The Greeks take care to bring their children, as soon as they are eight days old, to the church door. This religious custom is very ancient amongst them, and may be regarded as an imitation, or subsequent figure, of the presentation of Jesus in the temple of Jerusalem. If an infant, however, be in any apparent danger of death, he is baptized immediately, for fear he should die in darkness, or as they express it, out of the light. The priest goes to the church door, in order to receive the infant and give him his benediction, as the aged Simeon did formerly to our blessed Saviour. At the same time he marks him with the sign of the cross on his forehead, his mouth and chest. These are the preliminary ceremonies to baptism, and are styled, putting the seal upon an infant. The initial ceremony is followed by a prayer repeated by the priest; after which he takes the infant and raises him in his arms, either before the church door, or the image of the Virgin, making upon him several signs of the cross.

The baptism is performed by a threefold immersion; but before he administers the sacrament, the priest breathes three times on the infant, which is looked upon as an exorcism, deliverance from the power and malice of the devil. Afterwards, he plunges him three times all over in the baptismal font, and at each immersion names one of the three Persons in the Trinity. The relatives, who bring the child to be baptized, take care to have the baptismal water warmed, and throw into it a collection of

καὶ Πνεύματος, γίνεται ἡ διαλλαγὴ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου μὲ τὸν θεὸν, καὶ συγχωρεῖται ἡ εἴσοδος εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν, κατὰ τὰ λόγια τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν, λέγοντος· ἐὰν μή τις γεννηθῇ ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ Πνεύματος, οὐ δύναται εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ· τοῦτο τὸ μυστήριον μίαν φορὰν λαμβανόμενον, δὲν δίδεται δεύτερον, μόνον ἐκεῖνος ὅπου βαπτίζει νὰ πιστεύη ὀρθοδόξως ἕνα θεὸν τρισυπόστατον, καὶ νὰ εἶπεν ἀκριβῶς καὶ απαραλλάκτως τὰ προῤῥηθέντα λόγια· εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς, καὶ τοῦ Υιοῦ, καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, ἀμήν· κατὰ τὴν γνώμην τῆς καθολικῆς καὶ ὀρθοδόξου ἐκκλησίας.

the most odoriferous flowers. Whilst the water is being warmed, the priest sanctifies it by a prayer, breathes upon it, and then pours oil into it, and with the same oil anoints the infant in the form of a cross. The oil is a symbol or figure of man's reconciliation with his Maker; and this unction is performed by the priest upon the child's forehead and breast, all around about his ears and upon his loins, during which he pronounces the following forms of words in anointing the forehead: The servant of the Lord is anointed; in anointing his breast, For the cure of his soul and body; and at the unction of his ears, he adds, that the faith may be received by hearing.

If the infant that is to be baptized be a male child, the godfather stands before the font; but if it be a female the place is occupied by the godmother.

The three immersions in the baptismal font imply the death, resurrection, and immortality of a Christian. The first buries the old man, the second regenerates and restores him again to life, and the third entitles him to eternal life. This allusion, by which the Greek Church characterises and describes the ordinance of baptism, is an incontestible proof of the Trinity being represented in their three immersions, and it is likely or presumable, that this ceremony was formerly introduced to distinguish between the orthodox and some particular anti-Trinitarian heretics.

The Greek Church baptizes and confirms at the same time. After the last prayer in the office of baptism, the infant is confirmed by the priest, who, on applying the chrism, in the form of a cross, to the forehead, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, breast, hands, and feet of the infant, says: Behold the seal of the gift of the Holy Ghost. Seven days after baptism, the infant is brought to church in order to be washed. The priest, pronouncing the prayers directed in their ritual, washes the infant's body with a

new sponge or a linen cloth prepared for that purpose, and dismisses him with the following words: Thou art now baptized, surrounded with a celestial light, sanctified and washed in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

The last ceremony is that of the tonsure, which, according to some writers, typifies the dedication of the person baptized to the service of God, the cutting off the hair being considered as a mark of servitude. At the end of the baptism, the priest, at the request of the parents, usually hangs a little cross of gold, silver, or other metal, round the infant's neck, which some of the Russians, especially of the lower people, hold in great estimation.

The following picture (Fig. 59) and account of the ceremony of baptism are borrowed from Picard's interesting work, Les Cérémonies et Coutumes Religieuses.

"As soon as an infant comes into the world, the parents send for a priest to purify him. This purification extends to all those who are present at the ceremony. They baptize their infants, according to Olearius, as soon as they are born; but according to other historians, those who are in good circumstances are not so strict, and defer the ceremony for some time. The godfathers and godmothers of the first child must stand sureties for all the other children in that family, however numerous they may be. After their entrance into the church, the godfathers deliver nine wax-tapers into the hands of the priest, who lights them all up, and sticks them in the form of a cross about the font or vessel in which the infant is to be baptized. The priest thurifies the godfathers, and consecrates the waters, after that, he and the godfathers go thrice in procession round it. The clerk, who marches in the front, carries the image of John the Baptist. They then all range themselves in such a

manner that their backs are turned towards the font, as a testimony, says Olearius, of their aversion to the three questions which the priest proposes to the godfathers, that is to say:-1. Whether the child renounces the devil. 2. Whether he abjures his angels; and 3. Whether he abhors and detests their impious works. At each question the godfathers answer Yes, and spit upon the ground. The exorcism follows, which is performed out of the church, lest the devil as he comes out of the infant, should pollute or profane it. The baptism which ensues, is performed by triple immersion. The priest, having put a grain of salt into the infant's mouth, anoints him several times in the form of a cross, and puts on him a clean shirt. The water in the font is changed at every baptism, because the Russians are of opinion that it is defiled or tainted with the original sin of such as are therein baptized.

Proselytes to the Russian religion are baptized in some rapid stream or adjacent river. They are plunged therein three times successively, and if it happens in the winter season, a hole is made in the ice for the performance of the ordinance. If, however, a person is of too weak a constitution to undergo immersion, a barrel full of water is poured over his head three times one after another."

The following Baptismal Office is taken from the General Liturgy of the Greek Church :

LITURGY OF THE GREEK CHURCH. Prayers on initiating a Catechumen.

The Priest unties the girdle of the person who desires to be sanctified, takes off his clothes, and turns him towards the east; having only one garment loose, his head uncovered, his feet naked, and his hands held down: the Priest then blows in his face thrice, and signs him on the forehead and on the breast thrice, and lays his hand upon his head, saying:

Let us pray unto the Lord.

In Thy name, O Lord the God of truth, and in the name of Thine only-begotten Son, and Holy Ghost, I lay my hand upon