—Why doesn’t the church pray for the unbaptized?
This is not true. Listen to the words spoken at any service, even at the Liturgy, during which a bloodless Sacrifice is offered for everyone and everything: “We also pray for our God-protected country, for its authorities and army.” For whom does the Church call to pray? Not only about the country as a whole, but also about those specific people who are in government structures and in military service. Are they all baptized, all Orthodox, all Christians? Yes, whoever is there, Noah’s Ark is there: atheists, and people of any religions and sects, and hidden Satanists. So, you see, the Church itself prays for the unbaptized and calls all believers to do this.
But it is necessary to distinguish the prayers that are performed in the temple for all people, regardless of their beliefs, from the special sacred rites performed only for those who have been baptized. For example, you cannot give communion or marry the unbaptized. It is also impossible to submit a note about the unbaptized to the proskomedia, because on it the particle taken out of the prosphora symbolizes a baptized person.
But this, as you see, does not mean at all that the Church does not pray for the unbaptized at all. I repeat, she is praying for everyone. For the Church is the embodiment of Christ’s love for everyone. Do you remember who Christ prayed for on the cross? For outright Satanists, Antichrists, who decided to kill even Lazarus, resurrected by Christ. It seems that Christ cared less about them during his terrible suffering? But He suddenly turns from the cross: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. And our Church is Christ’s, and not the Jewish one, whose commandment is: “love your neighbor and hate your enemy,” and not some sect that cares only about its own.
Alexey Ilyich Osipov
Professor of the Moscow Theological Academy
Holy Land Charitable Foundation
Investment in the Soul!
