Holy Sacraments
The Baptism and Chrismation
by drd. Razvan Bena
I recently
read the book "Of Water and of Spirit - a Liturgical study of
Baptism", by Father Alexander Schmemann, one of the foremost orthodox theologians
who lived in this century. Several
ideas from this book have helped me obtain a more orthodox understanding of the
Sacraments of Baptism and Chrismation, and I would like to share them here.
A
lot of people understand Baptism as a sacrament by which all sins are washed,
and the newly baptized is endowed with some sort of grace which enables him to
live as Christian. Chrismation is similarly understood as a sacrament by which
the gifts of the Holy Spirit are
imparted to the newly baptized person, "for growth and strength in
the spiritual life". The point which I would like to make is that while
this understanding contains some parts of truth, what the Orthodox Church
teaches is far more complex and far-reaching for one’s Christian life.
Orthodoxy
understands Baptism as a personal Easter. The immersion in the baptismal water
is the death of the old man, and the resurrection to a new life. Thus,
Christian life is a radically new way of life. The Christian does not live
according to the World, while maybe
renouncing a few sins.
His life is rather summarized in
Saint Paul’s words: "I no longer live, but Christ lives in me"
(Galatians 2.20).
The
first part of the Baptism ceremony is the Exorcism, in which the person to be
baptized flees from the World and renounces Satan. By this, he renounces a
whole vision of life which places man in the center of
everything and is nothing but a
subtle form of idol-worshipping in which the place of the physical idols has
been taken by the new idols of Pride, Money, Pleasure, Individualism, etc.
Renouncing these idols and living our
life in Christ is hard, and some
may say impossible, but this is our calling as Christians. In struggling for
this, we should never lose hope, remembering that "What is impossible with
men is possible with God".
After
the renunciation of this world, the priest asks: "Do you unite yourself to
Christ ?" to which the person to be baptized answers "I do".
This mystical union with Christ takes place by belonging to the Church, which
is the Body of Christ. This is more than just believing in Him (after all, the
devils also believe and confess Him - Luke 8, 26).
Before
the immersion in the water the baptizand is annointed with the Oil of Gladness,
on the chest (for the healing of soul), back (healing of body), ears (for the
hearing of the Faith), hands (for doing God’s works),
and feet (for walking on the
Lord’s path). After this the priest baptizes him "In the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit".
By
immersion in the water of baptism, the old man (who has fallen away from God)
from us dies, and we are born again to a new life in Christ. This is our
personal Easter.
One
question which is often asked and which has been a stumbling block for many is:
"How can infants be baptized, if they have no personal faith ?"
How are they supposed to know
anything about the awesome mysteries taking place ? Wouldn’t it be better to
wait until they are mature ?
The
orthodox answer is two sided. First, infant baptism has been practiced since apostolic
times. Since the Holy Spirit has always been in the Church, doubting infant
baptism is the same as doubting the guidance of The Spirit, as well as the
wisdom of thousands of God-inspired Fathers, who have always stood by this
practice.
Second,
neither adults not infants are baptized because of their faith.
Let us face it - if our faith were
the condition for baptism, almost nobody would be baptized. Orthodoxy never
reduces faith to personal faith.
The Paralytic was healed by Christ
because of the faith of his friends, who lowered him through the roof (Luke
5.18). The daughter of the Canaanite woman was healed because of the faith of
her mother (Matthew 15.21-28). It is the faith of the parents, of the
godparents, and ultimately the faith of the Church which enables us to receive
baptism. It is duty of the parents, godparents and the church community to
attend to the spiritual growth of the newly baptized child, to the fulfillment
of his baptism in his life.
If
by baptism the person is restored from the fallen state to the
"normal" one, which God
intended for us, Chrismation brings even more. By annointing with Holy Chrism
we receive something which does not belong to us by nature, we receive the Gift
of the Holy Spirit. Note that we are not receiving some vaguely defined gifts
which enable us to live a more virtuous Christian life. We are receiving the
Holy Spirit Himself, the third person of the Holy Trinity, as a gift. This is
why Chrismation is our personal Pentecost.
I
think it is useful to draw a few conclusions from what we explained above. We
have seen that by Baptism and
Chrismation a fallen human being is brought to God, united back unto
Him, and endowed with the Holy Spirit. From this point on it is the
responsibility of the parents, godparents and the whole church community to
attend to his spiritual growth. How great and awesome is this responsibility !
Parents
and godparents - do not forsake the
robe of light with which your child is clothed at baptism, do not forsake the
gift of the Holy Spirit which your child receives, by not bringing him to
church and by neglecting
his spiritual growth. How easy
saying a prayer at bedtime and spending a few hours with our children at Church
are, and yet how many of us neglect these things. May God enlighten us,
preserve the grace of baptism in our
hearts, and take not His Holy
Spirit away from us.
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2. As a Nonprofit Organization, we
intend to develop a fund raising campaign within the Church's aria or the
Parishioners living aria for material things (donations) such as food, books,
CDs, stationary, etc. Details will follow.
3. To bring more children to
Church, particularly teens, we do strongly believe in reactivation of LAROY.
The youngsters are free to meet at Church not only for Sunday School but to
socialize as well, participating in
social activities such as: * Ping-Pong table * Pool Table
* Chess and/or other social games
* Arts and Crafts to make things to be sold when the Church has Holidays
boutiques * Dance (again, we are in need of volunteer to teach them how “the
dances”) * For the very young, the Church should have a supervised play ground,
which will give the parents a couple of hours brake from being in charge with
their own children.
If
willing to help, volunteering your ideas, talents and time, please talk to Mrs.
Nicolina Markou, either at Church, or contact her at the tel. No. (818) 785-1004.
We greatly appreciate your input.