The reception service is short, usually about fifteen minutes, and it happens right before or during the Divine Liturgy. What you’ll experience depends on how you’re being received.
Most people coming from Protestant or Catholic backgrounds are received by chrismation. That’s the anointing with holy oil. If you were baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you won’t be baptized again. The Church recognizes that baptism. But you’ll be chrismated, which is what we do for everyone entering the fullness of the Orthodox faith.
Some people are baptized. If your previous baptism wasn’t Trinitarian, or if there’s serious doubt about whether it happened at all, you’ll go through the full baptismal service first. That means triple immersion in the baptismal font. Then you’re chrismated immediately after. It’s all part of one continuous service of initiation.
What Actually Happens
You’ll stand before the priest with your sponsor beside you. The service starts with prayers you’ve probably heard before if you’ve been attending Liturgy: “O Heavenly King,” the Trisagion, Psalm 51. Then comes the profession of faith.
The priest will ask you to recite the Creed. Not the version with “and the Son” that you might’ve said in a Protestant or Catholic church. The Orthodox version, the one from the councils. You say it out loud. Everyone hears you.
After that, the chrismation itself. The priest anoints you with holy chrism on your forehead, eyes, nostrils, mouth, ears, chest, hands, and feet. Each time he makes the sign of the cross with the oil and says, “The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit.” You respond, “Amen.” The oil smells sweet, almost floral. It’s made once a year by the Patriarch and distributed to all the parishes. You’re being sealed with the same chrism used across the whole Church.
Your sponsor stands with you through all of this. They’re not just a witness. They’re taking responsibility for you, agreeing to help you grow in the faith. After the service they’ll still be checking in, answering your questions, making sure you’re not lost when everyone venerates icons you’ve never heard of.
The priest reads a prayer of reconciliation welcoming you into the Church. Then it’s done.
What Comes Next
If the reception happens during Liturgy, you’ll receive communion that same day. Your first communion as an Orthodox Christian. You’ll go forward with everyone else, give your baptismal name to the priest, and receive the Body and Blood of Christ from the chalice with a spoon.
Some parishes do receptions on Saturday evening at Vespers, or at a weekday Liturgy. St. Michael’s has done it different ways depending on the person and the circumstances. Your priest will tell you what makes sense for your situation.
You might feel relieved. You might cry. You might just feel tired because you’ve been preparing for months and now it’s finally real. All of that’s normal. Fr. Michael Gillis writes about this in his book “Living in Christ,” how the reception service is both an ending and a beginning. You’re done being a catechumen. Now you’re learning what it means to actually live as an Orthodox Christian, which is harder and better than you probably expect.
Your sponsor will likely take you out to eat afterward. That’s tradition too. You’ll probably still smell like chrism for a few days. Don’t wash it off right away. Let it soak in. You’ve been sealed.
