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Holy Baptism

An Orthodox Christian Understanding

By Reader Mark Douglas Saunders, Juris Doctor
St. Mark’s Orthodox Church, Denver, Colorado

Baptism is our death, burial, and resurrection in union with Jesus Christ. The results of baptism are: a first and second the resurrection of righteousness; and an intimate and continual communion with God. [Orthodox Study Bible, p. 352] It is essential to the life of the Church. Being essential to the life of the Church, it is by definition an ecclesial event.

Western theology has developed the idea that there is a division between public (ecclesial) and private worship. This division is an error that is a result of the scholastic theology of the West. [Schmemann, Introduction to Liturgical Theology, p. 231]. Baptism does have an individual effect on the recipient, but that does not prevent the overall character of the event from being ecclesial. The personal effect of baptism does not make the character of baptism private. The true purpose of all worship is to constitute the Church, precisely to bring what is private into the new life. [Schmemann, Introduction to Liturgical Theology, p. 241]. In Of Water and the Spirit, Schmemann states that the transformation of baptism into a private ceremony leads to the tragic consequence of baptism’s absence from our liturgy, piety, Christian worldview, and philosophy of life. [Schmemann, pp. 8–101].

There are several individual effects of baptism on the recipient. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, He who believes and is baptized shall be saved [Mark 16:16]. Baptism is necessary to salvation. In baptism we die and are buried with Christ. We are baptized into His death [Romans 6:3]. Our fallen nature is put to death [Carlton, p. 179].

There are two dyings: our death with Christ on the Cross; and our daily dying to sin as we walk in newness of life [Orthodox Study Bible, p. 352]. This burial is made visible by the physical element of the sacrament—water. Through the full immersion of baptism, we are buried with Him in baptism [Colossians 2:12]. This is one of the reasons for the strong preference in the Church for full immersion. In the Church the candidate is immersed three times, in commemoration of Christ’s three-day burial [Carlton, p 82]. Without the full immersion, we lose sight of the connection between baptism and our burial with Christ [Schmemann, pp. 56–57].

The Christian West, through its widespread abandonment of full immersion, has lost sight of the fact that baptism is a burial and resurrection with Christ. Having lost this, the West has had to develop alternative theology for the meaning of baptism [Schmemann, p. 10]. Therefore, the scholastic reduction of the sacrament has led to the development of heresy. Schmemann states, The fundamental rule of liturgical theology…is that the true meaning of each liturgical act is revealed through context…each rite receives its meaning and also its power from that which proceeds it and that which follows [Schmemann, p. 74]. Therefore, changing one part of the sacrament can have profound effects on the rest of the sacrament. Lex orandi est lex credendi. Orthodoxy, by preserving the form of the sacrament of baptism, has also preserved the theology of the sacrament.

Baptism is not just a burial, however. It is also a resurrection. Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life [Romans 6:4]. It is the beginning of an entirely new relationship with life and the world [Schmemann, p. 9]. The old man is dead; the new man is alive in our Lord Jesus Christ.

The second major part of the ritual of baptism is the sacrament of chrismation. In it the recipient is marked with the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit [Hapgood p. 281]. This is the singular gift of the Holy Spirit, for it is the of the Holy Spirit Himself that is given to the recipient [Carlton, p. 193]. In chrismation the Holy Spirit descends on us and abides in us as the personal gift of Christ from His Father [Schmemann, p. 79]. Chrismation is the fulfillment of baptism, just as participation in the eucharist is the fulfillment of chrismation [Schmemann, p. 77]. Likewise, baptism is the preparation for chrismation, which is in turn the preparation for participation in the eucharist. This double rhythm of preparation and fulfillment is at the core of the liturgy, for the function of the liturgy is to make the Church preparation and reveal the Church as fulfillment [Schmemann, p. 17].

Baptism and chrismation are closely connected to the eucharist. Baptism and chrismation are the sacraments of entrance into the life of the Church. They lead us into the life of the Church and unite us with its essential nature [Schmemann, Introduction to Liturgical Theology, p. 25]. Being the sacraments of entrance, baptism and chrismation are intimately connected with the eucharist, because the eucharist is the center and the source of the whole life of the Church.

St. Nicholas Cabasilas explained this connection between baptism, chrismation, and the eucharist:

Baptism confers being and in short, existence according to Christ…The anointing with Chrism erfects him who has received birth by infusing into him the energy that befits such a life. The Holy Eucharist preserves and continues this life and health, since the Bread of Life enables us to preserve that which has been acquired and to continue in life…In this way we live in God [Carlton, p. 203]

In other words, these mysteries are our participation in the life of the Holy Trinity. Baptism and chrismation lead us into that life, and the eucharist is the continuation and fulfillment of that life.

Although there are many personal effects of baptism, it is still an ecclesial, corporate, event in the life of the Church. In the early days of the Church this fact was much more clear. Lent was a time of preparation of catechumens for baptism. Candidates were enrolled at the beginning of Lent [Schmemann, p. 19]. Baptisms took place at Easter, and culminated in the reception of communion by the newly baptized. Baptism was indeed a paschal event, and the liturgy reflects that early character of baptism. The fact that often in modern times baptism is separated from Easter does not keep the essential nature of baptism from being paschal, for the Resurrection is central to the proper understanding of baptism.

Baptism is in the likeness and after the pattern of Christ’s Death and Resurrection [Schmemann, p. 55]. This paschal character of baptism is the key not only to Baptism but to the totality of the Christian faith itself [Schmemann, p. 37]. Christ’s voluntary death and His glorious Resurrection destroyed the power of spiritual death. Baptism is the gift of Christ’s Death and Resurrection to each of us. In Baptism, the Death and Resurrection of Christ are truly fulfilled as His Death for me, His Resurrection for me, and therefore my death in Christ and my resurrection in Him [Schmemann, p. 70].

The whole Church participated in the preparation and fulfillment of baptism [Schmemann, p. 45]. In the Blessing of Water, the test asks that we may be illumined by the light of understanding and piety, and by the descent of the Holy Spirit [Hapgood, p. 276]. Through the blessing of water, the entire Church receives the illumination of the Holy Spirit, is involved in this act of recreation and redemption [Schmemann, p. 421]. The Church itself was renewed by the baptism of new members, and the Church accepted the responsibility for the salvation of the new member. The whole Church was involved in the process of creating the image of Christ in the newly baptized. Baptism is a beginning; it is the recreation of man in Christ and the Holy Spirit. It is the very essence and function of the Church to manifest and fulfill this beginning always and everywhere [Schmemann, p. 47]

Contemporary Orthodox practice certainly varies from parish to parish. In my parish the ecclesial nature of baptism and its connection to the eucharist is very clear. Baptism and chrismation are truly regarded as being ecclesial events in my parish, and are always connected to the eucharist. Baptisms and chrismations always take place during regularly a regularly scheduled divine liturgy. All of this is in keeping with the tradition that baptism and chrismation are corporate, ecclesial, events in the life of the Church. Having baptisms during the course of the divine liturgy ensures the ecclesial and paschal nature Of the Sacrament. It also ensures that the new member of the Church immediately participates in the eucharist.

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