Salvific Mysteries (Sacraments)


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01 - The Mystery of Baptism

Definitions

Baptism is the Holy Mystery through which we are "born again" by being immersed in the water three times in the name of the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The Mystery of Baptism is the gate of the Mysteries. Only after baptism is one given the right to partake of the rest of the Mysteries.

Baptism is also known as the Mystery of Enlightenment

βάπτισμα meaning "immersion" or "dipping in water"

Institution of the Mystery of Baptism

The Great Commission

Nicodemus Discourse

The Baptism of Christ and the Sanctification of the Waters

What About the Cross?

Conferred Grace - Born Again

(Titus 3:5) not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,

"We receive the hope of eternal life through the laver of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit" (St Ambrose - On the Holy Spirit Book III, Chapter 10)

"And that Water of salvation was at once your grave and your mother." (St Cyril of Jerusalem - Mystagogical Lectures 2.4)

What does it mean to be Regenerated or Born Again or a New Creation?

  1. Die and Rise with Christ
  2. Forgiveness of Sins, Cleansing of Original Sin
  3. Adoption as Children of God
  4. Membership in the Body of Christ
  5. Put on Christ

Imagine a slave who his taken out of slavery to live in the king's palace as his son.

  1. He leaves his slavery behind, and becomes a free man.
  2. His former life is forgotten.
  3. He is adopted by the king and becomes his son.
  4. He lives in the house of the king, among the family of the king.
  5. He is arrayed in the clothing of kings.

This is baptism.

Death and Resurrection with Christ

"Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission" (Hebrews 9:22)

"that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death," (Philippians 3:10)

"Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 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 6:3-4)

St John Chrysostom: "What the cross and burial were to Christ, baptism is to us, though not in all respects. For Christ died and was buried in the flesh, whereas we have died and been buried to sin." (St John Chrysostom - Commentary on Romans 6:3)

"In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." (Colossians 2:11-13)

This baptism, therefore, is given into the death of Jesus: And so are owned to be heirs of His Kingdom. For since you have "been baptized into the Lord's death" - Apostolic Constitutions

"There are two mortifyings and two deaths. One of them is accomplished by Christ in baptism, and the other is our duty to effect by earnestness afterwards. For it was Christ's gift that our former sins were buried, but remaining dead to sin after baptism must be the work of our own earnestness, however much we find that God gives us enormous help here as well. For baptism does not just have the power to obliterate our former transgressions; it also protects us against subsequent ones." - (St John Chrysostom - Commentary on Romans 6:5)

"And that Water of salvation was at once your grave and your mother." (St Cyril of Jerusalem - Mystagogical Lectures 2.4)

Forgiveness of Sins and Cleansing from Original Sin

"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous." (Romans 5:12-19)

"We confess one baptism, for the remission of sins" (Nicene Creed)

"And the bishop shall lay his hand upon them [the newly baptized], invoking and saying: 'O Lord God, who did count these worthy of deserving the forgiveness of sins by the laver of regeneration, make them worthy to be filled with your Holy Spirit and send upon them thy grace [in confirmation], that they may serve you according to your will." (Apostolic Tradition 22:1)

"Renew their birth a second time by the washing of the New Birth and the forgiveness of sins; prepare them to be a temple of Your Holy Spirit" (Rite of Baptism)

“Since human beings are composite and not simple by nature, mixed from two things — namely, a body with senses and an intellectual soul — they need a twofold healing for the new birth, corresponding to both of the aforementioned. So the human spirit is sanctified by the Spirit, and the body is sanctified by the water, which in turn is also sanctified. Just as water that is poured into a kettle receives an impression of the fire’s power by association with the tips of the flame, so also through the energy of the Spirit, perceptible water is transformed into a divine and ineffable power and sanctifies those with whom it comes into contact” (St Cyril of Alexandria - Commentary on John IVP p.98)

“Christ rubs off all the filth of our soul through holy baptism. We were baptized through the Holy Spirit and fire, remember, and every form of wickedness in us, as it were, dissolved and was consumed like some useless rubbish, which is what fire does, after all.” (St Cyril of Alexandria - Commentary on Isaiah, HCOP, p. 41)

“Saving and holy baptism suffices for the washing away of sin, and erases the defilement of previous falls.” (St Cyril of Alexandria - Commentary on Isaiah, p.42)

Adoption as Children of God

"But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." (Galatians 4:4-7)

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved." (Ephesians 1:3-6)

"For you were bought at a price;" (1 Cor 6:20)

This baptism, therefore, is given into the death of Jesus: And so are owned to be heirs of His Kingdom. For since you have "been baptized into the Lord's death" - Apostolic Constitutions

"For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:26-29)

Membership in the Body of Christ

"For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many." (1 Cor 12:12-14)

Putting on Christ

Visible Sign

Living the Baptismal Life

"Beloved, be it known to you that those who are baptized into the death of our Lord Jesus are obliged to go on no longer in sin; for as those who are dead cannot work wickedness any longer, so those who are dead with Christ cannot practice wickedness. We do not therefore believe, brethren, that any one who has received the washing of life continues in the practice of the licentious acts of transgressors. Now he who sins after his baptism, unless he repent and forsake his sins, shall be condemned to hell-fire." (Apostolic Constitutions - Book II, Section 3, VII)

St Gregory of Nyssa when he talks about baptism he said “many of you boast about being baptized, about being renewed… but SHOW ME after the sacramental grace, the change in your ways. SHOW ME the purity of your conversion.”

Baptism is not just a ritual... It’s not just something we have to do. It is a change in my life.

Letter to Diognetus

For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life.

They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. 
As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners.
Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers.
They marry, as do all; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring.
They have a common table, but not a common bed.
They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh.
They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven.
They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives.
They love all men, and are persecuted by all.
They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life.
They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all;
they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified.
They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless;
they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour;
they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers.
When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life;
they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.

To sum up all in one word — what the soul is in the body, Christians are in the world.

The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world.
The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of the world.
The invisible soul is guarded by the visible body, and Christians are known indeed to be in the world, but their godliness remains invisible.
The flesh hates the soul, and wars against it, though itself suffering no injury, because it is prevented from enjoying pleasures; the world also hates the Christians, though in nowise injured, because they abjure pleasures.
The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and [loves also] the members; Christians likewise love those that hate them.
The soul is imprisoned in the body, yet keeps together that very body; and Christians are confined in the world as in a prison, and yet they keep together the world.
The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tabernacle; and Christians dwell as sojourners in corruptible [bodies], looking for an incorruptible dwelling in the heavens.
The soul, when but ill-provided with food and drink, becomes better; in like manner, the Christians, though subjected day by day to punishment, increase the more in number.

God has assigned them this illustrious position, which it were unlawful for them to forsake.

02 - Baptism: Prefigured in the Old Testament

New Creation

Primordial Waters of Genesis
Noah's Ark (Deluge)

Covenant and Incorporation into God's People

Circumcision

Salvation Through Water

Noah's Ark (Deluge)
Crossing the Red Sea
Crossing the Jordan

Cleansing and Consecration

Ritual Washings
Naaman Washing in the Jordan
Elijah's Sacrifice
Ezekiel Cleansing and New Heart? 36

03 - Baptism in the Early Church

Baptism in the New Testament

Baptism in 1st Century Judaism?
Baptism of St John the Baptist
Baptism of Christ
Baptism in the Gospels
Baptism after Pentecost

Baptism in the Early Church

See “The Bible and the Liturgy” - Jean Danielou

Preparation, Examination, and Enrollment

Baptismal ceremonies began at the opening of the Great Fast (Lent). The candidates were enrolled and began their immediate preparation for the sacrament. Until this step, they had been simple catechumens (which could last a long time). Now they are called photizomenoi (“those who are coming into the light”). 

The Rite of Enrollment: “Whoever wishes to give in his name does so on the eve of Lent; and a priest notes down all the names. The next day, the opening of Lent, the day on which the eight weeks begin, in the middle of the principal church,that is, the church of the Martyrium, a seat is placed for the bishop, and one by one the candidates are led up to him. If they are men, they come with their godfathers; if women, with their godmothers. Then the bishop questions the neighbors of each person who comes in, saying, “Does he lead a good life? Does he respect his parents: Is he given to drunkenness or lying?” If the candidate is pronounced beyond reproach by all those who are thus questioned in the presence of witnesses, with his own hand the bishop notes down the man’s name.  But if the candidate is accused of failing in any point, the bishop tells him to go out, saying: ‘Let him amend his life and when he has amended it, let him come to Baptism.” (Egeria)

Lent Period

Come every day during Lent at Matins

Daily exorcism

Catechesis - explaining the Scripture from Genesis (Literal and Spiritual sense)

“Do not think that it consists of ordinary sermons. These are good, but if we neglect them today, we can still listen to them tomorrow. But the teaching that is to follow on the Baptism of rebirth, - if you neglect it now, when can you find it again? This is the time for planting the trees. If you neglect to spade and dig the earth, when can you plant properly a tree that has been badly planted? The catechesis is a building. If we neglect to dig its foundations, if we leave holes and the building is shaky, of what use will be any further work?” (XXXIII, 352, A-B).

Until the Sunday before Easter when they recite the Creed for the first time (redditio symboli)

Renounce Satan and Profess Christ

On Easter Vigil (Day of Baptism)

  1. Renounce Satan facing West (St Cyril XXXIII, 1068-1069; also Theodore of Mopsuestia XIII, Introduction) - same wording we have today
  2. Profession of Faith facing East
Baptism

Baptism: Special Topics

Right-Hand Thief

Christ did not institute the Sacrament of Baptism until after His Resurrection!

The Right-Hand Thief is a special case - and he is not the only one! But if we generalized and said "no one will enter Heaven without physical baptism" - what of all the prophets and righteous men who lived before the death of the Lord Christ? What of St John the Baptist?

The Thief did not have a chance to be baptized because of his imminent death. Had he survived the Cross, he would have been baptized just like every other Christian mentioned in the Scripture! An exception cannot be taken and made into a general rule!
What about martyrs? Many saints were martyred without baptism (i.e. they experienced the witness of the martyrs and decided in the moment to give their lives to Christ). For example, the martyr Matthew with the 21 Coptic Martyrs of Libya. Such a martyr is baptized in his blood shed.

Infant Baptism

We believe that all (with the exception of Christ, Himself) are born carrying the original sin. And we are concerned for their eternal life. So how can we deprive children from being baptized, and thus expose them to God's judgment?

  1. The words "He who believes and is baptized" are meant for adults who are capable of understanding the significance of faith. Thus, we do not baptize capable adults except after they profess their faith. But for children, we apply: "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 19:14)

  2. The Scripture talks of baptisms of households:
    • Cornelius the Centurion (Acts 10)
    • Philippian Jailer (Acts 16)
    • Lydia (Acts 16)
    • Stephanas (1 Cor 1:16)
    • On the day of Pentecost, 3000 were baptized! It's unreasonable to believe that children were excluded - "for the promise is to you and your children" (Acts 2:39)

  3. Circumcision, which is fulfilled by baptism, was done on the 8th day. (Colossians 2:11-12)

  4. Children being saved on the belief (and action) of their parents is not new:
    • Circumcision, a type of baptism, fulfilled by baptism, gave one membership into God's chosen people, and participation in God's covenant with Abraham. Circumcision was done on the 8th day after birth, according to God's command
    • The Passover, a type of the Cross and Eucharist, children were saved through the blood of the Passover Lamb on the faith and action of their parents.
    • The Crossing of the Red Sea included parents carrying their children - "All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea" (1 Cor 10:2)
    • Even in the modern era, parents decide to vaccinate their child, because they are concerned for their health and want them to be safe.

  5. Through baptism, a child is given an opportunity to grow up as a member of the Body of Christ, to enjoy Her divine sacraments, to experience the work of grace, and its effectiveness in his/her life.

  6. In Church History, infant baptisms were always done; in fact, there was a 5th Century heresy (Pelagianism) that taught that there was no Original Sin, and that infants are born blameless and thus need not be baptized. The Church condemned this belief at the 418 Council of Carthage, and 431 Ecumenical Council of Ephesus.

"Have you an infant child? Do not let sin get any opportunity, but let him be sanctified from his childhood; from his very tenderest age let him be consecrated by the Spirit. Do you fear the Seal on account of the weakness of nature? O what a small-souled mother, and of how little faith! Why, Anna even before Samuel was born promised him to God, and after his birth consecrated him at once, and brought him up in the priestly habit, not fearing anything in human nature, but trusting in God. You have no need of amulets or incantations, with which the Devil also comes in, stealing worship from God for himself in the minds of vainer men. Give your child the Trinity, that great and noble Guard.

Be it so, some will say, in the case of those who ask for Baptism; what have you to say about those who are still children and conscious neither of the loss nor of the grace? Are we to baptize them too? Certainly, if any danger presses. For it is better that they should be unconsciously sanctified than that they should depart unsealed and uninitiated.

A proof of this is found in the Circumcision on the eighth day, which was a sort of typical seal, and was conferred on children before they had the use of reason. And so is the anointing of the doorposts, which preserved the firstborn, though applied to things which had no consciousness. But in respect of others I give my advice to wait till the end of the third year, or a little more or less, when they may be able to listen and to answer something about the Sacrament; that, even though they do not perfectly understand it, yet at any rate they may know the outlines; and then to sanctify them in soul and body with the great sacrament of our consecration. For this is how the matter stands; at that time they begin to be responsible for their lives, when reason is matured, and they learn the mystery of life (for of sins of ignorance owing to their tender years they have no account to give), and it is far more profitable on all accounts to be fortified by the Font, because of the sudden assaults of danger that befall us, stronger than our helpers.

But, one says, Christ was thirty years old when He was baptized, and that although He was God; and do you bid us hurry our Baptism? - You have solved the difficulty when you say He was God. For He was absolute cleansing; He had no need of cleansing; but it was for you that He was purified, just as it was for you that, thought He had not flesh, yet He is clothed with flesh. Nor was there any danger to Him from putting off Baptism, for He had the ordering of His own Passion as of His own Birth. But in your case the danger is to no small interests, if you were to depart after a birth to corruption alone, and without being clothed with incorruption. And there is this further point for me to consider, that that particular time of baptism was a necessity for Him, but your case is not the same. He manifested Himself in the thirtieth year after His birth and not before: first, in order that He might not appear ostentatious, which is a condition belonging to vulgar minds; and next, because that age tests virtue thoroughly, and is the right time to teach. And since it was needful for Him to undergo the passion which saves the world, it was needful also that all things which belong to the passion should fit into the passion; the Manifestation, the Baptism, the Witness from Heaven, the Proclamation, the concourse of the multitude, the Miracles; and that they should be as it were one body, not torn asunder, nor broken apart by intervals." (St Gregory Nazianzen - Oration 40.17, 28-29)

One Baptism

One of the councils had a thing about who to rebaptize (based on whether or not the faith in the Trinity was intact)

Immersion or Sprinkling

The word "baptism" literally means "immersion"

"Buried" with Christ is only accomplished through complete immersion

The Church has always baptized with complete immersion

Both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now when they came out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away" (Acts 8:38-39)

Baptism is called many times "washing" (Titus 3:5, Acts 22:16, 1 Peter 3:18-21, Ephesians 5:26) - to wash a piece of cloth you need to completely immerse it in water!

For Pastoral Needs, the Church allows baptism by sprinkling (e.g. someone in a wheelchair, newborn in an incubator)

40 and 80 Days

If the one to be baptized is a newborn, the family waits 40 (boy) or 80 Days (girl) to baptize. The Church can baptize any newborn boy or girl at any day without waiting 40 or 80 days. This period is required period before the mother can participate in her child's baptism.

04 - Sacrament of Confirmation

05 - Contemporary Rite of Baptism & Confirmation

Absolution of the Woman
Preparation
Sanctification of the Water
Renunciation of Satan & Declaration of Faith
Baptism
Holy Myron
Crowning
Commandment
Procession
Loosing the Girdle

06 - The Eucharist

https://www.youtube.com/live/Nk6u7yL4gZU?is=BBh4zFwhQ3h4KVhK 

One good question to ask... "Can eating or drinking really affect my salvation???" - Ask Adam and Eve! They lost salvation by taking and eating

What is the Eucharist?

07 - The Eucharist: Prefigured in the Old Testament

08 - Eucharist in the NT and Early Church

09 - Repentance and Confession

Meaning
Institution of the Mystery
Visible Sign
Conferred Grace

10 - Life of Repentance & Good Works