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T h e F a t h e r s K n o w B e s t
WHO CAN BE SAVED?
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This Rock
Volume 5, Number 11
 November 1994 
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INDIFFERENTISTS claim that it makes no difference
what church one belongs to and that salvation can be attained through
any of them. Certain traditionalists (often but inexactly called "Feeneyites,"
after Fr. Leonard Feeney [1897-1978], an American priest best known
for his strict interpretation of the doctrine "No salvation outside
the Church") claim that unless one is a full-fledged, baptized
member of the Catholic Church, one will be damned. Is either position
correct?
The following quotations from the Church Fathers show that the early
Church's faith on this matter was the same as that of today's Church:
While it is normatively necessary to be a Catholic to be saved (see
Catechism of the Catholic Church 846), it is possible in some
circumstances for people to be saved who have not been initiated fully
into the Catholic Church (CCC 847).
Notice that the same Fathers who declare the normative necessity of
being Catholic also declare the possibility of salvation for some
who are not Catholics. These can be saved by what later came to be
known as "baptism of blood" or " baptism of desire"
(but keep in mind that neither one is sacramental baptism). The Fathers
likewise affirm the possibility of salvation for those who lived before
Christ and who were not Jews.
Ignatius
"Be not deceived, my brethren: If anyone follows
a maker of schism, he does not inherit the kingdom of God; if anyone
walks in strange doctrine, he has no part in the passion. Take care,
then, to use one Eucharist, so that whatever you do, you do according
to God: For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup
in the union of his blood; one altar, as there is one bishop with
the presbytery and my fellow servants, the deacons" (Letter
to the Philadelphians 3:3-4:1 [A.D. 107]).
Justin Martyr
"If some should accuse us as if we held that
people born before the time of Christ were not accountable to God
for their actions, we shall anticipate and answer such a difficulty.
We have been taught that Christ is the first-begotten of God, and
we have declared him to be the Logos of which all
mankind partakes [John 1:9]. Those, therefore, who lived according
to reason [Greek, logos] were really Christians, even though
they were thought to be atheists, such as, among the Greeks, Socrates,
Heraclitus, and others like them. . . . Those who lived before Christ
but did not live according to reason were wicked men, and enemies
of Christ, and murderers of those who did live according to reason,
whereas those who lived then or who live now according to reason are
Christians. Such as these can be confident and unafraid" (First
Apology 46 [A.D. 151]).
Theophilius of Antioch
"God has given the world a holy Church in whose
safe harbor the lovers of truth seek refuge, as well as those who
desire to be saved and to escape the dreadful wrath of God" (To
Autolycus [A.D. 180]).
Irenaeus
"In the Church God has placed apostles, prophets,
teachers, and every other working of the Spirit, of whom none of those
are sharers who do not conform to the Church, but who defraud themselves
of life by an evil mind and even worse way of acting. Where the Church
is, there is the Spirit of God; where the Spirit of God is, there
is the Church and all grace" (Against Heresies 3:24:1
[A.D. 189]).
Tertullian
"We have, indeed, a second font, one with the
former [water baptism]: namely, that of blood, of which the Lord says:
`I am to be baptized with a baptism' [Luke 12:50], when he had already
been baptized. He had come through water and blood, as John wrote
[1 John 5:6], so that he might be baptized with water and glorified
with blood. . . . This is the baptism which replaces that of the fountain,
when it has not been received, and restores it when it has been lost"
(On Baptism 16:1 [A.D. 203]).
Clement of Alexandria
"Before the coming of the Lord, philosophy was
necessary for justification to the Greeks; now it is useful for piety
. . . for it brought the Greeks to Christ as the Law did the Hebrews"
(Stromata 1:5 [A.D. 209]).
Origen
"Celsus asks: `How is it that after so many centuries
it is only now that God has thought to bring men to live righteously,
and that previously he had had no concern about this?' I reply that
there was never a time when God did not want men to be just; he was
always concerned about that. Indeed, he always provided beings endowed
with reason with occasions for practicing virtue and doing what is
right. In every generation the Wisdom of God descended into those
souls which he found holy and made them to be prophets and friends
of God" (Against Celsus 4:7 [A.D. 248]).
"If someone from this people wants to be saved,
let him come into to this house so that he may be able to attain his
salvation . . . Let no one, then, be persuaded otherwise, nor let
anyone deceive himself: Outside of this house, that is, outside of
the Church, no one is saved; for, if anyone should go out of it, he
is guilty of his own death" (Homilies on Joshua 3:5 [A.D.
250]).
Cyprian
"Let them not think that the way of life or salvation
exists for them, if they have refused to obey the bishops and priests,
since the Lord says in the book of Deuteronomy: `And any man who has
the insolence to refuse to listen to the priest or judge, whoever
he may be in those days, that man shall die' [Deut. 17:12-13]. And
then, indeed, they were killed with the sword . . . but now the proud
and insolent are killed with the sword of the Spirit, when they are
cast out from the Church. For they cannot live outside, since there
is only one house of God, and there can be no salvation for anyone
except in the Church" (Letters 61[4]:4 [A.D. 249]).
"We are not interested in what he [the heretic
Novatian] teaches, since he teaches outside the Church. Whatever and
whatsoever kind of man he is, he is not a Christian who is not in
Christ's Church" (Letters 51[55]:24 [A.D. 251]).
"Whoever is separated from the Church and is
joined to an adulteress is separated from the promises of the Church,
nor will he that forsakes the Church of Christ attain to the rewards
of Christ. He is an alien, a worldling, and an enemy. He cannot have
God for his Father who has not the Church for his mother" (On
the Unity of the Catholic Church 6 [A.D. 253]).
"[T]he baptism of public witness and of blood
cannot profit a heretic unto salvation, because there is no salvation
outside the Church." (Letters 72[73]:21 [A.D. 255]).
"[Catechumens who suffer martyrdom] are not deprived
of the sacrament of baptism. Rather, they are baptized with the most
glorious and greatest baptism of blood, concerning which the Lord
said that he had another baptism with which he himself was to be baptized
[Luke 12:50]" (ibid. 72[73]:22).
Lactantius
"It is, therefore, the Catholic Church alone
which retains true worship. This is the fountain of truth; this, the
domicile of faith; this, the temple of God. Whoever does not enter
there or whoever does not go out from there, he is a stranger to the
hope of life and salvation. . . . Because, however, all the various
groups of heretics are confident that they are the Christians and
think that theirs is the Catholic Church, let it be known that this
is the true Church, in which there is confession and penance and which
takes a salubrious care of the sins and wounds to which the weak flesh
is subject" (Divine Institutes 4:30:11-13 [A.D. 307]).
Cyril of Jerusalem
"If any man does not receive baptism, he does
not have salvation. The only exception is the martyrs, who even without
water will receive the kingdom. . . . For the Savior calls martyrdom
a baptism, saying, `Can you drink the cup which I drink and be baptized
with the baptism with which I am to be baptized [Mark 10:38]?' Indeed,
the martyrs too confess, by being made a spectacle to the world, both
to angels and to men [1 Cor. 4:9]. Soon you too will confess--but
it is not yet time for you to hear of these things" (Catechetical
Lectures 3:10 [A.D. 350]).
Gregory of Nazianz
"[Besides the baptisms associated with Moses,
John, and Jesus] I know also a fourth baptism, that by martyrdom and
blood, by which also Christ himself was baptized. This one is far
more august than the others, since it cannot be defiled by later sins"
(Oration on the Holy Lights 39:17 [A.D. 381]).
John Chrysostom
"Do not be surprised that I call martyrdom a
baptism, for here too the Spirit comes in great haste and there is
the taking away of sins and a wonderful and marvelous cleansing of
the soul, and just as those being baptized are washed in water, so
too those being martyred are washed in their own blood" (Panegyric
on St. Lucian 2 [A.D. 388]).
Ambrose
"But I hear you lamenting because he [the Emperor
Valentinian] had not received the sacraments of baptism. Tell me,
what else could we have, except the will to it, the asking for it?
He too had just now this desire, and after he came into Italy it was
begun, and a short time ago he signified that he wished to be baptized
by me. Did he, then, not have the grace which he desired? Did he not
have what he eagerly sought? Certainly, because he sought it, he received
it. What else does it mean: `Whatever just man shall be overtaken
by death, his soul shall be at rest [Wis. 4:7]'?" (Sympathy
at the Death of Valentinian [A.D. 392]).
Athanasian Creed
"Whoever wishes to be saved needs above all to
hold the Catholic faith; unless each one preserves this whole and
inviolate, he will without a doubt perish in eternity. . . . This
is the Catholic faith; unless each one believes this faithfully and
firmly, he cannot be saved" (Athanasian Creed [A.D. 400]).
Augustine
"I do not hesitate to put the Catholic catechumen,
burning with divine love, before a baptized heretic. Even within the
Catholic Church herself we put the good catechumen ahead of the wicked
baptized person. Nor do we thereby do any injury to the sacrament
of baptism, which the former has not yet received, while the latter
has it already. Nor do we think that the catechumen's `sacrament'
[of salt] is to be preferred to the sacrament of baptism, just because
we recognized that a specified catechumen may be better and more faithful
than a specified baptized person. The centurion Cornelius, not yet
baptized, was better than Simon [Magus], already baptized. For Cornelius,
even before his baptism, was filled up with the Holy Spirit [Acts
10:44-48], while Simon, even after his baptism, was puffed up with
an unclean spirit [Acts 8:13-19]" (Baptism 4:21:28 [A.D.
400]).
"That the place of baptism is sometimes supplied
by suffering is supported by a substantial argument which the same
blessed Cyprian draws from the circumstance of the thief, to whom,
although not baptized, it was said, `Today you shall be with me in
paradise' [Luke 23:43]. Considering this over and over again, I find
that not only suffering for the name of Christ can supply for that
which is lacking by way of baptism, but even faith and conversion
of heart if, perhaps, because of the circumstances of the time, recourse
cannot be had to the celebration of the mystery of baptism" (ibid.
4:22:29).
"When we speak of within and without in relation
to the Church, it is the position of the heart that we must consider,
not that of the body . . . All who are within in heart are saved in
the unity of the ark" (ibid. 5:28:39).
"The apostle Paul said, `As for a man that is
a heretic, after admonishing him once or twice, have nothing more
to do with him' [Titus 3:10]. But those who maintain their own opinion,
however false and perverted, without obstinate ill will, especially
those who have not originated the error of bold presumption, but have
received it from parents who had been led astray and had lapsed .
. . those who seek the truth with careful industry and are ready to
be corrected when they have found it, are not to be rated among heretics"
(Letters 43:1 [A.D. 397]).
"Whoever is separated from this Catholic Church,
by this single sin of being separated from the unity of Christ, no
matter how estimable a life he may imagine he is living, shall not
have life, but the wrath of God rests upon him" (ibid. 141:5
[A.D. 412]).
"Those who, though they have not received the
washing of regeneration, die for the confession of Christ--it
avails them just as much for the forgiveness of their sins as if they
had been washed in the sacred font of baptism. For he that said, `If
anyone is not reborn of water and the Spirit, he will not enter the
kingdom of heaven' [John 3:5], made an exception for them in that
other statement in which he says no less generally, `Whoever confesses
me before men, I too will confess him before my Father, who is in
heaven' [Matt. 10:32]" (City of God 13:7 [A.D. 419]).
Fulgence of Ruspe
"From that time at which our Savior said, `If
anyone is not reborn of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of heaven' [John 3:5], no one can, without the sacrament
of baptism, except those who, in the Catholic Church, without baptism
pour out their blood for Christ, receive the kingdom of heaven and
life eternal. Anyone who receives the sacrament of baptism, whether
in the Catholic Church or in a heretical or schismatic one, receives
the whole sacrament; but salvation, which is the strength of the sacrament,
he will not have, if he has had the sacrament outside the Catholic
Church. He must therefore return to the Church, not so that he might
receive again the sacrament of baptism, which no one dare repeat in
any baptized person, but so that he may receive eternal life in Catholic
society, for the obtaining of which no one is suited who, even with
the sacrament of baptism, remains estranged from the Catholic Church"
(The Rule of Faith 43 [A.D. 524]).
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