PАННАТА ЦЪРКВА ОТНОСНО КРЪЩЕНИЕТО

Новият Завет за кръщението

Ранните църковни отци за кръщението

ЗА КРЪЩЕНИЕТО

Светото тайнство кръениев православната църква 

Относно кръщението на деца - Георги Шопов

Church Fathers on Baptism

Views of Baptism as Regeneration in Ignatius, the Didache, Barnabas, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus - Matthew Ropp

BAPTISM IN THE EARLY CHURCH: SACRAMENTAL REGENERATION (80 - 215 CE)

Infant Baptism - Jordan Bajis

Infant Baptism in Early Church History - by Dennis Kastens


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Early Church Father Quotes on Infant Baptism

“He [Jesus] came to save all through himself; all, I say, who through him are reborn in God: infants, and children, and youths, and old men. Therefore he passed through every age, becoming an infant for infants, sanctifying infants; a child for children, sanctifying those who are of that age . . . [so that] he might be the perfect teacher in all things, perfect not only in respect to the setting forth of truth, perfect also in respect to relative age”

Irenaeus (Against Heresies 2:22:4 [A.D. 189])

“‘And [Naaman] dipped himself . . . seven times in the Jordan’ [2 Kgs. 5:14]. It was not for nothing that Naaman of old, when suffering from leprosy, was purified upon his being baptized, but [this served] as an indication to us. For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean, by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord, from our old transgressions, being spiritually regenerated as newborn babes, even as the Lord has declared: ‘Except a man be born again through water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven’ [John 3:5]”

Irenaeus (Fragment34 [A.D. 190])

“Baptize first the children; and if they can speak for themselves, let them do so. Otherwise, let their parents or other relatives speak for them.”

St. Hippolytus of Rome (“The Apostolic Tradition,” 215 A.D.)

“Every soul that is born into flesh is soiled by the filth of wickedness and sin. . . . In the Church, baptism is given for the remission of sins, and, according to the usage of the Church, baptism is given even to infants. If there were nothing in infants which required the remission of sins and nothing in them pertinent to forgiveness, the grace of baptism would seem superfluous”

Origen (Homilies on Leviticus 8:3 [A.D. 248])

“The Church received from the apostles the tradition of giving baptism even to infants. The apostles, to whom were committed the secrets of the divine sacraments, knew there are in everyone innate strains of [original] sin, which must be washed away through water and the Spirit”

Origen (Commentaries on Romans 5:9 [A.D. 248])

“In respect of the case of infants, you say that they should not be baptized within the second or third day after their birth – that the law of circumcision should be regarded. So you think that one who has just been born should not be baptized and sanctified within the eighth day. However, we all thought very differently in our council…. Rather, we all believe that the mercy and grace of God is not to be refused to anyone born of man…. As far as we can, we must strive that no soul be lost, if at all possible. For what is lacking to him who has once been formed in the womb by the hand of God?”

St. Cyprian of Carthage (“Epistle 58,” c. 250 A.D.)

“As to what pertains to the case of infants: You [Fidus] said that they ought not to be baptized within the second or third day after their birth, that the old law of circumcision must be taken into consideration, and that you did not think that one should be baptized and sanctified within the eighth day after his birth. In our council it seemed to us far otherwise. No one agreed to the course which you thought should be taken. Rather, we all judge that the mercy and grace of God ought to be denied to no man born”

Cyprian of Carthage (Letters 64:2 [A.D. 253])

“If, in the case of the worst sinners and those who formerly sinned much against God, when afterwards they believe, the remission of their sins is granted and no one is held back from baptism and grace, how much more, then, should an infant not be held back, who, having but recently been born, has done no sin, except that, born of the flesh according to Adam, he has contracted the contagion of that old death from his first being born. For this very reason does he [an infant] approach more easily to receive the remission of sins: because the sins forgiven him are not his own but those of another”

Cyprian of Carthage (ibid., 64:5)

“Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. No one is excepted, not [even] the infant.”

St. Ambrose (“Concerning Repentance,” c. 387 A.D.)

“Do you have an infant child? Allow sin no opportunity; rather, let the infant be sanctified from childhood. From his most tender age let him be consecrated by the Spirit. Do you fear the seal [of baptism] because of the weakness of nature? Oh, what a pusillanimous mother and of how little faith! `Well enough,’ some will say, `for those who ask for baptism, but what do you have to say about those who are still children, and aware neither of loss nor of grace? Shall we baptize them too?’ Certainly [I respond], if there is any pressing danger. Better that they be sanctified unaware, than that they depart unsealed and uninitiated.”

St. Gregory Nazianzus (“Oration On Holy Baptism,” c. 388 A.D.)

“You see how many are the benefits of baptism, and some think its heavenly grace consists only in the remission of sins, but we have enumerated ten honors [it bestows]! For this reason we baptize even infants, though they are not defiled by [personal] sins, so that there may be given to them holiness, righteousness, adoption, inheritance, brotherhood with Christ, and that they may be his [Christ’s] members”

John Chrysostom (Baptismal Catechese in Augustine, Against Julian 1:6:21 [A.D. 388])