The Baptism!

 The kid got dunked today! I was led to believe this would result in his being much more mild tempered, angelic even, with no more screaming cries or diapers that contain an explosion of evil or loud burps in church. I was lied to on all counts. Granted I was the one who came up with those ideas and was telling myself this, but you think I could trust myself! I'm such a liar. The kid did all three in the course of his Baptism. Here's a play by play, with some explanation for the nonodox out there.

The giant silver goblet over there is the baptismal font. To the right of the table is an Icon on an Icon Stand. Today it depicts Lazarus raising from the tomb, because today is the Feast of St. Lazarus (a traditional day for baptisms, being a pre-figurment of the final Resurrection).

These are all the things that are on the table up there. The Icon here is of St. Athanasius, the patron of our progeny. To the left of that is his baptismal cross, a gift from his godparents, then his baptismal candle which represents his being illuminated by Christ. The silver 'flask' holds the Holy Oil for his Chrismation (Confirmation) which we give to infants as well. The little glass dish and glass oil is oil we use to anoint the baby before baptism. The sponge and bowl are for washing off the oil and the other thing is some balsamic vinegar in case we feel like salad later.

That's a lie, I don't know what that is.

His baptismal gown, which represents the purity of 'putting on Christ.' This one was also used by my niece and some nephews when they were baptized.

There are three exorcisms performed on the baby before he's brought into the church. This is Father breathing on the baby during one of them. It does not, as previously believed, prevent your child from still screaming crying.

Because our baby boy can't renounce Satan himself his godparents do it for him. Here they're spitting on the devil (represented by the direction West, being outside the temple. You can also see some of our fellow parishioners waiting patiently to get in.

They bow before Christ, accepting him on Athanasius' behalf, and recite the Creed.

(The kid is totally naked under there, he has no sense of dignity. In CHURCH!)

They process up to the front and we start the service as normal, then a little ways in we get to the actual dunkin'

ALL IN BABY! The kid gets dunked in three times. Again, naked. Scandalous.

He's 'clothed' in his baptismal garment, which, because of the stupid complexity of children's clothing involves too many buttons to actually do right then so Father just lays it on him and we all pretend we don't notice.

The candle is lit and we return to our seats, which is pointless because we never actually sit so this is seriously just a figure of speech.

Now he actually gets to put on what I call "the frilliest thing you'll ever wear" and what is really "a sure sign of how much my daddy loves traditions that he is allowing me to wear this." You can see the oil really well on his forehead - it turns green in our container because it reacts with the metal. That's his war paint!

Then they process around the table three times while the choir sings "As many as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ! Alleluia!"

This is his actually getting that green oil on his forehead that you saw before. I can't figure out how to fix it and put it where it actually goes. So this is his Chrismation, which is seriously what we call it and not some play on the word "Christmas" like a friend once accused me of.

Happy, quiet baby leads to happy godparents (though Uncle David is never really that quiet.)

First Holy Communion! You can see the Chalice and the Spoon - in Orthodoxy the Body of Christ is put into the Blood and we receive it all at the same time off a spoon. Then we 'cleanse' our mouth by eating some blessed bread, which we'll also share with our non-Orthodox family and friends. You can't see that here though. 

This is it though, now he's completely initiated into The Church. It's actually an amazing moment, my son has received the Body and Blood of Christ, who said "Let the children come to me" and 2,000 years later, they still do!

This is just before the oil is washed off. A long prayer is said first (because this is Orthodoxy - a long prayer is always said first)

Babies don't have anything that they can give Christ in return for His gifts of Baptism, Holy Communion, Chrismation and ultimately, Salvation, so they give the only thing they have - their hair. All infants are tonsured after Baptism, four snippets of hair in the shape of a cross, which is mixed with some wax from his Baptismal candle.

I have no clue what to do with this tiny ball of hairy wax I have, but the symbolism is beautiful.

Here we are! Uncle David and Aunt Jenna were also recently made parents. Uncle David is holding their daughter Lilyann, who will be made our goddaughter in a few weeks.

Off topic - isn't my wife hot?

All of us! By now you probably feel like you know everyone!

A word to the wise - Orthodoxy always has food. Much gratitude to my sisters for making the cake, and to my hot wife. You remember her from before? Get this - she's an awesome cook too and she totally made that heaping pile of LENTEN baklava. It was delicious. There was also some punch. Thank you to my parents also for helping to set this up and my grandparents for the cutlery! All the food was a big hit.

MANY YEARS, ATHANASIUS!