The Sacrament of Holy Baptism in the Eastern Orthodox Church

In my last post I introduced the non-Orthodox members of the forum to our Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom which we celebrate every Sunday in every Orthodox Church in the world. In this post I would like to address the Holy Sacrament of Baptism and Chrismation in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

First of all, in the Orthodox Church the purpose of the Sacrament of Holy Baptism is:

- To remove the consequences of the 'original sin'.

- To wash away all other sins committed before the time of Baptism if the person is beyond the age of infancy.

- To unite the person to "The Body of Christ" (that is, the Church), and to open the door of salvation and eternal life to him or her.

Secondly, I've read some negative posts regarding infant Baptism. The practice of infant Baptism was common during the first two centuries of the Church. Tertullian in the third century was the first to object to the practice of baptizing infants because of the heretical idea that sin after baptism was nearly unforgivable. Infant Baptism continued without any major controversy until the Protestant Reformation and the subsequent discarding of 1500 years of Church history and tradition.

40 day old infant receives the Sacrament of Holy Baptism in the Orthodox Church
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The Sacrament of Holy Baptism is NOT simply a "symbol," but actually conveys grace. The Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodox Church Baptise infants as soon as possible after birth depending on health and other circumstances. Traditionally the infant receives the Sacrament of Holy Baptism at 40 days as I did. Due to a premature birth my son was six months old when he was Baptised.

I can't say it better than Cat who wrote, "One can become a Christian at a very early age (even 1 month old) through the power of Holy Spirit given to the Priest that performs the Baptism. The Guarantors (Godfather, Godmother) renounces Satan and unites with Christ the young child spiritually and the priest gives the Body and the Blood of Christ to the young child and since then he/she is a Christian."

Adult receives the Sacrament of Holy Baptism in the Orthodox Church
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https://oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthod...aments/baptism
"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” (from Hebrew, meaning “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 Jn 3, Rom 5, 1 Cor 15). 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” (Gal 3.27)..."
https://oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthod...aments/baptism

https://oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthod...ts/chrismation
"In the sacrament of Chrismation we receive “the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit” (See Rom 8, 1 Cor 6, 2 Cor 1.21–22). If baptism is our personal participation in Easter—the death and resurrection of Christ, then chrismation is our personal participation in Pentecost—the coming of the Holy Spirit upon us."

"The sacrament of chrismation, also called confirmation, is always done in the Orthodox Church together with baptism. Just as Easter has no meaning for the world without Pentecost, so baptism has no meaning for the Christian without chrismation. In this understanding and practice, the Orthodox Church differs from the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches where the two sacraments are often separated and given other interpretations than those found in traditional Orthodoxy..."https://oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthod...ts/chrismation

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The Sacrament of Holy Baptism in the Eastern Orthodox Church