Thanks to Presbytera Candace for these words from the church fathers…Noah's Ark marked out by its course the sign of its Preserver. The Cross of its Stearsman and the Wood of its Sailor Who has come to fashion for us a Church in the waters of baptism: with the three-fold name He rescues those who reside in her, and in place of the dove, the Spirit administers her anointing and the mystery of her salvation. Praise to her Savior.
—Ephraim the Syrian
Did you see how baptism is a cross? Learn that even Christ called baptism the cross when He used the name of baptism interchangeably [with that of the cross]. He called your baptism a cross. 'I call my baptism a cross,' he says. Where does He say this? 'I have a baptism to be baptized with, of which you do not know.' And how is it clear that He is speaking of the cross? The sons of Zebedee came up to Him - rather, the mother of the sons of Zebedee, saying 'Command that these my two sons may sit, one at thy right and and one at thy left hand, in thy kingdom.' A mother's request, even if it was an inconsiderate one! How then did Christ answer? 'Can you drink of the cup of which I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?' You see that He called the cross a baptism.
—John Chrysostom, Baptismal Instructions
5 comments:
Thank you for the post. I'd never thought much about the connection between baptism and the cross. I've associated it more closely with death. When Jesus spoke of having a baptism to be baptized with, was he referring to his death, his suffering, or both? I'm not sure.
I'm curious...how does the Orthodox church see baptism's relationship with salvation? I grew up in a church that linked the two fairly closely. Then I was trained at a school that separated them as completely as possible. My own understanding is in between. I believe water baptism is a God-given method of expressing faith in Jesus who saves.
Orthodoxy is not as dogmatizing as Western Christian denominations. We don't insist that you must be baptised in water to be saved, but water baptism is a fulfillment of the commandment and exhortation of Christ, "Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot see the Kingdom of God," and as such it is normative, and by threefold immersion in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Anyone not baptised in the Name of all three Divine Persons in the Triad needs to be baptised. If a Christian has been baptised in the Name of the Triad, but not by immersion, that is usually accepted, though some fundamentalist Orthodox rebaptise anyone, no matter how they were baptised. All this really amounts to a point of church discipline, and is only incidentally related to the life of salvation. Remember, for Orthodoxy, salvation is a process, the end being called theosis. For me, all this is just a semantic distinction. I have heard it said by many Orthodox clergy, that being baptised Orthodox doesn't save you, that you can still be damned. So, for us Orthodox, it does go back to, yes, it's a point of church discipline, and as such the normative sign of entrance into a life of discipleship. Whatever else it is, God only knows.
Romanos, I love the fact that you say, "Whatever else it is, God only knows." Theologians often systematize things beyond what the Lord has clearly revealed. We need sound theology, but it's not good to be very sure of things that the Lord has not made very clear.
You bring up theosis. That's another Orthodox concept that I don't really understand. I've heard of it; what very little I've read didn't make much sense to me. Is it merely saying that (in undefined ways) "we will be like him, because we will see him as he is," or is it saying more than that?
It is very much an Eastern Orthodox way of talking to say, "Whatever else it is, God only knows." In this regard, many Western Christians have an Orthodox approach to God without knowing it.
Many volumes have been written on "théosis", but of all Orthodox concepts, it is the one most easily confused with things it is not, and much elaborated on, when the simple truth can be expressed in such words as these, "we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is." Yes, you have got it right! Anything more specific than that is speculation.
Thank you, Romanos.
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