Ancient Russia was baptized in 988 by the Grand Duke of Kiev Vladimir. On this day, July 28, Orthodox believers celebrate the anniversary of this event. Soon after the Christianization of Russia in 1054, there was a split between East and West, dividing the church into Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Catholic). Over time, these two churches adopted various ways of performing the sacraments, including baptism. Here are the main differences between Catholic and Orthodox baptism.
Baptism is the most important Christian sacrament. This gives a person access to all other sacraments, in particular the Eucharist (also known as Holy Communion).
In Orthodoxy, baptism can be performed for infants (usually older than 8 days). Parents and godparents are responsible, in this case, for raising a child in the spirit of the Christian faith. Since the child cannot yet take part in the Eucharist or fast, such things are performed by the child’s parents “for him”.
If the baptized child is less than 7 years old, then in Orthodoxy only the consent of his parents is required. For children from 7 to 14 years old, the consent of both parents and the child himself is required, and after 14 years everyone can decide for himself.
In Catholicism, the act of free will is of paramount importance - a person must consciously choose Christianity. That is why it is recommended that baptism be performed between the ages of 7 and 12 so that those who are baptized can make their own decisions.
Baptism is almost always carried out with water (with rare exceptions. According to the canons of the Apostles (4th century AD), a dying person who wants to enter Christianity can even be baptized with sand).
In the Orthodox tradition, baptism involves three complete immersions (or immersions) in a font filled with holy water - each immersion for the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Triple immersion also symbolizes the death and rebirth of Christ. Baptism by dousing or sprinkling of water is allowed only in exceptional cases.
On the contrary, in the Catholic Church three times pour water over the head of the baptized or three times sprinkled.
In Russian Orthodox churches, Chrism is a sacrament (Holy Mystery) that must be performed after baptism.
In Catholic, as in Orthodox churches, Chrism completes the process of including the baptized in the sacrament. In the Eucharist, one cannot take the sacrament without chrism.
In the Catholic Church, chrimization is also carried out after baptism, but is not considered to be completely finished. The “real” hrismation, called confirmation, is performed on children 13-14 years old, who are believed to have consciously chosen their faith at that time. Confirmation is carried out only by the priest in the dignity of the bishop.
Other parts of baptism are approximately the same in Catholic and Orthodox traditions: both include reading the Nicene creed, denouncing Satan (before baptism), and after baptism, white clothes are put on and a candle is lit.
