In Dahl's dictionary
to the cross, in various meaning related The power of the cross is with us! Foot of the Cross. stood. Sign of the Cross. - kissing, oath, oath. - death, crucifixion. - a procession, a solemn procession of the clergy, with a cross, icons and banners. Godfather, mother, godfather and godfather, successors from the font; - son, daughter, godchildren, received by someone from the font; - brother, sister, received from the font by the same person, who has a common cross, father or mother. Godson of m.-nitsa. child of the godfather, son or daughter, child of the cross, son on the cross, according to the Lord, received by someone from the font at St. baptism. The godson died, but the godfather is alive. -nikov, -nitsyn, belongs to him, to her; - no one, relating to them. Cross, related to the cross. The Crusade, the war that took place in the name of St. cross, to liberate Holy places from Muslims. - brother, sister, or simply a cross, named, sworn brother and sister; they fraternize, exchanging back crosses, pledging eternal friendship, crossing themselves and hugging. If a barge hauler who falls ill while on the move has a brother of the cross on the ship, then this one leaves the ship, losing his earnings, until he finds a place for his brother. To the north cross usage sometimes vm. godfather Cross sister, cross sister. Cross, in the form of noun. hard - high city, passenger cab driver, from the crossroads. Cross noun chapel in the house, figurative. Cross Church, at the bishop's courtyard. The Church of the Cross and the crosses rule (see New Tablet). - a priest, at a bishop's or even a house church. Cross Chamber, reception room, at the bishop's. -zapon, psk. double swim, chickpeas on the river, to retain timber rafts. - west (on Seliger), north-west. - a vault crossed from all four corners into four sails. Cross suit, in cards, crosses, clubs, acorns. - stone, cross, fossil, composed as if made of crosses. - grass, aching, Geranium sanguineum. - root, thistle, thistle, Cardus (or Cnicus) benedictus. Cross Samoyed, arch. baptized. Krestovatik m. four-month-old (August) arctic fox, large. burrow and less sand; he has a brown cross along his spine and across his shoulder blades. | Cross stone. Cross fur, arctic fox, from cross fur. Cross m. fossil staurolite. | Peter's ruble, with a cross of four letters P. | Plant. Polygala amara. | Khreshchatyk spider, gooseberry. | Kaluga the wind blowing at your back. Raspberry m. plant. Polygala amara, istod, ismodik. | Plant. Scrophularia, norica. Krestovka railway or kryzhak, a fox with a brown cross (like a cross) on red fur. | Club, card. | Plant. Crucionella. | Night moth, night light with a cross. | Bonfire rook, paper kite. Crosspiece in cars, connection or knitting with a cross, four knitting needles or two knitting needles crossed in a wheel, etc. Cross-shaped, related to the cross. Sacrum m. back of the lower back; the place where the last vertebrae adjoin the sacral bone, triangular, in the form of fused vertebrae, and closing the pelvis at the back. | A sacrum, a cross, a cross, a pile of bread in sheaves in the stubble, before harvesting; Usually there are 13 sheaves (the lord's), there are also 17 and 20, in general there are four rumps per hay.
Responsibilities of godparents during baptism
Godparents must know by heart the Creed , which contains all the main truths of Orthodoxy. It will need to be read during the sacrament of baptism:
I believe in one God the Father, Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, visible to all and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten, who was born of the Father before all ages; Light from Light, true God from true God, born, uncreated, consubstantial with the Father, to Whom all things were. For our sake, man and our salvation came down from heaven and became incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became human. She was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried. And he rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures. And ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father. And again the coming one will be judged with glory by the living and the dead, His Kingdom will have no end. And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Life-Giving One, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who spoke the prophets. Into one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the remission of sins. I hope for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the next century. Amen.
During the sacrament, the godparents hold the baby in their arms (if the child is worried and crying, it is allowed to be held by the mother, there is no violation). The most important moment is when the godfather receives the godson from the font from the hands of the priest. Therefore, godparents are otherwise called godparents. The godfather must receive the boy from the font, and the godmother must accept the girl.
In the dictionary D.N. Ushakova
GODWAY sleep, godmother, godmother. adj. to cross in 1 value. (church). Sign of the Cross. Kissing the cross (an oath, an oath, accompanied by kissing the cross; source). • Procession of the Cross (church) - a church procession with crosses, banners and icons. The power of the cross is with us (simple, obsolete) - an expression uttered at a moment of fear or extreme amazement by superstitious people. II. GODmother sleep, godmother, godmother. 1. adj., denoting the relationship between the recipients and the baptized. Godfather, godmother (fathers in relation to the baptized). Godson, goddaughter, godchildren (baptized in relation to their successors). Godbrothers, sisters (godchildren, goddaughters of one godfather or one godmother in relation to each other). 2. in meaning noun godfather, godfather, male, godmother, godfather, female Same as godfather , godmother.
Main responsibilities of godparents
During the sacrament of baptism, the godparents have the responsibility to vouch for the faith of the baby and subsequently raise him in the Orthodox faith. The child himself does not know anything yet and cannot profess faith, so godparents bring baptismal vows for him. If your faith is not strong enough, you should think seriously before agreeing to take on the responsibilities of a godfather. After all, in the future you will have to answer to God not only for yourself, but also for your godson.
Godparents pray for their godson all their lives. While the child is small, they teach him the Orthodox faith, try to get him to visit church more often, take communion, explain the meaning of the service, talk about saints, icons, and Orthodox holidays. When a child becomes a teenager, it is the godparents who must take special care of his moral condition. This explains the choice of godparents - a boy certainly needs a godfather, and a girl needs a godmother; the presence of a second godfather is not mandatory. With a godfather of the same sex, it is easier for a teenager to discuss some personal issues, problems that he may not dare to talk about with his parents.
To understand the history of the emergence and practice of succession in the ancient, as well as in the modern Orthodox Church, it will be useful to turn to the work of Alexander Vasilyevich Petrovsky, Master of Theology, teacher at the St. Petersburg Theological Seminary, “Receptors” [1]. We will present some definitions from the proposed theological study that will help determine the essence of the problems and confusion associated with the modern practice of performing the Sacrament of Baptism.
“According to the accepted usage, the term recipient (ἁνἁδοχος, susceptor, sponsor, fidejussor, etc.) means a person who is a witness, a guarantor for the faith of the person being baptized and at the same time his mentor, guide in further religious and moral life.”
“By ordering the baptized person to have a recipient, the ancient church assigned special responsibilities to the latter. According to the testimony of the monuments, they began before baptism, took place during the act of baptism itself, and continued afterwards.”
“The recipient was <...> a witness, a guarantor of the faith of the baptized person and with his position he reminded the recipient of the obligations that he took upon himself when entering the Christian society.”
“The indicated duties themselves predetermine the question of who the ancient church allowed to be a successor. Since he was a witness, a guarantor of the faith of the baptized person and his mentor in later life, he could only be one who himself was instructed in the basic truths of Christianity, knew the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer and other main points of Christian doctrine.”
“Only one receiver is recognized as necessary; for a male child it is a man, for a female child it is a woman. The breviary expresses itself in this spirit.”
Statements by A.V. Petrovsky can be supplemented with a quote from the Long Catechism of Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov): “At Baptism, recipients are needed in order to vouch before the Church for the faith of the person being baptized and, after Baptism, to take him under their care for confirmation in the faith (see Saint Dionysius the Areopagite. On the Church Hierarchy , chapter 2)"[2].
From the above definitions, a general conclusion can be drawn: the recipient is called upon to combine and perform three main functions before the Church: he must be a witness to the faith of his godson, a guarantor of the truth of his spiritual intentions, and, to a certain extent, become a mentor to a newly enlightened Christian.
As the well-known truth says, the end determines the means. So let’s try, based on the stated requirements for the recipient, to determine how the modern Church brings to faith those who themselves (already as adults) or through godparents (in infancy) desired salvation and asked God for a “good conscience”[3] in the Sacrament of Baptism .
First of all, let us cite an excerpt from the document “On religious, educational and catechetical service in the Russian Orthodox Church”[4]: “When performing the Sacrament of Baptism on infants and children under 7 years of age, it is necessary to remember that the baptism of children is performed in the Church according to the faith of their parents and adoptees . In this case, both parents and recipients must undergo minimal clerical training, except in cases where they are taught the basics of the faith and participate in church life. Public conversations with parents and recipients should be conducted in advance and separately from the celebration of the Sacrament of Baptism. It is appropriate to urge parents and recipients to prepare for participation in the Baptism of their children by personal participation in the Sacraments of Repentance and the Eucharist.”
We will also quote the order[5] of Patriarch Kirill No. P-01/12. “In connection with the approval by the Consecrated Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church on February 2-5, 2013 of the document “On religious, educational and catechetical service in the Russian Orthodox Church,” adopted by the Holy Synod on December 27, 2011 (journal No. 152), I consider it necessary to give a more systematic the nature of the implementation in the parishes of the diocese of the city of Moscow of the instructions contained in this document regarding the minimum requirements for preparing persons to receive the Sacrament of Baptism.
In all parishes, patriarchal and monastic metochions, as well as monasteries under the Patriarchal administration, the provisions provided for in Section II must be strictly observed. 1 of the document mentioned above, which, in particular, provides for the minimum requirements for the announcement of adults and children over 7 years of age who wish to receive the Sacrament of Baptism, as well as parents and adoptive children under 7 years of age. These minimum requirements include:
- in relation to those being baptized (except for infants), parents and adoptees - participation in at least two public conversations conducted by a priest or catechist about the basic concepts of Christian morality, Orthodox doctrine and church life;
- in relation to those being baptized (except infants) - a personal repentance-confessional conversation with the priest...”
From the contents of these two documents we can highlight the following. The baptized person, parents and recipients are placed on the same spiritual level, which can be defined as very, very low. But if for someone who is preparing for Baptism, and to some extent for his parents, it is quite natural to remain in some kind of spiritual and theological ignorance, then for the godfather, in the light of the above-mentioned requirements for the recipient, such ignorance is absolutely unacceptable.
Firstly, only someone who has already acquired this faith can testify to the faith of someone preparing for Baptism. Faith is a gift of God (see Eph. 2:8; Rom. 10:17), and we understand very well that not every one of those who have been baptized in the church possesses this priceless gift. But even if faith is inherent in the guarantor, this is still not enough. The Apostle James teaches that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). Faith must be confirmed by deeds worthy of the Gospel teaching. The Savior warns: “Not everyone who says to Me: “Lord!” Lord!” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). And in order to distinguish the will of God from the lusts of the world, a person, according to the words of the Apostle Paul, needs “senses accustomed by long training to distinguish between good and evil” (Heb. 5:14).
It must be admitted that at the moment the bulk of “godparents” are a matchmaker, a friend, a brother or an aunt (from Magadan) who have visited the temple at best a couple of times in their entire lives. This means that neither two, nor three, nor ten public conversations can guarantee that newly-minted recipients will gain faith. The overwhelming majority of these Christians were far from the Church and will remain so.
Secondly, a guarantee requires reasons. That is, the Church can only accept the guarantee of someone who has some kind of intra-church authority for this. If another person unfamiliar to me (or someone who himself performs this work poorly) vouches for the quality of performance of this or that work of a person unfamiliar to me, then such a guarantee will have no force for me. So on what basis should the Church accept a guarantee of the truth and seriousness of the intentions of the person being baptized from someone who himself does not fulfill these true intentions or does not even have them?
Thirdly, and this is the most important thing, only someone who has already learned something can instruct or teach someone. Scripture through the mouth of the Savior says: “A disciple is not above the teacher, and a servant is not above his master” (Matthew 10:24). What can a godfather teach his successor if the “teacher” himself comes to the church only sometimes and does not participate in the Sacraments of the Church? Obviously, only the same irresponsible attitude towards faith. The Lord warns about this: “If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit” (Matthew 15:14). An infant who is still feeding on milk cannot serve food to the infant lying next to him. Babies are fed by someone who already eats solid food. The Apostle Paul writes about this in a spiritual sense in the Epistle to the Hebrews: “For [judging] by the times, you were destined to be teachers; but you again need to be taught the first principles of the word of God, and you need milk, not solid food. Everyone who is fed on milk is ignorant of the word of righteousness, because he is a child; solid food is characteristic of the perfect, whose senses are accustomed to distinguish between good and evil” (Heb. 5:12-14).
From the above, it becomes clear why, of the 75-80 percent of the Russian population who call themselves Orthodox, only 3-5 percent resort to the saving Sacraments of Repentance and Communion. As is the mentor, so is the student. Of course, this is somewhat exaggerated reasoning. It is impossible not to take into account the effect of the grace of the Holy Spirit on the newly enlightened person and his recipient during the celebration of the Sacrament of Baptism. And yet, it would be a mistake to think that the action of God’s grace, which enlightens “every person coming into the world”[6], relieves the recipient or priest who has entrusted an unsupported soul into the care of a foolish mentor from responsibility.
A natural question arises: what to do, how to act in this situation? Of course, the best option would be to involve only churchgoers who participate in the spiritual life of the parish of believers. But for certain reasons, the solution to this question cannot be unambiguous. There are not many churchgoers in the Church who are ready to become mentors who could be entrusted with the spiritual education of a newly baptized Christian. Perhaps the problem would not be so acute if only those who actually live on the territory of a given parish were baptized in a particular church. In this case, the priest, knowing his flock by sight and constantly seeing the newly baptized parishioner and his successor, would have more opportunities for their pastoral care. To a certain extent, this approach can be applied in a small rural parish, but the realities of a modern metropolis are completely unsuitable for this.
It is obvious that the problem of the churching of newly enlightened Christians cannot have one universal solution; it requires a comprehensive, integrated approach.
As we noted above, holding public conversations with recipients does not guarantee that they will acquire true, active faith. Yes, we can state that more than half of the potential unchurched recipients responsibly and even with some interest attend public conversations and quite conscientiously complete all the catechist’s homework. But, as practice shows, in the future, after the Sacrament of Baptism has been performed, at best, only one out of ten to twenty such “guarantors” will seriously reconsider their attitude towards faith and, perhaps, become a full-fledged participant in the Sacraments of the Church.
Of course, catechetical conversations for recipients are necessary, and it is possible that at a certain time, the knowledge that was obtained in the process of catechetical conversations will play a role in the salvation of both the recipient and his godson. Such a favorable outcome, of course, can and should be taken into account, but it would be irresponsible to rely on such a development of the situation. This should be understood by both parents when choosing godparents for their baby, and by the priest, who can and should help them make the right decision.
[1] A.V. Petrovsky "Receivers". [Electronic resource.] URL: https://www.biblioteka3.ru/biblioteka/pravoslavnaja-bogoslovskaja-jenciklopedija/tom-3/vospriemniki.html.
[2] St. Philaret of Moscow (Drozdov) Long Orthodox Catechism of the Orthodox Catholic Eastern Church. [Electronic resource.] URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Filaret_Moskovskij/prostrannyj-pravoslavnyj-katekhizis/2_13.
[3] See 1 Pet. 3:21.
[4] On religious, educational and catechetical service in the Russian Orthodox Church. [Electronic resource.] URL: https://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/1909451.html.
[5] Order of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill on preparation for the Sacrament of Baptism dated April 3, 2013.
[Electronic resource.] URL: https://pravobraz.ru/rasporyazhenie-svyatejshego-patriarxa-kirilla-o-podgotovke-k-tainstvu-kreshheniya-ot-3-aprelya-2013-g/.
[6] See In. 1:9.
When to baptize a newborn
In families where the baptism of a child is not just a formality, but a significant event with enormous spiritual significance, they prepare for it quite seriously and responsibly. But the criterion of significance is not always identical to the scale of the festivities.
For some, it is important to see only their closest relatives at this celebration, while others make a big holiday for all their relatives, friends and acquaintances.
In any case, it is important to choose the right time (date) for the christening:
- so that it complies with church canons;
- so that all invited guests can come to the ceremony.
As for the church, there are absolutely no restrictions here. It is only necessary to take into account some nuances associated with a certain period:
- christening is scheduled for the period from 8 to 40 days of the baby’s life, but then the mother cannot attend the ceremony;
- if the child was born weak, or there is a threat to his life, parents may decide to baptize the baby in the first week of life;
- If the parents decide that the child has the right to choose his own religion at a conscious age, then he can be baptized as an adult.
Well, choosing the date for the christening, taking into account the capabilities of the guests, the organizational and financial capabilities of the parents, the time to buy what is needed for the baptism of the child, is a purely personal matter.
But you need to be prepared that it’s unlikely to be possible to organize everything “conveniently” for everyone. Therefore, you should still focus on the closest and godparents who were chosen for the baby.
Christening gift
“Giving gifts” to a child is not the main task of godparents, but how can you leave your baby without gifts? The first gifts arrive at the child's christening.
The rules for parents and godparents do not oblige them to do exactly this, but most often gifts are distributed from godfathers.
From godmother:
- Kryzhma can be a large white baptismal towel or a snow-white cloth in which the baby is wrapped after the baptismal bath. It should be made of natural material/fabric, possibly with church symbols (crosses, angels, etc.). You can buy it both in the store and in the church shop. They say that if you wrap a sick child at any age in his baptismal cap, he will recover faster.
- A baptismal shirt is the clothing in which the baby will be baptized. It could be a dress, a vest or a suit. The main thing is that the fabrics are natural, and that the outfit is comfortable and easy to take off.
From the godfather:
- A pectoral cross is a mandatory attribute of the ceremony. What material it will be made of does not matter. But you should pay attention that it is small and safe for the baby, and also depicts the crucifixion of Christ and is consecrated before/before the child’s baptism;
- Chain / rope / cord - anything at the request (and capabilities) of the godfather, on which the baby will wear a cross;
- Icon with a patron saint or Guardian Angel.
Instead (or in addition) to this, godparents can give the baby other gifts that the parents wish, or that they themselves consider necessary.
How were christenings celebrated in ancient times?
Previously, as now, christenings were a very significant event in people's lives. This sacrament was necessarily performed no later than two months after the baby was born, and sometimes earlier, on the eighth day. This happened because there used to be a high infant mortality rate, so it was very important for loved ones to baptize the child before the irreparable happened, so that his soul would go to heaven.
The celebration of the little man's joining the church was celebrated with a large number of guests. This was especially noticeable in large villages. Many people gathered for such a holiday, who came with gifts and best wishes for the baby. At the same time, they brought mainly various pastries - kulebyaki, pies, pretzels. In the house where the little man lived, a sumptuous table was laid for the guests, and there was practically no alcohol (there could only be red wine in very small quantities).
There were traditional holiday dishes. For example, a rooster baked in porridge for a boy or a chicken for a girl. There were also a lot of shaped baked goods, which symbolized wealth, fertility, and longevity.
It was customary to invite the midwife to the table, who would receive the baby. They could also call the priest who performed the baptismal ceremony. During the celebration, numerous songs were sung, thus wishing the child all the best. They saw off all the guests, presenting each with sweets.
