1

I just found out my parents baptized me twice as a baby in two Christian Churches: Catholic and Orthodox. I am concerned, is it bad to be baptized twice? What can I do to sort this out?

Improve this question
9
  • 1
    What exactly is your concern?
    – kutschkem
    Apr 30, 2019 at 7:01
  • I have read it is bad to be baptised in different religions
    – Georgia
    Apr 30, 2019 at 7:38
  • Related for the catholic perspective: christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/44841/…
    – kutschkem
    Apr 30, 2019 at 7:41
  • 1
    Are you attending, or in contact with, a church now? If so it would really be best to speak to the priest there as he will be able to ask relevant questions and then advise you what, if anything, is needed to regularise your situation. We cannot tell you what you should be. However you did nothing wrong when a baby. You will need to find out, if possible, which baptism came first.
    – davidlol
    Apr 30, 2019 at 12:40
  • I deleted all the comments that were chatty or attempting to answer the question. I think this needs more clarification. Georgia, we kind of need to know what you want to know - who are you concerned about having it be bad to baptized twice. Your local church should be able to help you sort out what to do (we don't provide advice here with respect to what to do), but we should be able to answer in broad strokes what the effects (if any) of being baptized twice are.
    – Peter Turner ♦
    Apr 30, 2019 at 20:47

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
4

I'll answer from the Catholic point of view, because I'm Catholic, but I think the Orthodox would agree (just interchange "Catholic" and "Orthodox" in the rest of this answer). Your first baptism is presumably valid (unless it was done in some weird way --- it's possible to mess up a baptism to the point of invalidity, but that very rarely happens). The sacrament of baptism can only be received once, so your second baptism is invalid, i.e., it's not really a baptism at all. The Catholic Church regards Orthodox baptisms as valid (and vice versa, as far as I know). So from the Catholic point of view, you're validly baptized, no matter which of your two baptisms came first. If you've been practicing the Catholic faith (attending mass, receiving communion, going to confession, etc.) all along, you have nothing to worry about. If you haven't been practicing the Catholic faith but want to begin, you should consult a priest about what you need to do. That may involve receiving instruction in the faith, it may involve making a general confession, or it may involve other things that don't occur to me just now. It should not involve baptism unless there's reason to suspect that both of your previous baptisms were invalid.

Edit: A comment requested sources for this information. The one I have handy is "Moral Theology" by Fr. Heribert Jone, which I consider reliable because it was recommended to me by a traditional Catholic priest and because no one has given me any reason to doubt it. Baptism is treated in detail in Sections 464 to 486. In particular, see Section 472 concerning validity of baptism by non-Catholics and Section 473 for the impossibility of being validly baptized twice.

Improve this answer
2
  • I deleted the other answers on this post because there weren't from a Catholic or Orthodox perspective, this one is probably more right - but could definitely needs sourcing (The Catholic Church does regard Orthodox Baptisms as valid, it should be very easy for you to prove that)
    – Peter Turner ♦
    Apr 30, 2019 at 20:39
  • As far as I know a rule in the CIC states that you cannot become Catholic that easily if you are baptized Orthodox (unless you get married with a Catholic). Officially being Orthodox has the consequence that you cannot receive sacraments from a Catholic priest with exception of Holy Communion. (Note that Marriage is officially not received from the priest but from the spouse, so you cannot receive this sacrament from a Catholic priest anyway.)
    – Martin Rosenau
    May 1, 2019 at 20:16
0

Being Orthodox, it is my understanding that to practice Orthodoxy it is best to speak to a priest in such a case; he may have to consult those above him with regards to your case. Your baptisms may need to be looked further into. If your Orthodox baptism is considered invalid you may be required to undergo chrismation; a Catholic baptism is not considered automatically 'good'.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .