What you need to baptize a child

What do you need to baptize a child? It is necessary, first, to choose a temple in which the sacrament will be performed. The rite of baptism belongs to the main sacraments that help a person in life.

In the temple one must approach the priest, who is entrusted with this duty. He will have to talk about the essence of the sacrament, tell what is needed for the baptism of the child, including who can be godparents. All information about the child and his parents will be recorded in the church: date of birth, surname, first name, patronymic (for this you will need to present a birth certificate of the child and the passport of the father and mother, as well as the successors).

For the conversation with the priest must necessarily come all four parents - ordinary and godmother. Without such a conversation, the priest will not perform the sacrament: the godparents should know what is necessary for the baptism of the child, and meet the requirements that the church makes.

According to the tradition, the baby is supposed to be christened on the eighth or fortieth day from the date of birth. The godparents take upon themselves the obligation to educate them in the Orthodox spirit.

The godparents need to choose well-known people, close friends, and even better - relatives. The spiritual parents are also responsible for replacing the child with the parents, if something happens to them. The church says that they are responsible for their godson before God, as well as for their own children.

But if the chosen people do not belong to the Orthodox Church, it is better not to invite them to the successors, since a person who is not a believer himself can not give anything to his godson in the spiritual life.

The godparents (according to the church - the successors) can be two, four, six ...

According to the canons of the Orthodox Church, they can not become their own parents, spouses - from one and the same godson, children under the age of fifteen, people who are immoral, and also suffering from mental illnesses. And, of course, people who do not profess Orthodoxy.

Duties of the godparents are not limited to gifts for the day of the angel (name-day) or birth. They are obliged to pray for their spiritual child as well as for their own children. In addition, among their direct responsibilities - to educate the godson spiritually, teach him the prayers, visit the temple together and take care of his morality.

Before the day of the ordinance, those who are warned about what is needed for the baptism of the child, parents should go to confession and receive the Holy Mysteries in order to be ready for the rite. You also need to know by heart the "Symbol of Faith": when a child is baptized, this prayer should be pronounced on behalf of the baby.

For the ritual, you need to buy a special shirt, the so-called kryzhmu (rizku). It is a white cloth or a large towel, or a large diaper from a thin fabric, into which the child is wrapped, taking out of the baptismal font. Her and everything else that is needed for baptizing a child is bought by the godmother: a baptismal shirt, a cap for a boy with blue ribbons, for girls with pink ribbons. It is customary to keep the baptismal shirt for life. Rizku, according to custom, after baptism is not erased, and wrapped in her child, if ill. The godfather of what is needed for christenings, he buys a cross with a chain. It must be handed to the priest at the beginning of the rite, so that he consecrates the cross before wearing it during the sacrament.

In the temple, the recipients must come in a worthy form. Women should be covered (headscarf, scarf or hat) head, the dress should be below the knee, without the neckline. Men are better off from too ordinary clothes, as well as shorts, slippers, shirts, from home or sportswear.

In the rite of baptism, the priest, godparents, baby and guests are involved. According to the canons accepted in the church, parents, especially the mother of the child, can not be present at the performance of the sacrament.

Having prepared everything that is needed for the child's baptism, the parents on the appointed day come to the temple and at the beginning of the ceremony pass it to the successors. The sacrament is usually performed in a special room inside the temple, which is called: baptism (or baptistery). One of the successors (the boy - the godfather, the girl - the mother) keeps the person baptized on his hands. The priest performs a sacrament in white robes, which are supposed to be worn for the feasts of the Lord. Initially, the priest goes around the censer, praying, along the perimeter of the temple or baptistery, where the sacrament will be performed. After that, the ritual participants turn their faces to the west to deny Satan. The priest three times asks the baby questions about whether he renounces, and the spiritual parents are responsible for him, renouncing. Then the godparents say "The Symbol of Faith".

It is the turn of the chrismation: the priest with the so-called pod puts symbolic crosses on the forehead, eyes, nostrils, mouth, ears, chest, arms and legs of the baby. And with each anointing, he says: "The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit." Amen. " The godparents (for the baby) each time answer: "Amen." After that, the hair of the hair is cut off from the head in a cruciform fashion, which are wreathed into a specially softened wax cake and remain in the temple as a pledge of initiation and a symbol of sacrifice to God.

Then the priest performs the final act of baptism - he immerses the baby with his head three times into the font. The wet child again transfers the wet child to the hands of the godparents and they wrap him in a disgrace, drying the moisture. Then the baby is put on a cross and dresses in the prepared christening clothes.

The last step remains: churching. The priest takes the baby and bears before the royal gates of the temple - if it's a girl, he brings the boy to the altar - he can ever become a priest himself.

Having adopted the church boy to their hands, the godparents thereby take on the obligation before God to bring up their godson in the Orthodox spirit all his life, to bring him up as a native child and to answer for him, as well as for blood children, at the Last Judgment.