Daily Journey Through the Great Fast With the Early ChurchSample

Baptism (a Greek term believed to be used to describe dipping cloth into dye) is more than just a profession of faith, something done outwardly to show you are a believer - in the Early Church, Baptism was a Sacrament you accepted and affirmed to become a child of Christ, a Sacrament you accepted and affirmed to be adopted into the family of Christ, a Sacrament you accepted and affirmed to become heirs of the kingdom of Heaven.

The Great Commission of the Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples (to all of us that follow Him and His teachings) is to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” [Matthew 28:19] - some denominations of Christianity focus more on the part of making disciples but forget that to be an actual disciple of Jesus you must be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. To be a disciple of someone you need to learn their ways, act and talk like them, learn their discipline - in that manner, the Holy Spirit is the seal you receive in the Chrismation at the Orthodox Baptism to show Whom you belong to (Ephesians 1:13).

Philip the Deacon preached Jesus to the Ethiopian eunuch, the new believer's initial request was to be baptized in Acts 8. When the guard of the jail responded to St. Paul and St. Silas' preaching, he and his household were baptized in Acts 16. Also, in Acts 16, Lydia, then Cornelius and his household in Acts 10, the Corinthians in Acts 18 and many others were baptized.

The Didache(The Lord's Teaching Through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations), theApostolic Traditionsand the Early Church further expanded on the Tradition of the Sacrament of Baptism. It is by the command of the Lord Jesus Christ, theDidacheand theApostolicTraditionsthat the Orthodox Church still practices this Sacrament of Baptism as it was handed to Her.

The Sacrament of Baptism is both an individual and corporate act of witnessing. We receive Baptism at the hand of the bishop or priest and not by our own hands; it is this way we witness the Baptism individually. Jesus reminds the disciples that this work of Baptism is empowered by the Holy Spirit - “it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.” [1 John 5:6-7] This is then the witness of the corporate act: the priest, who has been given the authority via the bishop through the laying of the hands by the Apostles by the Lord Jesus Christ on them Himself a (a direct lineage), testifies to the message of the Gospel and the Great Commission and the Holy Spirit, Who empowers the Sacrament of Baptism,isthe Witness, when He is bestowed upon the one who has been baptized, like on the Day of Pentecost.

Just like a cloth comes out of the dye looking different than what it looked like going in, being a new creature in the Lord Jesus Christ through Baptism means that our lives have changed. Disciples of Jesus become more like Him, through their baptism, in dying with Him and rising with Him - that change becomes noticeable to others and becomes a witness to the Gospel message. It is in the Sacrament of Baptism that we are “baptized into Christ Jesus” [Romans 6:3] and “baptized into His death” [Romans 6:3].

Continue to live the baptism of death with Christ - just like the cloth, come out of Baptism looking more like Him than the world.

“Now, at last, we must explain God’s plan of salvation. God, in his love of humankind, provided for us a way of salvation and of life. Believing in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and making this confession before many witnesses, we wash away all the filth of sin. The communication of the Holy Spirit enriched us, made us partakers of the divine nature and gained for us the grace of adoption as God’s children.” [St. Cyril of Alexandria, 5th century Patriarch of Alexandria, theologian known as the “Pillar of Faith” and a “doctor of the Church”]