Daily Journey Through the Great Fast With the Early ChurchSample

Water purification was well documented in the Mosaic Law, necessary for coming in contact with a dead body, at childbirth, by a bride before the Wedding Ceremony, Aaron and his sons to cleanse themselves prior to consecration as priests. In the Old Testament, the deliverance of Noah and his family, as 1 Peter 3:20-21 says, is a reference to future salvation and antitype of baptism (“not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God”). The Israelites walking through the Red Sea is also understood as a reference to the deliverance we receive in baptism. When Naaman, a leper, was instructed by the prophet Elisha to wash himself by dipping himself in the Jordan River seven times and the leprosy was removed, symbolically similar to the washing away of original sin in baptism [2 Kings 5:1-14]. It is not strange then to see St. John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets, baptizing people in the Jordan River.

St. John the Baptist was in the Jordan River baptizing people as a symbol of repentance, to make the way for the True Baptizer, Jesus, who baptizes with “the Holy Spirit and fire” [Matthew 3:11, Mark 1:7-8, Luke 3:16]. Baptism is the repentance from the original sin of Adam and Eve. Baptism is to die with Christ and to arise with Him. Baptism is to “put off...the old man...and put on the new man which was created according to God” [Ephesians 4:22-24].

The Scholar Tertullian said, “He desired that the baptism of repentance would lead the way. He did this with the view of first preparing those whom He was calling, by means of the sign and seal of repentance.”

Repentance is, as we have said before, needed throughout our life - it is a lifestyle, a daily intentional self-reflective action. We are human and to be human is to be weak, imperfect, but we are born of the Spirit and the same Holy Spirit that rose our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is the same Holy Spirit that lives in those that were Chrismated (when the believer receives the Holy Spirit). Yet, as humans, we fall and fall, sin and fall often. The call to repentance is to give up to answering the enticement and luring of sin, to resist the forces of darkness tempting us to sin. The power that is able to squash these dark powers is repentance.

There is a story, in the Paradise of the Fathers, of an old monk who was asked by one who toiled in repentance and sin, “Is the repentance of sinners accepted by God?” And the old man, after he had taught him with many words, said unto him, “Tell me, O my beloved one: if your cloak were to be torn in rags, would you throw it away?” And he said to him, “No, but I would sew up the torn pieces, and then I could use it again.” And the old man said unto him, “If you would show pity for your garment which has no feeling, do you not think that God shows pity on that which He has fashioned, and which is His work?”

Repentance is a requirement for the Sacrament of Baptism, the requirement during the Sacrament of Baptism, and a requirement after the Sacrament of Baptism - repentanceisto be baptized.

Christian Baptism, according to the Orthodox faith, is our death, burial, and Resurrection, becoming united with the Lord Jesus Christ. “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ all of you are one in Christ Jesus” [Galatians 3:27-28]. It is a Mystery, necessary for our salvation, given to the Church by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. When we sin after being baptized, we don't need to be rebaptized since the Lord died once on the Holy Cross and the baptism is fellowship in His death and His Resurrection (Romans 6:3-4). Therefore, after Baptism we wash away our sins through the Mystery of Repentance and Confession. That is why the Lord Jesus Christ said to St. Peter, “he who has bathed (Mystery of Baptism) does not need to wash (be baptized again) except for his feet (Mystery of Repentance and Confession) but he is clean all over.” [John 13:10] That is why the Mystery of Repentance and Confession is called the “Second Baptism.”

“Repentance is the renewal of baptism. Repentance is a contract with God for a second life. A penitent is a buyer of humility. Repentance is a constant distrust of bodily comfort. Repentance is self-condemning reflection, and carefree self-care. Repentance is the daughter of hope and the renunciation of despair. A penitent is an undisgraced convict. Repentance is reconciliation with the Lord by the practice of good deeds contrary to the sins. Repentance is purification of conscience.” [St. John Climacus, a 7th century monk and author of “Ladder of Divine Ascent”]