By: Prof. Savvas Bournelis [1]
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Man’s Synergy with God as a Necessary Presupposition for Spiritual Progress
3. Approaching and Handling the Holy Things in the Proper Manner
4. Presuppositions to Receiving Holy Communion
5. A General Principle Concerning Participation in Grace
6. Presuppositions for Baptism
7. A Noteworthy Practice from the Early Church
8. Repentance Must Continue After Baptism
9. Priests as Guardians and Gatekeepers of the Sacraments
10. Concluding Remarks
Part One (1-4)
Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces (Mt. 7:6).
1. Introduction
Since the fourth century, many people were baptized into the Church with “defective motivations” such as “the desire to marry a Christian,” or for “political or economic gain in a society.”[2] The Church back then found Herself with a mix of people consisting of a few exceptionally devout believers, many sincere believers without zeal, and a majority of Christians only in name.[3] Consequently, a more developed and organized catechumenate and baptismal rite was called for in order “to impress upon the candidates the seriousness of the step they were taking.”[4] Like the early Church, nowadays “authentic conversion and properly motivated desire to enter the Christian community can no longer be assumed on the part of the candidates.”[5] For a long time, I have both witnessed and heard of a similar phenomenon that never sat well with me—priests baptizing people who came into the Church with defective reasons to become Orthodox and not serious about living a life of repentance (both before and after Baptism). Some of these newly-illumined Christians are fellow parishioners and family members or close acquaintances of mine. Such individuals, what I term “Nominal Christians” (or “Chreasters” ‘Christmas-Easter Only Christians’ as you may have heard them be described) have worldly ulterior reasons for wanting to be baptized—to make their spouse’s family happy, or to preserve cultural values and traditions of one’s spouse, or to have a sense of belonging to a community bigger than themselves (etc). Apparently, it is something many Orthodox parishes observe.[6] Such Christians oftentimes compartmentalize the Faith to a bare minimum; their lives are mostly guided by worldliness and secularism.[7] Blessed Fr. Seraphim Rose (locally canonized by a Georgian diocese recently[8]) spoke to this issue in his day.[9] However, let us not fool ourselves. Even regular church-goers can be secularized also if they only come for a good moral lesson, or to see their friends and enjoy coffee with them after the service, or to hear “bravo” from the parish for donating large sums of money, or to attract votes from parishioners during election season. I myself have found parishoners at my church who are even atheists; they come to church just to see their friends or enjoy the food at the Greek festival! In all this, people can appear to be faithful Christians outwardly, but inwardly are faithless and spiritually dead![10] This is why Fr. Schmemann in his day criticized clergy and parishes alike for measuring parish success solely by externals while being totally blind to the lack of the internal spiritual progress of its people.[11]
The question I long have pondered is, should priests baptize such people? Opinions among clergy and laity vary, but I am more interested in knowing what the Saints teach, for “it is impossible to come to know the truth or to grasp theology in any other way but by following the Saints.”[12] The following article seeks to answer this question of mine through the Patristic phronema[13] presented in their lives, writings, and in general, the wide spectrum of the Holy Tradition of the Orthodox Church.
2. Man’s Synergy with God as a Necessary Presupposition for Spiritual Progress
The Sacraments are not magic. They do not automatically purify, illumine, and deify us regardless of, and apart from, our intentions, disposition, repentance, and preparation to receive them. This is because God does not force anyone to be saved; He respects our free-will to either say “yes” or “no” to Him. Hence, whenever Christ healed people He first asked for their consent and expressed desire to be healed, and then only after they did so did He heal them (Jn. 5:6). This touches upon an important principle: Synergy. Our salvation is a dynamic journey of transformation in the likeness of God (i.e., Theosis).[14] But for this to occur, two things must work together in synergy or cooperation with one another. As St. Nectarios of Aegina states, “Two factors are involved in man’s salvation: the grace of God and the will of man. Both must work together if salvation is to be attained.”[15] Our repentance is the effort we make to open up our heart to be a receptive vessel fit to receive the grace of God; the grace of God is that which then purifies, illumines and deifies us. Think of it this way: “If we desire to feel the warmth of the sun, we must make the physical effort to walk outdoors and expose our skin to its rays, perhaps shedding some of our clothing. The same is true in the spiritual life. If we desire to be in the presence of the spiritual Son [God], we will adopt a way of life that naturally exposes us to the rays of God’s grace.”[16] As St. Joseph the Hesychast taught, “Everything is supported by the grace of God. But grace also has its requirements before it will dwell in man. It seeks his good intentions, his willpower, and his struggle.”[17] Without our personal effort of repentance, we cannot receive the grace of God, or in some cases as we will soon see, we can even receive it to our condemnation rather than our salvation.
3. Approaching and Handling the Holy Things in the Proper Manner
We can see how man’s personal effort (or the lack thereof) determines to a large degree how he experiences the grace of God, for example, in his approach and handling of the Holy Things.
For example, when Uzzah touched the holy Ark of the Covenant, God smote him to death (2 Kg. 6). As St. Andrew of Crete comments, Holy Things must not be handled casually as though they are common or ordinary things, because this constitutes an act of irreverence or disrespectful sacrilege: “O my soul, flee from his presumption, and respect with reverence the things of God.”[18]
Another example from Holy Scripture is when Eli’s sons Hophni and Phinehas disregarded the divinely-established boundaries for partaking of the sacred sacrifices, for which they were cursed to death by God (1 Kg. 2, 4). Likewise, Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu were put to death by God for offering sacred incense to Him since they did not have authorization to do this (Lev. 10). St. Andrew of Crete compares both of these incidents to us Orthodox Christians: “Aaron offered to God fire that was blameless and undefiled, but Hophni and Phinehas brought to Him, as you have done O my soul, strange fire and a polluted life.”[19] What we see here is that even though these people came into contact with the sacred, they were not automatically sanctified by virtue of touching them. Without approaching and touching the sacred things in the proper manner (respectfully, piously, carefully, not casually, etc.) they experienced God’s grace in the form of Divine chastisement rather than as something that is purifying and salvific. Such is the “death by holiness” paradox some have written on.[20]
In the life of St. Nicetas of Lyons similar principles are shown. A certain deacon was given the mantle of St. Nicetas by his adversary Bishop Priscus. The deacon treated the sacred mantle without any pious respect for its sanctity by using it as a night gown and making slippers out of its hood. Even though someone exhorted him to come to his senses and realize how disrespectful this was so as to “use it with greater caution,” the wretch did not listen and incurred Divine vengeance on himself. When he finally put on the mantle-made slippers, he convulsed to the ground and was immediately possessed by a demon, spitting up blood.[21]
Another instance when someone attracted Divine chastisement for their lack of respectful handling of Holy Things is told by the modern day St. Paisios of Mount Athos. A certain monk he knew was a germaphobe:
He would try to open a door with his foot, or try to turn the knob with his elbow and then clean his sleeve with alcohol. He would even enter the door of the Church with his foot. In his old age, God permitted that his feet develop gangrene, especially the one he used to open the door. I was serving as a nursing aide when he first came to the monastery’s hospital with his foot all bandaged up. The nursing orderly told me to untie it while he went to get some bandages. When I untied it, I gasped. It was covered with little worms. “Go down to the sea to wash it and get rid of the worms, and come to have me change the bandages.” I was at a loss seeing the condition of his foot, the degree of his punishment. The nursing orderly asked me, “Do you know the cause of his affliction?” “Yes, it’s because he opens the door with his foot,” I told him. (Spiritual Child): Geronda, when something like this happens with sacred things, is it not irreverence? (St. Paisios): Of course; this is how things start, and then move on to further developments. This same monk reached the point of not kissing the Icons because he feared that the monks who reverenced them before him had some illness![22]
How instructive this story was during the Covidism era![23] So, in other words, how one handles and approaches the Holy Things determines how he will experience the grace of God—either to his salvation or chastisement.
A final example demonstrating that God resists the pridefully impious and unrepentant but gives His grace to the humbly pious and repentant, is found in the life of St. Mary of Egypt. She tried entering the church, but God blocked her from going in because she remained in a state of unrepentance and impurity; it was not until she repented from her heart that God allowed her free entrance to venerate the Life-giving Cross of Christ inside the church.[24] This demonstrates that it is foolish for us to think we can commune with God through holy objects while simultaneously remaining in a state of hardened unrepentance and still think we can progress in the spiritual life. We cannot have communion with God and the devil simultaneously (1 Cor. 10:20-22), nor be lukewarm in our relationship with God (Rev. 3:16). Repentance is the key that unlocks the door to the grace of God, which will flood our heart abundantly.
4. Presuppositions to Receiving Holy Communion
Just as we receive a corresponding experience of God’s grace in holy objects either to our salvation or condemnation depending on the degree of our personal repentance and pious reverence (or the lack thereof), so too, the same applies in the realm of the Sacraments. This is especially notable, for example, in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Presuppositions to receiving Holy Communion include:
● Being an Orthodox Christian.[25]
● Living a life of repentance which purifies us for participation in Holy Communion.[26]
● Self-examination and self-reproach.[27]
● Doing the Pre-Communion Prayers.[28]
● Fasting the morning of Divine Liturgy (exceptions for health reasons apply if necessary
with the guidance and blessing of one’s Spiritual Father).[29]
● Forgiving those we were offended by and/or seeking forgiveness from those we
offended.[30]
● Approaching with the fear of God [awe/respect], with full trust and faith rather than
worldly fear and doubt, with love, and with a keen sense of our sinfulness and
unworthiness.[31]
● Communing with a conscious awareness that the consecrated Bread and Wine are the
actual Body and Blood of Christ.[32]
We will receive a greater or lesser degree of grace from Holy Communion depending on the degree of our fulfillment of these presuppositions as St. Gregory Nanzianzus,[33] St. Nicholas Cabasilas,[34] St. Gregory Palamas,[35] and St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite[36] teach to name just a few Holy Fathers. Conversely, if someone does not approach Holy Communion in the proper manner, then they will commune to their condemnation which can be experienced in fearsome ways including catching on fire,[37] getting sick and dying,[38] or even Christ fleeing from the consecrated Bread and Wine as testified by Sts. Gregory Palamas,[39] John of Kronstdat,[40] and Iakavos of Evia.[41]
Footnotes for Part One
[1] Savvas Bournelis is currently Adjunct Professor of Bible and Theology at Malone University and a Religious Studies Instructor at his home parish. He received his MDiv from Seminary in May 2023. He is an editor, writer, and researcher for UMP/OE. Savvas regularly uploads papers to his Academia.edu page and videos of classes, presentations, and sermons on his YouTube channel (@Orthopraxia33).
[2] See Maxwell Johnson, The Rite of Christian Initiation (Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2007), 117-120.
[3] “The conversion of Constantine [brings about] the swift transformation of the Church from a persecuted and fervent sect into a ruling and rapidly increasing body, favoured and directed by the emperor, membership of which was a material advantage. In the sequel, the standards of life and the level of austerity were lowered and the Christian Church became what it has in large measure remained ever since a large body in which a few are exceptionally devout, while many are sincere believers without any pretension to fervour, and a sizeable number, perhaps even a majority, are either on their way to losing the faith, or retain it in spite of a life which neither obeys in all respects the commands of Christ nor shares in the devotional and sacramental life of the Church with regularity.” Ibid., 119.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] See Fr. Vassilios Papavassiliou, “Church Jackers: Nominal Orthodoxy,” Orthocath.wordpress.com, Church Jackers: Nominal Orthodoxy | Orthocath (wordpress.com). See also Metropolitan Hierotheos Vlachos, “On Nominal Christians,” johnsanidopoulos.com, https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2012/06/on-nominal-orthodox-christians-and.html.
[7] As Fr. Schmemman wrote: “Secularism is a world-view and consequently a way of life in which the basic aspects of human existence such as family, education, science, pro-lesson, art, etc., not only are not rooted in or related to, religious faith, but the very necessity or possibility of such connection is denied. The secular sphere of life is thought of as autonomous, i.e. governed by its own values, principles and motivations—different by nature from the religious one. [Secularized Christians are] thinking and living in terms of a framework of reality and value remote from the religious beliefs simultaneously professed. Their religion is not interested in God and has in fact this world as its real object,” and as such, Nominal Christian life is spiritually “outward and cold”, “too soft, too unaware, too shallow”, and as Fr. Seraphim Rose says, “scarcely different from the worldly.” See Fr. Alexander Schmemman, “Problems of Orthodoxy in America: The Spiritual Problem,” orthodoxinfo.com, Problems of Orthodoxy in America: The Spiritual Problem (orthodoxinfo.com). See also Fr. Seraphim Rose, “Orthodoxy in America,”stxenia.org, , Orthodoxy in America - By Fr. Seraphim (Rose) (stxenia.org).
[8] “Fr. Seraphim (Rose) locally canonized in one Georgian diocese (+VIDEO),” OrthoChristian.Com, Fr. Seraphim (Rose) locally canonized in one Georgian diocese (+VIDEO) / OrthoChristian.Com.
[9] See Fr. Seraphim Rose, “The Orthodox World-View,” classicalchristianity.com, https://classicalchristianity.com/2011/11/19/fr-seraphim-roses-orthodox-world-view/.
[10] See Archbishop Averky Tausev, The Struggle for Virtue (NY: HTMP, 2014), 24-25.
[11] Schmemman, “Problems of Orthodoxy in America: The Spiritual Problem.”
[12] Joseph Bryennios, in Anonymous, “Οι ἀγωνες των Μοναχων,” p. 291.
[13] Phronema is a Greek term that usually denotes a way of thinking, mindset, consciousness, or attitude. The Church’s sacraments are outward expressions of Her phronema. The Church’s phronema and ethos (lifestyle) are inseparable.
[14] 1 Cor. 1:18; 2 Pt. 1:4.
[15] Selected Passages From the Writings of Orthodox Saints, Compiled by Father Demetrios Serfes, ed. Bishop Alexander Mileant (Missionary Leaflet # EA40, Holy Trinity Orthodox Mission, 2004) as cited in “Writings of St. Nektarios,” stnektarios.org, Writings of St. Nektarios | St. Nektarios Greek Orthodox Church. See also Elder Cleopa of Romania, The Truth of Our Faith (US: UMP, 2022), 153-155, 165-166.
[16] Fr. Michael Shanbour, Know the Faith (Chesterton, IN: AFP, 2016), 65-66
[17] My Elder Joseph the Hesychast (Florence, AZ: SAOMP, 2013), 100.
[18] See “Canticle Seven,” of the Second Section of the Great Lenten Canon of St. Andrew of Crete in The Lenten Triodion, trans. Kallistos Ware and Mother Mary (South Cannan, PA: St. Tikhon’s Seminary Press, 2002 reprint), 225.
[19] See “Canticle Five,” in ibid, 223.
[20] Fr. Stephen De Young, “Death by Holiness,” blogs.ancientfaith.com, Death by Holiness - The Whole Counsel Blog.
[21] “Woe to those who treat Holy Things as common!,” youtube.com, Woe to those who treat Holy Things as common! (youtube.com).
[22] See Spiritual Counsels III: Spiritual Struggle, trans. Fr. Peter Chamberas (Thessaloniki, Greece: Holy Monastery of John the Theologian, 2010), 51-53. See also “St. John of Kronstadt: On How God Changes Contagious Objects,” youtube.com, St. John of Kronstadt: On How God Changes Contagious Objects (youtube.com.)
[23] See “A MUST READ! St. Paisios on the Blasphemous Treatment of Holy Things, God's Wrath, and Trusting God,” orthodoxethos.com, A MUST READ! St. Paisios on the Blasphemous Treatment of Holy Things, God's Wrath, and Trusting God (orthodoxethos.com).
[24] See “Life of St. Mary of Egypt,” stmaryofegypt.org, stmaryofegypt.org/files/library/life.htm.
[25] In the Old Testament, as the Pre-incarnate Logos, Christ established that only those initiated into the Covenant are permitted to partake of the paschal lamb (Ex. 12). The paschal lamb is a type or image prefiguring Christ Himself who was sacrificed for us and whose Body and Blood we partake of in the covenantal synaxis (gathering) of the Divine Liturgy (Jn. 1:29; 1 Cor. 5:7). For this reason, the Holy Fathers established that Holy Communion is reserved for Orthodox Christians. See “The Didache,” newadvent.org, CHURCH FATHERS: The Didache (newadvent.org). See also St. Justin Martyr, “First Apology,” newadvent.org, CHURCH FATHERS: The First Apology (St. Justin Martyr) (newadvent.org). See also St. John of Damascus, “An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book 4,” newadvent.org, CHURCH FATHERS: An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book IV (John of Damascus) (newadvent.org).
[26] See the Parable of the Wedding Banquet (Mt. 22) and St. Gregory Palamas’ “Homily 42 and 59,” in Saint Gregory Palamas: The Homilies, 1st ed. (Dunlap, CA: Mt. Thabor Publishing, 2022 reprint), 325-338, 462-465. See also St. John Chrysostom, On Hebrews, 17.5, PG 63.133 and Hieromonk Gregorios of Mt. Athos, The Divine Liturgy: A Commentary in Light of the Fathers (Columbia, MI: NRP, 2020), 260. See also Metropolitan Anthony Khrapovitsky,
“Without the resolve to abandon sin we should never Commune!,” youtube.com, Without the resolve to abandon sin we should never Commune! (youtube.com).
[27] 1 Corinthians 11
[28] Orthodox Christian Prayers (South Cannan, PA: STMP, 2019).
[29] St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite, Concerning Frequent Communion (Florence, AZ: UMP, 2006), 104-105.
[30] Mt. 5:23-25, 6:9-15.
[31] See Gerondissa Makrina of Volos, “Homily 49,” in Words of the Heart (Goldendale, WA: St. John the Forerunner Greek Orthodox Monastery, 2018), 428. See also St. John of Kronstadt, Part 1, Section 10 (“Do not anger Almighty God...”) in “My Life in Christ,” ccel.org, St John of Kronstadt: My Life in Christ, or Moments of Spiritual Serenity and Contemplation, of Reverent Feeling, of Earnest Self-Amendment, and of Peace in God - Christian Classics
[32] See St. Symeon the New Theologian, “Discourse 14,” in On the Mystical Life: The Church and the Last Things, vol. 1 (NY: SVSP, 1985).
[33] See St. Gennadios Scholarios (De Sacramentali Corpore Christi 1, PG 160, 357A) in St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite, Concerning Frequent Communion (Florence, AZ: UMP, 2006), 105.
[34] “Great is the power and the grace of the feast for its communicants, if we approach it pure from all wickedness and introduce no evil afterwards/ If we are prepared, nothing prevents Christ from being perfectly united to us.” See St. Nicholas Cabasilas, The Life in Christ (NY: St. Vlad’s Seminary, 1974), 123
[35] See St. Gregory Palamas, “Homily 56,” 462-465.
[36] See St. Nikodemos the Hagiorite, Concerning Frequent Communion, 104-105. See also St. Nikodemos’ Spiritual Exercises as quoted and cited in Hieromonk Gregorios, The Divine Liturgy: A Commentary in Light of the Fathers (MI: NRP, 2022), 278-279.
[37] See Deuteronomy 4:24 and Hebrews 12:29. See also the Pre-Communion Prayers which speak on this explicitly. See also Miracles and Revelations from the Orthodox Divine Liturgy, 19th edition (Attiki, Greece: Holy Monastery of Parakletos Oropos, 2012), 53-54, 116.
[38] In 1 Corinthians 11 the Christians communed to their condemnation, and as a result, got sick and died. Likewise, as the Scripture attests that “Our God is a consuming fire” (Deut. 4:24; Heb. 12:29), many have communed with their mouth miraculously catching on fire because they communed improperly. See Miracles and Revelations from the Orthodox Divine Liturgy, (Oropos Attiki, Greece: Holy Monastery of the Parakletos, 2018 English edition).
[39] St. Gregory Palamas, “Homily 56.”
[40] “Fear and uneasiness come from unbelief. Consider their arising during [Holy] Communion as a true sign that, by unbelief you are removing yourself from the Life contained in the Cup. After a lively faith in God's truth we always go from God in peace; while, on the contrary, with unbelief, we always go from God without peace. By the most lively and heartfelt gratitude for the holy life-giving Sacrament you will obtain life from the Lord and your faith will increase more and more.” See St. John of Kronstadt, Part 1, section 17 of My Life in Christ.
[41] See Dr. Nicholas Baldimtsis, The Life and Witness of St. Iakavos of Evia (Florence, AZ: UMP, 2023), 84-87.