The sacraments give life in Christ. I have already examined this truth in great detail. Now we will examine how each sacrament leads to this life. Life in Christ is our union with Him. In what way do the sacraments unite believers to Christ? This question needs an answer.
In order to be united with Christ, we must suffer the pain He endured. He took blood and flesh free from all sin and deified the human nature He put on since He is God. He died as a human being and rose from the grave as God Almighty. Whoever wants to be united with Him must receive His flesh and share in His divine nature, death and resurrection. Therefore, we are baptized to become partakers of Christ’s death and resurrection. After holy baptism, we receive the holy anointing to become partakers of His holy divine nature. We then eat His flesh and drink His blood in the holy cup to become partakers of the flesh He took when He became man. Thus, we are united with the One who was incarnate for our sake, deified the human nature, died and rose again.
Why don’t we follow the path that Christ took, but start where He ended and end where He began? Because Christ came down to earth to take us up to heaven, so His descent became an ascent for us. The ladder came down from heaven to earth, and the last step of the ladder became the starting point for our ascent to heaven. It was not possible otherwise, because baptism is a birth and the holy anointing is an action and a movement for us. As for the bread of life and the cup of thanksgiving, “they are true food and drink” (John 6:56).
A person cannot move or die before he is born: Baptism reconciles a person to God, anointing gives the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the sacrament of thanksgiving makes the believer receive the body and blood of Christ. It is difficult for a person to stand before reconciliation, where God’s friends have the right to stand, and to be worthy of the gifts given to friends, and for the one with a bad conscience to receive the body and blood of Christ. Therefore, we are first baptized, then anointed, to become pure from all sin, filled with the fragrance of the Spirit, and then we come to the mystical table to receive the holy communion.