Baptism is your death and resurrection. It’s the moment you’re plunged into water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and you come up a new person, washed clean, united to Christ, made a member of his Body the Church.
This isn’t a symbol. Something actually happens.
When we baptize someone at St. Michael’s, we’re not performing a public testimony of a decision they already made. We’re not commemorating their personal commitment. We’re doing what the Church has done since Pentecost: we’re drowning the old person and raising up someone new. The water isn’t just water anymore. The Holy Spirit works through it, and through the priest’s prayers, and through the Church’s faith. You go under dead in your sins. You come up alive in Christ.
Born of Water and Spirit
Jesus told Nicodemus, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” That’s not poetry. It’s the actual requirement. Baptism is how we’re born again, not in the sense of making a decision at a revival meeting, but in the sense of receiving a new life we couldn’t generate ourselves.
The Apostle Paul says we’re baptized into Christ’s death. We’re buried with him. And we’re raised with him to walk in newness of life. That’s Romans 6, and it’s not metaphor. When Father Michael or Father Joseph takes a baby or an adult and immerses them three times, once for the Father, once for the Son, once for the Holy Spirit, that person is joining Christ in his tomb and in his resurrection. They’re putting on Christ like a garment. They’re being incorporated into his Body.
This is why we baptize infants. They need this grace as much as adults do. They’re born into a world broken by sin, and they need to be born again into the Kingdom. The Church has baptized babies from the beginning. We don’t wait for them to make a decision because baptism isn’t primarily about our decision, it’s about God’s gift.
What Happens Next
Here’s something that surprises people coming from Baptist or Bible church backgrounds: we don’t stop at baptism. The moment someone comes up out of the water, we anoint them with holy chrism. That’s Chrismation, the seal of the Holy Spirit. Then we give them Holy Communion. Yes, even babies.
Baptism, Chrismation, and Communion happen together because they’re all part of the same reality. You can’t be half-initiated. You’re either in the Church or you’re not. If you’re in, you get the whole thing. You’re washed, you’re sealed, you’re fed. You’re a full member of the Body of Christ, and you come to the Chalice every Sunday to receive him.
This is how salvation works in Orthodoxy. It’s not a one-time transaction where you pray a prayer and you’re done. It’s a process that starts at baptism and continues for the rest of your life. We call it theosis, becoming by grace what God is by nature. You’re being transformed, slowly, into the likeness of Christ. Baptism is day one of that journey.
The Role of Godparents
Every person baptized in the Orthodox Church has a godparent (sometimes two). This isn’t just an honorary title. Your godparent is your sponsor, your spiritual guide, the person who stands with you and says “I believe” on your behalf if you’re an infant. They promise to help raise you in the faith. They’re supposed to pray for you, remind you of your baptism, and be there when you have questions about fasting or confession or why we do things the way we do.
Godparents have to be Orthodox Christians in good standing. They can’t be someone who shows up at church twice a year. This is a serious responsibility, and it requires someone who’s actually living the faith.
For Those Coming from Other Traditions
If you were baptized in another church, Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, whatever, the question of whether you’ll be baptized again when you become Orthodox depends on a few things. The Antiochian Archdiocese generally receives people who were baptized with water in the name of the Trinity through Chrismation, not rebaptism. But that’s a pastoral decision your priest will make. Some people choose to be baptized even if they don’t have to, because they want the full experience of entering the Church. That’s between you and your priest.
What matters is this: baptism is the door. You can’t be Orthodox without it. You can’t receive Communion without it. You can’t be a godparent without it. It’s not optional, and it’s not secondary. It’s the beginning of everything.
If you’re thinking about Orthodoxy and you’ve never been baptized, or if you’re not sure your baptism “counts,” talk to Father Michael. He’ll walk you through it. And if you’re already Orthodox but you’ve never really understood what happened to you in that font, go back and read the prayers sometime. We didn’t just get you wet. We drowned you and raised you up. You’re a new creation. Don’t forget it.
