He Who Apostatized and Returned
He Who Apostatized and Returned
Question
What is the Church’s position regarding a person who left his faith and then returned to it again? Is this considered blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? How does the Church accept his return?
Answer
This matter is not considered blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Be assured.
For it happened during the severe Roman persecution in the first three centuries of Christianity and the beginning of the fourth century that many people apostatized from Christianity, and some of them offered incense to idols or offered sacrifices to them… When the Edict of Milan granting religious tolerance was issued in 313 AD, these people returned to the Church, and the Church accepted them with a disciplinary canon concerning their apostasy.
The canons of the Councils of Ancyra in 314 AD and Neocaesarea in 315 AD regulated this acceptance at that time. Their acceptance also rests on the saying of the Lord Christ: “The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37).
Such a person who returns to the faith is not baptized again; rather, the Sacrament of Repentance is sufficient for him. He is not considered to have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit for one simple reason:
There is no doubt that his return is evidence of his responding to the work of the Holy Spirit in him.
And this is evidence of communion with the Holy Spirit. And this, without a doubt, is contrary to blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
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