My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
The Indispensability of the Mystery (Sacrament) of Baptism
According to the Orthodox Church.
"And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has
been given to Me in heaven and on earth. GO THEREFORE AND
MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS, BAPTIZING THEM IN THE
NAME OF THE FATHER AND OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY
SPIRIT, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded
you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20)
The Lord said to them: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16:16).
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BAPTISM serves as the door leading into the Kingdom of grace, or the Church, and it grants access to participation in the other Mysteries (Sacrament). Even before the establishment of the Mystery of Baptism, the Lord Jesus Christ in His conversation with Nicodemus indicated THE ABSOLUTE NECESSITY OF IT FOR SALVATION. "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of Heaven." When Nicodemus expressed his perplexity, "How can a man be born when he is old?", the Savior replied that the New Birth would be accomplished by WATER and the SPIRIT: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be BORN OF WATER AND THE SPIRIT, HE CANNOT ENTER INTO THE KINGDM OF GOD. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:3-6).
Moreover, setting forth THE GRACE-GIVEN SIGNIFICANCE OF BAPTISM, the holy Apostles in their Epistles indicate that in it WE ARE "SANCTIFIED", "CLEANSED," "JUSTIFIED"; that in Baptism we "DIE TO SIN" so as to walk in renewed life; WE ARE "BURIED WITH CHRIST," and we ARISE with Him, "Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word" (that is, Baptism with the utterance of the words instituted to accompany it: Ephesians 5:25-36). "You are washed, you are sanctified, you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:11). "We are buried with Him by Baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Faher, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4). THROUGH BAPTISM AT THE SAME TIME ONE IS JOINED TO THE Church.
The IMMERSION IN WATER is DONE THREE TIMES WITH THE PRONUNCIATION OF THE WORDS: "The servant of God (name) is baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." in accordance WITH THE COMMANDMENT GIVEN BY CHRIST HIMSELF (Matthew 28:19). Thus was it performed in the ancient Church.
The Indispensability of Baptism
Since in Baptism a man receives, in place of the old existence he had, A NEW EXISTENCE AND LIFE, and BECOMES A CHILD OF GOD, A MEMBER OF THE Body of Christ or the Church, an INHERITOR OF ETERNAL LIFE, it is therefore evident that Baptism is INDISPENSABLE FOR ALL, INCLUDING INFANTS, so that growing in body and spirit they might grow in Christ. In the Apostolic Scripture many times there is mention of the Baptism OF WHOLE FAMILIES (the house of Lydia, the house of the prison guard, the house of Stephanas– 1 Corinthians 1:16), and NOWHERE IS IT MENTIONED THAT INFANTS WERE EXCLUDED FROM THIS. The Holy Fathers of the Church in their instructions to the faithful INSIST UPON THE BAPTISM OF CHILDREN. Saint Gregory the Theologian, addressing Christian mothers, says, "DO YOU HAVE AN INFANT? DO NOT GIVE TIME FOR HARM TO INCREASE. LET HIM BE SANCTIFIED IN INFANCY, AND FORM YOUTH DEDICATED TO THE SPIRIT. DO YOU FEAR THE SEAL BECAUSE OF THE WEAKNESS OF NATURE, AS SOMEONE FAITH-HEARTED AND SMALL IN FAITH? BUT ANN EVEN BEFORE GIVING BIRTH PROMISED SAMUEL TO GOD, AND AFTER HIS BIRTH SHE QUICKLY DEDICATED HIM AND RAISED HIM FOR THE SACRED GARMENTS WITHOUT FEARING HUMAN WEAKNESS, BUT BELIEVING IN GOD."
However, it is indispensable in this matter that the persons who offer the infant for Baptism should recognize all their responsibilities for the raising up of the baptized infant in Christian faith and virtue. We read an instruction concerning this, for example, in the work On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, known under the name of Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, which has always been highly respected by the Church: "It was pleasing to our divine instructors TO ALLOW INFANTS TO BE BAPTIZED, UNDER THE SACRED CONDITION THAT THE NATURAL PARENTS OF THE CHILD SHOULD ENTRUST HIM TO SOMEONE AMONG THE FAITHFUL WHO WOULD INSTRUCT HIM WELL IN DIVINE SUBJECTS AND THE TAKE CARE FOR THE CHILD AS A FATHER, GIVEN FROM ABOVE, AND US A GUARD OF HIS ETERNAL SALVATION. This man, when he gives the promise to guide the child in pious life, is compelled by the bishop to utter the renunciation and the sacred confession."
How important for us is this institution which comes from the Ancient Christian Church! From it we see what responsibility THE SPONSOR OR GODPARENT of the baptized person takes upon himself. How careful the parents of the child must be IN CHOOSING A SPONSOR! Of course, in a normal Christian family the parents themselves USUALLY TEACH THEIR CHILDREN THE TRUTHS OF FAITH AND THEIR MORAL DUTY. But the contemporary breaking of the foundations of social life compel one to be on guard so that the child will not remain WITHOUT CHRISTIAN GUIDANCE. And even under favorable conditions A SPONSOR CHOULD KEEP CLOSE SPIRITUAL CONTACT WITH HIS GODCHILD AND BE READY AT ANY NEEDFUL MOMENT TO COME TO HIM WITH HEARTFELT CHRISTIAN HELP.
The Tenth Paragraph of the Symbol of Faith (Creed) reads, "I confess one Baptism for the remission of sins." This signifies that Baptism in the Orthodox Church, as a spiritual birth, if it has been performed as a sacred rite correctly through TRIPLE IMMERSION IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRITM CANNOT BE RPEATED.
According to the Holy Apostles and the teachings of the whole Church Baptism is not only a symbol of CLEANSING and WASHING AWAY THE DEFILEMENT OF THE SOUL, but IN ITSELF IS HTE BEGINNING AND SOURCE OF the Divine Gifts which cleanse and annihilate ALL THE SINFUL DEFILEMENT AND COMMUNICATE A NEW LIFE. ALL SINS ARE FORGIVEN, BOTH THE ANCESTRAL SIN AND PERSONAL SINS; THE WAY IS OPENED FOR A NEW LIFE; OPENED IS THE POSSIBILITY TO RECEIVE THE GIFTS OF GOD. Further spiritual growth depends UPON THE FREE WILL OF MAN.
Please note: The validity of the baptism of infants is often doubted to many Protestant denominations. This is largely derived from the theology of the sect known as Anabaptists, a group that rose out of the Radical Reformation. The Schleitheim Confession, an early Swiss Anabaptist creed that was written in 1527 that "excluded all infant baptism, the highest and chief abomination of the Pope."
This, of course is contrary to the teachings of Orthodoxy, which correctly teaches THAT INFANTS ARE PERFECTLY CAPABLE OF BEING IN THE BODY OF CHRIST. As it was pointed out in the Homily to the Romans, "The Church received from the Holy Apostles the tradition OF BAPTIZING INFANTS TOO." After the Divine Message of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Who said: "except a man be born of water and the Spirit , he CANNOT ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD", what Christian parent would refuse to baptize their children and deprive their son or daughter from entering God’s Kingdom? Let us no forget that by the time the Protestant Reformation took place the Church practiced infant baptism for 1500 years. Of course, the Protestant Reformation came to be as a result of Latin abuses in addition to infant baptism. [Source: Orthodox Dogmatic Theology)
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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in Christ’s Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 