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Last
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March 18, 2007
The
Orthodox Church: A Visual Journey
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| The practice of
baptism as a religious symbol did not begin with Jesus.
Baptism, which means literally the immersion
in water, was practiced among the people of the Old Testament as well as
the people who belonged to pagan religions. The universal meaning of
baptism is that of "starting anew," of dying to an old, way of life and
being born again into a new way of life. Thus, baptism was always
connected with repentance which means a moral
conversion, a "change of mind," a change in living from something old
and bad to something new and good.
In the Gospel we find John the Baptist baptizing the people as a
sign of repentance in preparation for the Kingdom of God which was
coming to men with Christ the Messiah. Christ himself was baptized by
John not because he was sinful and needed to repent, but because in
allowing himself to be baptized he showed that indeed he was God's
"Beloved Son," the Saviour and Messiah, the
"Lamb of God who takes upon
himself the sins of the world" (See
the Gospels According to Matthew 03, Mark 01, Luke 03, John 01-03).
The institution of the sacrament came after our
Lord’s Resurrection as a farewell commandment and admonition, so to
speak, just before his Ascension to heaven, with these words: “Go ye
therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
keep all things I have commanded you..” (Matthew 28,19-20)
Baptism is the gateway into the Christian
Church; the saving action of God who through water and the Spirit
recreates his creation; the initial sacrament through which he who is
immersed in water three times in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit is cleansed from all sin and regenerated
spiritually. As our Lord himself stated: “..no on can enter the kingdom
of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.” John 3,5
Orthodox baptism contains many components as
discussed below:
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The Renunciation and the Acceptance
– the child will be held by Godparent or Godparents (Nuno and
Nuna in Greek) as he stands in the narthex of the church facing east
(towards the altar). The priest, standing in front of them, blows
three times into the child’s face in the form of the cross to drive
away any evil spirits and adverse power and blesses him each time
saying “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen”. He then places his hands on the child’s head, which
symbolized the taking of possession of the candidate in the name of
the Holy Trinity and recites a prayer addressed to the Triune God:
“In your name, O God of truth..I lay my hand on your servant who has
been found worthy to seek salvation in your Holy Name and protection
under the shelter of your wings. Banish from him the old error, fill
him with faith and hope in you..so that he might know that you are
the only true God..Grant him the ability to live in accordance with
your commandments.” |
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The Exorcisms
– The prayer is followed by three exorcisms and yet another
prayer, the prayer of acceptance, at the end of which the priest, in
summary of all that was said before, asks God to drive out and
banish from the child any and every evil and impure spirit which may
be hiding and lurking in his heart and make him a reason-endowed
sheep in the holy flock of Christ, an honorable member of the
Church, child and heir of the kingdom. The child and Godparent will
then be asked to face west and renounce Satan and all his works, and
all his worship and all his angels, and all his pride in a question
and answer form three times and then asked to breath (instead of the
old tradition of spitting) down on Satan. Facing west signifies the
west, a place of natural darkness, where the Devil, who is darkness
himself, makes his abode. |
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The Confession of Faith
– Then the child and Godparent will face east again and
affirmatively answer The Priest who will ask them (three times) if
they have pledged their allegiance to Christ. |
The Orthodox Service of Baptism
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The Blessing of the Water
– Now that the child is ready, they will enter the Church and the
Priest will ask the Holy Spirit to come down and bless and
consecrate the water in the font and make it an instrument of
salvation. |
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The Blessing of the Oil and Anointing
– Once the blessing of the water is complete, the Godparent will
offer a small bottle of olive oil over which a prayer for the
banishment of evil is read to make it “an anointing of incorruption,
a weapon of justice, a renewal of soul and body, a defense against
every influence of the Devil and a release from evil to all those
who are anointed with it, or partake of it.” Some of this oil is
then poured crosswise three times on the water in the font in order
to render the consecration of the water complete. The child (now
naked) will be anointed with the blessed oil on the forehead, nose,
ears, mouth, chest, legs, feet, hands and back. The Godparent will
then anoint the child, to prepare him, just as an athlete prepares,
to battle the demon whom he has just renounced and to slip away from
the grip of sin. |
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The Baptism
– Now the child will be immersed in the font three times with
prayers, and then handed to the Godparent who is waiting for him
with a white sheet. |
The Sacrament of Chrism
Now newly
baptized, the child will be chrismated with Holy Myrrh on the same parts
of the body where he was earlier anointed with oil. Holy Chrism is the
seal of the gift of the Holy Sprit, which brands all baptized persons
with a seal which sets them apart as inalienable possessions of Christ.
That is, the Holy Spirit embraces them and envelopes them like a shield
and an armor of faith to enable them to live the faith into which they
have just been baptized. This is why Chrismation is also known as the
Sacrament of the Holy Spirit.
The Tonsure
Following the
Baptism and Chrism, the Priest will tonsure the child by cutting some of
his hair crosswise to signify: that Christ will be the head of the child
from now on, that he will reject other allegiances, the first sacrifice
from his body to God.
The Vesting
The Priest now
blesses the child and places a white garment of righteousness on him.
The child will leave to be dressed and the Priest will read additional
prayers at this time. The child will return fully dressed and undergoes
the ablution or symbolic washing away of the Myrrh and then receives the
blessing of Christ. The Godparent will then take the child’s baptismal
candle and will then be lead three times around the font. This is an act
of rejoicing with the angles in heaven at the return of a lost sheep,
and with the other Christians present at the addition of one more member
to the flock of Christ.
The Readings
The baptismal
readings follow from the Epistle of Paul to the Romans (6, 03-11) where
Paul makes the comparison between the immersion and emersion with the
burial and resurrection of Christ and from the Gospel according to Saint
Matthew (28, 16-20) where the Divine Institution of Baptism was
established by our Lord.
Hold Communion
The whole
ceremony ends with the partaking of Hold Communion by the child, his
first taste of the Body and Blood of the Lord, so that just as nature
nourishes the newborn infant physically with milk, likewise the Grace
offers to it Holy Communion as spiritual food as so as he is born
through baptism. Finally the Priest places a blessed gold cross around
the neck of the child. The child will then be presented to the parents
and the celebration can begin.
In the Christian Church the practice of baptism takes on a new and
particular significance. It no longer remains merely a sign of moral
change and spiritual rebirth. It becomes very specifically the act of a
person's death and resurrection in and with Jesus. Christian baptism is
man's participation in the event of Easter. It is a "new birth by water
and the Holy Spirit" into the Kingdom of God (John
03:05).
Baptism in the Church begins with the rejection of Satan and the
acceptance of Christ. Before being baptized, a person -- or his sponsors
or godparents for him -- officially proclaims
the symbol of Christian faith, the Creed. Because the godparent speaks
on behalf of the child, sponsors his entrance into the Church and
"receives" the child out of the baptismal waters into the Church and
cares for his spiritual life, the godparent himself must be a member of
the Church.
After the proclamation of faith, the baptismal water is prayed over and
blessed as the sign of the goodness of God's creation. The person to be
baptized is also prayed over and blessed with sanctified oil as the sign
that his creation by God is holy and good. And then, after the solemn
proclamation of "Alleluia" (God be praised), the person is immersed
three times in the water in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit.
Through the act of immersion, the baptized person dies to this world and
is born again in the resurrection of Christ into eternal life. He is
clothed with the "garments of salvation" symbolized by the white
baptismal robe which is the "new humanity" of Jesus himself who is the
new and heavenly Adam (See John 3, Romans 5, 1 Cor
inthians15).
Thus, the words of the Apostle Paul are chanted as the newly-baptized is
led in procession around the baptismal font three times as the symbol of
his procession to the Kingdom of God and his entrance into eternal life:
"For as many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Alleluia" (Galatians 3:27).
In ancient times this procession was made from the baptistery to the
church where the newly-baptized received Holy Communion at the
celebration of the Divine Liturgy. Baptisms were normally done in
connection with the Easter Liturgy; our present procession around the
church building on Easter night is nothing more than our remembrance
that we are baptized, that we have left the life of this world to enter
the eternal life of the Risen Christ in the Kingdom of God. This new
life is given to us in the life of the Church, most specifically in the
Divine Liturgy. Before the baptismal procession and the reading of the
Epistle and the Gospel is fulfilled in the reception of Holy Communion,
however, the newly-baptized is given the gift of the Holy Spirit in the
sacrament of Chrismation.
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Jesus Christ,
Our Lord and Savior
  
 
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