On the important Baptism of Infants
- Denomination Specific Theology
- 8 Replies
Of late, my friend @Ain't Zwinglian has posted a number of interesting and important threads defending the practice of the infants and children against the attacks of the credobaptists who believe that only “Believer’s Baptism” of adults, and in some cases, older children or adolescents, is admissable.
Now despite one of my ancestors being among the first Baptist pilgrims in the New World, I reject wholeheartedly the Baptist position that only “Believer’s Baptism” is admisable.
I wanted to post a thread in concordance with the threads posted by my friend @Ain't Zwinglian and also certain interesting and correct posts by my friend @ViaCrucis to address the baptism of children and infants from a Patristic and Oriental perspective, that is to say, from the consensus existing between early writings of the Greek and Syrian Fathers, and the contemporary baptismal praxis of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and the Assyrian Church of the East and Ancient Church of the East, as well as the related and usually identical practices of most of the sui juris Eastern Catholic churches, as well as what I can assume to be, or at least to have been at one time, the praxis of traditional Protestant churches operating in the Middle East and in South India.
It is specifically the case that the Orthodox practice the baptism of infants, children and adults alike using three-fold immersions, with the energumen (catechumen ready to be baptized) being baptized in this manner: by being fully immersed, or in the case of infants, at least thoroughly splashed (although a safe technique does exist for full immersion without a risk of drowning through aspiration of water in the font, but this is taught in seminaries and I would not encourage anyone to do this except with a trained Orthodox parish priest who has children of their own and is experienced in this baptismal technique either conducting the baptism or concelebrating the baptism and supervising a younger priest; monastic clergy in some cases do a number of baptisms and in other cases have little or no experience, and it is a combination of training and experience in either conducting such baptisms or in supervising them that ensures their safety. To my knowledge, in the United States, the Orthodox churches have a perfect safety record. The only mishap I am aware of involving the immersion of an infant occured in Moldova in 2009 and was considered and prosecuted as the equivalent of first degree murder, for it was intentional malpractice, but unfortunately it did not occur to the family that the young clergyman conducting the service was mishandling the infant by holding them submerged under the water until the infant had in fact drowned, in a regrettable case of homicide, which it should also be noted that one of the two Eastern Orthodox churches operating in Moldova may be schismatic and irregular, and the area is canonically disputed between the Romanians, the Ukrainians and the Russians and so is something of an ecclesiastical minefield, and the sort of area where if such a dreadful mishap were most likely to occur.
It is generally possible to perform the threefold immersion of infants however without actually submerging their face, and in this manner it is done properly, and this can be done for example by seating the infant in the font and splashing them from behind.
In my observations, infants and young children enjoy being baptized, particularly if the water in the font is not excessively cold, and usually are happy to be blessed in this manner.
If an impediment exists which creates an aspiration hazard, for example, if the child has a tracheotomy, other alternative techniques can be used. I have heard that the Serbian Orthodox Church in particular is known for making frequent use of baptism by affusion (pouring) which might also be done perhaps in drought conditions if access to a suitable font or baptismal location is not easily obtained.
My main point in sharing this is to dispel what I believe is a common misconception among some proponents of Believer’s Baptism, that being that full immersion and the baptism of infants or young children are mutually exclusive. They are not, and this is why infants are normally baptized in the same manner as adults in the Orthodox churches.
I was not received by baptism but by Chrismation, and as a matter of fact my baptism was by aspersion, or sprinkling, most likely using a device using an aspergilium, which is also used in Roman Catholic and Anglican churches to bless the laity by splashing them with Holy Water. For the latter purpose, one can also use hyssop, or other plant matter (as in the case of the Syriac Orthodox Church, which I believe uses thoroughly inundated palm fronds, or similar large leaves, in their Kneeling Service on Pentecost Sunday).
Thus this post should not be regarded as proscriptive of non-immersive baptism but rather as prescriptive of the baptism of infants, however it is to be done, because it is the most ancient practice of the church in the Levant, Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, Ethiopia and Eastern Europe, basically the territory of the surviving Orthodox and Assyrian churches, to baptize infants and children through three-fold triple immersion, as adult converts who are to be received by baptism are also baptized. Because the Nicene Creed includes a confession of one baptism, it is generally regarded as improper to rebaptize converts.
Now despite one of my ancestors being among the first Baptist pilgrims in the New World, I reject wholeheartedly the Baptist position that only “Believer’s Baptism” is admisable.
I wanted to post a thread in concordance with the threads posted by my friend @Ain't Zwinglian and also certain interesting and correct posts by my friend @ViaCrucis to address the baptism of children and infants from a Patristic and Oriental perspective, that is to say, from the consensus existing between early writings of the Greek and Syrian Fathers, and the contemporary baptismal praxis of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and the Assyrian Church of the East and Ancient Church of the East, as well as the related and usually identical practices of most of the sui juris Eastern Catholic churches, as well as what I can assume to be, or at least to have been at one time, the praxis of traditional Protestant churches operating in the Middle East and in South India.
It is specifically the case that the Orthodox practice the baptism of infants, children and adults alike using three-fold immersions, with the energumen (catechumen ready to be baptized) being baptized in this manner: by being fully immersed, or in the case of infants, at least thoroughly splashed (although a safe technique does exist for full immersion without a risk of drowning through aspiration of water in the font, but this is taught in seminaries and I would not encourage anyone to do this except with a trained Orthodox parish priest who has children of their own and is experienced in this baptismal technique either conducting the baptism or concelebrating the baptism and supervising a younger priest; monastic clergy in some cases do a number of baptisms and in other cases have little or no experience, and it is a combination of training and experience in either conducting such baptisms or in supervising them that ensures their safety. To my knowledge, in the United States, the Orthodox churches have a perfect safety record. The only mishap I am aware of involving the immersion of an infant occured in Moldova in 2009 and was considered and prosecuted as the equivalent of first degree murder, for it was intentional malpractice, but unfortunately it did not occur to the family that the young clergyman conducting the service was mishandling the infant by holding them submerged under the water until the infant had in fact drowned, in a regrettable case of homicide, which it should also be noted that one of the two Eastern Orthodox churches operating in Moldova may be schismatic and irregular, and the area is canonically disputed between the Romanians, the Ukrainians and the Russians and so is something of an ecclesiastical minefield, and the sort of area where if such a dreadful mishap were most likely to occur.
It is generally possible to perform the threefold immersion of infants however without actually submerging their face, and in this manner it is done properly, and this can be done for example by seating the infant in the font and splashing them from behind.
In my observations, infants and young children enjoy being baptized, particularly if the water in the font is not excessively cold, and usually are happy to be blessed in this manner.
If an impediment exists which creates an aspiration hazard, for example, if the child has a tracheotomy, other alternative techniques can be used. I have heard that the Serbian Orthodox Church in particular is known for making frequent use of baptism by affusion (pouring) which might also be done perhaps in drought conditions if access to a suitable font or baptismal location is not easily obtained.
My main point in sharing this is to dispel what I believe is a common misconception among some proponents of Believer’s Baptism, that being that full immersion and the baptism of infants or young children are mutually exclusive. They are not, and this is why infants are normally baptized in the same manner as adults in the Orthodox churches.
I was not received by baptism but by Chrismation, and as a matter of fact my baptism was by aspersion, or sprinkling, most likely using a device using an aspergilium, which is also used in Roman Catholic and Anglican churches to bless the laity by splashing them with Holy Water. For the latter purpose, one can also use hyssop, or other plant matter (as in the case of the Syriac Orthodox Church, which I believe uses thoroughly inundated palm fronds, or similar large leaves, in their Kneeling Service on Pentecost Sunday).
Thus this post should not be regarded as proscriptive of non-immersive baptism but rather as prescriptive of the baptism of infants, however it is to be done, because it is the most ancient practice of the church in the Levant, Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, Ethiopia and Eastern Europe, basically the territory of the surviving Orthodox and Assyrian churches, to baptize infants and children through three-fold triple immersion, as adult converts who are to be received by baptism are also baptized. Because the Nicene Creed includes a confession of one baptism, it is generally regarded as improper to rebaptize converts.
