How Orthodox Christians are baptized. Orthodox Cross and Eternal Life

How Orthodox Christians Are Baptized

The first three, together folded, fingers of the right hand denote the cross of the Lord, namely faith in God the Father, in God the Son and in the Holy Spirit. The other two fingers of the right hand are the two natures of Christ: the human and the divine (Christ the Man-God). If we describe how the Orthodox are baptized in more detail, then this is the case: we fold the fingers of the right hand: a large, index and middle ends to each other, symbolizing a single Holy Trinity. The other two fingers: the ring finger and the little finger - are pressed as tightly as possible to the palm of the hand, embodying the convergence of the Son of God from heaven to earth. When we overshadow ourselves with the sign of the cross, we press the folded fingers to the four points on our body. To sanctify our minds, we apply the cross of the Lord (three fingers) to the forehead, to consecrate the heart and the senses - to the womb, to sanctify the body forces - to the right, and then to the left shoulder.

Consider how Orthodox are baptized not during public worship. In this case, during the performance of the sign of the cross , it is necessary to pronounce the words, consecrating a certain zone of our body (as mentioned above): "In the name of the Father (consecrate the forehead) and the Son (we consecrate the stomach) and the Holy (sanctify the right shoulder) Spirit (we consecrate the left shoulder). Amen ", we lower the right hand and bow.

Why Orthodox are baptized right to left

The fact is that our right shoulder is a paradise with saved souls, and the left is the place of those who perish, hell and purgatory for demons and sinners. That is, when we are baptized, then we ask God for our reckoning to the fate of the saved souls, saving 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 the atonement for the sins of the world. The Orthodox cross is centered on church power and power, this all-conquering spiritual instrument. It is believed that it is the cross that scares off all sorts of evil spirits (for example, vampires), and if it is applied to the unclean, then, like a brand, it will burn its skin. People far from the church call the Orthodox cross the instrument of the execution of Jesus Christ, reproaching the Christians for worshiping this weapon. But this is nothing more than philistine talk. Orthodox Christians do not worship the implements of execution, but the Cross to the Life-giving (the symbol of Eternal Life), for Jesus Christ, crucified on him, atoned for our sins with his sufferings.

Immortal life

Jesus was crucified on the cross. We see it. Paradoxically, in the crucified Christ the Eternal Life is the same. That is why the Orthodox cross is a tree that gives life. It's not for nothing that each of us receives the cross of Christ at baptism, wearing it all his life around his neck. This is the personification of the weapons of spiritual struggle, a symbol of our salvation and confession. Praying and addressing the Lord, an Orthodox Christian asks God to protect him and his loved ones from illness, from enemies, from impure 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 he personifies. We hope that our article has been useful to you.