IS THERE
RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY IN HEAVEN?
Bishop
Brian J. Kennedy, O.S.B.
HOLY
TRINITY CELTIC ORTHODOX CHURCH
TOLEDO,
OHIO
HOMEPAGE:
http://www.celticorthodoxy.com/bkceltic-orthodox-church
The
Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw once said, "There is only one religion, but
there are a hundred versions of it." In our effort to embrace tolerance we have
become victim to the thinking that error is as worthy of protection as is truth;
that truth and error can peacefully coexist. Religious tolerance has become the
greatest religious good, the all-consuming goal of religious people and gave
rise to the heresy of Universal Salvation. Like George Bernard Shaw, they
believe all religions lead to the same God and the same heaven. They believe
there will be religious diversity in heaven.
Biblical
Orthodoxy believes each person must make a choice and that choice must be for
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and choose to accept Jesus Christ as
the Incarnate Word of God, true God and true man, and the only way to the
Father; the one Mediator between God and man. Universal Salvation denies that
there is no salvation apart from Christ but God’s Word teaches, “There is no
other name under heaven by which man can be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
Those
who believe one religion is as good as another embrace the idea that truth and
error are equally valid. These people believe that it is intolerant to assert
that one religion is the true religion and others, which disagree, are false.
Those who accept error being as valid as truth teach salvation is possible
without submission to Jesus Christ or even belief in God. Universal Salvation is
the only ‘tolerant” and “loving” view. Universal Salvation says even
Non-Christians can be saved, but Jesus said “but as for these enemies of mine,
who do not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my
presence.” (Luke 19:27)
Universal
Salvation does not require a standard Creed except be a “good person” but the
truth of God’s Word teaches, “Your personal righteousness is as a filthy
menstrual rag in the sight of God”. (Isaiah 64:6) Universal Salvation denies the
Scriptures are the Word of God that must be followed by all mankind. The Scriptures are clear that all men
are not saved, even though it is the will of God that none should perish; God
will not reward sin and apostasy with the beatific vision.
God
will not reward with the blessing of the promises of Christ and the promises of
God’s Word those who kiss the Koran and call the Koran a holy book.
The
inescapable conclusion for those teaching Universal Salvation is no one religion
possesses the entire truth, but only bits and pieces of it. If the Hindu or the Muslim and other
pagan groups can be saved and will find safe harbor in Heaven, then it must be
false that Jesus is the only way to the Father, but Jesus teaches “I am the way,
the truth and the life, no one goes to the Father save through me.” (John 14: 6)
If
those worshipping pagan gods can be saved we can no longer assert there is but
one God. If all religions are equal
and have a right to be tolerated than all religions contain error as well as
truth. The contrasting teachings
cannot be reconciled without redefining the truth beyond recognition. Such
redefinition of truth at best diminishes truth as being no longer absolute and
at worst is a denial of truth. Both
views are an abomination in the sight of God and will provoke God’s righteous
anger and condemnation. There is no
religious diversity in heaven.
Universal
Salvation denies the basic tenants of Christianity: “Truly, truly I say to you
unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of
God” ( John 3:5) This is not a suggestion, it is a fact and a command. “Unless you eat the body and drink the
blood of the son of man you have no life in you.” (John 6: 53) It is not a suggestion, it is a command.
There
will be no religious diversity in heaven.
Only those who belong to Christ can have synergy with the Father and
without synergy with the Father in Christ only perdition and condemnation await
the soul in eternity.
ONLY
IN HELL IS THERE RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY
|
BAPTISM
IN THE CELTIC ORTHODOX CHURCH |
|
|
AUTHOR:
Bishop Brian J. Kennedy, O.S.B. | |
|
| |
BAPTISM WITHOUT THE EUCHARIST IS FUTILE AND WITHOUT EFFECT
THE
CELTIC ORTHODOX CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES
INSISTS
ON INITIATION INTO THE CHURCH THROUGH BAPTISM,
CHRISMATION
(CONFIRMATION) AND THE FIRST EUCHARIST AT THE SAME TIME
Dom
Lambert Beauduin (1873-1960) was a Roman Catholic Benedictine in Belgium. He was
universally recognized as a brilliant Liturgist, Theologian and Pastor. Let him
speak for himself and let his words of wisdom introduce this
article.
Baptism
destines us for the great Mysteries; it is oriented entirely toward them; it
calls for them and postulates them; it is directed, oriented toward the
Eucharist, like a magnet toward the pole. The Eucharist is in Baptism like the
fruit is in the flower. The Words of the Master, Unless you eat the Flesh of the
Son of Man and drink His Blood you have no life in you, (John 6:53) makes us see
the intimacy and the depths of these relations. If this inseparable and vital
union is lacking, Baptism is futile and inefficacious; it is a useless means
that misses its goal, a temple without a sanctuary and without an altar. The
baptized one who remains a stranger to the Eucharist is a son without filial
piety and without love: an aborted saint. (BAPTISM AND THE EUCHARIST
1946)
NOTE:
He says Baptism without the Eucharist is WITHOUT EFFECT, IS FUTILE AND
INEFFICACIOUS.
BAPTISM
REQUIRES A GRACE FILLED PRIEST
OR
BISHOP ORDAINED BY A GRACE FILLED BISHOP IN
APOSTOLIC
SUCCESSION FROM THE FIRST APOSTLES:
“Even
if a woman is learned and Saintly, she still must not
presume
to baptize” Council of Carthage 419
A.D.
LAY
PERSONS, DEACONS, NUNS AND MONKS
WHO
ARE NOT ORDAINED CANNOT BAPTIZE.
ONLY
A PRIEST OR BISHOP CAN BAPTIZE.
When
we study the Scriptures, when we start quoting the Scriptures it is seldom
accurate to isolate a given verse from the whole of Scripture. Those who quote
the necessity of Baptism and neglect the absolute necessity of reception of the
Eucharist do so to their own peril.
Rightly
such can be called Protestants as they are protesting against the very Word of
God they claim to serve. They protest against the life giving Holy Spirit who
has taught the church through the centuries giving direction as to the
development of the Liturgy and method of administration of the Sacred Mysteries.
The directives of Scripture must be understood in the light of the life of the
church that comes from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
In
prophecy and parable Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God as a banquet “I say to
you, many will come from the east and the west, and will recline with Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 8:11). God
has invited the whole human family to join in a great heavenly banquet. We
respond to this invitation through the Sacraments of Initiation.
Let’s
say a friend invites you to dinner. You would take off your work clothes, wash
up, take a shower and then you would dry off and put on clean clothes before
setting out for dinner.
This
sequence of events is perhaps the simplest way to understand the Sacraments of
Initiation. God has invited each of us to dine with Christ at the Eucharistic
banquet. When we come to this table for the first time, we first put off the
“old self” (see Romans 6:6, Ephesians 4:22 and Colossians 3:9) and wash away the
defect of Sin. This is the sacramental bath of Baptism. Second, we dry off. In
the first and second centuries, however, Romans would rub their bodies with oil
after bathing to moisturize the skin and to dry off. In our sacramental system
the bath of Baptism is followed by the oil of Confirmation. Lastly, clothed with
the Holy Spirit, we venture forth to the Eucharistic
table.
We
do not find much written specifically about Confirmation in the early church,
because when the early Christian authors wrote about Baptism they implied both
the water bath and the anointing with oil, what we would call Baptism and
Confirmation.
Baptism
and Confirmation are also intimately related in another way. When we take a
bath, we get clean by washing off the dirt. We can speak of “getting clean” and
we can speak of “washing off dirt” but, actually, removing “dirtiness” and
receiving “cleanliness” go together. They are two ways of looking at one action.
In a similar way, early Church writers described Baptism with the “washing off”
metaphors and spoke of Confirmation with the “getting clean” metaphors. Baptism
washes away all sin and Confirmation gives us the grace and presence of the Holy
Spirit. Taking away sin and being filled with grace are but two ways of speaking
of the same action, something like “washing off” and “getting clean.” The two
actions go together even if we call them by different names: Baptism and
Confirmation.
This
analogy of “washing up, drying off, going to eat” works especially well for
“Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist” when they are celebrated in that sequence all
at the same time as they were in the early Church, and as they are today in the
Celtic Orthodox Church and in the larger Orthodox Church East and
West.
In
the West receiving “Communion”
at their Baptism was the norm until Rome broke away from the rest of the larger
church catholic, and the aberrant praxis was the norm by the 12th
century. The priests in the Celtic churches give infants Holy Communion by
dipping his little finger into the consecrated wine and placing it on the tongue
of the infant. This still works out the best in trying to give the Eucharist to
a child or infant.
To
deny a child the Eucharist at Baptism is the ultimate form of child abuse as the
child is all dressed up expecting a banquet and then finds he is to be excluded
because of age discrimination. The child is all dressed up and finds he has no
place to go.
WITNESS
OF THE EARLY CHURCH – THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS
Theophilus
of Antioch
"Are
you unwilling to be anointed with the oil of God? It is on this account that we
are called Christians: because we are anointed with the oil of God" (To
Autolycus 1:12 [A.D. 181]).
Tertullian
"After
coming from the place of washing we are thoroughly anointed with a blessed
unction, from the ancient discipline by which [those] in the priesthood . . .
were accustomed to be anointed with a horn of oil, ever since Aaron was anointed
by Moses. . . . So also with us, the unction runs on the body and profits us
spiritually, in the same way that baptism itself is a corporal act by which we
are plunged in water, while its effect is spiritual, in that we are freed from
sins. After this, the hand is imposed for a blessing, invoking and inviting the
Holy Spirit" (Baptism 7:1-2, 8:1 [A.D. 203]).
"No
soul whatever is able to obtain salvation unless it has believed while it was in
the flesh. Indeed, the flesh is the hinge of salvation. . . . The flesh, then,
is washed [baptism] so that the soul may be made clean. The flesh is anointed so
that the soul may be dedicated to holiness. The flesh is signed so that the soul
may be fortified. The flesh is shaded by the imposition of hands [confirmation]
so that the soul may be illuminated by the Spirit. The flesh feeds on the body
and blood of Christ [the Eucharist] so that the soul too may feed on God. They
cannot, then, be separated in their reward, when they are united in their works"
(The Resurrection of the Dead 8:2-3 [A.D. 210]).
Hippolytus
"The
bishop, imposing his hand on them, shall make an invocation, saying, O Lord God,
who made them worthy of the remission of sins through the Holy Spirit's washing
unto rebirth, send into them your grace so that they may serve you according to
your will, for there is glory to you, to the Father and the Son with the Holy
Spirit, in the holy Church, both now and through the ages of ages. Amen. Then,
pouring the consecrated oil into his hand and imposing it on the head of the
baptized, he shall say, I anoint you with holy oil in the Lord, the Father
Almighty, and Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Signing them on the forehead, he
shall kiss them and say, The Lord be with you. He that has been signed shall
say, And with your spirit. Thus shall he do to each" (The Apostolic Tradition
21-22 [A.D. 215]).
Cyprian
of Carthage
"It
is necessary for him that has been baptized also to be anointed, so that by his
having received chrism, that is, the anointing, he can be the anointed of God
and have in him the grace of Christ" (Letters 7:2 [A.D. 253]).
"Some
say in regard to those who were baptized in Samaria that when the apostles Peter
and John came there only hands were imposed on them so that they might receive
the Holy Spirit, and that they were not re-baptized. But we see, dearest
brother, that this situation in no way pertains to the present case. Those in
Samaria who had believed had believed in the true faith, and it was by the
deacon Philip, whom those same apostles had sent there, that they had been
baptized inside - in the Church. . . . Since, then, they had already received a
legitimate and ecclesiastical baptism, it was not necessary to baptize them
again. Rather, that only which was lacking was done by Peter and John. The
prayer having been made over them and hands having been imposed upon them, the
Holy Spirit was invoked and was poured out upon them. This is even now the
practice among us, so that those who are baptized in the Church then are brought
to the prelates of the Church; through our prayer and the imposition of hands,
they receive the Holy Spirit and are perfected with the seal of the Lord"
(ibid., 73[72]:9).
"[A]re
not hands, in the name of the same Christ, laid upon the baptized persons among
them, for the reception of the Holy Spirit?" (ibid., 74[73]:5).
"[O]ne
is not born by the imposition of hands when he receives the Holy Ghost, but in
baptism, that so, being already born, he may receive the Holy Spirit, even as it
happened in the first man Adam. For first God formed him, and then breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life. For the Spirit cannot be received, unless he
who receives first has an existence. But . . . the birth of Christians is in
baptism" (ibid., 74[73]:7).
Council
of Carthage VII
"[I]n
the Gospel our Lord Jesus Christ spoke with his divine voice, saying, Except a
man be born again of water AND THE SPIRIT, he cannot enter the kingdom of God
[John 3:5]. This is the Spirit that from the beginning was borne over the
waters; for neither can the Spirit operate without the water, nor the water
without the Spirit. Certain people therefore interpret [this passage] for
themselves wrongly, when they say that by imposition of the hand they receive
the Holy Ghost, and are thus received, when it is manifest that they ought to be
born again [initiated] in the catholic Church by both sacraments" (Seventh
Carthage [A.D. 256]).
Cyril
of Jerusalem
"After
you had come up from the pool of the sacred streams, there was given chrism, the
antitype of that with which Christ was anointed, and this is the Holy Spirit.
But beware of supposing that this is ordinary ointment. For just as the bread of
the Eucharist after the invocation of the Holy Spirit is simple bread no longer,
but the body of Christ, so also this ointment is no longer plain ointment, nor,
so to speak, common, after the invocation. Further, it is the gracious gift of
Christ, and it is made fit for the imparting of his Godhead by the coming of the
Holy Spirit. This ointment is symbolically applied to your forehead and to your
other senses; while your body is anointed with the visible ointment, your soul
is sanctified by the holy and life-giving Spirit. Just as Christ, after his
baptism, and the coming upon him of the Holy Spirit, went forth and defeated the
adversary, so also with you after holy baptism and the mystical chrism, having
put on the panoply of the Holy Spirit, you are to withstand the power of the
adversary and defeat him, saying, I am able to do all things in Christ, who
strengthens me" (Catechetical Lectures, 21:1, 3-4 [A.D. 350]).
Council
of Laodicea
"[T]hose
who have been illuminated are, after baptism, to be anointed with celestial
chrism and thus become partakers in the kingdom of Christ" (Canon 48 [A.D.
360]).
Ignatius
(Ep. ad Smyr., viii): “It is not lawful to baptize or celebrate the agape
without the bishop.” St. Jerome (Contra Lucif., ix) witnesses to the same usage
in his days: “Without chrism and the command of the bishop, neither priest nor
deacon has the right of conferring baptism.”
Deacons
are only extraordinary ministers of solemn baptism, as by their office they are
assistants to the priestly order. St. Isidore of Seville (De Eccl, Off., ii, 25)
says: “It is plain that baptism is to be conferred by priests only, and it is
not lawful even for deacons to administer it without permission of the bishop or
priest.” That deacons were, however, ministers of this sacrament by delegation
is evident from the quotations adduced. In the service of ordination of a
deacon, the bishop says to the candidate: “It behooves a deacon to minister at
the altar, to baptize and to preach.” Philip the deacon is mentioned in the
Bible (Acts 8) as conferring baptism, presumably by delegation of the Apostles.
In
Acts Chapter 8 we learn that the Samaritans were baptized in water by Philip the
Evangelist (a Deacon) but not in the Holy Spirit (Confirmation) and they would
not have received the Eucharist either so therefore it was necessary for the
Apostles to visit them and make perfect that which they had received in an
imperfect way. Ananias, Bishop of Damascus, in Acts 9 baptizes Saul of Tarsus
(St. Paul). Chrismation and
reception of the Eucharist was given to Saul of Tarsus (St. Paul) by Ananias who
had been Consecrated Bishop by Barnabas and Peter. Some say that Ananias was a lay person,
but this is just not the case.
The
word Christian means “one who shares in the anointing” of the anointed one
(Christ means anointed one). It is
in Confirmation and through the reception of the Eucharist that the soul becomes
Christian / a sharer in the anointing of the Christ. Only a Priest or Bishop can
anoint with Holy Oils and baptize in the Holy Spirit and administer the life
saving body and blood of Christ. Only a Priest or Bishop can
baptize.
St.
Cyprian to Jubaianus his brother, greeting. You have written to me, dearest
brother, wishing that the impression of my mind should be signified to you, as
to what I think concerning the baptism of heretics; who, placed without, and
established outside the Church, arrogate to themselves a matter neither within
their right nor their power. This baptism we cannot consider as valid or
legitimate, since it is manifestly unlawful among them . . . we established this
same matter once more by our judgment, deciding that there is one baptism which
is appointed in the church catholic; and that by this those are not re-baptized,
but baptized by us, who at any time come from the adulterous and unhallowed
water to be washed and sanctified by the truth of the saving water. (Epistle
72:1)
St..
Firmilian, the bishop of Caesarea, was of the same mind as St. Cyprian on the
matter:
Moreover,
all other heretics, if they have separated themselves from the Church of God,
can have nothing of power or of grace, since all power and grace are established
in the Church where the elders preside, who possess the power both of baptizing,
and of imposition of hands, and of ordaining. For as a heretic may not lawfully
ordain nor lay on hands, so neither may he baptize, nor do anything holily or
spiritually, since he is an alien from spiritual and deifying sanctity. (Epistle
74:7)
SAINT
AMBROSE
This
proves again what I have always said and reflects the teaching of the undivided
church catholic that Chrismation (Confirmation) and the Eucharist
MUST
be part of the baptism if it is to have effect.
Below,
you'll find an excellent description of baptism by Saint Ambrose as
It
relates to water and the Holy Spirit:
"You
were told before not to believe only what you saw. This was to prevent
you
from saying: Is this the great mystery that eye has not seen nor ear
heard
nor man’s heart conceived? I see the water I used to see every day;
does
this water in which I have often bathed without being sanctified really
have
the power to sanctify me? Learn from this that water does not sanctify
without
the Holy Spirit.
You
have read that the three witnesses in baptism – the water, the
blood
and
the Spirit – are one. This means that if you take away one of these the
sacrament
is not conferred. What is water without the cross of
Christ?
Only
an ordinary element without sacramental effect. Again, without water
there
is no sacrament of rebirth: Unless a man is born again of water and
the
Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. The catechumen believes
in
the cross of the Lord with which he too is signed, but unless he
is
baptized
in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit he
cannot
receive the forgiveness of sins or the gift of spiritual
grace.
The
Syrian Naaman bathed seven times under the old law, but you were
baptized
in the name of the Trinity. You proclaimed your faith in the
Father
– recall what you did – and the Son and the Spirit. Mark the sequence
of
events. In proclaiming this faith you died to the world, you died to the
world,
you rose again to God, and, as though buried to sin, you were reborn
to
eternal life. Believe, then, that the water is not without
effect.
The
paralytic at the pool was waiting for someone. Who was this if not the
Lord
Jesus, born of a virgin? At his coming it is not a question of a shadow
healing
an individual, but Truth himself healing the universe. He is the one
whose
coming was expected, the one of whom God the Father spoke when he said
to
John the Baptist: He on whom you see the Spirit coming down from heaven
and
resting, this is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. He is the one
witnessed
to by John: I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven as a dove and
resting
on him. Why did the Spirit come down as a dove if not to let you see
and
understand that the dove sent out by holy Noah from the ark was a figure
of
this dove? In this way you were to recognize a type of this
sacrament.
Is
there any room left for doubt? The Father speaks clearly in the Gospel:
This
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; the Son too, above whom
the
Holy Spirit showed himself in the form of a dove; and also the Holy
Spirit,
who came down as a dove. David too speaks clearly: The voice of the
Lord
is above the waters; the God of glory has thundered; the Lord is above
the
many waters. Again, Scripture bears witness for you that fire came down
from
heaven in answer to Gideon’s prayers, and that when Elijah prayed, God
sent
fire which consumed the sacrifice.
Do
not consider the merits of individuals but the office of the priests. If
you
do not look at merits, consider the merits of Peter and also of Paul in
the
same way you consider the merits of Elijah; they have handed on to us
this
sacrament which they received from the Lord Jesus. Visible fire was
sent
upon them to give them faith; in us who believe an invisible fire is at
work.
That visible fire was a sign, our invisible fire is for our
instruction.
Believe then that the Lord Jesus is present when he is invoked
by
the prayers of the priests. He said: Where two or three are gathered,
there
I am also. How much more does he give his loving presence where the
Church
is, where the sacraments are!
You
went down into the water. Remember what you said: I believe in the
Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Not: I believe in a greater, a
lesser
and a least. You are committed by this spoken understanding of yours
to
believe the same of the Son as of the Father, and the same of the Holy
Spirit
as of the Son, with this one exception: you proclaim that you must
believe
in the cross of the Lord Jesus alone."
Ex
Tractátu sancti Ambrósii epíscopi De mystériis (Nn. 19-21. 24. 26-28: SCh
25bis,
164-170)
SOME
ORTHODOX CLERGY ARE NOT REAL PRIESTS AND BISHOPS
IF
THE BISHOP WHO ORDAINED YOU WAS RECEIVED INTO
ORTHODOXY
WITH A PROTESTANT BAPTISM AND NEVER
DID
RECEIVE AN ORTHODOX CATHOLIC BAPTISM YOU ARE
NOT
ORDAINED. YOU REMAIN IN THE LAY
STATE.
BAPTISM
OUTSIDE THE LARGER CHURCH CATHOLIC
Bishop
Brian Kennedy, O.S.B.
The
question has been brought forth that would accuse the Celtic Orthodox Church of
being “unloving” because we reject as of no account the baptism of those outside
the larger church catholic. From these ancient documents one can readily deduce
that our praxis is that of the ancient church. The larger church catholic
is defined as those having a valid Priesthood. It is an undeniable fact
the ancient church followed this practice and did not give recognition to the
baptisms of those baptized outside the church by supposed clergy who “have no
altar” meaning are not validly ordained Priest by Bishops in Apostolic
Succession. It was not until the time of Pope Stephen that the ancient
practice was abandoned. Eventually the East fell into the same
error.
The
adverse effect on the church caused by this fracture from the ancient faith,
order and worship of the church has resulted in some
ranked among the clergy in the Roman Church and in all the Eastern Orthodox
Churches who are not true clergy in that they never received an
orthodox-catholic baptism. There are prominent men listed as Bishop in the
various Orthodox Churches who are not validly ordained or consecrated because
they were received into the church through chrismation and profession of faith
when they should have first been baptized by a Priest who had been ordained by a
Bishop in Apostolic Succession from the Apostles.
The
dire consequences upon the faithful is they present themselves to the altar to
receive the precious body and blood of Christ and in truth all they receive is
bread and wine for lack of a true consecration. They humble themselves to
receive absolution in the Sacrament of Confession and leave no better off than
when they walked into the church. They present their precious
children for baptism and they leave the church with their child still not
baptized because of the lack of a validly ordained Priest.
Today
the norm among the Roman Church and the Neo Orthodox Churches is to accept the
baptism performed by Protestants. Sadly this was foretold in holy writ and
is another sign of the present age of Apostasy from the faith as once delivered
by the saints.
Not
content to blaspheme the Holy Spirit by their never ending innovations in the
faith, some boldly acclaim the baptism done by even atheist who deny the very
existence of God. In their ever mutating heresies they use the Sacrament
of Baptism as a weapon against those they find at odds with them over political
matters.
The
Russian Church will not accept the baptism of those in the Ukrainian Orthodox
Church in the Ukraine and so they would attempt to re-baptize any from the
Ukrainian Church who want to join the ROC. The motivation is politics.
They would accept the baptism of a Protestant without a valid Priesthood but the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church who has a valid Priesthood they reject.
Ask
then, who is being “unloving”?
APPENDIX
I
Holy
Canons dealing with Baptism
1.
Canons of the Holy Apostles (as recorded by St. Clement, Bishop at
Rome)
Canon
XLVI (46)
We order that a bishop or presbyter that recognized the baptism or sacrifice of
heretics be defrocked. For ‘’what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what has a
believer in common with an unbeliever?’’ (2 Cor. 6:15). (P, p. 51.)
Canon
XLVII (47)
If a bishop or presbyter baptize anew anyone that has had a true baptism, or
fail to baptize someone that had been polluted by the impious, let him be
defrocked, on the grounds that he is mocking the cross and death of the Lord,
and fails to distinguish priests from false priests. (P, p. 55.)
LOCAL
COUNCILS
Carchedon-Carthage, 258
A.D.
Canon
[I] (of St.
Cyprian)
Decreeing now also by
vote what we firmly and securely hold for all time, we declare that no one can
possibly be baptized outside the catholic Church, there being but one baptism,
and this existing only in the catholic Church. For it has been written: ‘’They
have forsaken me the fountain of living water, and they dug for themselves
broken cisterns that cannot hold water’’ (Jer. 2:13). And, again, Holy Scripture
forewarning says: ‘’Keep away from another’s water, and drink not from another’s
well’’ (cf. Pr. 5:15).
How can he who was not
able to rid himself of his own sins, being as he is outside the Church, baptize
and grant remission of sins to another? And even the question asked at the
baptism is witness to the truth. For when we say to the examinee, ‘’Do you
believe you shall receive eternal life and remission of sins?’’ we are saying
nothing else than that in the catholic Church remission of sins can be given,
and that it is impossible to receive this form the heretics, where the Church is
not. And that is why the advocates of the heretics are obliged either to ask the
question, or to do justice to the truth, unless they attribute the Church to
them also. Moreover, it is necessary that he who has been baptized be
chrismated, so that receiving the chrism he become a partaker of Christ. But the
heretic cannot sanctify oil, seeing that he has neither altar nor Church. It is
not possible for there to exist any chrism whatsoever among the heretics. For it
is obvious to us that oil can by no means be sanctified among them for such
worthy use. And we ought to know and not ignore that it has been written: ‘’Let
not the oil of a sinner anoint my head,’’ which the Holy Spirit even long ago
declared in the Psalms (140:6); lest anyone be tracked down and led astray from
the right way and be chrismated by the heretics, the enemies of Christ. We
understand remission of sins as being given through the Church. But how can one
give what he does not himself have? Or how can one do spiritual works when he
himself has not received the Holy Spirit? For this reason he who comes over to
the Church ought to be renewed, so that within [the Church] he be made holy by
the holy, as it is written: ‘’You shall be holy, even as I am Holy, says the
Lord’’ (cf. Lev. 19:2; 20:7). And thus he who was deluded in error – being a man
who, coming to God and seeking a priest, yet under the sway of error joined a
sacrilegious [imposter] – might in the Church’s true baptism put off this very
error. For to accept with approval those whom the heretics have baptized
is to endorse the baptism they administer. For one cannot be only partially
capable. If he had the power to baptize, then he could also impart the Holy
Spirit. But if he was incapable of giving the Holy Spirit, in that being outside
[the Church] he does not have it to begin with, then he does not have the power
to baptize anyone who might come to him.
OUR
APOSTOLIC LINE OF SUCCESSION IS ACCEPTED BY WORLD ORTHODOXY.
REMEMBER
AS YOU READ THESE LETTERS OF AFFIRMATION THE BISHOPS BEING ACCLAIMED AS PART OF
WORLD ORTHODOXY WITH GRACE FILLED AND SPIRIT FILLED ORDERS ARE NOT SUBJECT TO
ANY OLD WORLD PATRIARCH, YET THE PATRIARCHS ACCEPT THEM AS EQUAL BISHOPS IN THE
LARGER CHURCH WITH THE SAME APOSTOLIC MISSION.
LETTER
OF RECOGNITION FROM THE O.C.A.
http://www.celticorthodoxy.com/bkceltic-orthodox-church/oca_recog.jpg
LETTER
OF RECOGNITION FROM ALEXANDRIA
http://www.celticorthodoxy.com/bkceltic-orthodox-church/alexandria.jpg
LETTER
OF RECOGNITION FROM THE GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH
http://www.celticorthodoxy.com/bkceltic-orthodox-church/greek_orthodox_affirmation.jpg
WE
ARE SUCCESSORS TO THE APOSTLES, IN UNION WITH THE ORIGINAL 12 AND ALL THOSE WHO
CAME AFTER THEM AND WITH ALL THOSE WHO WILL COME AFTER US.
APOSTOLIC
SUCCESSION
http://www.celticorthodoxy.com/bkceltic-orthodox-church/succ.html
______________________________________
HOLY
TRINITY CELTIC ORTHODOX CHURCH
CELTIC ORTHODOX BENEDICTINE
FATHERS
IS
A NOT FOR PROFIT CHURCH CORPORATION
UNDER
SECTION 501 ( c ) 3 OF THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE .
