Christians often ask the question: Why infant baptism? Especially when it is said that baptism is for the forgiveness of sins and children are born “like angels,” innocent and no longer carrying the sin of those who preceded them.
To answer this question, we must seek help from the Holy Bible, from which our faith and all our worshipers and ritual practices derive, and from the holy fathers who applied it in their lives. The theologian John says in his Gospel: “Verily, truly, I say to you, unless a person is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (5:3). These words are clear: entry into the kingdom of God is a condition of receiving baptism. It is also true that the evangelist here does not specify the age at which the new birth begins. In each of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we find that Christ addresses the disciples, saying: “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 3:18, Mark 15:10, Luke 17:18).
The three evangelists in these texts do not speak about baptism directly, but comparing it with the previous evangelical verse (John 5:3) leads us to say that Christ, by calling people to become children in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, is nothing but an invitation to baptism. The same opinion is held by Saint Justin Martyr (second century), who, when speaking about baptism, quotes the Holy Bible, saying: “Unless you are born again, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” We note here that the first half of this verse is taken from John 5:3 and the second half is taken from Matthew 3:18. The same thing is also found in the book “The Apostolic Disciplines.” This means that the disciples and early Christians understood that these verses were synonymous and had one meaning, which was the call to baptism.
The apostles were baptizing the family of the convert to the faith, all of them without exception. The Apostle Paul baptized Lydia “and her household,” and the prison guard “and all those who were his” (Acts 15:16, 33). He himself said: “I also baptized the house of Stephen” (1 Corinthians 16:1). The first direct testimonies that have reached us about the baptism of children date back to the end of the second century and the beginning of the third century. Origen says: “The Church imitated the Apostles to also grant baptism to children.” Saint Irenaeus testifies that children in the second century were baptized in the East and West, as was Tertullian. As for Saint Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, he recommended that baptism should not be postponed until after the eighth day. The baptism of children in that era took place immediately after birth, on the eighth day, or on the fortieth day, according to the tradition followed in the region to which the newborn belonged. Baptism, as the Orthodox Church understands it, is a new birth by “water and the Spirit,” and participation in the death and resurrection of Christ. Receiving it, as it is the sacrament of entry into the Church, is what allows a person to participate in the holy mysteries.
The sacrament of thanksgiving is the sacrament of true life through which we are united with Christ our Savior. Children are also invited to participate in the secret banquet. This is why the call for the legitimacy of infant baptism finds its legitimacy.
Saint Cyprian says: “If the elderly who have fallen into great sins deserve the grace of holy baptism, how much more do children who have not sinned by nature deserve it.”
From the bulletin of the Diocese of Latakia
Sunday the 15th after Pentecost
2-10-2005
