Eighteen Converts at Pascha
A university-town parish receives eighteen people seeking entry into the Orthodox Church at Pascha. Twelve adults come from an independent Baptist congregation: baptism by immersion, with the Trinitarian formula, in a community with no episcopal succession. Three come from a 'Jesus-only' Oneness Pentecostal church, baptized 'in the name of Jesus' with an explicit denial of the Trinity. Two are Copts who wish to become Orthodox; both were baptized and chrismated as infants in Egypt and have been attending the Orthodox parish for a year. One is a former priest of a small 'Western Orthodox' body: his own baptism was Roman Catholic, and his ordination came from a bishop of a schismatic Latin-derived group with a plausible apostolic lineage. He asks to be received 'in his orders'. The parish has one priest, a deacon, and four months.
1. How are the twelve Baptists and the three Oneness Pentecostals to be received, and on what reasoning?
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The test is not 'does the group look Christian?' but 'is there a baptism into the Holy Trinity, by water, in a Christian community?' That is the logic of the ancient canons (Apostolic Canons 46–47; Canon 7 of Constantinople; Canon 95 of Trullo; Canon 1 of St Basil), which divide converts into those whose baptism is recognized - received by chrismation - and those who must be baptized.
The twelve Baptists. Immersion, water, the Trinitarian formula, and the intention of obeying Christ's command: that is baptism as the Church understands matter and form. The absence of episcopal succession affects their ministry, not the washing. Reception by chrismation, after a renunciation of errors and a confession of the Orthodox faith, is the ordinary practice in the Russian tradition - but verify it with the chancery, because some Orthodox Churches rebaptize all converts, and that ruling belongs to the bishop, not to the parish priest.
The three Oneness Pentecostals. No. Their formula is 'in the name of Jesus only' and their theology denies the Trinity - one Person in three modes. There is no baptism into the Trinity to recognize. The nearest canonical analogy is Canon 19 of Nicaea, which orders the Paulianists, Sabellian monarchians of the same shape, to be rebaptized. They are to be baptized, then chrismated, then communicated.
What to teach the whole group. The difference between the two groups is not a judgement on sincerity. It is that one has been washed into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and the other has not, because the name invoked was different.
2. How are the two Copts and the former 'Western Orthodox' priest to be received?
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The two Copts. The Orthodox Churches have long recognized the baptism of the Oriental Orthodox, and in practice their reception is by chrismation, since the chrism by which they were sealed was consecrated outside the canonical Church; in some places reception is by confession of faith alone. That difference is real and belongs to the bishop. What the priest must not do is rebaptize them, pretend that the Coptic Church is in full communion, or fail to explain that reception means entering the canonical Church and not merely adding a parish.
The former priest - unpick the tangle:
- Baptism: Catholic baptism with the Trinitarian formula is recognized; he is not rebaptized.
- Orders: his ordination came from a bishop of a body in schism. Orders outside the communion of the Church are not recognized as orders of the Church, however respectable the lineage appears. He is received as a layman; if the bishop later judges that the Church needs his ministry, he may be ordained within the canonical Church after a period and examination.
- Tell him in writing, before reception, so that no one can say afterwards that he was deceived, and so that the other seventeen hear the reason from the bishop's office rather than from rumour.
- What he brings: learning, liturgical experience, and the caution of a man who has seen what a small 'true Church' can do to those inside it.
A common note. All four categories need the same thing: a plain statement of what will happen at Pascha, in what order, and why.
3. Design the pastoral and administrative plan for the reception, and say what must go to the bishop first.
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Before anything is announced: (1) a written individual ruling for each convert, approved by the bishop - on rebaptism, on the Copts, on the former priest's orders; until that exists the parish has a proposal, not a plan. (2) A file recording what each person was told, when, and by whom.
Catechesis. A common course, but with separate sessions: for the Baptists, sacramental theology, episcopacy, the Theotokos and the veneration of icons; for the Copts, the councils, the meaning of communion, and exactly what changes for them at Pascha; for the former priest, a series with the dean on ministry in the Church. Sponsors of a similar background wherever possible.
The 'in his orders' request. Settle it first, privately. If he is received as a layman the group will ask why; answer once, publicly, on the theology of ministry - never on the man's biography.
A defence against the predictable crisis. A mixed reception of this size produces, six months later, a group saying 'we were not told'. A one-page written summary of the terms, signed and returned by each candidate, is not bureaucracy; it is a gift to the parish's future.
And tell the bishop early. Not as a courtesy. The rulings are his, and the parish's peace at Pascha depends on their arriving before the announcements rather than after them.