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Holy Baptism
Text of the Service of Holy Baptism and Chrismation The rites associated with Christian initiation and birth could and should be considered separately if only because baptism can be administered at any age, whereas the other ceremonies are tied to birth and infancy itself. So, we must speak first of baptism as it applies to adults.. Baptism is our entry into both the Christian faith and the Christian Church. These two cannot be separated because they are integrated so closely in the New Testament record. St. Paul talks of being baptised into "one body," by which he means the Church, (1 Corinthians 12: 12-13). Nonetheless, he also refers to baptism as a burial in Christ's death and a rising with him into newness of life, (Romans 6:3-4). The Church only exists as a communion of the Holy Spirit; the very same Holy Spirit who is poured into the hearts of believers as they are regenerated, saved as members of Christ's body, (Romans 5:5). The seamless robe which is Christ is manifested in his Church as the believers gather together with their households, washed in the life-giving water of forgiveness by the Cross and restored to God's image and likeness by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. Baptism no less than the Eucharist is an Easter mystery. It is the means of our belonging and the context of our believing. We find all these elements woven together most beautifully in the service of Holy Baptism which I now propose to consider in some depth. One thing that can be said about the Orthodox Church is that she is not "mealy-mouthed." There are no concessions made to delicate self-regarding feelings here. The service of baptism is prefixed by a catechumenal rite that emphasises exorcism, conversion, repentance and illumination. It is addressed in the first sense to an adult convert and derivatively through the sponsorship of an adult Christian to the junior household also. Infants partake of repentance vicariously in the first instance, but by the age of discretion, (usually seven and above), such baptismal renewal and repentance will be practised through confession. Either way, whether the baptism is of an adult or a child, exorcism and repentance are vitally important. Exorcism precedes repentance because it speaks of something only God can do through the faithful prayer of his Church. Who knows what evil or evils lurk in the bosom of any one of us? We need that exorcism daily and inwardly if not always in the church liturgically. Repentance is a route to salvation that will never end ... not until we draw our last breath. Repentance is something by grace that we must always do. It complements the exorcism and completes it. The cycle never ceases to renew in this life. Repentance in the baptism service is a metanoia .. a whole life revolution, a turning away from sin, a rejection and despising of that ancient enemy, the devil, whose figurative abode is in the west. So we turn and spit on him. However, so that the condition of the last man shall not be worse than the first once the evil has departed, we turn to the east and the rising of the Son/sun to cleave to Christ as Lord and Saviour, putting our whole trust in Him. These questions are addressed of those to be baptised not once but three times and after the promises have been made there is a threefold confirmation of the decision. ("Have you united yourself to Christ? .... etc). No one can be in any doubt what is happening here. These are life and death decisions. Woe betide any candidate or sponsor who replies to the questions unworthily or insincerely! These are decisions and promises that will stand either to our salvation or to our judgement on the Great and Last Day simply in terms of how we have fulfilled or not fulfilled them. Today many Christians find it difficult to relate faith to THE Faith of the Church. Saving faith is held to be a purely personal, even subjective thing or maybe something a little wider than that; the confession of my group or denomination. This is totally inadequate from an Orthodox point of view. If a candidate is not placing his or her personal faith and trust in Christ in the manner that the whole Church as his body preaches, teaches, believes and lives that faith, then that person has no business being baptised. As I said at the beginning of this talk, baptism is as much about belonging as it is about believing. Our believing is always "in the body." Our membership of that body must always be construed by that catholic Orthodox faith and this faith we must make our own. That is why baptism in the Orthodox Church must be preceded by instruction and scrutiny ... by formation in the faith and testing to make sure that the person truly believes the faith that he or she may be called upon to die for. Therefore, whenever a person comes to be baptised he or she must first affirm the faith of the Church, in the words of the great creed of Nicaea. This creed started off as a confession of faith at baptism, mutually agreed by the bishops whose ministry of proclamation and guardianship this was and is. Baptism is, therefore, the proper context for the creed but later, the Church, for good measure, inserted the Creed also into the Eucharist as well! The Creed is not an exhaustive description of the Christian faith. There are many important things that are not contained therein but it remains a benchmark of Orthodox believing and a guide against error. All this has happened and we have only just arrived at the service of Holy Baptism proper! After an introductory blessing and Litany the priest proceeds to lead the congregation in prayer that the Holy Spirit may come down upon the water and the candidate for their mutual enlivening and sanctification. Water is a deeply rich symbol of creation and salvation in the Scriptures and all these are referred to in the prayer. In this, the prayer of consecration over the waters, (mirroring indeed that prayer at the Great Blessing of the Waters at Theophany), we find this beautiful and centrally important supplication for the candidate:- "Wherefore, O Lord, manifest Thyself in this water, and grant that he who is baptized therein may be transformed; that he may put away from him the old man, which is corrupt through the lusts of the flesh, and that he may put on the new man, and be renewed after the image of Him who created him; that being buried, after the pattern of Thy death, in baptism, he may, in like manner, be a partaker of Thy Resurrection; and having preserved the gift of Thy Holy Spirit, and increased the measure of grace committed unto him, he may receive the prize of his high calling, and be numbered with the firstborn whose names are written in heaven, in Thee, our God and Lord, Jesus Christ. For unto Thee are due all glory, dominion, honour, and worship, together with Thy Father, who is from everlasting, and Thine all-holy, and good, and life-giving Spirit, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen." The candidate is then anointed with pure olive oil blessed by the prayer of the Church. This isn't the oil of chrismation, (of which more later), but rather a preparation for the active Christian life, (an athlete in times of old was anointed for a demanding sports contest). It is also a healing unto salvation. Then, and only then is the candidate ready to be baptised which, textually, is very simple but spiritually enormously powerful and significant. It is recited as the candidate is immersed three times in the life-giving waters of baptism in the usual Trinitarian formula of St. Matthew's gospel, (Ch. 28:19-20). "The servant of God (name), is baptized, in the Name of the Father, Amen; and of the Son, Amen; and of the Holy Spirit, Amen." Heaven rejoices. A new Christian has been born! But, if this Christian is to grow and be worthy of the name, he or she must continue to live in the fulness of Christ's risen life and cleanse that robe that he now puts on as a pure white garment. When, later, sin soils the soul and wounds the body the pristine garment of baptism must be recovered through renewed repentance. Being a Christian is also a process, a journey, a pilgrimage. Nothing must be taken for granted. We must build on Christ, not stop and stare and admire the foundations or think that the building is of no account. In the early Church only part of the candidates instruction happened before baptism. The greater part to do with the sacraments, the Christian life and service happened afterwards. Mindful of this the Church conferred the gift of the Holy Spirit on the post-baptismal anointing (called chrismation) because she recognised that the Christian life, to be effective, must be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Chrismation anointing is of the whole body for the gift of the Holy Spirit and this for a most excellent reason. Our bodies no less than our hearts must become a dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. ALL of our lives must be consecrated to God and in that consecration restored. We believe in the resurrection of the body ... not just nice uplifting feelings in our hearts. The Church ministers to a broken world in all its several parts. God does not save souls ... he saves embodied souls, whole persons; persons whose bodies get wearied, hungry, wracked by suffering, poverty and oppression. The Holy Spirit is a liberator of all flesh. We fly not away from the world but into it with the Kingdom of God and so as the Church, we become the Church, fulfilling what God originally intended all humans to be, priests of his creation. In this sense chrismation is the ordination of every Christian to be a minister and a missionary. Subsequently on the eighth day, but now often now added directly to the end of the baptism and the chrismation itself, the candidates anointing oil is washed away and the tonsure cutting of hair is made to indicate consecration to the Christian life. Additionally, for an infant, on the fortieth day but often immediately after the baptism the child is churched by being brought into the altar of God. This, the altar, is the natural and God given place of rest and empowerment for every Christian. Every Christian belongs here as an inheritor by grace of the Kingdom of God. This, then constitutes a fitting end to the rite of Holy Baptism but the beginning of a lifelong participation in the Holy Eucharist. It is clear that the Orthodox Church regards Holy Baptism with utmost seriousness as a conversion and renewal mystery. It is the God-appointed means of restoring the creation to the Creator through the agency of new "little-Christ-bearers"... Christians that is who will dedicate their whole lives without reservation to the service of God as members of His Church. This is a great and holy calling. Let us not neglect it nor spurn the Pearl of Great Price given unto us by the Lord Himself. Fr. Gregory |
