How Do You Become Orthodox? Catechumenate, Baptism, and Chrismation

Sooner or later many visitors to an Orthodox parish ask, "How would someone actually join?" There is no membership form or single prayer. It is a journey that usually takes months, begins at the church door with prayers of exorcism, and ends with water, holy oil and the Eucharist.

This guide covers the history, each stage, and how people already baptized elsewhere are received. Your own priest, under your bishop, will tell you what applies to you.

In brief

A person becomes Orthodox through the Church's sacraments of initiation: baptism, chrismation and Holy Communion. Adults first spend a period as catechumens, learners who pray with the Church and are taught its faith. The pattern is ancient: the Apostolic Tradition describes a catechumenate of up to three years, and the pilgrim Egeria watched the bishop of Jerusalem teach candidates for three hours a day through Lent in the 380s. Today a catechumen renounces Satan facing west and unites himself to Christ facing east. Someone never baptized is then baptized by triple immersion, at once anointed with holy chrism, "the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit," and given Communion. Someone already baptized in the name of the Trinity is often received by confession, profession of faith and chrismation, but some bishops and jurisdictions baptize all converts; both appeal to the same ancient canons.

Thesis: Becoming Orthodox means being joined to Christ in his Church through a catechumenate and the sacraments of initiation, a pattern with clear early roots, while the reception of previously baptized Christians is a real question the Orthodox answer in more than one way.

Where the catechumenate comes from

Christ sends the apostles to make disciples, "baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19, NKJV). St Paul writes that "as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death" (Romans 6:3), and in Samaria the apostles "laid hands on" the newly baptized, "and they received the Holy Spirit" (Acts 8:17).¹

The Didache, an early Christian church manual whose exact date is debated, already gives instructions: baptize "in living water," or if necessary "pour out water thrice upon the head into the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit," with a fast beforehand.²

A fuller picture appears in the church order known as the Apostolic Tradition. It was long attributed to Hippolytus of Rome in the early third century, but Paul Bradshaw, Maxwell Johnson and Edward Phillips argue that it is "a composite document made up of a number of layers and strands of diverse provenance," so its date and place are uncertain.³ Newcomers are questioned about why they want the faith, and those who bring them "shall testify that they are competent to hear the word." Then: "Let catechumens spend three years as hearers of the word. But if a man is zealous and perseveres well in the work, it is not the time but his character that is decisive." Before baptism "their sponsors have testified" to their conduct.⁴

In Jerusalem the pilgrim Egeria, writing probably in the early 380s, describes how candidates gave in their names before Lent and were examined in front of the bishop, who asked their neighbors whether each candidate led a good life. Each morning of Lent he taught them for three hours, from Genesis through the Scriptures and then the Creed. Only after their baptism at Pascha did he explain the sacraments themselves.⁵

We still have lectures of this kind. St Cyril of Jerusalem's Catechetical Lectures were given to candidates in Lent in the mid-fourth century, and five Mystagogical Lectures explain the rites to the newly baptized; the manuscripts disagree whether these five are Cyril's or his successor John's, and Alexis Doval has argued for Cyril.⁶ {{very-strong: The rite they describe is recognizably the Orthodox rite today: renunciation of Satan facing west, a turn to the east, a confession of faith, a threefold descent into the water, and anointing with chrism.}} The newly baptized "descended three times into the water, and ascended again," and that water "was at once your grave and your mother."⁷

The journey, step by step

1. Inquiry

Most people begin as inquirers who attend services, read, and talk with the priest. There is no fixed timetable; for those who will be baptized, the Orthodox Church in America's clergy guidelines speak of "an adequate period of catechetical instruction as determined by the local hierarch."⁸ Expect the priest to ask about your previous church life, which affects how you will be received. Our beginner's guide to the Divine Liturgy is a good companion.

2. Becoming a catechumen

When the priest judges you ready, you are formally made a catechumen. In the Orthodox Church in America's text of the service, the priest breathes gently on the candidate's face, signs him with the cross, lays his hand on his head and prays that God will "remove far from him his former delusion." Several prayers of exorcism follow.⁹

Then the candidate turns to face west and is asked three times, "Do you renounce Satan, and all his works, and all his angels, and all his service, and all his pride?" He answers, "I do renounce him!" The priest says, "Breathe and spit upon him!" Turning back to the east, the candidate is asked three times, "Do you unite yourself to Christ?" and answers, "I do unite myself to Christ." He then recites the Creed. (For an infant, the sponsor answers.)⁹ These are the gestures the Jerusalem lectures describe: the west as "the region of sensible darkness," and the turn "from West to East, the place of light."¹⁰ Ask your priest how your parish divides these prayers between enrollment and baptism day.

3. The catechumenate

A catechumen is a Christian learner who does not yet receive Communion. The period usually means classes or reading with the priest, regular services, a rule of prayer and the fasts as advised, and learning the Creed; it is also a time to test the decision honestly. Good study companions are What Is Theosis?, on salvation as healing and union with God, and our Nicene Creed study guide.

4. Choosing a sponsor

Candidates have a sponsor or godparent, a role already visible in the early church orders. The Orthodox Church in America describes the sponsor as "a pious, practicing Orthodox Christian" and warns that honoring a friend or relative "should never be a determining factor."¹¹ For an adult the sponsor is chiefly a companion in the faith.

5. Choosing a saint's name

Converts usually take a saint's name, or keep their own if it is already a saint's. There is "no 'universal, standard' way" of choosing. For adults the Orthodox Church in America suggests that the most meaningful choice is "a saint whose life one may especially wish to emulate." Talk it over with your priest.¹² Lives of the Saints and how the Church recognizes saints can help.

6. Baptism

For a person never baptized, the water and oil are blessed and the body anointed. In the Orthodox Church in America's text the priest, holding the candidate facing east, immerses him three times, saying: "The servant of God, ______, is baptized, in the name of the Father, Amen. (Immerse) And of the Son, Amen. (Immerse) And of the Holy Spirit. Amen. (Immerse)." A white garment follows, "the robe of righteousness."¹³

7. Chrismation

Immediately afterward the priest anoints the newly baptized with holy chrism on the forehead, eyes, nostrils, lips, ears, breast, hands and feet, saying each time, "The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit."¹³ Chrismation corresponds to what Western Christians call confirmation; Orthodox infants receive it at their baptism. All then walk around the font singing, "As many as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ" (Galatians 3:27).¹³

8. First Communion

Initiation is completed at the Eucharist. The Orthodox Church in America describes a person being "initiated into the life of the Church through the sacraments of Baptism, Chrismation and the Eucharist."¹¹ The date is arranged with your priest.

If you were already baptized

In the Creed the Orthodox Church says, "I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins," and does not repeat a baptism it recognizes. The question is which baptisms outside its communion it recognizes, and the ancient Church answered in more than one way. St Basil the Great, writing around 374, notes that Cyprian of Carthage and Firmilian had rejected baptism given by schismatic groups, while some in Asia accepted it "for the sake of management of the majority." Basil himself leaned to strictness, but added: "I am under some apprehension lest, in our wish to discourage them from baptizing, we may, through the severity of our decision, be a hindrance to those who are being saved."¹⁴ (On Cyprian's side, see Cyprian of Carthage.)

A canon counted as the seventh of the Council of Constantinople (381), and repeated with additions as canon 95 of the Council in Trullo (692), set out a graded practice: some groups were received by renouncing their errors and being anointed with chrism, "The Seal of the gift of the Holy Ghost," while others were received "as heathen" and baptized.¹⁵ Beveridge and Hefele argued that the "Constantinople" canon really comes from a fifth-century letter; its authority rests on its acceptance at Trullo.¹⁵

Later history applied both approaches to Western Christians. A synod in Constantinople in 1484 received Latin converts by chrismation, and a council in Moscow in 1667 abandoned their rebaptism in favor of chrismation; in 1755 a synod in Constantinople under Patriarch Cyril V required their baptism.¹⁶ Canonists call these akribeia, strict application of the canons, and oikonomia, pastoral "economy." Fr George Dragas argues that the two are "not inconsistent with each other" and that "the decision for the employment of the one, or the other, rests with the Church of each time, which acts through its lawful structures of authority."¹⁷

Today you will meet both practices.

• Reception by chrismation. In the Orthodox Church in America the general practice is that someone baptized "according to the traditional Trinitarian formula" is received "through the Sacraments of Chrismation, Penance, and the Eucharist, together with a statement of faith." The same guidelines say members of non-Trinitarian groups, naming among others Jehovah's Witnesses and (in their word) "Mormons," meaning Latter-day Saints, must be baptized, and that "in any case of doubt" the bishop must be consulted.¹⁸ Oriental Orthodox Christians are received there by confession and profession of faith, without chrismation.⁸
• Reception by baptism. In 1971 the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia resolved "to baptize all heretics who come to the Church," permitting reception by chrismation "only if strictly necessary" and "with the express permission of a bishop." The text notes that Greek practice had varied but for most of the previous three centuries baptized converts from Catholicism and Protestantism. This is a 1971 decision; ask about current practice locally.¹⁹ {{moderate: Reception of all converts by baptism is today the practice of some bishops and jurisdictions, not a rule of the whole Orthodox Church.}}

Theologians disagree too. In 1999 the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation argued that a theory of "sacramental economy" developed in the eighteenth century "is not the majority position of the Orthodox churches today."²⁰ Dragas, responding, questioned its rejection of the akribeia/oikonomia distinction.¹⁷ A convert need not settle this debate: you will be received in the way your bishop has determined, and the Church regards that reception as complete.

Honest questions inquirers ask

"Does chrismation, or a new baptism, mean my old church gave me nothing?"

Reception by chrismation does not deny that God was at work in your earlier Christian life; it reflects the view, found in Basil and the canons, that what was given outside the Church's visible unity is completed on entering it. Those who receive by baptism hold, with Cyprian, that the Church's baptism is the only one. Neither view is a judgment on your sincerity. The Orthodox Church can say where it believes the Church is; it does not claim to know the limits of God's mercy toward those outside it.

"Isn't faith in Christ enough? Why rites and a waiting period?"

Many evangelical Christians understand baptism as a believer's public act of obedience, an outward sign of a salvation already received by faith. Orthodox Christians agree that baptism without faith is empty. But the New Testament ties baptism to union with Christ's death and resurrection (Romans 6:3-4), to "putting on" Christ (Galatians 3:27), and to receiving the Spirit (Acts 8:14-17). Orthodoxy reads these texts as describing what God does in the sacrament, received by faith. See Does Baptism Save?, and on infants, Did the Early Christians Baptize Infants?. The waiting period is the Church's old habit of making sure people know what they are promising; it is no test of worthiness.

"Why do different parishes tell me different things?"

On discipline, such as the length of the catechumenate and the manner of reception, bishops have real authority; Basil agreed it was right "to follow the custom obtaining in each region."¹⁴ Doctrine does not vary; pastoral practice can.

What we can say confidently

• {{strong: A structured preparation for baptism, with teaching, examination of life, sponsors and exorcism, is attested from the early centuries in the Apostolic Tradition, Egeria and Cyril's lectures.}}
• Threefold baptism in the name of the Trinity (immersion, or in need pouring) is very ancient, attested in the Didache and the Jerusalem lectures, and is the Orthodox norm today.
• In Orthodox practice baptism, chrismation and first Communion form one initiation, for infants and adults alike.
• The manner of receiving previously baptized Christians has varied throughout Orthodox history and still varies today.

What remains disputed

• {{debated: Who wrote the Apostolic Tradition, and when; Bradshaw, Johnson and Phillips argue it is a composite text, not the work of Hippolytus.}}
• Whether the five Mystagogical Lectures are by Cyril or his successor John.
• Whether reception by chrismation is best understood as "economy" applied to an incomplete baptism, or as recognition of a true baptism completed in the Church. Orthodox theologians disagree.

Conclusion

The Orthodox path into the Church is slow on purpose. It asks for prayer and learning, a renunciation of evil and a confession of the Creed, and then gives what cannot be earned: being buried and raised with Christ, sealed with the Spirit, and fed with his Body and Blood. The details of reception vary; the goal does not. "As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ," and the newly illumined, as the Church calls them, begin a life meant to end in union with God. If you are drawn to that life, the first step is the same everywhere: ask an Orthodox priest to talk.

Notes

1. Matthew 28:19; Romans 6:3; Acts 8:17. The Holy Bible, New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982). Checked at biblegateway.com. ↩
2. Didache 7, trans. M. B. Riddle, in Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 7, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson and A. Cleveland Coxe (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886), revised for New Advent by Kevin Knight. ↩
3. Paul F. Bradshaw, Maxwell E. Johnson and L. Edward Phillips, The Apostolic Tradition: A Commentary, ed. Harold W. Attridge, Hermeneia (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002), preface, as quoted on the publisher's page. ↩
4. The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus, trans. Burton Scott Easton (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1934; reprinted Archon Books, 1962), 16.1-2, 17.1-2 and 20.1-2. Text at Project Gutenberg, eBook #61614. ↩
5. Egeria, The Pilgrimage of Etheria, trans. M. L. McClure and C. L. Feltoe (London: SPCK, 1919), 90-94 (the sections on preparation for baptism near the end of the text). For the date, see the Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity database, University of Oxford, record E05196, which dates the journey "probably in 381-384." ↩
6. Alexis James Doval, Cyril of Jerusalem, Mystagogue: The Authorship of the Mystagogic Catecheses, Patristic Monograph Series 17 (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2001). ↩
7. Cyril of Jerusalem (attributed), Mystagogical Lecture 2.4, trans. Edwin Hamilton Gifford, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, vol. 7, ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1894), revised for New Advent by Kevin Knight. The anointing with chrism is in Mystagogical Lecture 3. ↩
8. Orthodox Church in America, Guidelines for Clergy (1998), section on the reception of converts, as reproduced by St. Spiridon Orthodox Cathedral, Seattle, at saintspiridon.org ("OCA Guidelines for Reception of Converts"). The original volume was not opened. ↩
9. Orthodox Church in America, Baptism (service text with music, 2012), "Reception into the Catechumenate," oca.org (PDF). The parenthetical "(her)" forms are omitted in the quotation. ↩
10. Cyril of Jerusalem (attributed), Mystagogical Lecture 1.4 and 1.9, same translation as note 7. ↩
11. Orthodox Church in America, "Baptismal sponsors," Questions and Answers: The Seven Sacraments, oca.org. ↩
12. Orthodox Church in America, "Baptismal Names," Questions and Answers: The Seven Sacraments, oca.org. ↩
13. Orthodox Church in America, Baptism (2012), "The Baptism" and following sections, oca.org (PDF). ↩
14. Basil the Great, Letter 188 (First Canonical Epistle, to Amphilochius), canon 1, trans. Blomfield Jackson, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1895), revised for New Advent by Kevin Knight. The NPNF editors note that Maran dates it to the end of 374. ↩
15. First Council of Constantinople, canon 7 (ccel.org; New Advent's page labels it canon 5), and Council in Trullo (Quinisext), canon 95 (New Advent), trans. Henry Percival, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, vol. 14 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1900); and the same volume's "Warning to the Reader Touching Canon VII," citing Beveridge's Synodicon and Hefele's History of the Councils, ccel.org. ↩
16. North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation, Baptism and "Sacramental Economy" (St Vladimir's Orthodox Seminary, Crestwood, NY, 3 June 1999), parts II.B.1 and III.A.4; and George Dragas (note 17), sections on 1484, 1755 and 1667. ↩
17. George Dragas, "The Manner of Reception of Roman Catholic Converts into the Orthodox Church with Special Reference to the Decisions of the Synods of 1484 (Constantinople), 1755 (Constantinople) and 1667 (Moscow)," paper read at the Orthodox/Roman Catholic Dialogue (USA), 1998, section 6 ("Conclusions") and Postscript, myriobiblos.gr. ↩
18. Orthodox Church in America, "Questions on the Sacraments," Questions and Answers, oca.org; and Guidelines for Clergy (1998), as in note 8. ↩
19. Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Council of Bishops, "Resolution of the 1971 Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia on the Reception of non-Orthodox Christians" (Montreal, 15/28 September 1971), English text published by ROCOR Studies (rocorstudies.org, 4 April 2017). ↩
20. North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation, Baptism and "Sacramental Economy" (1999), part III.A.5, myriobiblos.gr. ↩

Bibliography

Primary sources

• The Holy Bible, New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.
• Didache. Translated by M. B. Riddle. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 7. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886. Revised edition at newadvent.org.
• The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus. Translated by Burton Scott Easton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1934; reprinted Archon Books, 1962. Project Gutenberg eBook #61614.
• Egeria. The Pilgrimage of Etheria. Translated by M. L. McClure and C. L. Feltoe. Translations of Christian Literature, Series III. London: SPCK, 1919.
• Cyril of Jerusalem. Catechetical Lectures and Mystagogical Lectures. Translated by Edwin Hamilton Gifford. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, vol. 7. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1894. Revised edition at newadvent.org.
• Basil the Great. Letter 188. Translated by Blomfield Jackson. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, vol. 8. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1895. Revised edition at newadvent.org.
• The Seven Ecumenical Councils. Translated by Henry Percival. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, vol. 14. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1900. (Constantinople I canon 7 and the note on it; Trullo canon 95.)

Orthodox and patristic sources

• Orthodox Church in America. Baptism. Service text with music, 2012. oca.org.
• Orthodox Church in America. Questions and Answers: "Questions on the Sacraments," "Baptismal sponsors," "Baptismal Names." oca.org.
• Orthodox Church in America. Guidelines for Clergy. 1998. Section on the reception of converts, as reproduced at saintspiridon.org.
• Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Council of Bishops. "Resolution of the 1971 Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia on the Reception of non-Orthodox Christians." Montreal, 15/28 September 1971. rocorstudies.org.
• Dragas, George. "The Manner of Reception of Roman Catholic Converts into the Orthodox Church with Special Reference to the Decisions of the Synods of 1484 (Constantinople), 1755 (Constantinople) and 1667 (Moscow)." Paper read at the Orthodox/Roman Catholic Dialogue (USA), 1998. myriobiblos.gr.

Other scholarship (including scholars who disagree)

• Bradshaw, Paul F., Maxwell E. Johnson and L. Edward Phillips. The Apostolic Tradition: A Commentary. Edited by Harold W. Attridge. Hermeneia. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002.
• Doval, Alexis James. Cyril of Jerusalem, Mystagogue: The Authorship of the Mystagogic Catecheses. Patristic Monograph Series 17. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2001.
• North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation. Baptism and "Sacramental Economy": An Agreed Statement. Crestwood, NY, 3 June 1999. myriobiblos.gr; usccb.org.