You die. Then you’re born again.
That’s not metaphor. When we baptize someone in the Orthodox Church, we believe something real happens. The person goes down into the water united with Christ in His death and comes up united with Him in His resurrection. It’s not a symbolic gesture or a public testimony of something that already happened. It’s the thing itself.
If you grew up Baptist here in Southeast Texas, this probably sounds strange. You’re used to baptism being what you do after you get saved, a way to show everyone you’ve made your decision for Jesus. But Orthodox baptism is different. It’s the beginning of salvation, not a commemoration of it.
What You’ll Actually See
The service starts in the back of the church, not at the front. The priest meets the person being baptized (or the infant with their godparents) at the door. He breathes on them three times in the sign of the cross. This isn’t weird theater. It echoes Genesis 2, when God breathed life into Adam.
Then come the exorcisms. Yes, really. The priest commands Satan to depart. The person being baptized (or the godparent speaking for an infant) turns to face west, the direction of darkness, and renounces Satan three times. “Do you renounce Satan, and all his works, and all his angels, and all his service, and all his pride?” After each renunciation, they spit toward the west. I’m not kidding about the spitting.
Then they turn east, toward the light, toward Christ. Three times they’re asked if they unite themselves to Christ. Three times they say yes. They recite the Creed. This isn’t casual. You’re declaring allegiance.
The priest blesses the water in the baptismal font. He breathes on it, makes the sign of the cross over it three times, prays that it become a fountain of incorruption. He anoints the water with the Oil of Gladness, then anoints the person being baptized.
And then the baptism itself. Three times the priest immerses the person completely in the water, once in the name of the Father, once in the name of the Son, once in the name of the Holy Spirit. For infants, the godparent holds them and the priest takes them and dunks them. Babies usually cry. Adults sometimes come up gasping. It’s supposed to feel like drowning, like burial. Because that’s what it is.
What Happens Next
Here’s where we really differ from most Protestant churches. Baptism isn’t the end. Immediately after coming up from the water, the newly baptized person is anointed with Holy Chrism, consecrated oil blessed by the patriarch. The priest anoints their forehead, eyes, nostrils, ears, lips, chest, hands, and feet, each time saying, “The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit.” This is chrismation, and it’s what gives the person the Holy Spirit. Baptism and chrismation always go together. Always.
The godparent dresses the person in a white garment. The priest washes away the chrism while chanting, “You are justified, you are illumined, you are sanctified, you are washed, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” He cuts a small bit of hair from the person’s head in the shape of a cross.
Then everyone processes into the church, the newly baptized person carrying a candle, while we sing, “As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Alleluia!” And when we celebrate the Liturgy that follows, that person receives Holy Communion for the first time. Even if they’re eight days old.
The Godparents Matter
Your godparent isn’t just someone who gives you presents on your birthday. They’re your sponsor, the person who vouches for you before the Church. For an infant, they speak the renunciations and the affirmations. For an adult, they stand with you. Either way, they’re committing to help raise you in the faith. It’s a serious responsibility. We don’t pick godparents because they’re your college roommate or your favorite cousin. We pick them because they’re Orthodox Christians who’ll actually be there.
Why Infants?
This trips up a lot of people coming from Baptist backgrounds. You’re used to believer’s baptism, waiting until someone can choose for themselves. But we baptize infants because we believe baptism is God’s work, not ours. The baby can’t choose, but God can act. The parents and godparents choose on the child’s behalf, just like they choose everything else for the child, where they live, what they eat, how they’re raised. And then they raise that child in the Church, teaching them the faith they were baptized into.
St. Paul baptized whole households. The early Church baptized infants. We’ve never stopped. And those babies receive communion from that day forward, because they’re full members of the Body of Christ.
What It All Means
When I talk to inquirers, they sometimes ask if you have to understand everything that’s happening for it to count. No. You don’t understand how antibiotics work, but they still cure your infection. Baptism works because God works, not because you’ve grasped the theology. But you do have to want it. You have to say yes. Or your parents and godparents have to say yes for you, and then raise you to claim that yes as your own.
The white garment you wear after baptism? You’ll be buried in it when you die. Fr. Thomas Hopko used to say that your baptism is the most important day of your life, more important than your wedding or the birth of your children. Because it’s the day you died and came back to life. Everything else flows from that.
If you’re thinking about being baptized, talk to Fr. Michael. Come to a baptism and see what happens. Bring your questions. This isn’t something you do lightly, but it’s not something you should be afraid of either. It’s coming home.
