For there is an evident contradiction
when in one and the same Church one believes that the Holy Ghost proceeds from
the Father, and another that He proceeds from the Father and the Son; when one
sprinkles, and another baptizes (immerses) thrice in the water; . . .
VIII. The one holy, catholic and
apostolic Church of the first seven Ecumenical Councils baptized by the three
immersions in the water, and the Pope Pelagius speaks of the triple immersion
as a command of the Lord, and in the thirteenth century baptism by immersion
still prevailed in the West; and the sacred fonts themselves, preserved in the
more ancient churches in Italy, are eloquent witnesses on this point; but in
later times sprinkling or effusion, being privily brought in, came to be
accepted by the Papal Church, which still holds fast the innovation, thus also widening
the gulf which she has opened; but we Orthodox, remaining faithful to the apostolic
tradition and the practice of the seven Ecumenical Councils, “stand fast, contenting
for the common profession, the paternal treasure of the sound faith.” (“The
Patriarchal Encyclical of 1895: A Reply to the Papal Encyclical of Pope Leo
XIII, On Reunion,” in The Orthodox Patristic Witness Concerning Catholicism [Uncut
Mountain Press, 2024], 576 579)
