The sacrament of baptism is one of the seven Orthodox church sacraments. In this priesthood, a person becomes a member of the Church of Christ.
The sacrament of baptism was established by the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of Matthew there is clear evidence not only of the establishment of the sacrament as such, but also of the name in which the name should be baptized. Thus, the Gospel of Matthew ends with the covenant of Christ by the holy apostle, which says that the latter should go and teach all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Further, the need for teaching people everything that the Lord announced is taught. After this instruction, Jesus Christ ascended into heaven.
The sacrament of holy baptism was already performed in apostolic times. From the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament, it is known that the baptism was performed by the apostles themselves. Thus, the apostle Philip performed baptism (as indicated in the book of the Acts of the Apostles), and the apostle Paul speaks of himself as the consecrator of the sacrament of baptism over several families. Also in the Scriptures there is an indication of the baptism by the Apostle Peter of the family of Cornelius the centurion.
After the apostles, the sacrament of baptism began to be performed by bishops and priests. To the extent of the great growth of Christians, the apostles themselves could no longer cope with the performance of this sacred action. Gradually, the institution of the clergy appears in the Christian Church, in which the apostolic reception is directly traced through the laying on of hands and the performance of another sacrament - ordination to the priesthood.
