Dear readers, on this page of our site you can ask any question related to the life of the Zakamsky deanery and Orthodoxy. Your questions are answered by the clergy of the Holy Ascension Cathedral in the city of Naberezhnye Chelny. We draw your attention to the fact that it is better, of course, to resolve issues of a personal spiritual nature in live communication with a priest or with your confessor.

As soon as the answer is prepared, your question and answer will be published on the site. Questions may take up to seven days to process. Please remember the date of submission of your letter for the convenience of subsequent retrieval. If your question is urgent, mark it as "URGENT", we will try to answer it as quickly as possible.

Date: 06/12/2014 6:45:32 AM

Julia (15 years old), Russia

I am tormented by sins committed before Baptism, what should I do?

Priest Yevgeny Stupitsky answers

Hello father! Please help with advice. I was baptized about 4 months ago. She began to visit the church, take communion and confess. But before Baptism, I did not confess. Is it true that all sins before Baptism are forgiven by the Lord? If yes, why? And I heard that these sins (before Baptism) can torment. I don't understand why. I don't know if these sins are truly forgiven by God. Do I need to confess them? Are the words: “I deny you, Satan” considered true without confession before Baptism? Thanks a lot, dad. Best wishes.

By baptism, all your sins committed before the moment of baptism are forgiven. Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. At baptism we die to sin and are born to eternal life, without sin, with Jesus Christ. But we have a tool given to us by God that allows us to choose the right path in life, this is our conscience, our heart. And according to the holy fathers Orthodox Church If conscience convicts us of sins committed before baptism, it is necessary to confess them, to repent. Our heart will be cleansed from these sins, washed with tears of repentance. And your heart is quite rightly concerned that you were baptized, but there was no repentance for your early sins. Therefore, boldly go to confession, and repent of everything that your conscience convicts you of. You are on the right track. Help you Lord!

The demon that lived in man and was expelled walks through deserted places and does not find peace. And he says, "I will return to my house." He comes back and sees that the house is not occupied. Then he takes seven more evil demons and comes and inhabits this person. For the latter, this settlement is even more bitter than the former (Matt. 12:43-45). How to understand it?

The man was baptized and began to continue his former sinful life, did not go to church and pray. At baptism, he received the Holy Spirit into himself, but lost the grace bestowed on him in this Sacrament, and the Holy Spirit leaves him. His soul becomes empty, graceless. The evil spirit, expelled at baptism, returns to its former dwelling place and sees that it is not occupied by the Holy Spirit, and occupies it, and even brings other demons with it...

This is how it happens with us. A huge stream of people goes to be baptized, because now everyone is baptized, for them it is some kind of magical ritual. People do not know why they are baptized. Before being baptized, a person must study the Holy Scriptures, constantly go to church, learn Christian life. What does the Lord expect from him? If a person is baptized, then he must know that this is a second birth - the birth of the soul. The Lord forgives sins (personal and original sin), gives a Guardian Angel; this person is communicated the grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of Chrismation. A person dies with Christ and is resurrected when he is immersed in water three times... Therefore, even after baptism he must be with Christ, live according to His commandments. Otherwise, he will work for the devil, and demons will inhabit his soul.

The man was baptized at a mature age. Continuing a sinful life, he became an apostate from Christ. What awaits the soul of such a person? Would it not be better for him not to be baptized at all than not to justify the mercy of God?

Saint Macarius the Great was once walking through the desert and met a human skull. He was a special person before God, had the grace of the Holy Spirit, and much was revealed to him from God. He, being in special grace, struck the skull with his staff and asked:

Tell me who are you and where are you?

I am an idol priest, he replied. I am in hell.

Do you ever find consolation, the Reverend asked.

There is joy when in the Orthodox Church Christians commemorate their dead on Saturdays and Sundays. In the upper layers of hell then there is light, it partially penetrates to us. Then we see each other. It brings us great joy.

The Reverend also asked:

And below you - idol priests - is there anyone?

Orthodox Christians who were baptized, but did not go to Church, did not wear crosses, did not repent of sins, did not confess, lived unmarried, did not receive communion and died without repentance. They are even lower than those pagans who did not know the True God.

I was baptized not in a church, but at home, and not by a priest, but by my grandfather. Is this baptism considered valid?

St. John Chrysostom says that no one has the right to perform the sacraments, except for the bishop and the priest. But there is a caveat: it happens that a person is dying, but there is no priest nearby. Then an Orthodox Christian can immerse a person in water, one who constantly goes to church, lives according to the commandments, observes all fasts, prays, confesses; such a person can immerse the patient three times in the "Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." If this Orthodox Christian performed the baptism of a dying person, and the patient recovered, then you need to get to the nearest church, to the priest and ask him to complete the sacrament through chrismation.

In the past, I know there were many such people who were baptized by their grandparents. But sometimes these grandfathers and grandmothers did not go to church themselves; if they prayed to God, then at home. And it is no longer considered that a person is Orthodox. Therefore, people who were baptized by grandparents need to be baptized again.

My husband wants to be baptized. Can I be his godmother?

If you are the godmother to your husband, then he will already be your spiritual relative - the godson, and you will not be able to continue marital relations with him.

It often happened that a girl and a boy were friends, they wanted to get married. And then they will somehow be asked to become godmother and father, and they agree. After baptism, they became spiritual relatives - godfather and godmother, and they no longer have the right to marry - to get married.

If a husband and wife have become godparents to someone, then they should not continue to live according to the flesh, they should live like brother and sister.

My daughter used to live unbaptized, had children, had abortions, now she has been baptized. Is the sin for abortion removed from her? Does baptism remove all sins from a person?

Yes, it is said that in baptism a person is born again. The Lord writes it in the Book of Life. Who is not baptized is not in the Book of Life. During baptism, a person is forgiven all sins, both original and personal sins. So it is said in Holy Scripture: when the holy prophet John the Baptist baptized, he immersed a person to the head, he confessed sins, and he immersed him completely in water with his head - baptized (Matt. 1, 4-5). Therefore, in the Orthodox Church, this Sacrament is truly performed in this way: before the Sacrament, a person confesses the main sins ...

I have to baptize in a women's colony. I call each one individually and ask: "What are your sins? Who did you kill?" - and then I baptize. At this time, all sins are forgiven. And we ask the sins committed before baptism so that a person realizes them and does not repeat, having been baptized.

Then he is immersed with his head three times in water; special prayers are read for the expulsion of an unclean spirit and for the consecration of this person to God.

In the Sacrament of Baptism new citizens of the Orthodox Church are born, new children of God.

Something interesting is happening with the Sacrament of Baptism. Many turn baptism into magic. They think that the most important thing is to be baptized. How should this be understood? When a child is born, if his parents do not feed and water, he will die. And parents will be killers. The same thing happens when a person is baptized. He was spiritually born, and if he does not pray, does not confess, repent and take communion, then he spiritually dies.

The one who pushed this person to be baptized unknowingly, irresponsibly, will be the same killer.

A huge mass of people are now being baptized, but then they don’t go to church, they don’t pray to God, they don’t repent. But they say with conviction about their strong position in the Christian world: "We are baptized ..." And what's the point that you are baptized? A person became a member of the Church, a cell in the Body of Christ, and suddenly did not go to church. He again falls into darkness, into the power of Satan, therefore he suffers and suffers.

The Apostolic Canons say that baptism is performed by total immersion. My daughter was sprinkled. Is this really a baptism?

Saint John Chrysostom says that baptism is performed by immersion in water, following the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. Plunging into the water, as into a tomb, we die with Christ. And after a threefold immersion, together with Christ, we are resurrected, just as He was resurrected on the third day. Christ entered the waters of the Jordan and sank into them. Therefore, we also plunge into the waters of the font of salvation.

If a person is near death and wishes to be baptized, he should, as St. Ignatius the God-bearer says, be poured with water so that the whole body is washed with water. I had to baptize a sick woman in Ivanovo; she was a bedridden patient - a cripple. She was lifted out of bed, held over the basin, and I poured a full bucket of pre-consecrated water over her. They wrapped her up and put her on the bed. They put on a white shirt, and she lay clean and bright, like a newborn baby.

Sprinkling is a Catholic, Uniate technique. In a Uniate church, sometimes there are 100 people who want to be baptized. The priest takes a brush and sprinkles everyone at once. Who will get water, and who will not. Maybe there is a woman in a wig standing there, and a few drops will fall on her wig, but she remains unbaptized! There is the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II to perform baptism only by immersion. To do this, churches need to build baptistery. A small platform is selected, three steps are built down; water is poured into the pool, and a person can freely dive headlong ... Usually, those people who have been baptized by sprinkling are rebaptized with the wording: "If not baptized ..."

When we are baptized, we often do not realize what Orthodox faith what it gives to the person.

The other day a young man came to our monastery and said: "I want to be baptized, to accept the holy Orthodox faith." We ask him:

Well, what do you know about Orthodoxy? What it is?

He hesitated, then says:

I cannot formulate, but in the depths of my soul I feel that I must become Orthodox.

Then he was asked:

Do you know how many disciples Jesus Christ had?

Yes I know. Three.

And who betrayed him?

I know the devil betrayed him.

This is how we talked to him and realized that a person is not yet ready to become a real Orthodox true Christian.

When we are baptized, we read the Creed. What is he talking about? About the fact that we believe in our One Lord Jesus Christ, in the Life-Giving Trinity.

I had to talk to this young man, Volodya:

Why did Christ come into the world?

Well, tell people how to live right. Show them the way.

It looks like he answered correctly.

And who was he supposed to be?

Well, like a tour guide.

No dear. I must tell you that 5508 years passed before the birth of Christ after the fall of the first people Adam and Eve. None of the people after death entered the abode of Paradise, everyone went to hell. For the righteous there was "Abraham's bosom" where there was no torment.

The Lord is Love. He himself took on human flesh and lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years. He gave the Gospel law, took upon Himself the sins of the entire human race, from Adam to the last man. Both mine and your sins two thousand years ago He atoned for with His Blood. How many more people will be born on earth - their sins have already been washed away by the Blood of Christ. The Lord suffered for all. And left us faith and repentance.

If we do not now believe in the One God, the Creator of the Universe, Heaven and Earth, if we do not repent, we will be punished for our sins.

We talked with him for a long time. Later I gave him the Gospel. Time has passed, I ask:

So how many disciples did Christ have?

Father, twelve, and in addition to them, seventy more.

How did you know?

They did work with me.

Well, thank God! But you can't be baptized yet. You are "raw, raw material." You don't know what the Lord wants from you. On the inside, you must change. After all, what is repentance? It is a change of mind, a change of life. From the fact that we will baptize you now, there is little sense: what you were, you will remain so. Nothing will change in you, nothing will change in your life. How do parents prepare for the birth of their first child? They prepare a dowry for children: a crib, a stroller, everything you need. This is exactly how a person is born into the spiritual world. For his birth into the world of spirits, everything must also be prepared.

For example, it is impossible to give a person a diploma of graduation from a university when he has just entered the institute. He has not yet received an education, he is not yet an engineer or a doctor. He needs to work hard, learn a lot.

The same is true in Orthodoxy. I know from experience that you can baptize a thousand people, but they will pass by the Church. They will not truly become a church, after baptism they will die spiritually, because they are not prepared.

A person can be baptized when he studied the Gospel, began to read the morning and evening prayers learned to speak to God in his own words. And, most importantly, prepared for a change in life.

Those who prepared themselves changed internally, after being baptized they felt inner grace. And they started a completely different life.

Sometimes a person who has begun to live in the spiritual world has so much grace and spiritual strength that he is ready to convert everyone to faith.

Volodya says:

Well, that's it, I'll go now and I'll turn all my friends!

My dear, how can you convert people to faith, when you yourself have not really read the Gospel? After all, if a person is drowning, then only one who swims well himself can save him. And if he does not know how to swim and will save, then both will go to the bottom. You must first feel the ground under your feet. A person in faith must stand firmly on his feet, be convinced, alive Orthodox Christian. Without deviating from the Gospel into heresy, one must be able to explain what the Orthodox faith is. After all, a lot of people got burned while reading Holy Bible without knowing its interpretation. The Bible is a double-edged sword, if you take it wrong, you will be cut off.

If relatives persuaded an unbeliever to accept baptism, can he be saved?

The Lord says: "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. And whoever does not believe will be condemned." If a person in the sacrament of baptism received a spiritual birth from God, but did not go to church, did not pray, did not confess, did not partake of the Holy Gifts, his spiritual life ends there and his soul dies.

Now there are many such people. They usually go to church very rarely. What are parishioners like?

There are "daily" parishioners, there are "Sunday" parishioners, and there are "holiday" parishioners.

There are "Lenten", there are "Thursday" (they come to take communion in Maundy Thursday), there are "Easter". Such people say: “No matter how you come to church, everyone sings “Christ is Risen!” There are “Christmas”, there are those who go only on their day of the Angel. confess sins, pardon, take communion.

There are "baptismal-burial" parishioners: they brought the baby, baptized him, and he has not been in the church all his life. And then they will bring it in a hearse, they will sing "With the saints, rest in peace ..." Of course, these are not Orthodox Christians. They are cast out of the Church, like a premature fetus from a mother's womb, and are in darkness, in the power of the devil.

Accepted baptism - must constantly attend the temple of God, be a living member of the Church. Let us recall the Apostolic rule: if a person, without a valid reason, was not in the temple for three Sundays, then he is cast out of the Church by the Holy Spirit, is in darkness, in the power of the devil. Only through the sacrament of repentance, where he promises God to correct himself and attend divine services, can he be reborn into spiritual life. The priest reads a special prayer, and this soul rejoins the Holy Apostolic Church.

I am baptized at home. Do I need to be baptized?

If grandmothers who did not go to church were baptized at home, then they must be baptized again. When we lived in Siberia, there one grandfather with a beard walked through the villages and baptized everyone for a glass of vodka. Before "baptism" he will take a glass, and then he "baptizes". But that was just blasphemy. He will dip three times, and then they will give him another glass, he will fall somewhere ...

Now there are churches everywhere, they are open, therefore this sacrament should be performed only in the temple. But at home (or in a hospital) one can be baptized as an exception, and among the laity only real Orthodox Christians have the right to baptize. If a sick person (adult or small baby) is dying, and it takes a long time to follow a priest, he can baptize Orthodox person the one who worthily partakes, constantly confesses, in whom the grace of God dwells. He, saying: "The servant of God (name) is baptized in the name of the Father. Amen. And the Son. Amen. And the Holy Spirit. Amen," dips the person three times. This baptism is considered valid. If the patient remains alive, then baptism must be supplemented by the priest with chrismation and prayers from the rite of baptism.

We recently baptized a boy. He is now in great temptation, he is nervous and shouts: "There is no God, but there is only the devil." He took off his cross, accuses that he was forced to be baptized. How to pray for him to help?

You need to pray for him. It's still so ... childish with him. Maybe he watched something on TV, and a pernicious, demonic seed was planted in the soul. That's why he says those words.

But about the fact that there is a demon, but there is no God ... But where did He go? How many thousands of years has he been - and suddenly "He is not there"? There were such people about whom the wise David said: "The fool speaks in his heart: there is no God." Only an insane person can say that there is no God.

The soul of such a person is saturated with sin to the last cell. And in it, of course, there is no God - the Lord goes to those who call on Him. And whoever does not remember Him, He watches over those and reminds them of Himself, of His love for the lost through sorrows, illnesses, and all kinds of misfortunes. Someone will say: "Wow, this is love!" And we rarely remember God when we are doing well. But as soon as someone died, got into an accident, went to prison, then immediately to God: "The last hope is in Him!" A popular proverb says: "As anxiety, so to God."

Anyone who says there is no God can be believed. This is true. There is no God in it! In his heart is not the grace of God, but the antichrist's denial of God, the infernal flame of godlessness. How many such people! But today they deny God, and tomorrow the Lord will let them know His existence. And such people come to confession, repent, cry.

I had no way of knowing if I was baptized as a child, so I was baptized as an adult 2 years ago. Do I need to remember all the sins committed during my life, or confess what was done after Baptism?

a housewife

Dear Irina, The Orthodox Church testifies in the Creed that we confess one Baptism for the remission of sins. This is the faith of the Church - that in the sacrament of Baptism - not according to the merits of a person, but thanks to the fruits of the cross sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ - we are given remission of both original and personal sins committed by us. Undoubtedly, in order for this forgiveness to bear fruit in our subsequent life, it would be good if it were combined with our repentant awareness of our sinfulness and with the confession of these sins before the sacrament of Baptism. So it was in the Ancient Church; this practice is now being revived in many churches of the Russian Orthodox Church. About whether it is now necessary to talk about the sins that were before Baptism, it is better for you to consult with the priest with whom you usually confess. In the sacramental sense, these sins are, of course, forgiven for you in the sacrament of Baptism. But in order for your spiritual mentor to represent your spiritual biography, on the one hand, and on the other hand, so that you, returning your memory to your former sins, be more grateful to God in your soul for leaving them to you and helping you get rid of them, it is useful for us to do this.

Dear readers, on this page of our site you can ask any question related to the life of the Zakamsky deanery and Orthodoxy. Your questions are answered by the clergy of the Holy Ascension Cathedral in the city of Naberezhnye Chelny. We draw your attention to the fact that it is better, of course, to resolve issues of a personal spiritual nature in live communication with a priest or with your confessor.

As soon as the answer is prepared, your question and answer will be published on the site. Questions may take up to seven days to process. Please remember the date of submission of your letter for the convenience of subsequent retrieval. If your question is urgent, mark it as "URGENT", we will try to answer it as quickly as possible.

Date: 06/12/2014 6:45:32 AM

Julia (15 years old), Russia

I am tormented by sins committed before Baptism, what should I do?

Priest Yevgeny Stupitsky answers

Hello father! Please help with advice. I was baptized about 4 months ago. She began to visit the church, take communion and confess. But before Baptism, I did not confess. Is it true that all sins before Baptism are forgiven by the Lord? If yes, why? And I heard that these sins (before Baptism) can torment. I don't understand why. I don't know if these sins are truly forgiven by God. Do I need to confess them? Are the words: “I deny you, Satan” considered true without confession before Baptism? Thanks a lot, dad. Best wishes.

By baptism, all your sins committed before the moment of baptism are forgiven. Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. At baptism we die to sin and are born to eternal life, without sin, with Jesus Christ. But we have a tool given to us by God that allows us to choose the right path in life, this is our conscience, our heart. And, according to the holy fathers of the Orthodox Church, if conscience convicts us of sins committed before baptism, it is necessary to confess them, to repent. Our heart will be cleansed from these sins, washed with tears of repentance. And your heart is quite rightly concerned that you were baptized, but there was no repentance for your early sins. Therefore, boldly go to confession, and repent of everything that your conscience convicts you of. You are on the right track. Help you Lord!

Is it possible to confess to different priests? Is it necessary to confess sins before Baptism, if Baptism was at the age of 25?

Dear Elena, there is no prohibition to confess to different priests, but it is good to eventually find someone who will become your spiritual mentor and with whom you will discuss at least everything most significant related to the structure of your spiritual life. Confession to different priests in only one case should not take place: when, due to some cunning, we want not to speak part of the sins at confession to a certain priest - who knows us better, from whom we expect a certain measure of severity, or for some other not entirely honest motives.

About whether it is necessary to talk about the sins that were before Baptism, it is better for you to consult with such a mentor. In the sacramental sense, these sins are, of course, forgiven for you in the sacrament of Baptism. But in order for your spiritual mentor to represent your spiritual biography, on the one hand, and on the other hand, so that you, having returned your memory to your former sins, be more grateful to God in your soul for leaving them to you and helping you get rid of them, it is useful for us to do this.