Oikonomia (Eastern Orthodox)

[thephilosopher6]

The Eastern Orthodox Church does not recognize grace outside of itself, and the only reason it accepts Catholic and Protestant converts without having to baptize them is by economy. It seems to me that Eastern Orthodox do not truly accept the validity of Catholic or Protestant baptism. Does this mean that Catholics and Protestants are not consider Christians by the Eastern Orthodox Church? (Since baptism makes one a Christian.)

 

[pacloc]

The Eastern Orthodox Church does not recognize grace outside of itself, and the only reason it accepts Catholic and Protestant converts without having to baptize them is by economy. It seems to me that Eastern Orthodox do not truly accept the validity of Catholic or Protestant baptism. Does this mean that Catholics and Protestants are not consider Christians by the Eastern Orthodox Church? (Since baptism makes one a Christian.)

I don’t think the Orthodox Church teaches that grace does not exist outside itself. It’s just that the grace that exists in the Orthodox Church is a lot more powerful than the general grace that is given to all mankind and is needed by her members to transform into Saints. So it is possible that people outside the Church receive grace that could transform them into Saints, but that is between them and God, and is not what would be considered the norm. But yes, the grace of Baptism in the Orthodox Church is very strong, but really is dependent on the faith of the person if they are of age, or of the parents and God-parents if it is a child. Then by the time the Child can reason on the Baptism, it becomes their responsibility. So some Orthodox Baptisms are not very beneficial. And what happens outside the Church cannot be assessed by the Church, but it appears that some Baptisms outside the Church are very grace-filled. So in economy, chrismation can take what was done outside the Church, and transform it into the Sacrament of the Church.