Holy Fathers Re Baptism Eng

ThePositionofBp.
KirykosRegardingReBaptism
DiffersFromtheCanonsoftheEcumenicalCouncils
In the last few years, Bp. Kirykos has begun receiving New
Calendarists and even Florinites and ROCOR faithful under his omophorion
by rebaptism, even if these faithful received the correct form of baptism by
triple immersion completely under water with the invocation of the Holy
Trinity. He also has begun reordaining such clergy from scratch instead of
reading a cheirothesia. But this strict approach, where he applies akriveia
exclusivelyforthesepeople,isdifferentfromthehistoricalapproachtakenby
theHolyFathersoftheEcumenicalCouncils.
Canon 7 of the Second Ecumenical Council declares that Arians,

Macedonians, Sabbatians, Novatians, Cathars, Aristeri, Quartodecimens and
Apollinariansaretobereceivedonlybyawrittenlibellusandrechrismation,
because their baptism was already valid in form and did not require
repetition.TheCanonreadsasfollows:
AsforthosehereticswhobetakethemselvestoOrthodoxy,andtothe
lotofthesaved,weaccepttheminaccordancewiththesubjoinedsequenceand
custom;viz.:Arians,andMacedonians,andSabbatians,andNovatians,those
calling themselves Cathari, and Aristeri, and the Quartodecimans, otherwise
knownasTetradites,andApollinarians,weacceptwhentheyofferlibelli(i.e.,
recantationsinwriting)andanathematizeeveryheresythatdoesnotholdthe
same beliefs as the catholic and apostolic Church of God, and are sealed first
with holy chrism on their forehead and their eyes, and nose, and mouth, and
ears;andinsealingthemwesay:AsealofafreegiftofHolySpirit
ThesameCanononlyrequiresarebaptismofindividualswhodidnot
receive the correct form of baptism originally (i.e. those who were sprinkled
or who were baptized by single immersion instead of triple immersion, etc).
TheCanonreadsasfollows:
As for Eunomians, however, who are baptized with a single

immersion, and Montanists, who are here called Phrygians, and the
Sabellians, who teach that Father and Son are the same person, and who do
some other bad things, and (those belonging to) any other heresies (for there
are many heretics here, especially such as come from the country of the
Galatians: all of them that want to adhere to Orthodoxy we are willing to
accept as Greeks. Accordingly, on the first day we make them Christians; on
thesecondday,catechumens;then,onthethirdday,weexorcizethemwiththe
act of blowing thrice into their face and into their ears; and thus do we
catechizethem,andwemakethemtarryawhileinthechurchandlistentothe
Scriptures;andthenwebaptizethem.
Thus it is wrong to rebaptize those who have already received the

correctformbytripleimmersion.TheHolyFathersadviseinthisHolyCanon
that only those who did not receive the correct form are to be rebaptized.
Nowthen,iftheHolySecondEcumenicalCouncildeclaresthatsuchheretics
as Arians, Macedonians, Quartodecimens, Apollinarians, etc, are to be
received only by libellus and chrismation, how on earth does Bp. Kirykos
justify his refusal to receive Florinites and ROCOR faithful by chrismation,
butinsteadinsistsupontheirrebaptismasiftheyareworsethanArians?
The 95
th
Canon of the Quinisext (FifthandSixth) Ecumenical Council
declares that those baptized by Nestorians, Monophysites and Monothelites
are to be received into the Orthodox Church by a simple libellus and
anathematizationoftheheresies,withoutneedingtoberebaptized,andeven
withoutneedingtoberechrismated!TheCanonreads:
As for Nestorians, and Eutychians (Monophysites), and Severians

(Monothelites), and those from similar heresies, they have to give us
certificates (called libelli) and anathematize their heresy, the Nestorians, and
Nestorius,andEutychesandDioscorus,andSeverus,andtheotherexarchsof
suchheresies,andthosewhoentertaintheirbeliefs,andalltheaforementioned
heresies,andthustheyareallowedtopartakeofholyCommunion.
Now then, if the Quinisext Ecumenical Council allows even

Nestorians, Monophysites and Monothelites to be received by mere libellus,
withoutrequiringtobebaptizedorevenchrismated,andfollowingthismere
libellus they are immediately free to receive Holy Communion, how is Bp.
Kirykoss approach patristic, if he requires the rebaptism of even Florinites
andROCORfaithful?!!!IsBp.KirykosnottryingtooutdotheHolyFathersin
his attempt to be superOrthodox? Can such an approach taken by Bp.
Kirykos be considered Orthodox if the Holy Fathers in their Canons request
otherwise?AretheCanonsofEcumenicalCouncilsinvalidforBp.Kirykos?
Certainly the Latins (Franks, Papists) are unbaptised, because their

baptisms consist of mere sprinklings instead of triple immersion. Likewise,
various New Calendarists are also unbaptised if they were not dunked
completely under the water three times. But can such be said for those
Orthodox Christians, and even Genuine Orthodox Christians (be they
Florinite,ROCORorotherwise),whodohavethecorrectformofbaptism?
In the Patriarchal Oros of 1755 regarding the rebaptism of Latins, the

OrthodoxPatriarchsmakeitquiteclearthattheirreasonforrequiringthere
baptism of Latins is because the Latins do not have the correct form of
baptism,butrathersprinkleinsteadofimmersing.ThetextofthePatriarchal
Oros actually refers to the Canons of the Second and Quinisext Councils as
their reasons for rebaptizing the Latins. The relevant text of the Patriarchal
Orosof1755isasfollows:
...AndwefollowtheSecondandQuinisextholyEcumenicalCouncils,
which order us to receive as unbaptized those aspirants to Orthodoxy who
were not baptized with three immersions and emersions, and in each
immersion did not loudly invoke one of the divine hypostases, but were
baptizedinsomeotherfashion...
ThusweseeintheabovePatriarchalOrosof1755,thatevenaslateas
this year, the Orthodox Church was carrying out the very principles of the
SecondandQuinisextEcumenicalCouncils,namelythatitisonlythosewho
were baptized by some obscure form other than triple immersion and
invocationoftheHolyTrinity,thatwererequiredtoberebaptized.
How then can the positions of the Holy Ecumenical Councils and the
Holy PanOrthodox Councils be compared to the extremist methods of Bp.
Kirykosandhisfellowhierarchsoflate?IsBp.Kirykoscurrentpracticereally
Orthodox?IsitpossibletopreachcontrarytotheteachingsoftheEcumenical
andPanOrthodoxCouncilsandyetremainOrthodox?Andasforthosewho
believethatthereisnothingwrongwithbeingstrict,letthemrememberthat
thePhariseeswerealsostrict,butitwastheywhocrucifiedtheLordofGlory!
TheOrthodox Faithisa Royal Path.Justasit is possible to falltotheleft(as
the New Calendarists and Ecumenists have done), it is also quite possible to
fall to the right and spin off on a wrong turn far away from the tradition of
the Holy Fathers. It is this latter type of fall that has occurred with Bp.
Kirykos. In fact, even Bp. Matthew of Bresthena was quite moderate
compared to Bp. Kirykos. For Bp. Matthew of Bresthena knew the Canons
quitewell,andrequiredNewCalendariststobereceivedonlybychrismation,
orinsomecasesbyonlyalibellusorConfessionofFaith.

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ThePositionofBp.

Canon 7 of the Second Ecumenical Council declares that Arians,

As for Eunomians, however, who are baptized with a single

Thus it is wrong to rebaptize those who have already received the

As for Nestorians, and Eutychians (Monophysites), and Severians

Now then, if the Quinisext Ecumenical Council allows even

Certainly the Latins (Franks, Papists) are unbaptised, because their

In the Patriarchal Oros of 1755 regarding the rebaptism of Latins, the

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