The concept of “validity” of mysteries, in and of themselves, is
foreign to Orthodoxy.
The Mysteries, for the Orthodox, are inseparable from the
Pan-Mystery, which is the Church herself.
Non-Orthodox sacraments are precisely that–non-Orthodox Sacraments,
and the Church makes no judgement about what goes on outside herself.
Non-Orthodox Baptism and Orders become an issue ONLY when a
non-Orthodox Christian wishes to become Orthodox, and then the
decision is treated as a pastoral matter. In these cases the canons
are interpreted with either strictness (akriveia) or leniency
(oikonomia), as is best for the individual in question AND for the
good of the Church.
This might help to explain why there seems (to many people) an
inconsistency in practice in different cases.
Remember, none of the Holy Canons are ends in themselves. The
salvation of souls IS an end in itself, perhaps the only end. If
strict application of a canon gets in the way of someone’s salvation,
then the canon clearly doesn’t apply. This is why there are cases of
receiving converts, especially clergy, by everything from canonical
Orthodox baptism by triple immersion to mere profession of Orthodox
faith and concelebration.
To give an extraordinary example of oikonomia: the mass ordination of
clergy of the former Evangelical Orthodox Church, though the rubrics
of the Byantine ordination rites direct that no more than one deacon
and one priest be ordained in any given Liturgy. If strictness had
been followed, a large number of neophytes would have been left with
no priests or deacons, and hence no Holy Eucharist, for a long time.
(Whether this was a wise exercise of oikonomia is another issue, but
I don’t doubt the necessity under these unusual circumstances.)
… I’ve seen that site before, what a piece of work! The eerie music on some of the pages is definitely a nice touch .