In Christian theology, baptism of blood (Latin: baptismus sanguinis[1]) or baptism by blood, also called martyred baptism,[2] is a doctrine which holds that a Christian is able to attain through martyrdom the grace of justification normally attained through baptism by water, without needing to receive baptism by water.
Patristic period
Cyprian of Carthage in a letter of 256 regarding the question of whether a catechumen seized and killed due to his belief in Jesus Christ "would lose the hope of salvation and the reward of confession, because he had not previously been born again of water", answers that "they certainly are not deprived of the sacrament of baptism who are baptized with the most glorious and greatest baptism of blood."[3]
Cyril of Jerusalem states in his Catechetical Lectures delivered in Lent of 348 that "if any man receive not Baptism, he hath not salvation; except only Martyrs, who even without the water receive the kingdom."[4]
Denominations
This doctrine is held by the Catholic Church,[5] the Oriental Orthodox Churches,[6][7][8][9] the Eastern Orthodox Church,[2] and the American Association of Lutheran Churches.[10]
Similarly, those who die as Christian martyrs in a persecution of Christians are also judged by Anabaptists and Lutherans as having acquired the benefits of baptism without actually undergoing the ritual.[11]
The Augsburg Confession of Lutheranism affirms that "Baptism is normally necessary for salvation". Citing the teaching of the early Church Fathers, Lutherans acknowledge a baptism of blood (martyrdom) in "the circumstances of persecution".[12]
Feeneyism denies baptism of blood as well as baptism of desire.
See also
References
- ↑ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Baptism". https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02258b.htm.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Mastrantonis, George (1969). "Section one – On Faith - The Sacrament of Baptism". A new-style catechism on the Eastern Orthodox faith for adults. Internet Archive. St. Louis: The Ologos Mission. pp. 118. http://archive.org/details/newstylecatechis00mast.
- ↑ "CHURCH FATHERS: Epistle 72 (Cyprian of Carthage)". https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/050672.htm.
- ↑ "CHURCH FATHERS: Catechetical Lecture 3 (Cyril of Jerusalem)". https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/310103.htm.
- ↑ Template:Cite CCC/core
- ↑ "Holy Baptism" (in en). 2020-12-14. https://www.malankara.com/baptism.html.
- ↑ "The Sacrament of Baptism". https://www.copticchurch.net/introduction-to-the-coptic-church/sacraments/1_baptism.
- ↑ "The history of the Armenian Church" (in en-US). https://www.chiesaarmena.org/gora/.
- ↑ "THE FAITH OF THE CHURCH - PART-II, The Seven Sacraments - CHAPTER 1". https://www.ethiopianorthodox.org/english/dogma/sacrabaptism.html.
- ↑ "The Necessity of Holy Baptism" (in en). January 17, 2017. https://www.taalc.org/blog/post/the-necessity-of-holy-baptism.
- ↑ Hill, Kat (2015) (in en). Baptism, Brotherhood, and Belief in Reformation Germany: Anabaptism and Lutheranism, 1525-1585. Oxford University Press. p. 134. ISBN 9780198733546.
- ↑ Larson-Miller, Lizette; Knowles, Walter (26 June 2013) (in en). Drenched in Grace: Essays in Baptismal Ecclesiology Inspired by the Work and Ministry of Louis Weil. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 55. ISBN 9781621897538.
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