Russia and Baptism

Grand-daughter and God-father

Grandpa Goss waiting

Priest at the church of Alexander Nevsky, St. Petersburg, Russia

My husband and I were privileged to attend our granddaughter's baptism during our trip to Russia in early September 2011.  The Russian Orthodox Church does baptisms right!  It's a serious thing and a great joy at the same time.  The eastern and western churches share so much of the same liturgy.  Even though I couldn't understand all that the priest was saying, I could follow the movements--the presentation, the profession of faith--including my favorite part: renunciation of  evil, which in the Russian Orthodox church is accomplished by turning your back and spitting on the floor!--the prayer of thanksgiving over the water, the laying on of hands, the welcome into the church and benediction.  What takes about 10 minutes in a typical protestant baptism takes about an hour and a half in that setting.  Children are plunged naked into the font; the priest takes three large handfulls of water to dump over the child's head, at which point our granddaughter screamed bloody murder, as appropriately she should.  ^"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." [Hebrews 10:31] So now we wait for God to the work, and in partnership with parents and god-parents look forward to the day when she may make her own confession of faith and spit on the devil.