No. 28 (877) / July 26 '16
Conversations with the priest
In this topic:
Conversations with the priest
Protodeacon John Shvetsov: About the Holy Prophet Elijah
Conversations with the priest
Archpriest Nikolai Sokolov: On the modernity and timeliness of the Old Testament in our days
Father Dimitri, today we would like to discuss issues of Baptism with you. People who want to begin the sacrament of Baptism, approaching the priest, often hear from him the question: “Why did you come to be baptized?” Some answer that it is for health, others - for some other purposes, in general, they do not see the goal that the Church constantly talks about. What is the true purpose of Baptism that a person should strive for?
– The true purpose of Baptism is to become a participant in the Body and Blood of Christ, to become a participant in eternal life, for the sake of which man was created by God. I would like to try to reveal the legitimacy of the question asked by the priest to those wishing to be baptized - why do you want to be baptized?
The Lord Jesus Christ, having come to earth, did not leave the apostles in the dark about His public ministry, why He came to this world. For three years the Lord Jesus Christ taught the apostles (not only 12, but also 70 apostles) and everyone who wanted to listen. He revealed to everyone not just the truth, but the truth, which became the meaning of life for people. The meaning of a person’s life is revealed by a certain core: if a person has a core, he is confident in life, understands where he is going, everything is meaningful, orderly - one might say, the person is happy. Why? Because he understands why he is here. When a person loses the meaning of life, then emptiness arises. And often a person comes to Church not out of joy, but out of pain—he comes for consolation.
And often he does not set himself exactly the goal that Jesus Christ left behind. We read the Gospel of Matthew, which says that if you have faith and are baptized, you will be saved. Here you are saved - this is the goal. If a person comes from grief, from some problem, then he is looking for consolation, not salvation. He has two completely different meanings in life. A priest, hearing an incorrect answer, is called upon to teach a person the true goal, as Jesus Christ once taught 12 and then 70 apostles. Subsequently, these apostles taught all nations. It is this question “why does a person come to Baptism? What does he want to find there? is very important to avoid a false understanding of the goal, not to miss, not to make mistakes, so as not to deceive your hopes and expectations.
In order to correctly come to Christ and find the Comforter, it is important to answer the question of what a person is really looking for. And the answer must be sincere. After all, if a person begins to be cunning and try to please the priest by guessing what he would like to hear, then with his inner cunning he will make things even worse for himself.
This is exactly how I would try to answer this question.
And if a person does not have the goal of saving his soul and begins the sacrament of Baptism only with the goal of strengthening his health, is it necessary to perform the sacrament of Baptism on him? Will there be any benefit?
– Baptism must be performed (this is my personal conviction) on every person who wants to accept it, but precisely after the person testifies to his faith in Jesus Christ, his Savior.
Until a person confesses Jesus Christ, until he believes in the promised Messiah, for him the fruits that are given in the sacrament of Baptism remain unassimilated. Of course, a separate category are people lying on their deathbeds and in serious illness. Here the church applies oikonomia, but - again - the person must testify to his faith in Christ. If a person asks: “Baptize me, I’m seriously ill!”, but to the question “Do you believe in Christ?” says: “I don’t believe it,” it’s clear that Baptism is impossible. In confirmation of this, one can turn to the canons of the Ecumenical Councils, which give a very precise and clear answer that if a person does not profess the faith of Christ, then Baptism is impossible.
Father Dimitri, there is the first call... - Father, bless. I am God's servant Zoya. I am interested in: if a person with faith and in the hope of being saved, and out of ignorance, without taking any courses or conversations with the priest, receives Baptism, in this case does the Lord forgive all sins, or does something need to be corrected later?
- The Lord bless. Good question. If a person accepts Baptism with faith in Jesus Christ, that is, the emphasis is on confessing God, then, naturally, all his sins are forgiven. Knowledge in this case is not the cornerstone of Baptism. It becomes a means that helps a person figure out: “Is this the God I want to believe in? Is this the God to whom I want to trust, my life, my destiny, my whole self, my loved ones?”... That is, knowledge only helps a person, but does not determine.
Everyone can accommodate knowledge to their own extent - one can learn all the volumes of dogma and all the definitions of the Ecumenical Councils, another can listen and in his simplicity accept “I believe in Jesus Christ,” and the Creed will be enough for him to testify to his faith (I have in mind, before Baptism - not to dwell on this, but precisely before Baptism). And such a person can be admitted to Baptism and baptized, and this Baptism will be complete, complete, grace-filled, with the forgiveness of sins. And everything else will happen in the future: life goes on, and a person can fill up some knowledge in church life. But, again, knowledge is not the main thing, but the main thing is the experience of the divine-human life, the experience of a life of grace, and knowledge helps with this.
Fine. Is it necessary to baptize children in infancy? If so, what is the infant's profession of faith? And, let’s say, parents are non-church people, but they baptize a baby: is it necessary to do this or not?
– Of course, it is necessary to baptize infants. In the Gospel we encounter a story when the apostles tried to forbid children to come to Christ, and then Jesus Christ turned to them and said: “Do not forbid the children to come to Me.”
The second point I would like to note. Children, when born, cannot speak and express their opinions, cannot make choices in their lives, earn their own food and feed themselves, cannot earn their own housing.
And here is a very interesting point - if they cannot do all this, then by what right do they eat, since they cannot earn anything? By what right do they live somewhere? That is, when for adults these are values, namely food and accommodation, then they communicate these values to their children.
And when for the parents of believers God, the Church and Church Tradition are values, and they live by this, of course, no question arises for them, because they want their children to become involved, like themselves, in God. And Baptism in this case is simply necessary; there can be no obstacles here.
And another point. Parents for whom God is not reality, and Baptism is just a means that will help avoid germs or eliminate some kind of evil eye... Naturally, this is the position of an unbeliever, this is a magical approach to Baptism. There is no search for God here, no desire for the child to share a common value with his parents - God. It seems to me that in this case you can say “no”: either, dear parents, change your life in such a way that God appears in your life - and then Baptism will become possible according to your faith, or, if you believe that some kind of then magic - and Baptism is impossible.
Father Dimitri, another call. – Father, my parents say that I am “immersed”; does this mean that I have already been baptized or do I need to be baptized again?
– This means that you are baptized, but it is necessary to replenish, because the immersion is not complete, that is, this is not the full rite of church Baptism. If after immersion a person dies, then for the Church this person is baptized, in every sense of the word. If a person continues to live and wants to participate in church life, that is, to confess, take communion, and participate in the sacramental life of the Church, then it is necessary to come and complete the immersion: the sacrament of Baptism itself, which is performed in the Church, consists of two sacraments. The first is the sacrament of immersion, when a person is immersed in water three times in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And the second sacrament is Confirmation, when a person is given the gifts of the Holy Spirit, through which a person can assimilate the sacraments of grace that the Church teaches - the sacrament of Confession, Communion, Wedding, Unction and other sacred rites. In this case, you can go to any church, approach the priest and talk so that he can complete the Baptism. You don't need to have a big plunge pool here to dive. There is no need to immerse yourself, but rather to replenish the sacrament of Confirmation.
Father Dimitri, can a priest refuse to perform the sacrament of Baptism on a person?
– As mentioned above, there are times when it is necessary to say “no”. But “no” can again be different. The first “no” is in the sense of “wait, there is no need to rush”: when a person does not have the correct understanding, namely a false goal, a false aspiration, he needs to adjust his faith, when a person does not understand that he is baptized into Jesus Christ. And the second “no” is when a person fundamentally does not believe, does not want to change his position, that is, he is an ardent atheist and admits and preaches this, but due to some coincidence of circumstances (maybe his wife insisted or it has become fashionable) he is going to be baptized. There is clearly a deal with conscience going on here.
That is, the priest may not prohibit Baptism, but temporarily refuse. What if a person never sets foot in Church after this? Then, it turns out, there is some kind of guilt, responsibility on this priest - after all, a person came to church once, but, having been refused, did not go to church after that?
– A difficult dilemma arises here. If a person hears “no” from the priest - “let’s study, let’s pray in church with you, let’s not rush into Baptism,” but he will leave and never come again. And secondly, if the priest agreed to baptize such a person, he baptized him, and this person left and never came again.
What's scarier here? Was the person not baptized and began to live as before, or was he baptized and returned to his old way of life again? It seems to me that it is in this context that it needs to be considered. If a person honestly approached the decision of the question “to be baptized or not?”, then he should have heard why the priest says “no” - not to perceive it emotionally, but rather to hear why not. For example, a situation in the traffic police, when a person wants to get a license, but, for example, did not answer oral questions - they say to him: “Sorry, you didn’t pass the exam” - the person gets offended and says that he will never go to take his license again? This is not entirely correct, that is, such a person needs to try to hear other people and understand why they say “no” - to understand this situation, to act as an active participant, a constructive interlocutor, and not an emotional one who destroys everything.
One more call... We are listening to you. – I am the servant of God Maria from Belgorod. I recently came to faith and confessed beforehand. At Confession, the priest asked: “Do you repent?” I say: “I repent.” And she didn’t say: “Forgive me, Lord, and have mercy.” So what should we do now? I'm so worried. Maybe I should confess again?
– Thanks for the question. This is a very common situation in parish practice, when people, having not completed something externally, begin to believe that Confession has not been completed. It is very good when children are taught Confession from childhood, from adolescence, they know how to confess, and it is not difficult for them to comply with the external form - to correctly build their Confession according to the form.
But Confession is not a form, it is a sacrament, a secret. The mystery of God’s love for a person who realized his sins and came to God to ask that “here I, Lord, have erected a wall between You and me with my sins and I cannot abolish it with my own strength - You, as the omnipotent, help me to do this !”, turns to God so that He, with His grace, can help overcome the barrier of sin and resume the divine-human, grace-filled life. And if a person asks this with all his heart, then, regardless of whether the person said “Lord, forgive me” or did not say it, if he repents from his heart, then, naturally, the Lord forgives, even if he violated some form.
Therefore, you do not need to repent a second time for sins that you have already repented of, but you need to look at your life, be vigilant and spend it in repentance, that is, strive for God more than for sin.
Thank you, Father Dimitri. Is it possible to say specifically that if a person does not understand the sacrament of Baptism, does not understand what the Church teaches, then he should not be baptized?
– A person should come to the Church and try to understand those people who live in the Church, try to understand what kind of life is happening in the Church. Here I would put the emphasis not on the need or not to be baptized, but on whether it is necessary to find out before Baptism what the Church is, or not. Why? Because when a person approaches with reasoning the act that we call a sacrament, then for him, in the process of cognition, reasoning and observation, the act will cease to be a human action, but will become precisely the divine-human sacrament of Baptism.
And then, accordingly, church life for a baptized person does not present the difficulties encountered by people who have turned to Baptism, but remain at the threshold of the Church.
- Yes, of course. Because when a person completely does not understand who his God is, completely does not understand the meaning and significance of the Church, having been baptized and returning to the old way of life, to past sins, then the gifts of grace act in him and the Lord calls him to salvation, to eternal life, – and a person constantly chooses disbelief, and this causes him pain. Such a person often falls into very strong despondency, and when he comes to Church in this state, it is much more difficult to talk with him and help him: he has acquired the habit of sin and the passion of rejecting God.
The subtle spiritual matter of a person’s choice requires greater determination from him, greater effort than when, even before Baptism, he would have tried to build his life in such a way as to prevent internal hypocrisy, internal deceit. And his life would have turned out completely differently.
You can view or listen to the full version of the program on the website of the Soyuz TV channel.
In other rooms:
Why do you need to be baptized?
Today, many adults who have not been baptized are wondering why they need to be Baptized, what is it all for? The Holy Fathers say that Baptism allows every person to take the path of salvation and try not to sin. Also, through the sacrament of Baptism we unite with God, we stand under His protection and patronage.
This sacrament means spiritual birth, which is possible once in a lifetime; also through this sacrament a person becomes a full-fledged participant in the church, he is admitted to all Church Sacraments.
I would also like to say that an unbaptized person is more susceptible to the influence of the forces of evil on his soul than a baptized person. Of course, if you go through this ritual, this does not mean at all that the forces of evil will immediately leave you - no, you will also struggle with evil and with your passions, but this struggle is often easier for the baptized.
This rite is the line that separates baptized people from everyone else. If we take the Bible, we will see that the Apostle Paul stated that a baptized person puts on Jesus Christ when he walks around the font three times.
What about an unbaptized person? He will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven under any circumstances?
How I would sometimes like to answer: well, of course, an unbaptized person can also be saved if he believes in God and works on himself! But Christ said very clearly: (John: 5) - and these words are difficult to interpret in any other sense.
In the ancient Church, however, there was the idea of “baptism of blood”: martyrs who believed in Christ just before their death and did not have time to receive baptism were not only considered Christians, but were even glorified as saints. Such a “baptism of blood” was received, say, by one of the Roman soldiers who guarded the Sebastian martyrs: seeing the steadfastness and courage of Christians, stripped and driven into an icy lake, he himself believed in Christ, joined their ranks and was glorified as one of them. But the martyrs, even if they did not have time to be baptized, suffered for a reason - they consciously participated in the suffering of Christ, marched to their Golgotha following the example of the Lord.
It’s better not to abstain!
The well-known Orthodox priest Archpriest Igor Fomin, on the contrary, believes that the absence of the sign of the cross at the sight of the temple indicates that a Christian for some reason is ashamed to preach Christ. Every Orthodox Christian must think about this topic for himself and decide for himself exactly what to do. Father Igor believes that courage in this matter testifies to the believer’s closeness to the Church and his sincere faith. Other priests point out that putting a cross on oneself should depend on the situation: sometimes it is simply impossible in a crowd or in a cramped tram or bus. In this case, it is better to do it “to yourself”, mentally. But if you approach the temple on foot or by car, you should cross yourself with dignity, thereby identifying yourself as a believer and making it clear to those around you that you preach Christ openly and with a pure heart.
History of the Sign of the Cross
Followers of Christ began to sign the sign of the cross back in the apostolic age. However, in those days people crossed themselves with only one finger. In this way, faith in one God was emphasized, since pagan polytheism was still widespread at that time. It is also known that the sign of the cross was originally applied only to the forehead, face or heart. Already in the 3rd century, this gesture was used in worship. The theologian Tertullian, who lived at that time, writes in his work “On the Warrior’s Crown”:
“At every entrance and exit, when we put on our shoes and dress, before bathing and eating, when lighting lamps, when going to sleep, when sitting down or getting down to any task, we make the sign of the cross on our foreheads.”
The whole body, as well as inanimate objects, began to be baptized around the 4th century. According to the poet of that time, Prudentius, Roman Christian soldiers made the sign of the cross before battles. His contemporary, Rev. Ephraim the Syrian, Fr.
In the 8th century, defending the dogma of the dual nature of the Savior against heretics, Christians began to increasingly cross themselves with two fingers. In this form, the gesture came to Rus', which adopted Christianity in 988. The familiar three-fingered sign of the cross as a sign of confession of the dogma of the Holy Trinity was finally established in the 13th century in Byzantium. In Rus', the new custom of the sign of the cross was introduced only in the middle of the 17th century. Believers (Old Believers) who did not accept this and other innovations of church reform are still baptized with two fingers to this day.
How correctly and how many times to be baptized before entering a church or temple?
When entering the temple, you must stand facing the entrance and cross yourself once, saying the necessary words. After this, a fairly low bow is made. Again you need to cross yourself and bow again. So you get baptized and worship three times.
How correctly and how many times to be baptized before entering a church or temple?
Baby Baptism
Now we will tell you about how the Baptism of an infant is carried out, and how parents should prepare for it.
The rite of Baptism is quite simple, but at the same time solemn. Previously, when a child was baptized in the church, only godparents and the child could be present, but now the church allows the presence of the father and even the mother at the christening, but the mother can be admitted to the church only after a cleansing prayer is said over her.
During the ceremony, the godparents must stand next to the priest, and one of the godparents must have a child in his arms. Before starting the ceremony, the holy father must walk around the temple or room where the Sacrament of Baptism takes place and read the appropriate prayers. Then one of the godparents, who has the baby in his arms, must stand with his back to the altar, which at this moment symbolizes the abode of the devil, and the priest turns to the child three times with questions, the answers for whom the chosen godparents must speak. After this, the godparents must read the “Creed”, and then anointing will take place. After the priest anoints himself, he cuts a lock of hair from the child’s head, as a kind of sacrifice to the Heavenly Father, then takes the baby in his arms and immerses the baby three times in a font of holy water, and gives the child to one of the godparents. When godparents take a child from a priest, they undertake to raise him in Orthodox traditions.
