Metropolitan Hilarion said that the child should not be baptized if the parents are against it
Photo: Evgeny Odinokov / RIA Novosti
Head of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR) Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of the Moscow Patriarchate named the condition under which it is possible to refuse the baptism of a child. He told about this on the air of the program “Church and Peace” on the TV channel “Russia 24”. The recording is available on YouTube.
The metropolitan said that if parents oppose the upbringing of a child in the Orthodox faith, then he should not be baptized. “Baptism is not some magical act. You can’t just baptize a child, for example, so that he doesn’t get sick, or for some other reason. The child is baptized in order to bring him up in the Orthodox faith,” explained the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church.
According to him, if a grandmother or another relative is ready to take over the upbringing of a child in the Orthodox faith, then this person can arrange for baptism with a priest. At the same time, Metropolitan Hilarion warned that this could lead to a conflict with the child’s parents, and in this regard advised to think carefully about everything.
Earlier, the head of the DECR criticized the American streaming service Netflix for gay propaganda in films and TV series intended for young people. According to Metropolitan Hilarion, any measures aimed at protecting children from such influence should be welcomed.
