How Orthodox Christians Are Baptized
The first three fingers together of the right palm together signify the cross of the Lord, namely faith in God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit. The other two fingers of the right palm are the two natures of Christ: the human and the Divine (Christ is the Man-God). If we describe how the Orthodox Christians are baptized in more detail, it happens like this: we fold the fingers of the right hand: the big, index and middle ends to each other, symbolizing the single Holy Trinity. Two other fingers: the ring finger and the little finger - we press as tightly as possible to the palm of your hand, personifying the descent of the Son of God from heaven to earth. When we overshadow ourselves with the cross banner, we press our folded fingers to the four points on our body. To sanctify our mind, we attach the Lord's cross (three fingers) to the forehead, to sanctify the heart and feelings - on the womb, to sanctify the bodily forces - on the right and then on the left shoulder.
Consider how Orthodox Christians are not baptized during a public service. In this case, in the process of performing the
sign of the Cross , it is necessary to pronounce the words, sanctifying at the same time a certain area of our body (as mentioned above): “In the name of the Father (we sanctify the forehead) and the Son (we sanctify the stomach) and the Holy (we sanctify the right shoulder) Spirit (sanctify the left shoulder). Amen, ”we lower our right hand and bow.
Why Orthodox are baptized from right to left
The fact is that our right shoulder is a paradise with saved souls, and the left is the place of the perishing, hell and purgatory for demons and sinners. That is, when we are baptized, we ask God of our reckoning as the fate of the saved souls, having delivered from the fate of those burning in hell.
Orthodox cross
On this main symbol of Christianity, Jesus Christ was once executed. He was crucified in the name of atonement for the sins of the world. In the Orthodox cross, church strength and power is concentrated, it is an all-conquering spiritual instrument. It is believed that it is the cross that scares away all kinds of evil spirits (for example, vampires), and if it is applied to the unclean, then, like a stigma, it will burn its skin.
People far from the church call the Orthodox cross the instrument of execution of Jesus Christ, reproaching Christians for worshiping this instrument. But this is nothing more than philistine talk. Orthodox Christians worship not the instrument of execution, but the Life-giving Cross (the symbol of Eternal Life), for Jesus Christ crucified on it atoned for our sins by its sufferings.
Immortal life
Jesus is crucified on the cross. We see it. Paradoxically, Eternal Life abides in the crucified Christ. That is why the Orthodox cross is a tree that gives life. Not for nothing that each of us receives a pectoral cross of Christ at baptism, carrying it around his neck all his life.
This is the personification of the weapon of spiritual struggle, a symbol of our salvation and confession. Praying and turning to the Lord, the Orthodox Christian asks God to protect himself and his family from illness, from enemies, from unclean ones, and so on.
So, in this article we briefly tried to describe how Orthodox Christians are baptized, and also told you about the Orthodox cross and Eternal Life, which it represents. We hope you find this article helpful.