Do Eastern Orthodox view Protestant Baptisms As Valid?

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Yes, no, maybe so.

My aunt’s Evangelical baptism was accepted by the OCA. She was received by Chrismation.

There won’t be a universal practice in Orthodoxy on this front.
 
I was taught there must be water, and the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit must be mentioned. Anyone can perform a baptism.
 
There seems to be some variation in practice. Eastern Orthodox do not officially recognize the validity of Catholic or Protestant sacraments.

orthodoxengland.org.uk/rcsacs.htm
Orthodox Sacraments: Heterodox Sacramental Forms
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In the simplest terms, the (Orthodox) Church believes that there are no sacraments outside the Church. Thus, according to strictness or the strict view (in Greek ‘akrivia’), any Roman Catholic or Protestant who wishes to join the (Orthodox) Church must be received by baptism, for they are considered not to have been baptised. This is the practice on Mt Athos, in Greece, on Cyprus and in other parts of the Orthodox world…
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However, there also exists a less literal or fundamentalistic approach, which uses a certain discernment. This practice uses mercy, pastoral dispensation (in Greek ‘ikonomia’ or ‘economy’). This says that a Roman Catholic (or a Protestant) should not be treated as one who has never known Christ as the Son of God, that is, like a Jew, a Muslim, a Hindu, a Buddhist or simply a pagan…
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Many Orthodox Churches refuse to speculate whether there are actual sacraments outside of its communion. In such cases, I think that some perform what is known in the Roman Church as conditional baptism. But an Orthodox bishop can decide either way.
 
There isn’t variation as has been said. Baptism is a Sacrament of the Church which from our point of view is only found in the Orthodox Church. When people become Orthodox, there have been different ways of initiating them, but only at their initiation does their prior baptism become a Sacrament if rebaptism is not done. And only baptism in water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit could be allowed for there to not be a rebaptism.

So if you mean is protestant baptism a Sacrament from the Orthodox point of view, no it isn’t, but neither is any other baptism outside the Church. Now what graces are found outside the Church no one could definitively say. My guess is that there is great grace in some baptisms outside the Church.
 
pacloc said:
There isn’t variation as has been said. Baptism is a Sacrament of the Church which from our point of view is only found in the Orthodox Church. When people become Orthodox, there have been different ways of initiating them, but only at their initiation does their prior baptism become a Sacrament if rebaptism is not done. And only baptism in water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit could be allowed for there to not be a rebaptism.

So if you mean is protestant baptism a Sacrament from the Orthodox point of view, no it isn’t, but neither is any other baptism outside the Church. Now what graces are found outside the Church no one could definitively say. My guess is that there is great grace in some baptisms outside the Church.
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So, no one outside the Eastern Orthodox Church is a Christian in your view?
 
thephilosopher6 said:
So, no one outside the Eastern Orthodox Church is a Christian in your view?
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I don’t think that is what it means but I’ll look into it. It mainly means that there is not some big Church that people are part of from various non Orthodox religions. And Sacraments are only found in the Church.

I would challenge you to look into how the Roman Catholic Church viewed these things before the more liberal days of vc2. If I’m not mistaken i think they taught the very same thing as what we still believe. If something this big can change i wonder which religion has more variance.
 
pacloc said:
I would challenge you to look into how the Roman Catholic Church viewed these things before the more liberal days of vc2. If I’m not mistaken i think they taught the very same thing as what we still believe. If something this big can change i wonder which religion has more variance.
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I am afraid that you are, in fact, mistaken. The Catholic Church has always recognized the validity of Eastern Orthodox sacraments. It would only be a relatively recent development, after Constantinople fell to the Muslims, that the Eastern Orthodox Churches have rejected the validity of Catholic sacraments.
 
pacloc said:
I don’t think that is what it means but I’ll look into it. It mainly means that there is not some big Church that people are part of from various non Orthodox religions. And Sacraments are only found in the Church.

I would challenge you to look into how the Roman Catholic Church viewed these things before the more liberal days of vc2. If I’m not mistaken i think they taught the very same thing as what we still believe. If something this big can change i wonder which religion has more variance.
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Yes and no. The Catholic Church has always recognized Orthodox sacraments and, at least mainline, Protestant baptism. We do believe that all sacraments flow from the body of Christ, which is the Catholic Church…the Orthodox Churches, and to a lesser extent Protestants, are imperfectly joined to the Catholic Church.
 
pacloc said:
Do you view protestants that don’t baptize as Christian?
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That is a difficult question. Protestants who have been taught that water baptism is an optional action, i.e. “faith alone”, may well be invincibly ignorant and covered by baptism of desire.

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
VI. THE NECESSITY OF BAPTISM
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1257 The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation.60 He also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them.61 Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament.62 The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are “reborn of water and the Spirit.” God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.
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1258 The Church has always held the firm conviction that those who suffer death for the sake of the faith without having received Baptism are baptized by their death for and with Christ. This Baptism of blood, like the desire for Baptism, brings about the fruits of Baptism without being a sacrament.
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1259 For catechumens who die before their Baptism, their explicit desire to receive it, together with repentance for their sins, and charity, assures them the salvation that they were not able to receive through the sacrament.
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1260 "Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal mystery."63 Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. **It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity. **
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PaulfromIowa said:
I am afraid that you are, in fact, mistaken. The Catholic Church has always recognized the validity of Eastern Orthodox sacraments. It would only be a relatively recent development, after Constantinople fell to the Muslims, that the Eastern Orthodox Churches have rejected the validity of Catholic sacraments.
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I believe he is referring to how the Catholic Church traditionally viewed the baptisms in the Protestant Churches.
 
PaulfromIowa said:
That is a difficult question. Protestants who have been taught that water baptism is an optional action, i.e. “faith alone”, may well be invincibly ignorant and covered by baptism of desire.

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
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👍
Ive had a little difficulty reaching a mutual understanding with Faith Alone subscribers, regarding the necessity of Baptism.

For the most part, Catholics and them are pretty close. They understand Baptism as an ordinance (command). And that this act tangibly expresses the Gospel.

The mutual understanding gets difficult when the matter is pressed. To ask, “Can a person walk by faith and neglect an ordinance of God?”

And they will ask, “When is someone saved, when they believed or were Baptized?”

I have answered (since I was Baptized as an adult) that I was saved when I first believed. But I also believe that Catholic Teaching reflects Salvation as not only reduced to "a first moment of belief or Baptism (whether infant or adult).

As for Orthodox belief, I find these questions to show a lack of depth in theology, and a negative outlook to non-Orthodox Christians. To deny genuine catholic faith, in Christians outside the visible membership of the Catholic Church, which is able to initiate a believer into the life of the Church through Baptism, seems inaccurately knowing Jesus.
 
Officially, this has been debated since early times. The Russians would be the least like to recognize Protestant baptisms, Americanized Greeks the most likely.
 
RyanBlack said:
The Catholic Church has traditionally viewed Protestant baptisms as valid.
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Mainline Protestant baptism, yes. Evangelicals and other “low church” sects that arose in 19th century America? I think conditional baptism was much more likely pre-Vatican II.
 
twf said:
Mainline Protestant baptism, yes. Evangelicals and other “low church” sects that arose in 19th century America? I think conditional baptism was much more likely pre-Vatican II.
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That may be the case. However, if it is, I strongly suspect that it was over concern as to whether the Trinitarian formula was used. Also, if conditional baptism was often used, that demonstrates that the baptisms of such Protestants were not automatically deemed to be invalid.
 
RyanBlack said:
That may be the case. However, if it is, I strongly suspect that it was over concern as to whether the Trinitarian formula was used. Also, if conditional baptism was often used, that demonstrates that the baptisms of such Protestants were not automatically deemed to be invalid.
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Not automatically invalid, no. There was also likely some concern over intent. The Church interprets intent quite liberally, especially today…but it can render baptism invalid.
 
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