Beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
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ON WHAT IS ACCOMPLISHED IN HOLY BAPTISM AND ON REPENTANCE
By Saint Gregory Palamas
Repentance is the beginning, middle, and end of the Christian way of life, so it is both sought and required before Holy Baptism, in Holy Baptism, and after Holy Baptism. We are asked to express our repentance in words at the time of our baptism when we are questioned about our good conscience towards God, make a covenant with Him and promise to live a God-pleasing life that bears witness to our love for Him. For, having believed, we promise allegiance to Christ, Who is good and surpasses all goodness, renouncing the evil and thoroughly depraved enemy, and we take it upon ourselves to hold with all our strength to God's Commandments, which bring about what is good, and to abstain from evil thought and deed. When asked, we reply, either in person or, as happens in the case of infants being baptized, through our godparents, concerning what we have believed, inwardly accepted and agreed to with our minds. And since, according to the Apostle, "With the heart, man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation" (Romans 10:10), when we make this good confession with our mouth we receive salvation through the washing of regeneration (St. Titus 3:5).
As it happens that most people are infants at the time of this divine washing and all that accompanies it, and do not recognize the power of the Mystery (Sacrament), let us reveal it in a few words in the hearing of all, as the approaching feast demands. For I think that recalling and elucidating rites performed in divine baptism will bring no small benefit, especially to those who listen with understanding. For if through this reminder we discover that we afterward neglected any of the undertakings made at our baptism, or failed from the very beginning to put certain things into practice, we shall start again by means of repentance.
When the bishop learns that someone has come seeking to be baptized, he first rejoices inwardly, in imitation of the Lord Who loves what is good, and gives spiritual thanks to God, Who alone wills and brings about every good thing. Then he calls together the church in his care, that together they might celebrate, and assist in the salvation of the person who has come forward. The bishop stands at the sacred altar with the priests and, afterward after openly expressing his thanksgiving with them, he comes out and asks the candidate with what wish he has come to church. When he replies, either himself or through his godparent, if he is an infant, that he desires to become God's, through His mediation and with His help, and to attain to divine blessings, the bishop tells him, "As you are drawing near to God Who is True, Perfect and Sinless, the manner of your approach, your promise and the way you live from now on must be appropriate: that is to say, full of truth and integrity, and blameless". Having given him guidance on living according to the gospel of Christ, he asks again if he chooses to live such a life. Once the candidate has given his agreement, the bishop seals him with the sign of the Cross, and bids the priests to deem his name worthy of being added to the list, placing him from then on among those being saved, as a lover of the life-giving way of life.
Then, having prayed to God once more, the bishop commands that he be stripped of all his clothing and, standing with his face towards the west, that he makes gestures with his hands as though he were pushing Satan away, blow at him and renounce him, and upon questioning to make this renunciation three times. The candidate's nakedness signifies putting off the old man (cf., Ephesians 4:22) and his unholy life, the act of driving someone away with his hands while looking westwards indicates turning away from the darkness of sin; and by blowing he demonstrates that he is breathing out that disposition which is inborn in him because of the former sin, getting rid of it and, as it were, throwing it at the devil as it belongs to him. The threefold declaration of renunciation is the sign of his resolute and perfect escape from God's adversary. Once the person to be baptized has completed these acts, the bishop exhorts him to turn to face the east and, lifting up his hands, to align himself with Christ by responding to three questions. Looking eastwards is a sign that, having fled from evil, he is looking up at the Divine Light; raising his hands symbolizes prayer with boldness; and the threefold confession when he makes his commitment proves the steadfastness of his promise to God.
Once he has withdrawn in this way from every evil and run with all his strength to the perfection of goodness, the bishop seals him three times with the Holy Oil of anointing, then lets the priests anoint his whole body. The anointing signifies preparation for holy struggles, and from then on, as the person being baptized sets out in the footsteps of Christ -- the first to be martyred under Pontius Pilate - he is put to death with Him, having become dead to sin in mysterious fashion. Hoy Baptism is a symbol of death. After the Holy Unction (Holy Oil), he is immediately led to the Sacred Font, which has been thoroughly sanctified beforehand by various holy rites and ablutions. Once he has been brought, the bishop baptizes him by immersing him three times, invoking at each immersion one of the Three Persons whom we worship (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).
Water is a means of cleansing, but not for souls. It can remove dirt from those being baptized, but not the grime that comes from sin. For that reason, the Healer of souls, the Father of spirits (Hebrews 12:9), Christ, Who takes away the sin of the world (St. John 1:29), enters the water before us to be baptized, as we celebrate today in advance. He draws the grace of the All-Holy Spirit from above to dwell in the water with Him, so that later when those being baptized as He entered the water, He is there, clothing them ineffably with His Spirit, attaching Himself to them, and filling them with the grace that purifies and illumines reasonable spirits. And this is what the divine Paul referring to: "as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Galatians 3:27). [Source: Saint Gregory Palamas, The Homilies]
(To be continued)
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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"
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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+Father George