Baptism is one of the most important church sacraments, therefore it is of great importance in the life of every Christian. After going through this ritual, a person gets the opportunity to join the Holy Church, live a life pleasing to the Lord, and save his soul. As a rule, baptism occurs in infancy. Sometimes a mature person takes part in this sacred rite. In some cases, life circumstances develop in such a way that the question arises: is it possible to baptize a person, change godmother, father, or both at once? It is important to understand that it is almost impossible to carry out such a process, however, under certain circumstances, re-baptism can still take place.
What does the rite of baptism mean?
Baptism means a particularly important sacred act, during which the Lord himself is invisibly present. At the same time, the most important events occur:
- a baptized person is cleansed from sin and joins his Creator;
- the new member of the Church receives the highest grace;
- a Christian goes through spiritual birth and renounces Satan forever.
If the baptismal ceremony is intended for a small child, all the necessary ritual actions are performed for him by the godparents (spiritual) parents. These people need to vouch for their child before God and take on serious responsibility for the spiritual upbringing of the godson throughout his life. The godmother and father should pray for him, accustom him to church sacraments, and set a personal example of what a true Christian should be. The priests claim that the prayers offered by the godparents for the young member of the Orthodox Church entrusted to them have special power and are capable of providing him with great help.
Church opinion
Most clergy are categorical on the issue of rebaptism and consider repeating the ceremony impossible. A person can undergo the sacrament only once, so it is not possible to abandon a godmother or father and take on other parents.
If spiritual parents refuse to fulfill their duties and lead a sinful life, then the church advises to pray for them. Children are not responsible for the sins of their godparents; the spiritual life of their godparents does not affect the life and condition of their godchildren. First of all, parents themselves should raise a child in Christian traditions.
Church canons allow you to find another mentor who has taken upon himself the responsibility for the spiritual education of the child. If among your friends there is a churchgoer, you can ask him to introduce the child to church life. To do this, you need to come to the temple with your new mentor, asking for the priest’s blessing.
To avoid problems with the child’s second parents, you should take a responsible approach to choosing adoptive parents. You need to choose believers, spiritually literate, responsible people. Then the child will always have spiritual support, and questions about the baby’s rebaptism will not arise.
Why do you want to baptize your baby?
There are different reasons why parents want to baptize their child. This happens if people took part in the baptism of a child, who later could not live up to the hopes placed on them:
- turned out to be actually non-believers;
- approached the ritual formally;
- do not realize their responsibility to the godson;
- do not strive to become true Christians in the future.
Sometimes misunderstandings arise between biological and godparents, quarrels break out, a huge distance appears, or other undesirable situations occur, so further communication becomes problematic. Many people believe that the lack of good relationships poses a danger to the child and can provoke various misfortunes - failures, illnesses, premature death.
Another reason why parents want to baptize their child a second time is the name given to him at baptism (it is known that it often differs from the worldly name). There is an opinion that evil people who find out what the baby was named at baptism can harm him with the help of dark forces. If the name of the baptized person becomes known to others, some families seek to redo the ceremony and change it.
Why is a person baptized?
Baptism is the sacrament of entering the Church and being born again. The Gospel says:
Anyone who is not born of water and the Spirit cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).
In the baptismal waters a person is reborn: he dies to a sinful life and is born to an eternal life. Before God, the person being baptized makes vows (the godparents act on behalf of the child) to renounce Satan—from a sinful life—and unite with Christ.
If someone treats the sacrament of entering the Church as a formal action, some kind of semi-magical ritual - he was baptized and without working on himself became clean, healthy, happy - he is deeply mistaken.
The Sacrament of Baptism is the first step into the Church. It is followed by continuous work on spiritual improvement, repentance, confession, and Communion. To paraphrase a well-known saying, if you called yourself a Christian, be one. And don’t expect an obligatory reward in this life. Christians receive their reward in Heaven. After all, what could be higher than the Kingdom of Heaven, the bliss of being with God?
Is it possible to be baptized again?
You need to know the following: none of the reasons listed above are considered by the Church as a compelling argument for re-baptizing a child. The clergy will not conduct a new rite even in cases where the godfather or mother renounces Orthodoxy, accepts another religion, ends up in prison, or passes away of their own accord or for natural reasons.
Those who plan to baptize a daughter or son are always informed by clergy that it is almost impossible to change godparents in the future. That is why they warn about the need to carefully choose a spiritual father and mother.
Sometimes situations arise when godparents are unwilling or unable to fulfill their spiritual obligations towards the godson. In such cases, it is recommended that the child find other mentors in matters of faith who will become new recipients. At the same time, they will not act as a full-fledged replacement for the godfather and mother, since they did not participate in the sacrament of baptism and did not vouch for the young Christian before God.
How does the rite of rebaptism take place?
Reception of the sacrament of Baptism means the birth of a person for spiritual life, cleansing from original sin. Just as a person cannot be born twice physically, so spiritual birth is possible only once. Even the “Creed” prayer, read during the ceremony, contains words about a single baptism for the remission of sins. Therefore, it is impossible to conduct a rebaptism ceremony to change recipients.
In those rare cases when secondary baptism is allowed, the ceremony is performed in the same way as for the unbaptized.
When performing the sacrament over a person who does not know whether he has been baptized or not, a special wording is used when reading the prayer: “If he is not baptized, the servant of God is baptized...”.
What exceptions to the rules are there?
Every Orthodox Christian knows that baptism is a great religious sacrament that occurs only once during the life of a believer. Despite the fact that repeating the ritual is not stipulated by the Church, sometimes situations still arise that can be considered as exceptions to the rules.
The second baptism of a child can be carried out in the following cases:
- If the ceremony was performed not by a clergy person, but by another person who is not a clergyman. Such situations sometimes occur if a populated area is located at a great distance from an Orthodox church and it is not possible to get to it with a baby.
- If the ceremony is performed incorrectly. A new baptismal ritual may be required if the previous one was carried out with violations, unacceptable errors, and with the reading of prayer texts that did not correspond to the sacrament. In this case, all errors must be recorded and confirmed (preferably by several persons at once).
Sometimes an adult has reasonable doubts that he underwent baptism as an infant. This becomes a serious obstacle to the acquisition of true faith and the desire to live according to Christian commandments. In such situations, the Church allows for the possibility of conducting a new ritual with other godparents.
If you have a sincere desire to be re-baptized, you should contact a priest and tell him in detail about all the circumstances of making such a serious decision.
The only condition for second baptism
Re-baptism is possible only in one situation: if the first baptism is declared invalid. Apostolic Canon 47 speaks of the responsibility of priests. It is considered a sin:
- second baptism, if the first was true;
- the priest's refusal to perform the sacrament if the first was not true (committed by schismatics, heretics).
The rule itself sounds like this:
A bishop or presbyter, if he who has been truly baptized, baptizes again, or if he does not baptize someone defiled by the wicked, let him be cast out, for he who mocks the cross and the death of the Lord, and who does not distinguish between priests and false priests.
Is it possible to baptize a person a second time? The priest answers the question:
Choice of godparents
Before choosing a godfather for a child, you need to weigh the pros and cons of each candidate. This step is very important and responsible. Baptism is a sacrament into which not many people are initiated. This ritual is performed once, and all clergy are categorically against rebaptism.
Any people can become godparents, but they have an important mission. By agreeing to such a responsible status for their baby, they take on part of the responsibility for him. Their duties will not be limited to a one-time visit to church on the day of the ceremony itself. Throughout their lives, they must actively participate in education.
The child's mentors remain with him forever, they share part of their experience and wisdom that has been acquired over the years of life.
For a boy, the main thing is the godfather, and for a girl, accordingly, the mother. A full-fledged couple must be present during the ceremony - mom and dad.
Some parents want to rebaptize their child, but the church remains adamant.
Second name at baptism - beliefs
There are a huge number of superstitions about children. A number of superstitions have survived to this day. At all times, parents sought to protect their children from evil witchcraft. And one way to do this is to baptize under a name that will be known to a limited circle of people.
In pagan times, a person had several of these. In addition, there was also a secret name. Only those closest to him knew him—brothers, family members, and sometimes his future wife. Knowing a person's name, you can cast a spell or spell on him. Without possessing this information, it will be much more difficult to create evil witchcraft - not every magician is capable of this.
With the advent of Christianity, little has changed in this matter. As before, parents try to protect their children with the help of a secret “pseudonym” given at baptism. If the witch does not know him, she will not be able to cause serious harm.
Baptize an adult with a different name
The church answers the question ambiguously. If a person is not a church member, this is permitted, as in the case of a baby. If we are talking about a baptized person who does not know what he was baptized under, there is no prohibition here. It has already been said above that parents often forget the baptismal “pseudonyms” of their children if they differ from those indicated in the documents.
But most often we are talking about removing serious damage or a curse. If there is no other way to cope with strong black witchcraft, you can be baptized again, take a new name and hide from the negative program and the dark magician. Repeated baptism will help remove even damage to death, which not every healer undertakes.
True, the church has a negative attitude towards such a solution to the magical problem. At a minimum, because it relates to witchcraft. If a person does not have the reasons for re-churching, which are indicated above, he will most likely be refused.
In general, it is possible to baptize a child or an unbaptized adult under a different name. Re-baptism is allowed for a person who does not know what he was baptized as a child. But if we are talking about removing negativity of a magical nature, the church will not approve of this.
