Baptism

The Mystery of Baptism

"God shows that the grace of the Spirit is turned away by carnal impurity and the pollution of grave sin. Upon which, God, willing to restore what was lacking, sent the flood and bade just Noah go up into the ark. And he, after having, as the flood was passing off, sent forth first a raven which did not return, sent forth a dove which is said to have returned with an olive twig. You see the water, you see the wood, of the ark, you see the dove, and do you hesitate as to the mystery of baptism?" -- St. Ambrose, On the Mysteries

Who is saved?

"It is our teaching that the only way to be in the Kingdom is to die and rise with Christ. But as St. Gregory the Theologian said in the fourth century, 'what is meant by baptism?' Because it is certainly a dogma of our Church, that you can be dunked in I don't know how many pails of water -- even the Pacific Ocean; you can have pounds of chrism on you; you can receive the body and blood of Christ every Sunday in the Liturgy; and go right to Hell. And the more you do it, the worse you get. St. Theophan the recluse, who was just canonized by the Russian Church said, 'Why is it that people who go to church alot, are very Christian, belong to churches, get worse instead of better?' The answer is because they go through all the rites, all the motions, read the Bible, do everything; but they don't really love God or their neighbor." -- Fr. Thomas Hopko, On The Apocolypse, Great Tapes Series