If you were brought up by non-Orthodox parents or not in the Orthodox Faith, does that mean you automatically go to hell? (May ’01)
As you know, a lot of people who were brought up by non-Orthodox parents or not in the Orthodox Faith, have later been catechized and received into the Orthodox Church. But I assume that your question refers specifically to those who end their earthly lives as non-Orthodox. In his book The Non-Orthodox (Regina Orthodox Press, Salisbury, MA, 1999. ISBN 0-9649141-6-6) Patrick Barnes gives a very succinct (and very correct) answer to this question: "The status of the heterodox (the non-Orthodox) is properly seen in two ways. When speaking of their ecclesial status -- i.e., their relation to the Orthodox Church -- we would say that the heterodox cannot be seen as Her members, because they have not been grafted into the one true Body of Christ through Holy Baptism." (It might be helpful to read again my answer to the second question in the April issue of C&Q.) "On the other hand, when speaking of their eternal status -- i.e., the implications of this ecclesial separation -- we leave them to the mercy of God and do not judge them. To affirm their separation is not to imply their damnation" (The Non-Orthodox, page 8).
