This was just posted over at Orthodox Christian Musings, and, as I liked it so much, I'm reposting it in its entirety here.
Recently, an inquirer emailed me and asked what the Orthodox Church believes about non-Orthodox Christians. Here is my response (please forgive the lack of biblical and patristic citations, but it would be cumbersome for me at the moment to go through and properly annotate everything:
Now, with regard to Orthodoxy and the non-Orthodox Christian, I would say that what you have heard is basically right. What I will present to you is what is probably the most mainstream view in accordance with the Church's theology and canon law. The Orthodox Church claims to be the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Jesus Christ and according to Orthodoxy, there is no other Church. The Church also honors the patristic maxim, "There is no salvation outside of the Church," but we must be careful in our interpretation of this saying. We do teach that Orthodoxy is Orthodox both in holding to all of the saving truths taught by the apostles and handed down in Scripture and Tradition and in offering the right worship, the offering of Christ's Body and Blood on the altar for our salvation. All salvific, sacramental grace comes from and through the Church. Does this mean then that only Orthodox are saved and that all non-Orthodox are damned? No, it does not mean this. Our salvation is ultimately based on whether we have repented and attained by grace a humble and loving heart devoted to Jesus Christ. St. Paul says we are certainly saved without works of the law, but his full statement in Galatians is that we are "saved by faith working through love." Or, as St. James put it, "faith without works is dead." The works that St. James talks about are works of love inspired by God's grace. So we are indeed saved by grace and we do not, strictly speaking, earn our salvation. We can never adequately pay back all that we owe to God.
Now, we do believe that we are born again in Baptism and sealed with the Holy Spirit in Chrismation. But what about those outside the Orthodox Church? Well, we believe that the Holy Spirit is active throughout the whole world and that, as it says in Acts, God accepts all who fear him and do what is right. People are judged according to their response to the grace and enlightenment that they have received. The non-Orthodox Christian who rightly believes in Christ can be accepted by God and eventually joined to His Church, if not in this life, then in the next. True faith in God is a "baptism of desire," that preceeds the actual Baptism in water. According to the fathers, those who died without baptism could still be saved if they had a "baptism of desire," i.e. true faith or a baptism of blood (martyrdom). So we rejoice in the true faith and piety that we see among non-Orthodox Christians. Also, being a member of the Orthodox Church is not a guarantee of salvation. We do not believe in "once saved, always saved." Anyone, including an Orthodox Christian, can harden his heart against God and end up losing the grace given to him for salvation. Indeed, it is likely that many Orthodox Christians will end up damned and many non-Orthodox Christians will be saved. One last thing; we should make a distinction between (what is called in Latin Theology) formal heresy and material heresy. A formal heretic is one who knows the Orthodox faith, perhaps is even a member of the Orthodox Church, and willfully rejects some aspect of that faith. So, for example, Arius and Nestorius were heretics because being prelates of the Church, they rejected the defined Orthodox doctrine of Christ. Objectively speaking, all non-Orthodox Christian bodies are heretical. This is because they either omit true doctrines or believe false doctrines. However, this does not mean at all that non-Orthodox Christians are formal heretics. Material heresy is heresy held in ignorance and the vast majority of Christians have not been enlightened as to all of the truly Orthodox doctrines taught by the apostles. Since God judges us according to the light that we have received, God will not reject those who are material heretics if it is through no fault of their own.
Now, for non-Christians, one could find a variety of views among the fathers and among theologians today. Broadly speaking, there are many traditional Christians (for example, most evangelical protestants) who would be exclusivists with regard to salvation. They would hold that only those who come to explicit faith in this life can be saved. All non-Christians, therefore are damned. It is possible that there are a few Orthodox who hold this view, but it is not the mainstream view. The mainstream view in Orthodoxy is similar to the defined view of the Roman Catholic Church. Most Orthodox would say that non-Christians are judged according to the light that they receive and if they cooperate with the light and grace available to them, they can be saved. Whether they will be saved or not is for God to judge. We cannot judge any individual man. But we do know that God desires the salvation of all and that somehow, someway, He makes salvation possible for all.
What about children and people who are severely mentally disabled or infants who die without baptism? The Orthodox Church does not have a defined doctrine that answers this question. We do believe that God desires the salvation of all and we also believe that our prayers aid the dead. Therefore, we commend them to the mercy of God in the good hope that they can be saved. My understanding is that this is also the current teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. A more strict view was held by some Church fathers and by medieval theologians in the West. According to the older, medieval view and based on the teachings of blessed Augustine, infants who died without baptism went to hell but suffered only mild punishments because they died in original sin, without having committed actual sin. This view can be found articulated at a number of medieval Roman Catholic councils. Later in the middle ages, some theologians who were disturbed by this conclusion postulated the possibility of a place of "limbo" where the unbaptized who had not committed sins went to enjoy natural happiness without the vision of God. This was never a doctrine of any Church, but always merely a theological opinion.
In Orthodoxy, we do not share the same understanding of original sin as the West. In our theology, ancestral sin is the cause of our mortality and our weakened, corrupted nature. But we do not believe that we inherit any guilt from Adam. All guilt is our own guilt that is due to our own consciously willed sins. Because of this understanding of original sin, some fathers, such as St. Gregory of Nyssa, postulated that infants who died would indeed be saved. This seems to be the majority view among Orthodox theologians and among the Greek fathers.
So, in conclusion, we would say that all salvation is through Jesus Christ. Christ is the "way, the truth, and the life," and no one who rejects Christ can be saved. However, for those who have not rejected Christ and who have not been given the opportunity to place explicit faith in Him (since they have not heard of Him), salvation is possible because the saving grace won for humanity by Christ is capable of being applied to all. If one is saved without explicit knowledge of Christ, then it is still because of Christ that such a person is saved.
Now, with regard to Orthodoxy and the non-Orthodox Christian, I would say that what you have heard is basically right. What I will present to you is what is probably the most mainstream view in accordance with the Church's theology and canon law. The Orthodox Church claims to be the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Jesus Christ and according to Orthodoxy, there is no other Church. The Church also honors the patristic maxim, "There is no salvation outside of the Church," but we must be careful in our interpretation of this saying. We do teach that Orthodoxy is Orthodox both in holding to all of the saving truths taught by the apostles and handed down in Scripture and Tradition and in offering the right worship, the offering of Christ's Body and Blood on the altar for our salvation. All salvific, sacramental grace comes from and through the Church. Does this mean then that only Orthodox are saved and that all non-Orthodox are damned? No, it does not mean this. Our salvation is ultimately based on whether we have repented and attained by grace a humble and loving heart devoted to Jesus Christ. St. Paul says we are certainly saved without works of the law, but his full statement in Galatians is that we are "saved by faith working through love." Or, as St. James put it, "faith without works is dead." The works that St. James talks about are works of love inspired by God's grace. So we are indeed saved by grace and we do not, strictly speaking, earn our salvation. We can never adequately pay back all that we owe to God.
Now, we do believe that we are born again in Baptism and sealed with the Holy Spirit in Chrismation. But what about those outside the Orthodox Church? Well, we believe that the Holy Spirit is active throughout the whole world and that, as it says in Acts, God accepts all who fear him and do what is right. People are judged according to their response to the grace and enlightenment that they have received. The non-Orthodox Christian who rightly believes in Christ can be accepted by God and eventually joined to His Church, if not in this life, then in the next. True faith in God is a "baptism of desire," that preceeds the actual Baptism in water. According to the fathers, those who died without baptism could still be saved if they had a "baptism of desire," i.e. true faith or a baptism of blood (martyrdom). So we rejoice in the true faith and piety that we see among non-Orthodox Christians. Also, being a member of the Orthodox Church is not a guarantee of salvation. We do not believe in "once saved, always saved." Anyone, including an Orthodox Christian, can harden his heart against God and end up losing the grace given to him for salvation. Indeed, it is likely that many Orthodox Christians will end up damned and many non-Orthodox Christians will be saved. One last thing; we should make a distinction between (what is called in Latin Theology) formal heresy and material heresy. A formal heretic is one who knows the Orthodox faith, perhaps is even a member of the Orthodox Church, and willfully rejects some aspect of that faith. So, for example, Arius and Nestorius were heretics because being prelates of the Church, they rejected the defined Orthodox doctrine of Christ. Objectively speaking, all non-Orthodox Christian bodies are heretical. This is because they either omit true doctrines or believe false doctrines. However, this does not mean at all that non-Orthodox Christians are formal heretics. Material heresy is heresy held in ignorance and the vast majority of Christians have not been enlightened as to all of the truly Orthodox doctrines taught by the apostles. Since God judges us according to the light that we have received, God will not reject those who are material heretics if it is through no fault of their own.Now, for non-Christians, one could find a variety of views among the fathers and among theologians today. Broadly speaking, there are many traditional Christians (for example, most evangelical protestants) who would be exclusivists with regard to salvation. They would hold that only those who come to explicit faith in this life can be saved. All non-Christians, therefore are damned. It is possible that there are a few Orthodox who hold this view, but it is not the mainstream view. The mainstream view in Orthodoxy is similar to the defined view of the Roman Catholic Church. Most Orthodox would say that non-Christians are judged according to the light that they receive and if they cooperate with the light and grace available to them, they can be saved. Whether they will be saved or not is for God to judge. We cannot judge any individual man. But we do know that God desires the salvation of all and that somehow, someway, He makes salvation possible for all.
What about children and people who are severely mentally disabled or infants who die without baptism? The Orthodox Church does not have a defined doctrine that answers this question. We do believe that God desires the salvation of all and we also believe that our prayers aid the dead. Therefore, we commend them to the mercy of God in the good hope that they can be saved. My understanding is that this is also the current teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. A more strict view was held by some Church fathers and by medieval theologians in the West. According to the older, medieval view and based on the teachings of blessed Augustine, infants who died without baptism went to hell but suffered only mild punishments because they died in original sin, without having committed actual sin. This view can be found articulated at a number of medieval Roman Catholic councils. Later in the middle ages, some theologians who were disturbed by this conclusion postulated the possibility of a place of "limbo" where the unbaptized who had not committed sins went to enjoy natural happiness without the vision of God. This was never a doctrine of any Church, but always merely a theological opinion.
In Orthodoxy, we do not share the same understanding of original sin as the West. In our theology, ancestral sin is the cause of our mortality and our weakened, corrupted nature. But we do not believe that we inherit any guilt from Adam. All guilt is our own guilt that is due to our own consciously willed sins. Because of this understanding of original sin, some fathers, such as St. Gregory of Nyssa, postulated that infants who died would indeed be saved. This seems to be the majority view among Orthodox theologians and among the Greek fathers.So, in conclusion, we would say that all salvation is through Jesus Christ. Christ is the "way, the truth, and the life," and no one who rejects Christ can be saved. However, for those who have not rejected Christ and who have not been given the opportunity to place explicit faith in Him (since they have not heard of Him), salvation is possible because the saving grace won for humanity by Christ is capable of being applied to all. If one is saved without explicit knowledge of Christ, then it is still because of Christ that such a person is saved.
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