5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. ⁷ For he who has died has been freed from sin. ⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, ⁹ knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. ¹⁰ For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. ¹¹ Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

St John Chrysostom, Homilies on St. John

In Baptism are completed the articles of our covenant with God; burial and death, resurrection and life; and these take place all at once.  For when we plunge our heads down in the water, the old man is buried in a tomb below, and wholly sunk for ever; then, as we raise them again, the new man rises in his place.  As it is easy for us to dip and to lift our heads again, so it is easy for God to bury the old man, and to show forth the new.  And this is done  thrice, that you may learn that the power of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit fulfils all this.  To show that what we say is no conjecture, hear Paul saying, "We were buried with Him by Baptism into death"; and again, "Our old man was crucified with Him"; and again, "We have been planted together in the likeness of His death."   And not only is Baptism called a "cross," but the Cross is called Baptism.  "With the Baptism," says Christ, "that I   am baptized with, shall ye be baptized"; and "I have a Baptism to be baptized with, which ye know not." For as we easily dip and lift our heads again, so He also easily died and rose again when He willed; or rather, much more easily, though He tarried the three days for the dispensation of a certain mystery.

St. Nicholas Casbasilas (The Life in Christ)

In the sacred Mysteries, then, we depict His burial and proclaim His death.  By them we are begotten and formed and wondrously united to the Savior, for they are the means by which, as St. Paul says, "in Him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28).  Baptism confers being and in short, existence according to Christ.  It receives us when we are dead and corrupted and first leads us into life.  The anointing with chrism perfects him who has received [new] birth by infusing in to him the energy that befits such a life.  The Holy Eucharist preserves and continues this life and health, since the Bread of life enables us to preserve that which has been acquired and to continue in life.  It is therefore by this Bread that we live and by the chrism that we are moved, once we have received being from the baptismal washing.  In this way we live in God.

These texts provide a sort of summary of our Orthodox faith from the New Testament, a Father from the Nicene period and a liturgical theologian and saint from the 14th century. All are agreed, Christianity is a new birth forged in the death and resurrection of Christ and that this new birth is mediated by the sacrament of Holy Baptism and a life of subsequent repentance and renewal in God.

A number of implications arise from this that give Orthodoxy quite a different angle on "born again" or "baptismal regeneration" as understood in the west.

When a Protestant Christian of the evangelical sort speaks of being "born again" … the word in John 3:3 can mean being "born from above" … he or she usually means a life changing crisis within the life of an individual Christian such that he/she puts aside the old life and embraces the new life in Christ by the Holy Spirit. This, however, is only connected with baptism in so far as that sacrament celebrates what has happened already or, for those baptised in infancy what it is hoped will happen later in life. The essential understanding of new birth and baptism here lies with the individual soul and God. Only by this portal of individual conversion can a person truly be baptised into the Body of Christ. The Church, therefore, becomes an assembly of individuals called by God through new birth into her fellowship and baptism a celebration of that.

In Orthodoxy, however, such rebirth, which may or may not be accompanied by a personal life crisis, is a process that takes place in the Christian community, the Church. Baptism is instrumental to that and does not merely celebrate it. The necessary element of repentance which drives this process of new birth from the human side is provided for in confession and spiritual direction which can be seen as extensions of baptism, not only restoring the soul to baptismal purity but exceeding that in the deification of the human person, what St. Paul called "the full stature of Christ." (Ephesians 4:13)

When a Christian of a more "catholic" persuasion (Anglo or Roman) thinks about baptismal regeneration, we are on territory that is closer to the Orthodox view. How else can anyone make sense of biblical texts such as these except in the sense that baptism is both necessary to salvation and operational in acquiring it?

1 Peter 3:21-22 --- "This prefigured Baptism, which saves you now. It is not a removal of dirt from the body, but an appeal to God for a clear conscious, through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ ..."

Acts 2:38 -- "Peter said to them, 'Repent and be Baptized, every one of you, in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.' "

Mark 16:16 -- "Whoever believes and is Baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned."

There is an emphasis in Orthodoxy concerning baptismal regeneration however that one does not find in quite the same way in the west and that has to do with the person and work of the Holy Spirit. More often than not the western tradition will speak of grace in relation to baptism and only the Holy Spirit in relation to the ministerial gifts conferred on the baptised person. In Orthodoxy, however, the Holy Spirit is ALL in baptism. He washes, cleanses, renews, transforms the believer into a particular image of Christ, Himself the True Image, the Icon of God, (Colossians 1:15). St. Seraphim of Sarov can speak of the whole of the Christian life consisting in "acquiring the Holy Spirit." Yet, if the Holy Spirit is both given and operational in baptism and chrismation how can the Christian life be said to involve acquiring that which has already been given in baptism? Surely, this makes no sense.

The Holy Spirit is indivisible and one. He cannot be qualified as "more" or "less" of himself or as either "more" or "less" present in himself. The qualification of acquiring the Spirit refers to our capacity to receive him ever more deeply and widely into our lives. In other words the deifying energies of God in the baptismal Spirit depend for their realisation on our willingness through repentance to submit to them. This is why the acquisition of the Spirit is a life long task and not just the single operation of a gift at baptism or at any other significant point in our lives however holy.

Sometimes it is objected that Orthodoxy confuses conversion … the beginning of the Christian life with sanctification … the ongoing process of being made holy. A distinction has to be drawn, it is true, but not a dividing wall built. The two are connected with a third in a threefold movement, the traditional mystical path of conversion, illumination and union. Conversion is when the Holy Spirit moves us to repent. Illumination is when he enlightens our darkened reasoning. Union is when, through himself and in the image of the Son, unites us with the Father in a glorifying coalescence. This is the new birth process and we all experience and it is one unified work of the Holy Spirit from baptism to death. In the middle of this process from conversion through enlightenment to death our lives can become more or less open to the Holy Spirit. We can either move forward or fall back … but not stand still. It is this to which St. Seraphim and all the God-bearing Fathers and Mothers of the Church bear witness through their own experience and teaching. This, therefore is the new birthing process inaugurated by the Spirit at baptism and given vivid expression in the words of an early witness, a father of the desert, Abba Joseph.

Abba Lot went to see Abba Joseph and he said to him, "Abba, as far as I can, I
say my little office, I fast a little, I pray and meditate, I live in peace
and as far as I can I purify my thoughts. What else can I do?" Then the old
man stood up and streched his hands toward heaven; his fingers became like ten lamps of fire and he said to him, "If you will, you can become all flame."

So it is with all those who are born "from above."

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