If a member of one of the churches of the Reformed family intends to become a member of one the churches of the Orthodox family, they may not be baptized again with water in the name of the Trinity.

This is because the Orthodox and the Reformed have some common understanding of Christian baptism. They affirm that baptism is a sacrament or "mystery" of divine grace, connected with the death and resurrection of Christ. The grace of baptism, they affirm, confers forgiveness of sins and rebirth of water and the Holy Spirit. This is necessary for entry into the kingdom of Heaven.

However, a member of one of the churches of the Reformed family who intends to become a member of one of the churches of the Orthodox family will certainly receive "chrismation". This is a sacramental act distinct but not separated from baptism, in which the bishop or priest anoints the newly-baptized in several places with consecrated chrism (traditionally, a mixture of olive oil and balsam).

This is so because between the Orthodox and the Reformed there is a difference of understanding as to whether the grace in baptism includes the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit. On the grounds of scripture and tradition, the Orthodox contend that the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit is granted through chrismation.

Reformed churches, on the other hand, include the fullness of the Spirit in the baptismal grace. To them, every person engrafted into Christ by baptism receives the Holy Spirit. For that reason they do not practice chrismation. They often practice "confirmation". But confirmation is very different from Orthodox chrismation. Confirmation is not sacramental. It has to do just with church discipline, with allowing a person to make public profession of the faith into which they were baptized.

Despite the fact that they share the understanding that communion in the Holy Spirit is the basis of life in the church, the Orthodox and the Reformed have not yet reached a common understanding concerning the seal of the gift of the Spirit.

This was one of the questions discussed at the latest session of the long-standing international bilateral dialogue between WARC and the Orthodox Church, which took place at Pittsburgh theological seminary in the USA at the beginning of April.

Membership and incorporation into the body of Christ was the theme of the session. Delegates presented papers on baptism, chrismation and confirmation, and the apostolicity of the church. They also drafted a preliminary common statement on the theme, which they plan to finalize at their next session.

The proceedings of the third, fourth, fifth and sixth sessions of the Orthodox-Reformed theological dialogue (1992, 1994, 1996, 1998) have been published in the Greek Orthodox Theological Review, vol.43 (1998), edited by George Dragas. Copies may be obtained by writing to the business manager, GOTR, 50 Goddard Avenue, Brookline, Massachusetts 02445, USA.

The meeting was chaired by Dr Kim Yong-bock, moderator of the WARC department of theology, his predecessor, Dr Karel Blei, and his eminence Metropolitan Panteleimon of Tyroloë and Serention, representing the ecumenical patriarchate of Constantinople. The ecumenical patriarch, his all-holiness Bartholomaios sent his greetings. On alternate days, worship in the seminary chapel was led by the Orthodox and the Reformed.

Participants attended a reception in the home of the seminary president, Dr Carnegie Samuel Calian, who is a member of the dialogue commission. They also had an opportunity to meet seminary staff.

One of CS Calian's more recent publications is Survival or Revival: Ten keys to church vitality (Louisville KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998). Will churches merely survive in the next century? Or will they come alive? In this book Calian challenges churches and their members to become committed to their own success and to take ownership of their future. His context is North American, but the book is of wider interest.

On the Orthodox side, the commission was received by his eminence Metropolitan Maximos of Ainos, the presiding hierarch of Pittsburgh, and paid a visit to the Antiochian village in Ligonier. This village, constructed by the Orthodox on land bought from the Presbyterians, has an extensive suite of meeting rooms and other buildings, including a museum dedicated to the Orthodox immigration into the USA and a chapel which is being decorated with murals in the Orthodox style. It is used extensively for Orthodox youth events.

Odair Pedroso Mateus and Páraic Réamonn