Reception by Baptism or Chrismation

For someone who has never been baptized, the way in is simple and never in question: baptism, normally by threefold immersion, followed immediately by chrismation. This is the full and original pattern, dying and rising with Christ in the water and receiving the seal of the Holy Spirit.

For someone already baptized in another Christian confession in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, there is more than one accepted practice. In much of the Church such a person is received by chrismation — anointed with holy chrism as the completing gift of the Spirit — without being baptized again. In some places, and for some bishops, the same person is received by baptism. Rarely, a former member of a body with valid orders and sacraments (such as Rome, in some receptions) has been received by confession of faith alone. Which of these applies to you is a judgment the priest and bishop make; it is not a menu the convert chooses from.

Behind the variation lie two true principles the Church holds together. One is akriveia, strictness — the instinct to receive converts by baptism, treating the sacraments performed outside the Church as needing to be truly given within it. The other is economia, the Church's pastoral discretion to receive an existing Trinitarian baptism as something the Holy Spirit now fills and perfects through chrismation, rather than repeating it. Both have deep roots; the ancient canons themselves prescribe different treatment for different groups, and the Church has applied them with real flexibility across the centuries.

The result is that jurisdictions, and even individual bishops, differ in good faith. Some receive most Trinitarian-baptized converts by chrismation; others baptize more readily. There is a living discussion within Orthodoxy about where the balance should lie, and thoughtful, faithful people hold different views. The Church has not resolved it into a single worldwide rule, and this entry does not take a side. What every Orthodox Christian does confess together is the Creed's "one baptism for the remission of sins" and St. Paul's "One Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Ephesians 4:5): baptism is unrepeatable, and no one is ever baptized twice.

Whatever the form, the meaning is the same: the person is now fully a member of the Body of Christ and, for the first time, may approach the Chalice. Reception is ordinarily followed at once, or very shortly, by first confession and Communion. A godparent or sponsor stands with the one received, and a patron saint is given or chosen.

It helps inquirers to hold two things at once. The differences in practice are real and worth understanding honestly, without pretending they do not exist. But they are questions of how the one Church receives, not competing churches — and for the person being received, the pastoral answer is close at hand: ask your own priest how you, in particular, will be received, and why.