A Possible Second Baptism?

Unknown

can you ever under any circumstances be baptized twice?

Christi_03

Hey,

From what i know, you can only be baptized into the Coptic Orthodox Chruch once.... if for example, someone was born and baptized as a Catholic, and wanted to convert to Coptic Orthodox, then they can be baptized in the Coptic Chruch seeing as how it's their first Orthodox baptizm....

However, AND I STAND CORRECTED... if one was Coptic, converted to islam then re-converted to being Coptic, they do not get baptized again because they already recieved the Holy Mayroun and the Holy Spirit, which is only recieved once....

When, in egypt for example, girls are forced into islam, and if they find a way out back to the church, they are not re-baptized....

Hope i'm not completely inaccurate...

Take care and God bless

Christ4Life

I believe CrazyCopt is right. Once you have recieved the Holy Mayroon and the Holy Baptism, that's it. There is no second baptism.

Unknown

CrazyCopt is correct. The basis of this can be found in the book of Hebrews, Chapter 6, verses 4-6:

"It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace."

Fr. Tadros Malaty gives us the patristic interpretation of this verse, which clarifies its relevance to the issue of re-baptising apostates:

What is the viewpoint of the Church regarding a believer who got baptized, was enlightened with the Holy Spirit, have tasted the word of God, enjoyed the joy of salvation, and experienced the power of the new heavenly life, then he deviated under the pressure of persecution, or the temptations of sin? If he repents, does he need to be renewed through baptism once more?

St. Paul said that he cannot be re-baptized. He says, "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame" [4-6].

St. John Chrysostom emphasized that it is impossible to re-baptize those who fell away and repented88. He says, [It is impossible to repeat baptism, therefore, we cannot practice what is impossible! He says that those who were enlightened, and tasted the heavenly gift, that is, received forgiveness and became partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, that is the educational part, and the powers of the age to come, that is performing miracles and the zeal of the spirit (2 Cor. 1:22), and fell away, it is impossible to renew them again for they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame. This does not mean that they cannot repent. God forbids! But it means that they cannot be renewed through baptism. Renewal here means makes new, i.e. “makes a new man,” and what makes new is the baptismal font. It is mentioned that "Your youth is renewed like the eagle's" (Ps. 103:5). Thus, repentance works in those who were renewed and became old once they fell away. It liberates them from being aged so they may become strong once more89.]

St. John Chrysostom emphasizes that it is impossible to repeat baptism by saying that St. Paul says that they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame. For baptism is crucifixion with the Lord Christ, and repeating it
means repeating the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus as if putting Him to shame.