Eastern Orthodox, What Happens to Unbaptized Infants?

  • Thread starter Thread starter LivingWaters7
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
I have gotten alot of wisdom, after deciding to let go of a career and stay home with my children with less material things.

I felt so bad and would cry for those children abused, neglected, murdered, aborted.

But i had to also realize that the Lord gave me these children…they come from Him and they go back to Him when He decides. I lost my niece suddenly this past year…death unknown causes, she laying in the university bathroom for almost an hour, a top student with much accomplishment in her life for a 21 year old.

Her mother gave the eulogy and she said she had to see that the Lord now wanted her back, her daughter did not belong to her, but only for a period of time on this earth…she was born at 3 pm December 8 on the feast day of the Immaculate Conception and she passed away on Valentine’s Day at 3 pm…Divine Mercy and she is our family saint.
 
KathleenGee said:
I have gotten alot of wisdom, after deciding to let go of a career and stay home with my children with less material things.

I felt so bad and would cry for those children abused, neglected, murdered, aborted.

But i had to also realize that the Lord gave me these children…they come from Him and they go back to Him when He decides. I lost my niece suddenly this past year…death unknown causes, she laying in the university bathroom for almost an hour, a top student with much accomplishment in her life for a 21 year old.

Her mother gave the eulogy and she said she had to see that the Lord now wanted her back, her daughter did not belong to her, but only for a period of time on this earth…she was born at 3 pm December 8 on the feast day of the Immaculate Conception and she passed away on Valentine’s Day at 3 pm…Divine Mercy and she is our family saint.
Click to expand...
God Bless you, sorry for the loss of you niece. I lost one of mine last year (15 y/o) after a long battle with cancer.

I also worked assisting in investigations (data recovery) of crimes against children for 8 years. Some cases just broke me in half…

There is a world of difference when one see things up close and personal. This is a delicate subject for me as well and one I am very passionate about.

Peace,
 
Isaiah, that must have been incredibly hard. I used to break down crying…still am inclined to when I see children suffer such abuse and injustice and war…so tragic what are happening to children today…forces out to destroy their innocence as well as their lives.

Thank You!
 
St. Gregory Nazianzen says,

And so also in those who fail to receive the Gift, some are altogether animal or bestial, according as they are either foolish or wicked; and this, I think, has to be added to their other sins, that they have no reverence at all for this Gift, but look upon it as a mere gift— to be acquiesced in if given them, and if not given them, then to be neglected. Others know and honour the Gift, but put it off; some through laziness, some through greediness. Others are not in a position to receive it, perhaps on account of infancy, or some perfectly involuntary circumstance through which they are prevented from receiving it, even if they wish. As then in the former case we found much difference, so too in this. They who altogether despise it are worse than they who neglect it through greed or carelessness. These are worse than they who have lost the Gift through ignorance or tyranny, for tyranny is nothing but an involuntary error. And I think that the first will have to suffer punishment, as for all their sins, so for their contempt of baptism; and that the second will also have to suffer, but less, because it was not so much through wickedness as through folly that they wrought their failure; and that the third will be neither glorified nor punished by the righteous Judge, as unsealed and yet not wicked, but persons who have suffered rather than done wrong. For not every one who is not bad enough to be punished is good enough to be honoured; just as not every one who is not good enough to be honoured is bad enough to be punished.
(Oration 40.23)
 
QNDNNDQDCE said:
St. Gregory Nazianzen says,

And so also in those who fail to receive the Gift, some are altogether animal or bestial, according as they are either foolish or wicked; and this, I think, has to be added to their other sins, that they have no reverence at all for this Gift, but look upon it as a mere gift— to be acquiesced in if given them, and if not given them, then to be neglected. Others know and honour the Gift, but put it off; some through laziness, some through greediness. Others are not in a position to receive it, perhaps on account of infancy, or some perfectly involuntary circumstance through which they are prevented from receiving it, even if they wish. As then in the former case we found much difference, so too in this. They who altogether despise it are worse than they who neglect it through greed or carelessness. These are worse than they who have lost the Gift through ignorance or tyranny, for tyranny is nothing but an involuntary error. And I think that the first will have to suffer punishment, as for all their sins, so for their contempt of baptism; and that the second will also have to suffer, but less, because it was not so much through wickedness as through folly that they wrought their failure; and that the third will be neither glorified nor punished by the righteous Judge, as unsealed and yet not wicked, but persons who have suffered rather than done wrong. For not every one who is not bad enough to be punished is good enough to be honoured; just as not every one who is not good enough to be honoured is bad enough to be punished.
(Oration 40.23)
Click to expand...
In general, this appears to reflect the anthropology of the Eastern fathers. Baptism is given to infants for the purpose of giving them the spiritual gifts of baptism, without which they are neither worthy of condemnation nor prepared for glorification. Of course, because of the speculative nature of the question, I suppose that one could be free to believe that unbaptized infants could still yet be glorified by the mercy of God, but it would be exceedingly unwise to teach that. It is best that we teach of the importance of baptizing infants in immediate danger of death, stressing that without baptism, there are no guarantees that these infants should receive glorification in the age to come.
 
It’s a difficult question for sure, and the bible is silent on these matters. The truth is we just do not know the answer.
But we do know the character of God, and that God is love. I trust that whatever God does is just and Holy.
 
Faith in the end is mystery…it is our way of life, irregardless of the penchant for defining just about everything in and of Christ.

We take one step of faith out to Him, and He takes 9 steps back to us, and does most of the work in restoring us to our dignity.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top