Daily Journey Through the Great Fast With the Early Churchনমুনা

The day of Pentecost, when the Apostles received the Holy Spirit, St. Peter gives a moving Holy Spirit inspired sermon to the people and when they asked earnestly, “what shall we do?”, he responds saying, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” [Acts 2:38]. This is the normal pattern: Repentance, Baptism for the remission of sins, then the bestowing of the Holy Spirit. In the New Testament, there is no such thing as an unbaptized Christian.

The Lord Jesus Christ says in John 3:5 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” - it is very clear that a requirement to enter into the kingdom of God is be baptized yet, what a beautiful thing it is that those not born in the Church, those that do not receive the Sacrament of Baptism at infancy, are able to become the children of God by the Sacrament of Baptism no matter their age! Eternal salvation is meant for all! The waters that divided to let the Israelites, who accepted it, walk through on dry land, is the same water that the Egyptians, who stubbornly rejected it, were drowned in its depths - the water was for both but only those that accepted it lived, while those who rejected it perished.

May we today, and everyday, always keep the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ in the forefront of our minds, recalling the Cross to be our salvation. We can live salvation every day by recalling to our minds our first Baptism (Baptism of water and Chrismation) and our second Baptism (that of Repentance and Confession).

“The Lord was baptized, not to be cleansed himself but to cleanse the waters, so that those waters, cleansed by the flesh of Christ which knew no sin, might have the power of baptism. Whoever comes, therefore, to the washing of Christ lays aside his sins” [St. Ambrose, 4th century Bishop of Milan]

“[According to] apostolic tradition . . . the churches of Christ hold inherently that without baptism and participation at the table of the Lord (Eucharist/Communion) it is impossible for any man to attain either to the kingdom of God or to salvation and life eternal. This is the witness of Scripture too” [St. Augustine of Hippo, 4th century theologian]

“Here you are; you are going to come to the holy font, you will be washed in saving baptism, you will be renewed in “the bath of rebirth.” You will be without any sin at all as you come up from that bath. All the things that were plaguing you in the past will be blotted out.” [St. Augustine of Hippo, 4th century theologian]

“For if anyone should ask of me whether we have been saved by baptism, I shall not be able to deny it, since the apostle says, “He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” [St. Augustine of Hippo, 4th century theologian]

“If any man does not receive baptism, he does not have salvation. The only exception is the martyrs, who even without water will receive the kingdom.” [St. Cyril of Jerusalem, 4th century Bishop of Jerusalem and theologian]