10- Does baptism still carry its efficacious if the clergyman who administers it is a malefactor?

 

St-Takla.org Image: Bad priest - Photograph by Michael Ghaly for St-Takla.org. صورة في موقع الأنبا تكلا: كاهن سيء - تصوير مايكل غالي لـ: موقع الأنبا تكلا هيمانوت.

Does baptism still carry its efficacious if the clergyman who administers it is a malefactor?

The graces we receive in baptism are from God and not from the clergyman who is but a minister of the Lord the Giver. The graces are based on the true promises of God and not on the deportment of the clergyman.

The clergyman is like the postman who carries a joyful letter to you; whether he is handsome or ugly does not affect the joy your letter brings.

We can also compare the clergyman to the gardener sowing seeds in the earth to bring forth fruits. Whether he is sinful or virtuous does not matter; what matters are the seeds themselves and the life therein, not the hands of the gardener who sows them.

You may drink water from a gold or copper cup, yet the water itself remains the same irrespective of the kind of cup you drink from.

In our discourse about baptism and its efficacious, we shall discuss the dogma objectively. We shall not touch any subjective issue as this leads to judging others and to disregarding what the Lord endowed upon human beings in baptism

If baptism is renewal of life, why do we sin after being baptised?

Comparative Theology Books by H. H. Pope Shenouda III

How was the Penitent Thief saved without baptism?