Moderator: Mark Templet
Justin Kissel wrote:(I might add as a note, FWIW, that if my wife and I became GOC we would probably be baptized, but that doesn't necessarily mean the GOC thinks that ROCOR is heretical. Sometimes things are muddy.)
Why in the world would someone be rebaptised if they don't consider their first baptism to be heretical? It seems like dangerous ground you're walking on...
My first baptism was heretical. It was Catholic. So was my second one. It was Wesleyan. I've never been baptized in the Orthodox Church. And even if one has a questionable baptism, the Rudder allows for them to be baptized in certain cases. I'll let the Bishop decide how to apply which canons, though. 
Dear Justin,
My first baptism was heretical. It was Catholic. So was my second one. It was Wesleyan. I've never been baptized in the Orthodox Church. And even if one has a questionable baptism, the Rudder allows for them to be baptized in certain cases. I'll let the Bishop decide how to apply which canons, though.
Perhaps a very stupid question, but what on earth is "wesleyan"?
Thanks in advance for your answer.
In Christ,
Makis
Justin Kissel wrote:My first baptism was heretical. It was Catholic. So was my second one. It was Wesleyan. I've never been baptized in the Orthodox Church. And even if one has a questionable baptism, the Rudder allows for them to be baptized in certain cases. I'll let the Bishop decide how to apply which canons, though.
Yes, but you were received into the Orthodox Church and currently receive communion in a ROCOR parish, if I'm not mistaken. This makes you properly Orthodox, with no need of another baptism, no? Fr. Seraphim Rose was received into the Church through chrismation, should he have had another baptism down the road just to make sure?
I'd suppose you'd have to come to the conclusion that ROCOR is heretical in order to accept another baptism.
Please, if there are any more questions about me, PM me. I'd still like to hear an explanation regarding the question I asked about and I'd hate for it to get buried under 3 pages of info about my chaotic life. If no explanation is forthcoming, then no big deal, but if there's no explanation I don't want it to be because I was yapping my mouth about myself 
Ok, so please, ask me anything else via PM (or if you think it should be public since I'm a mod, make another thread).
A Wesleyan is a Protestant, a follower of John (and I suppose Charles) Wesley. Wesleyans are sort of like methodists, though typically (from what I've seen) they tend to be more into the "holiness" (or charismatic, depending on the group) movements that arose in the mid-to-late 1800's and early 1900's. Some Orthodox (and others) have asserted that John Wesley are not all that much different than the Orthodox on subjects like deification/sanctification (though I personally disagree with that assertion).
Bogo,
As I said yesterday or the day before, I am still working through all the implications of being baptized, and what it should mean as far as my conduct even before a possible baptism. However, I don't consider ROCOR heretical, and I don't think I have to affirm that they are heretical to be baptized. Regarding whether I am properly Orthodox, that's not up to me, but is up to the Church. Which (local) Church? That's the question.