do not receive anything there; there is nothing there for them to receive. They come to us that they may receive here, where there is all grace and truth; for grace and truth are one.3

The second quote:

The Church is one and indivisible: therefore there cannot be a Church among the heretics. The Holy Spirit is one, and cannot dwell with those outside the community; therefore the Holy Spirit has no place among heretics. It follows that there can be no baptism among heretics; for baptism is based on this same unity and cannot be separated either from the Church or from the Holy Spirit. It is ridiculous to assert that spiritual birth—that second birth of ours in Christ through the bath of regeneration—can take place among the heretics where, it is admitted, the Spirit has no place. Water cannot of itself purify and sanctify, unless it is accompanied by the Holy Spirit”.4

We repeat the important distinction that we made in our previous post, which should clarify things.

ACCEPTANCE AND RECOGNITION OF BAPTISM
(Acceptance does not mean recognition)

Acceptance addresses the issue how does the Church receive converts.
Recognition addresses the “validity” of baptism.

The Church recognizes no baptism as “valid” that is performed outside of her. However, in the exercise of oikonomia (dispensation), at times and places and special circumstances, at the discretion of a bishop or synod of bishops, she accepts a baptism that resembles to a greater or lesser extent her baptism, of someone who is being received in the Orthodox Church from heresy or schism. Acceptance is not concerned with “validity” or recognition of baptisms performed outside of her, concepts which are foreign to her terminology and practice.

The fact that the Orthodox Church receives certain converts by oikonomia through Chrismation does not mean that the Orthodox Church recognizes a baptism performed outside her pleroma nor does she admit by such action that there is grace among the heterodox.

How the heterodox should be received has become not an issue of whether to exercise akriveia (strictness) or oikonomia (dispensation, exception), but an imposition by the ecumenists of their erroneous belief, namely that there is one baptism and that this one baptism is administered validly by anyone (even by non-Christians!), as long as the name of the Holy Trinity is invoked and water is used in any form.

Because for the prevailing ecumenism, it has almost become an article of faith that any baptism performed, whether inside or outside the Orthodox Church, is a valid baptism (so long as it is performed by invoking the name of the Holy Trinity). For this reason the Ecumenical Patriarchate does no longer allow under any circumstances to receive heterodox through baptism, because it is viewed as a repetition of the one true baptism. They will no longer allow the strictness to be applied even by oikonomia!!

Ecumenists are not willing to accept the patristic and synodal witness, that when the Church allows baptism by oikonomia she does so without addressing at all its “validity” outside the Church–which the ecumenists do because of their ecumenistic and synchretistic considerations.

The holy canons of the Church listed below support fully the above statements.

46th Apostolic Canon

“We ordain that a bishop, or presbyter who has admitted the baptism or sacrifice of heretics, be deposed. For what concord hath Christ with Beliar, or what part hath a believer with an infidel?”

47th Apostolic Canon

“Let a bishop or presbyter who shall baptize again one who has rightly received Baptism, or who shall not baptize one who has been polluted by the ungodly, be deposed, as despising the Cross and death of the Lord, and not making a distinction between the true priests and the false.”

50th Apostolic Canon

“If any bishop or presbyter does not perform the three immersions of the one initiation, but one immersion, given into the death of the Lord, let him be deposed. For the Lord did not say, “Baptize into my death,” but, “Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

68th Apostolic Canon

“If any bishop, presbyter, or deacon shall receive from anyone a second ordination, let both the ordained and the ordainer be deposed, unless indeed it be proved that he had his ordination from heretics; for those who have been baptized or ordained by such persons cannot be either of the faithful or of the clergy.”

Canon 1 of the Regional Council of Carthage

“[…] No one can be baptized outside of the catholic Church, there being but one baptism, and this being existent only in the catholic Church. […] Among heretics … there is no Church… […] There being but one baptism, and there being but one Holy Spirit, there is also but one Church… and for this reason whatever they [i.e. the heretics] do is false and empty and vain, everything be counterfeit and unauthorized. For nothing that they do can be acceptable and desirable with God. In fact, the Lord calls them His foes and adversaries in the Gospels: “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad” (Mt. 12:30). […]”

Epitome of Canon 19 of the First Ecumenical Council

“Paulianists must be rebaptized.”

Interpretation by St. Nikodemos: “For how can anyone that has not been baptized in accordance with the Orthodox faith receive a visitation of the Holy Spirit, and grace, in ordination?”

Canon 7 of the Second Ecumenical Council

[Summary:] Certain heretics and schismatics who are baptized the same way Orthodox are baptized are received through recantation of their errors and then through holy Chrism. But those who are baptized with a single immersion and… (those belonging to) any other heresies… we are willing to accept as Greeks [i.e. through baptism].

Summary of Canon 7 of Laodicaea

“Certain heretics are accepted after being catechized and chrismated”, [Interpretation by St. Nikodemos]: “seeing that they used to baptize themselves in identically the same way as are Orthodox Christians, and on this account and for this reason alone they do not need to be baptized a second time.”

Canon 8 of Laodicaea

“As concerning those returning from the heresy of the so-called Phrygians, even though they happen to be in the class which with them is supposed to be the clergy… such persons are to be catechized … and … baptized…”

Epitome of Canon 1 of St. Basil

“The ancients… ordered (that) those that were baptized by [heretics and schismatics], and came over to the Church, to be purged by the true baptism, as those that are baptized by laymen. But let none be received without unction.”

Epitome of Canon 47 of St. Basil

“We re-baptize them all.”

Summary/Interpretation of Canon 66 of Carthage

“If persons baptized by the Donatists in their infancy learn the truth of Orthodoxy after coming of age and attaining to discretion, and come to hate the cacodoxy, whether they, I say, seeing that they have been baptized in the baptism which is performed in accordance with tradition, to wit, that performed by the Orthodox… ought not to be baptized” (Interpretation by St. Nikodemos).

Canon 84 of the Sixth Ecumenical Council

“Following the canonical institutions of the Fathers, we order that whoever does not know nor can prove by documents that he has been baptized, he must without any hesitation be baptized.”

Canon 95th of the Sixth Ecumenical Council

Same as Canon 7 of the Second Ecumenical Council.

We end with another quote from our study on the Divine Liturgy, The Heavenly Banquet, taken from our commentary on “The Catechumens” (p. 153).

“The [Greek Orthodox] Church in America does not baptize the converts any longer, admitting them through Chrismation, as they are allegedly already baptized. But if they were baptized they would be members of the Church. What would they be joining then when they became Orthodox? The Church Canons should be strictly adhered to, in administering the true baptism by triple immersion, practiced only in the Orthodox Church, to those who have not received it.”

  1. Note 651 in The Heavenly Banquet. Saint Nektarios, Two Studies, 1. On the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church 2. On Sacred Tradition (in Greek), Bookstore Nektarios Panagopoulos, Athens 1987, p. 28.

  2. Beginning of Note 652 in The Heavenly Banquet. Read the small treatise, I Confess One Baptism… by Protopresbyter Dr. George D. Metallinos, St. Paul’s Monastery, Holy Mountain 1994.

  3. (Epistle LXXI. 1, in Henry Bettenson, The Early Fathers, A Selection from the writings of the Fathers from St. Clement of Rome to St. Athanasius, Edited and translated by Henry Bettenson, Oxford University Press, Oxford-New York-Toronto 1969, p. 271)
  4. (ibid., LXXIV 4-5)

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GIVING WITNESS TO THE TRUE CHURCH

Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.
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There is no “valid” baptism outside the Church — Part 1 of 2

Dear A.,

The topic of the reception of heterodox Christians by the Orthodox Church addressed in your comment to our “MANIFESTO”1, is of broad interest, and I would like to share my response to you with our readers. For their benefit here is your comment in its entirety:

I appreciate the aim of this manifesto. However, I think that the idea that baptism is necessarily the way to receive heretics is far from established. When the Russian church decided to rebaptize Catholic converts in the seventeenth century, bishops of Eastern churches clamored to stop them. And the Russians did stop that practice. Baptism only became the normative means of receiving Catholics in the Greek church in the eighteenth century because of an obscure theological controversy that was inspired by a dubious figure. Just read the history, the answer is not clear. Sources: Fr. Ambrose Pogodin provides a good history here. Andrei Psarev examines a relevant canon here. Fr. John Erickson (I know) has a useful overview here.

It seems that you have not read carefully the particular paragraph concerning baptism.2 We are not saying that “baptism is necessarily the way to receive heretics”; rather, we are critical of the guidelines of the Ecumenical Patriarch who recognizes baptisms that take place outside the Church as valid–something the Church outright rejects–turning the oikonomia (the exception) into akriveia (the rule), and not allowing akriveia even by oikonomia!–something never before seen throughout the history of the Church.

According to Prof. Fr. John Romanides:

Orthodox Churches usually accepted into their membership individuals or Churches by means of either exactitude (akribeia ) or economy (oikonomia ).

  1. By Exactitude one is accepted by baptism, chrismation and profession of the Orthodox Faith accompanied by rejection of former errors.
  2. By Economy one is accepted by chrismation and profession of the Orthodox faith and the rejection of former errors.

Neither of these two means of entry into the Church is in itself a judgment on the validity or non-validity of the sacraments of the Church of origin, since there are no mysteries outside of the Body of Christ.3

Even the arch-ecumenist Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk confesses the one and only Orthodox FAITH concerning the question of sacraments outside the Church:

“The Augustinian understanding of the ‘efficacy’ of the sacraments was never fully accepted in the Orthodox Church. Such an understanding of the sacraments is unacceptable for Orthodox Tradition, for it is an understanding in which the grace inherent within them is considered autonomous, independent of the Church. The sacraments can be performed only within the Church, and it is the Church that bestows efficacy, reality, and salvation on them.”4

When and how to exercise oikonomia is a secondary issue, and it is left up to the discretion of the bishops and their episcopal synods when and how to apply it. The main issue that all Orthodox should and must agree upon is that baptisms that take place outside the Church are not valid baptisms. I briefly addressed this subject elsewhere many years ago. Here is what I wrote:

ACCEPTANCE AND RECOGNITION OF BAPTISM
(ACCEPTANCE DOES NOT MEAN RECOGNITION)

Acceptance addresses the issue how does the Church receive converts. Recognition addresses the “validity” of baptism.

The Church recognizes no baptism as “valid” that is performed outside of her. However, in the exercise of oikonomia (dispensation), at times and places and special circumstances, at the discretion of a bishop or synod of bishops, she accepts a baptism that resembles to a greater or lesser extent her baptism, of someone who is being received in the Orthodox Church from heresy or schism. Acceptance is not concerned with “validity” or recognition of baptisms performed outside of her, concepts which are foreign to her terminology and practice.

The fact that the Orthodox Church receives certain converts by oikonomia through Chrismation does not mean that the Orthodox Church recognizes a baptism performed outside her pleroma nor does she admit by such action that there is grace among the heterodox.

How the heterodox should be received has become not an issue of whether to exercise akriveia (strictness) or oikonomia (dispensation, exception), but an imposition by the ecumenists of their erroneous belief, namely that there is one baptism and that this one baptism is administered validly by anyone (even by non-Christians!), as long as the name of the Holy Trinity is invoked and water is used in any form.

Because of the prevailing ecumenism, it has almost become an article of faith that any baptism performed, whether inside or outside the Orthodox Church, is a valid baptism (so long as it is performed by invoking the name of the Holy Trinity). For this reason the Ecumenical Patriarchate no longer allows, under any circumstances, the reception of heterodox through baptism, because it is viewed as a repetition of the one true baptism. They will no longer allow the strictness to be applied even by oikonomia!!

Ecumenists are not willing to accept the patristic and synodal witness, that when the Church allows baptism by oikonomia she does so without addressing at all its “validity” outside the Church–which the ecumenists do because of their ecumenistic and synchretistic considerations.

I also ask you to look up the index entry “baptism” in my book The Heavenly Banquet5. I argue that especially in this country of “church-hoppers” the akriveia should be followed.

Coming back to your comment, I ask you: when you say – if you do – that Roman Catholics should not be baptized when they are received, is it because you believe the baptism conferred to them should be recognized as “valid” or because we don’t want to offend them, and we should not make conversion more difficult for them and therefore we should exercise oikonomia?

If you want to defend the validity of the baptism offered by the Roman Catholic Church, searching Church history won’t give you the answer. The current practice is that even if you wanted to be baptized it is not granted to you in the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical (read ecumenist) Patriarchate, so it has become a moot point. In fact, conversions are discouraged because the Ecumenical Patriarch wants the Orthodox Church to be united with the Roman Catholic Church in toto, as two sister Churches who recognize each other as two lungs of the same body, and re-establish a broken communion caused by misunderstandings, therefore conversions [through Baptism] are no longer allowed.

But please tell me: why would anyone who has already received the “ONE baptism for the remission of sins” want to join the Orthodox Church since…

  • he has received the laver of regeneration and has been spiritually reborn
  • he has already received remission of sins (Acts 2:38) and “the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38)
  • he is already walking “in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4)
  • the doors to the kingdom of God are already wide open to him (John 3:5).

What more would one hope to obtain in the Orthodox Church that he has not already received?

If through a baptism outside the Orthodox Church one has been incorporated into the Body of Christ, it follows that one has become a member of the Holy Church, so what else would one be seeking? If one has this, the first and most fundamental of the Church’s Mysteries, one can receive all of the sacraments. If one has the authority to baptize, he also has the authority to offer the bloodless sacrifice. Why, then, would anyone abandon his Church in order to join the Orthodox Church?

We will address this subject more in our next post.

  1. Posted on March 10, 2017.
  2. “The [Ecumenical] Patriarch has given the directive to no longer receive those Christians who want to become Orthodox through baptism, because, he says, since they are baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity they have a valid baptism. For us there are no Sacraments outside the Church.”
  3. A Critique of the Balamand Agreement, Orthodox Christian Information Center, October 14, 2001.
  4. Orthodox Christianity Vol. II: Doctrine and Teaching of the Orthodox Church, p. 405.
  5. pp. 211-212. I wish everyone would have this book as a reference for many topics. [editor’s note: Order this book and receive a 30% discount by using the coupon code: 1BAPTISM at checkout. Order three or more of our books and receive 40% off by using the coupon code 4BAPTISM at checkout.
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GIVING WITNESS TO THE TRUE CHURCH

Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.
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A real Bethesda today

A sermon on John 5: 1-15, originally delivered in 2001.

We offer two sets of reflections on the gospel reading of the Lord’s miracle at Bethesda: The first about the place of healing, Bethesda; the second about the miracle itself of the healing of the paralytic. Bethesda means “House of mercy”. This pool, where all those who were infirm would find their cure by being washed in its waters, stands for the Church, the House of God’s mercy. The Church is the true Bethesda, with its holy sacraments, particularly that of holy baptism, in the waters of which we find healing and attain life everlasting.

Bethesda prefigures Baptism

Bethesda was a pool of water, like so many others. Yet it was unique, because miraculous healings were taking place in it. Like then so today too there are many baptismal fonts. We can be and are being baptized in many places, but we do not receive spiritual healing from them all. The font found in the Orthodox Church is unique. God willed it this way. We should not confuse the washing of cleansing and regeneration we receive in the Orthodox Church with its false imitations.

Observe this wondrous thing: An angel of God ministers to the faithful. Angels attend even to our physical well-being, although what they are really interested in is our spiritual well-being. Thus they become physicians of our souls and bodies, acting on behalf of the Lord, who is the physician of our souls and bodies. God uses the angels as His ministering spirits. Of course it is God who acts behind them.

While Bethesda healed the body, holy Baptism heals the soul.

Today as well, God has His ministers, the priests of the Church. The priest, by moving the water as he makes the sign of the precious Cross in the water, sanctifies it and delivers from spiritual sickness those who enter it professing their faith and trust in the Lord, restoring their spiritual life. This power is superior to that of the angels, as the life eternal granted by the baptismal water is superior to the physical health granted by the waters of Bethesda.

Bethesda, says St. John Chrysostom, is a prefigurement of holy Baptism. Compared to it, however, it is only a shadow, because while it cured only every once in a while and then only one at a time, Baptism heals as many as they approach it, at any time. More importantly, while Bethesda healed the body, holy Baptism heals the soul. In both cases one needs to have faith in God, who alone effects the healing. It is not magic. The power of God acts in both instances. One also needs to have a strong desire to be healed.

God’s energy does the healing

Notice this: Many were those waiting by the pool of healing. Yet only few were cured. Likewise many come under the porticoes of the Church. Few, however, find healing. Being in here is not enough. One needs to plunge himself or herself into the healing waters of God’s mercy to obtain complete cure. Notice again: The waters by themselves did not effect the healing. It is in the nature of the water to clean the body, but not to heal it from sickness and disease. Yet with God’s energy, the water of Bethesda did what is not in its nature to do. So too with holy baptism: one’s soul is cleansed and purified by “the descent and energy of the Holy Spirit.”

Bethesda-Baptism

Observe this as well. The waters were not effectual all the time. Otherwise anyone could find healing, at any time, whenever they pleased. No. Healing was effected only at certain appointed times. So one had to be ready, because that time was unknown. We too need to be ready at all times, to receive the healing grace of God. The very reason this House of Mercy exists is to provide healing. It is not a place to come and relax. It is not a place where we come to bask in the sun. It is not a place to sit and chit-chat. We may come to this House, the Ecclesia of God, for many reasons. What good would it be, however, if week after week, year after year, we always walked away sick?

We must do our part

Observe something else: Though the healing comes from God, it comes in a manner according to His plan: the action of the patient is still required. The angel moved the water but did not throw the sick person into it; this part is left to us by the All-wise God, to our initiative and free response to His loving kindness. As further proof that our free response to God is required, hear the strange words the Lord addresses to the paralytic:

“Do you want to get well?”

God does not force His will on anyone. Our cooperation is always needed. Without it, God’s saving grace does not reach us. There is a rule of thumb in what we should expect God to do for us and in what God expects us to do. The rule of thumb is this:

Whatever we can do on our own we must do, and not expect God to work miraculously for us.

Even when God performs miracles He expects us to do our part. God heals us in His Church through the holy sacraments and through the truth of His gospel. This is not done in a vacuum, however, without our participation. We need to prepare ourselves properly to receive God’s grace, to understand the truth of the gospel and to put it into practice.

The virtues of the Paralytic

God heals us:

  • in His Church
  • through the holy sacraments, and
  • through the truth of His gospel

Let us now move more closely and offer a few reflections on the paralytic and his miraculous healing. We admire the paralytic who, in addition to having faith and a strong desire to be healed, also has stamina. For thirty eight years he kept coming back. He persisted, without losing hope. What about us? Do we perhaps complain about minor illnesses? Do we lose hope if we don’t get well soon? Let us learn from him. At times we get so discouraged we curse the day in which we were born or we point our finger to God, demanding that He give us an account for wronging us. Now look at this man. Admire his tolerance. No complaining comes from his mouth. He could be blaming his relatives and friends for abandoning him, for not caring about him–but he does not.

The paralytic could also make fun of this stranger who puts him to test, asking him: “Do you want to get well?” The answer should be so obvious to all, yet he does not utter a word. No bitterness and no irony comes from his lips. He doesn’t know who this stranger is, but his only answer is stated calmly, humbly, without emotion—and he is rewarded. The omnipotent Word of God, who created everything that exists, speaks, and with His word alone He restores fully and instantaneously the paralytic’s infirm limbs, giving them strength not only to walk, but also to carry a weight and to balance himself, thus demonstrating that he was completely healed.

Our healing is up to us

Let those who suffer, let those who are in pain and sorrow, let those who see their suffering be prolonged—with no cure on sight—let them learn that the Lord has not abandoned them. Let them never lose sight of their hope. Let them be consoled. The Lord knows of their affliction, and He will visit them in His time. Let them, however, not be mistaken about something else: the cure will come only if they come to the realization that their condition was caused by sin, perhaps not by their personal sin, but by sin. Only when they realize this, only after they repent for their sin, only after they carry their cross without grudges and with hope and trust in God, will their cure come. In a way then, we can say that healing is up to us! The Lord wants everyone to be saved, but those who are saved are only those who care about their salvation, who recognize their sinfulness, who earnestly seek Him who alone heals, and who place their complete trust in the Lord.

The former Paralytic is tested

Finally, healing is brought about through obedience to Him who commands him to rise and to lift up his pallet and walk. Certainly the One who is the Lord of nature is also the Lord of the Law. His acts of healing demonstrate that Jesus of Nazareth is God. Carrying the pallet publicly demonstrates that the paralytic trusted in God. His faith was tested because surely he was going to face the Sanhedrin, and the narrow-mindedness of the Pharisees, as a Sabbath-breaker, with the consequence of being thrown out of the synagogue. By ignoring the fear and the danger of being cut off from his people, he demonstrates that he was ready to receive God’s mercy. And he did.

Let us furthermore observe the following: The words of the Lord, “Sin no more, that nothing worse may befall you,” teach us that we should not take the restoration of our health for granted. The doctor sends us home prescribing us medications, a special diet and exercises, to improve our health and so that it will be maintained. Our spiritual health is similar: There is no instantaneous salvation. We need to maintain our wellness, because we may lose it. Worse than 38 years of misery is eternity in hell.

Finally, observe what happens. The paralyzed man, full of gratitude to God for having healed him, runs to the temple to give thanks to the One who is responsible for all blessings. And when he finds out who his healer is, he does not hesitate to declare openly to all who His benefactor was: Jesus Christ, the Healer of our bodies and souls. Too bad that so many of the others did not recognize the authority of the Healer. Instead of praising God for the great miracle performed through His Son, being full of pride and envy, blinded by their love of power, bent in protecting their own little interests, rejected the Anointed of God.

My dear brothers and sisters: The paralytic stands for humanity. Humanity lays infirm, paralyzed, incapacitated by the sickness we brought upon ourselves when we disobeyed God and mistrusted Him. The consequence of sin has brought sickness in our members, darkened our mind and paralyzed our will, weakened our faculties so that we think and do what is not pleasing to God. We lay paralyzed, unable to be saved on our own. However, by remaining close to the spiritual Bethesda (the Church) we are visited by the merciful Lord who passes by and raises us up from our bed of pain, reinvigorates us and renders us once more healthy and whole. May we welcome the visit of the God-man, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, who will cure us and restore us to His communion. Amen.

Fr. E.H./01

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GIVING WITNESS TO THE TRUE CHURCH

Orthodox Christians all over the world have received the unchanging Christian Faith, passed down from the Holy Apostles to their successors, and continue to practice it today in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church – The Orthodox Church.
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My desire was to be received through Baptism

convert-baptism-orthodox-witness
“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it”
(Ps. 118:24)

This is a day of rejoicing for all of us, who came to know you and love you. On the very first day I met you, you described yourself as Orthodox at heart. With tears in your eyes you indicated you would have become formally Orthodox, but the time did not come until today, and we give glory to Christ our God for it.

Despite your best intentions and personal conviction, and your desire to belong to the true Church founded by Christ, you did not become her member until this blessed day. It was your dissatisfaction with your former church that convinced you it simply was not part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, but an imitation of it, having broken away from the Roman church that had already broken communion with the Church, being first schismatic, then heretical.

Your desire to be received through baptism indicates your conviction that the baptism you had received in your former church was not the true baptism, because it was not administered by an appointed minister of the Church nor was it in the prescribed form used by the Church of triple baptism, i.e. triple immersion, and in a word it was not administered within the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Orthodox Church.

A baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity is the true baptism not because merely the names of our triune God are invoked, as if it were an incantation (it’s like saying anyone who can say this is my body and this is my blood magically transforms the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Lord), but because the Church convenes in accordance with the instructions of the Lord and the authority given to the ministers of His Church to perform the divine mysteries. This authority rests with the Church, not with the individual minister.

Your baptism was not a rebaptism. If it were we would all violate the Tradition of the Church.

Some of our colleagues, by a curious presumption, are led to suppose that those who have been dipped among the heretics ought not to be baptized when they join us; because, they say, there is “one baptism.” [Eph. 4.5] Yes, but that one baptism is in the Catholic Church. And if there is one Church, there can be no baptism outside of it. There cannot be two baptisms: if heretics really baptize, then baptism belongs to them. And anyone who on his own authority concedes them this privilege admits, by yielding their claim (that the enemy and adversary of Christ should appear to possess the power of washing, purifying, sanctifying a man). Our assertion is that those who come to us from heresy are baptized by us, not re-baptized. They do not receive anything there; there is nothing there for them to receive. They come to us that they may receive here, where there is all grace and truth; for grace and truth are one.

Whose words are these? Not mine, but the Church’s, through the mouth of her spokesman, inspired by the Holy Spirit, St. Cyprian of Carthage (Epistle 70.1, ca. A.D. 255).

“If one accepts a heretical baptism as valid in and of itself, he also accepts the priesthood of the clergyman who administers it, and ultimately the Eucharist that such a clergyman celebrates, too.”
—Fr. George Metallinos

The subject of how the Church receives those who profess faith in Jesus Christ and who have received a baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity is one that stirs the Church today and causes considerable friction among clergy and faithful. The confusion that exists concerning the baptism is due to the confusion that exists concerning the Church. Those who see the Church (at least in some form) even among the heretics, also see the baptism among them (in some form). Indeed, as Fr. George Metallinos has stated, “If one accepts a heretical baptism as valid in and of itself, he also accepts the priesthood of the clergyman who administers it, and ultimately the Eucharist that such a clergyman celebrates, too.” (Quoted by Orthodox Tradition, Vol. XIX, No. 4)

I want to congratulate you, for being moved by the Holy Spirit you came forth of your own free will asking to be received in the womb of the Holy Orthodox Church and thus become a member of the Body of Christ. You followed the Apostle Paul who emphasized that we need to maintain a strong and cohesive unity, “so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles” (Eph. 4:14).

We must, however, say that your pious, Christian life outside the Church is neither dismissed and belittled nor called irrelevant. To the contrary. It is because of the exemplary life you have lived, as witnessed by your family and by all of us who had the blessing of knowing you, that we rejoice at your decision. Today you sealed the Christian life you have always lived as a sincere follower of the Lord, and made efficacious your faith and charismata received.

In stepping forward to receive the sacrament of regeneration you confess that you renege the heresies embraced by your former Protestant denomination, i.e. filioque, sola scriptura, sola gratia, ecumenism, created grace, and any other teachings contrary to the faith transmitted to us.

Today is the day of your spiritual birth and regeneration. You enlisted in the army of Christ. With the confirmation you have received, you were also given the weapons to fight the good fight and be victorious over the forces of evil. Not only do you bear the insignia of Christ’s army, you have now received in you the Lord Himself, so that you may be totally incorporated into His life, so that from now on you live His life, or let Christ live in you. The cup of the Lord is the great prize, full—not with blessings—but of the Bestower Himself of all blessings.

Thank you for wanting to follow the akriveia of the canons and not the oeconomia of those who are weak, uncertain and confused in faith. Shame to our ecumenical (read ecumenistic) patriarch, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and all its hierarchs who have capitulated to the heresy of ecumenism. Kudos to the Serbian Church that faithfully adheres to the sacred canons of the Church, to the hierarch heading this diocese… and the priest of this church… for making your dream come true on this blessed day.

Axios!

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