The Mystery of Baptism and the Unity of the Church

The Idea of “Baptismal Unity” and its Acceptance by Orthodox Ecumenists

Fr. Peter Alban Heers

An address prepared for the Academic Conference
Ecumenism: Origins, Expectations, and Disenchantment
University of Thessaloniki, September 20-24, 2004

“The Church can be experienced and ‘tasted’ only from the inside
and not externally: without the right faith (orthodoxy) and outside
of living a life according to this faith, the Church does not exist.”

– Metropolitan Amphilohije of Montenegro
The Church as the Pillar and Stronghold of the Truth:
The Question of Autocephaly and the Church

Your Eminences, Revered Fathers, Beloved Brethren in Christ, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Orthodox Church’s understanding of heterodox baptism flows from and is determined by its self-understanding of being the “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church,” which alone performs the one baptism into the death and resurrection of Christ. This is so, for the Church is known in her mysteries. In and through the mysteries the Church exists and is continually formed, her borders are set, her members identified. “Those who live their lives outside the mysterial (sacramental) life are outside the body of Christ.”

The “One Baptism” and the Baptism of Heretics

Holy Baptism is the portal of entry into the Body of Christ, and thus the foundation and presupposition of all subsequent mysteries. As the Lord Himself has solemnly declared: “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” . . . Read More

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