Abigail's Baptism

A few weeks ago we were blessed to be able to Baptize our youngest daughter, Abigail.  She is our first official "cradle" Orthodox.  She was the only one that did not join the church with the rest of our family in August, simply because she was still in my belly (technically she joined the church twice).

 

It was actually quite humorous, one of the Deacon's sons (of whom I might add is one of 6 kids), asked his mother why we were baptizing Abby right now.  He said, "Obviously there are going to be more of them, shouldn't we just wait and do them all at the same time??" 

 

Oh my, I sure hope he doesn't know something I don't!!

 

I know many of my Protestant friends will not understand why we chose to Baptize our daughter, this is simply not the place where I am going to go into the "why's" of our faith.  But if you are interested in learning more about the Orthodox position on Baptism and Salvation, feel free to check that out here.

 

This was also my first experience with just an infant Baptism.  It was a beautiful service that I would like to share with you all, and hopefully equip other newly Orthodox so that they know what's going on when they get to experience this for themselves!

 

So...step by step through pictures, here goes Abigail's Baptism

 

To begin the service, the Godparents and Abby start at the back of the church.  Although she has been attending with us, she is still considered and outsider and must pronounce faith before things can get underway.  During this time we all say prayers together and the Priest performs an Exorcism against any evil spirits that my be trying to tempt her.  Then the participants turn and face the West (*all Orthodox services are done facing East, the West symbolizes the place of darkness, the abode of Satan and all demons, the East symbolizes the place of light, the kingdom of God, the place where Christ and all the saints and angels dwell)  and they renounce Satan and spit on him.

 This is also the time where they confess their faith and submission to Christ, also saying the Nicene Creed and then bowing before Him. 

Everyone then makes their way to the Altar where the Baptism takes place. 

 

The priest begins with prayers for the Baptism. (* The candles remind us of the spiritual sight which is received in Baptism and of the Light of the World, Jesus Christ Himself. The incense symbolizes the prayers of the Saints.)

These are all the supplies the priest will need for the Baptismal service: mryhh, oil of gladness, an applicator for the oil, a sponge to remove the oil, and scissors for her first sacrifice of hair.

 

 

The priest says more prayers asking that God will make the water holy for the Baptism.  The oil seen in the picture is used for the water, and also for anointing Abby with the oil of Gladness. (He also adds some water from the Jordan River, where Jesus was baptized, how cool!)  

 

 

 



 

He also takes a moment to bless the cross that she will where as a gift from her Godparents for the reminder of her commitment to Christ.

She is then baptized by the Priest.  She is immersed three times, for the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Doesn't our Priest look just like Santa!  Good thing he chose St. Nicholas as his Saint!

Abby then receives her Baptismal garment.  (* The white garment symbolizes the robe of righteousness of Jesus Christ with which Abigail in now covered because she is a child of God)  She could have also received a Saint's name at this point of the service.  Josh and I have opted out of doing this for various reasons, but have instead adopted Saint Sophia for all of our girls; the story of her life and her daughters' is truly amazing. 

And look!  Here I actually get to participate in the service!  This is a picture of me putting her cross on.  She is now a soldier of Christ.

She is now Chrismated (* The Sacrament of Chrismation was ordained and initiated by the early Apostles.  The new Christian has now been made pure and holy to follow Christ.  But to keep pure, to be a good soldier of Christ, she will need to be consecrated to the service of God and to receive a special gift of grace-the Holy Spirit.  This is given in the mystery (Sacrament) of Chrismation.)  She is anointed on the brow, eyes, nostrils, lips, both ears, breast, both hands, both feet and between the shoulders.

 

 

(*Holy Chrism or myrhh, which is used here for anointing, contains olive oil and various perfumes.  The perfumes symbolize the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Olive oil is used because the priests of the Old Testament were consecrated with olive oil and its use in Chrismation signifies that the newly-baptized person becomes an anointed one in a royal priesthood of people belonging to God. 

In the early Church, the newly baptized (usually an adult) wore the baptismal robes for seven days.  On the eighth day the robe was taken off in the Church and marks of the Chrism washed off.  Today this is done immediately after Chrismation.)

 

 



And then she drinks from the flame of fire.

Ok, not really, but doesn't it look like that?  I thought this was a cute picture :) 

Moving on...

The priest then cuts her hair in 4 places. (* After washing off the Holy Chrism from the newly-baptized Abigail, she is then tonsured.  The priest, by cutting the hair of Abigail in four places, makes the sign of the cross on her head.  This hair is the first offering of Abigail to God, an offering of herself.)

 

We then do a procession around the baptismal font.  I just LOVE how our priest includes everyone, even the children.  Children are ALWAYS included in everything in the church, which is another reason I just LOVE Orthodoxy.  All the kids are given a candle and we march around the altar 3 times, following the priest and singing.  (* The circling of the font signifies that Abigail, newly enlightened through Baptism, has entered into an unbroken and eternal union with Christ.)

She is then taken to the front of the church and given her first Communion.  Yes, even babies are given communion, as they are now fully part of the Orthodox church.

The priest then reads to us from the Gospel of St. Matthew, chapter 28 where Jesus tells the disciples to go into all nations and baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

She is then taken by Father Nicholas and welcomed into the church.  This is called "Churching."  I also received a "churching" when I rejoined the church after having spent time at home with Abigail after she was born (in the Orthodox church is is customary for a new mother to take 40 days off from church to rest, heal and bond with the baby, isn't that just lovely!)

 

Here is the entire crew!  Father Nicholas is in the middle, John (in all black, called a cassock and Rondi (in the blue shirt) are our Godparents, the man in gold behind them is our Deacon.  The girl with the pink headband is Karis, our godparent's daughter.

 

 

Our wonderful Godparents!

 

 

The beautiful cake served at the reception.

 

This was such a wonderful service and we are so thankful to now officially have Abby as part of the church.  Children are such a blessing and are very much seen as such in the Orthodox church.  We are now one big, complete Orthodox family!





* Taken from the service books provided at Baptism