Before starting a conversation about how the Old Believers are baptized, we should dwell in more detail on who they are and what their role is in the development of Russian Orthodoxy. The fate of this religious movement, called the Old Believers, or Old Orthodoxy, has become an integral part of the history of Russia and is full of drama and examples of spiritual greatness.

The reform that split Russian Orthodoxy

The Old Believers, like the entire Russian Church, considers the beginning of its history the year when the light of the Christian faith, brought to Russia by Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, shone on the banks of the Dnieper. Once on fertile soil, the grain of Orthodoxy gave abundant shoots. Until the fifties of the 17th century, the faith in the country was unified, and there was no talk of any religious schism.

The beginning of the great church turmoil was the reform of Patriarch Nikon, begun by him in 1653. It consisted in bringing the Russian liturgical rite in line with that adopted in the Greek and Constantinople churches.

Reasons for church reform

Orthodoxy, as you know, came to us from Byzantium, and in the first years after the service in the churches was performed exactly as it was customary in Constantinople, but after more than six centuries, significant changes were made to it.

In addition, since for almost the entire period of this period there was no printing yet, and liturgical books were copied by hand, not only a significant number of errors crept into them, but the meaning of many key phrases was distorted. To rectify the situation, he made a simple and seemingly uncomplicated decision.

Good intentions of the patriarch

He ordered to take samples of early books brought from Byzantium, and, having re-translated from them, replicated in print. He ordered the former texts to be withdrawn from circulation. In addition, Patriarch Nikon introduced three fingers in the Greek manner - the addition of three fingers together when making the sign of the cross.

Such a harmless and quite reasonable decision, however, caused a reaction like an explosion, and the church reform carried out in accordance with it caused a split. As a result, a significant part of the population, which did not accept these innovations, departed from the official church, which was called the Nikonian (after Patriarch Nikon), and a large-scale religious movement emerged from it, the followers of which began to be called schismatics.

The split that resulted from the reform

As before, in pre-reform times, the Old Believers were baptized with two fingers and refused to recognize new church books, as well as priests who tried to perform divine services on them. Standing in opposition to ecclesiastical and secular authorities, they were subjected to severe persecution for a long time. This started in 1656.

Already in the Soviet period, the final softening of the position of the Russian Orthodox Church in relation to the Old Believers followed, which was enshrined in the relevant legal documents. However, this did not lead to the resumption of Eucharistic, that is, prayerful communion between local and Old Believers. The latter to this day consider only themselves to be the bearers of the true faith.

With how many fingers do the Old Believers cross themselves?

It is important to note that the schismatics never had canonical disagreements with the official church, and the conflict always arose only around the ritual side of worship. For example, the way the Old Believers are baptized, folding three fingers instead of two, has always become a reason for condemnation against them, while there were no complaints about their interpretation of Holy Scripture or the main provisions of the Orthodox dogma.

By the way, the order of adding fingers for the sign of the cross both among the Old Believers and among the supporters of the official church contains a certain symbolism. Old Believers are baptized with two fingers - index and middle, symbolizing the two natures of Jesus Christ - divine and human. The remaining three fingers are kept pressed to the palm. They are the image of the Holy Trinity.

A vivid illustration of how the Old Believers are baptized can be the famous painting by Vasily Ivanovich Surikov “Boyar Morozova”. On it, the disgraced inspirer of the Moscow Old Believer movement, taken into exile, raises two fingers folded together to the sky - a symbol of schism and rejection of the reform of Patriarch Nikon.

As for their opponents, supporters of the Russian Orthodox Church, the addition of fingers adopted by them, in accordance with the Nikon reform, and used to this day, also has a symbolic meaning. Nikonians are baptized with three fingers - thumb, index and middle, folded in a pinch (the schismatics contemptuously called them “pinches” for this). These three fingers also symbolize and the dual nature of Jesus Christ is depicted in this case by the ring finger and little finger pressed to the palm.

Symbolism contained in the sign of the cross

The schismatics always attached special meaning to how exactly they imposed on themselves. The direction of the movement of the hand is the same for them as for all Orthodox, but its explanation is peculiar. The Old Believers make the sign of the cross with their fingers, placing them first of all on the forehead. By this they express the primacy of God the Father, who is the beginning of the Divine Trinity.

Further, putting their fingers to their stomach, they thereby indicate that in the womb of the Most Pure Virgin, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was immaculately conceived. Then, raising his hand to his right shoulder, they indicate that in the Kingdom of God He sat at the right hand - that is, on the right of His Father. And finally, the movement of the hand to the left shoulder reminds us that at the Last Judgment, sinners sent to hell will have a place on the left (left) of the Judge.

The answer to this question can be the ancient, rooted in apostolic times and then adopted in Greece, the tradition of the sign of the cross with two fingers. She came to Russia at the same time as her baptism. Researchers have convincing evidence that in the period of the XI-XII centuries. there was simply no other form of the sign of the cross in the Slavic lands, and everyone was baptized the way the Old Believers do today.

The well-known icon of the Almighty Savior, painted by Andrei Rublev in 1408 for the iconostasis of the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir, can serve as an illustration of what has been said. On it, Jesus Christ is depicted sitting on a throne and lifting right hand in double blessing. It is characteristic that it was two, and not three, fingers that the Creator of the world folded in this sacred gesture.

The true reason for the persecution of the Old Believers

Many historians are inclined to believe that the real reason for the persecution was not those ritual features that the Old Believers practiced. The followers of this movement are baptized with two or three fingers - in principle, it is not so important. Their main fault was that these people dared to openly go against the royal will, thereby creating a dangerous precedent for the future.

In this case, we are talking about a conflict with the highest state power, since Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, who ruled at that time, supported the Nikon reform, and rejection by part of the population could be regarded as a rebellion and an insult inflicted on him personally. And the Russian rulers never forgave this.

Old Believers today

Finishing the conversation about how the Old Believers are baptized and where this movement came from, it would be worth mentioning that today their communities are located in almost all developed countries of Europe, in South and North America, as well as in Australia. It has several organizations in Russia, the largest of which is the Belokrinitskaya hierarchy founded in 1848, whose representative offices are located abroad. It unites more than a million parishioners in its ranks and has its permanent centers in Moscow and the Romanian city of Braila.

The second largest Old Believer organization is the Old Orthodox Pomeranian Church, which includes about two hundred official communities and a number of unregistered ones. Its central coordinating and advisory body is the Russian Council of the DOC, which has been located in Moscow since 2002.

Today, Russian orthodox church celebrates baptism. I dedicate this glorious date.
Excerpt from a series of articles "Orthodoxy is not Christianity"
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In the early 2000s, I had to travel a lot to different places, including remote, sparsely populated and abandoned villages. In one such village, located in the upper reaches of the Yuryuzan River, we met a local resident who lived there with his wife. Besides them, at that time, almost no one permanently lived in that village. City people came as if to a dacha or local officials to hunt. At that moment, we were looking for a place for a settlement, which was eventually formed there, and now more than a dozen families live permanently and a dozen more are being built.
In general, word for word, and it turned out that he was an Old Believer, and the whole village was Old Believers. Apparently he liked us, because he once told us: "If you settle here with us, then I will orchestrate you in the river as it should."
- Grandfather, how do you do it?
- Like, like, in the river, of course!

In general, he told us how their children used to be baptized.

A week after the birth, at dawn, everyone went to the river (family and relatives, for a small village, almost all of each other's relatives). In winter, they cut a hole in advance. Near the river, when the Sun was rising, the father took the baby from the mother, and went with him into the river (or descended into the hole) so that the water was just above the waist. He dipped the baby completely, with his head, into the water. Their village is located so that the sun rises behind the river. That is, when entering the river, the father turned out to be facing the Sun. When he took the baby out of the water, with a bow he introduced him first to the Sun, and then to "all four winds." That is, four more bows were performed on the four cardinal points with a turn clockwise, "along the salt" (that is, along the Sun). After that, the father and the child came out of the river, but they did not wipe the child, but waited until he dries himself, and only then the baby was given into the hands of the mother and swaddled.

We asked him, but what if the frost is severe in winter? He says he doesn't remember when that happened. Firstly, children were mainly born in the spring, May-June. He says they specifically tried to tell fortunes. Therefore, in winter, children were born to them very rarely. But if they were born, then, he says, the grandmothers did it somehow, that on the day when the baby had to go to be baptized, there was never a severe frost.

We asked him, is this baptism? And he says: "Well, bows to four sides, here's the cross for you!"

Old icons stood in the corner of his house, but they do not go to the modern church and do not like modern priests. They say: "they are mummers, they are not real, they can't do anything, just wave a censer."

Now compare this with what the modern ROC is doing. Moreover, there is much more sense in the action that the Old Believer spoke about than in what he calls the “baptism” of the Russian Orthodox Church. This is a rite of presenting the newborn to the God-Sun and the Spirits of natural forces, water and wind. Pagan rite? Undoubtedly! Is there sun worship? Of course!

1.2 Baptismal rites and customs

The rite of baptism, as well as the religious and everyday situation associated with baptism, differed in its originality in different confessional groups.

Baptism in Orthodox Church performed according to canonical rules. The baptism of Old Believers of various persuasions excluded chrismation; not only a cross was put on the baptized, but also a belt. Among the Old Believers of chapel consent, the mentor performed baptism in a hollow - a wooden tub. Among the Pomeranians and wanderers, mentors performed baptism in the river at any time of the year; an exception was made for the sick or for infants: they were baptized in a wooden tub in winter. On the way from the land of Perm to Siberia ... P.268.

According to the rules of the Orthodox Church, when several people were baptized, a change of water was not required, although in practice the water was often changed. Bulgakov S.V. Handbook for clergymen. Kiev.1913.S.983. Among the Old Believers-priests and bespopovtsy - each baptized had to be immersed in clean water. This order of baptism existed in the Orthodox Church even before the schism and, apparently, among others, was preserved by the Old Believer Church. Listova T.A. The sacrament of baptism among the Old Believers of the Northern Urals / / Traditional spiritual and material culture of Russian Old Believer settlements in Europe, Asia and America. Novosibirsk, 1992. P. 209. The Old Believer population condemned the Orthodox order of baptism in one water, and, perhaps, under their influence, the Orthodox in the Urals preferred to change the water.

Among Orthodox and priests, baptism was performed on newborns, usually on the third, seventh or eighth day after birth. On the way from the land of Perm to Siberia ... P.269. Among the Old Believers, priests and chapels, there was a belief that "it is necessary to baptize a baby, otherwise it is impossible, since an angel is not given before baptism." Listova T.A. Decree. op. P.208. The Old Believers had a different idea of ​​the baptism of the wanderer, baptism was performed in case of a threat to life, before death. The baptized, the survivors, had to go to sketes. Deviations from this rule concerned children.

According to the rules of Pomeranian consent, baptism was performed on a newborn. However, in the middle of the XX century. constant contacts with non-Old Believers and representatives of other Old Believer groups led to the fact that Pomortsy began to be baptized in old age, in case of illness, etc. Listova T.A. Decree. op. P.208.

According to the rules of the Orthodox Church, on the eighth day after baptism, the washing of myrrh was to take place - a sponge especially used for this, before that "no one should have touched them and changed baptismal clothes." Bulgakov S.V. Decree. op. S.1003. Gradually, the official church simplified the ceremony: ablution began to be performed immediately after chrismation. The Old Believers-bespriests, including the Wanderers, retained the ancient prohibitions: the baptized were not washed or changed for eight days. On the way from the land of Perm to Siberia ... P.270.

When performing the rite of baptism on a newborn, the Orthodox and the bulk of the Old Believers put on a cross, and the Old Believers also had a belt. According to the concepts of believers, the cross as a symbol of faith served as a talisman against all evil spirits, therefore the cross is necessary for anyone, and especially for children. Among the wanderers, the cross was “thrown” on the children immediately after the return of the woman in labor from the bath. This was done by the parents, the midwife, or one of the outsiders. There.

Among the Orthodox and priests, baptism was performed either in the cathedral or in the house by a visiting priest or mentor. Pomeranians believed that it was impossible to baptize in the house.

The rite of baptism included naming. The choice of the name was determined by the saints. The name was given by a priest, clerk or midwife: for a boy - on the eighth day after birth, for a girl - a week before and after the birthday .. On the ways from the land of Perm to Siberia ... S. 271. The correlation of the name with the day of a certain saint put the child under his patronage.

Of great importance was the choice of godparents. The age of the godparents was not strictly regulated, usually they tried to invite the young. from the age of 15, sometimes even younger. In the Old Believer environment, marriage prohibitions associated with nepotism were strictly observed: neither godfathers nor their children could marry each other.

In order to avoid expanding the circle of people connected by spiritual kinship, they preferred to invite relatives to be godparents in Old Believer villages. There. S. 272.

The godparents usually prepared a cross and a belt for the child, and a reception - a cloth on which the child was laid, and also brought water for baptism.

The peculiarity of baptism in various confessional groups, in turn, influenced the tradition of the baptismal dinner. There. S. 274.

Priests and chapels arranged christenings immediately after baptism. The dinner was not too solemn, godfathers, as well as relatives and neighbors, were always invited. Fish pies, porridge, dumplings were served for refreshment, the last dish - a villager-refusal - baked mashed potatoes with milk and eggs. in fast days- steep pea or potato jelly. There. P. 274. Drinks were served with wort, mash, and tea. Pomeranians, and even more so wanderers, did not usually arrange such a dinner.

Thus, religious teachings and rumors that arose after the split of a single church also influenced the church rite of baptism, which was distinguished by a certain originality in different confessional groups. In the Old Believer environment, the heterogeneity of ritual and dogmatic traditions is visible, as well as different degrees of preservation and transformation. religious tradition of the past. Listova T.A. Decree. op. P.212.

Among the Old Believers-priests, there was a desire to adapt the canonical ritual to folk customs and the changing conditions of real life. The charter of the bespopovtsy was designed for strict confessional isolation, and drawing them into wide contact ties disrupted and introduced disorder into ritual life. There is a lot of obscurity in the rituals of wanderers, which is explained by the lack of development of the religious and ritual behavior of the followers of this creed. On the ways from the land of Perm to Siberia ... S. 275.

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We are talking about the Old Believers. Who is it? People who not only settled thousands of years ago modern lands RF, but also brought language, faith. The experience of the Old Believers without a twinge of conscience can be called unique. These people were able to maintain their culture and faith, despite the most difficult trials. natural conditions, political influx.

Unfortunately, not much is known about the Old Believers. Someone claims it simple people who do not even have a primitive education, and their main goal is to adhere to the old ways of doing business. Others claim that these are pagans who still worship the gods of the Ancient World. We offer to find out who the Old Believers are, and what rituals they use.

Features of the Old Believers

Old Believers have a lot of rituals. It is not possible to cover them all in one article. We will only mention the most important aspects.

Old Believers recognize one single faith - their ancestors. They have been trying to keep this faith for many thousands of years, applying a lot of strength. The Old Believer overshadows himself with the sign of the cross in 2 fingers. During the service, the Old Believers fold their hands on their chests in the form of a cross, making prostrations. All actions during the ceremony must be performed by all participants synchronously.

The main feature of the faith of the Old Believers is the eight-pointed cross. It is customary to wear an outfit made in the old Russian style for service. The pectoral cross of the Old Believer does not have a crucifix.

It has been noticed that the true Old Believer is detached from the world around him, and everything worldly is evil spirits, in his opinion.

The rituals of the Old Believers have a lot of features. Let's consider some of them.

The tradition of life and life of the Old Believers is regulated in accordance with the books. Some of the traditions are passed down from the older generation to the younger ones. In families, men have undeniable power. Women submit and obey men. The wife only gives birth and runs the household, brings up the child, the husband is the breadwinner.

The main sin of the Old Believer is to shave his beard, swear, smoke!

The outfit of an old believer in age is a caftan, while guys and boys wear blouses. Women and girls wear sundresses, while the use of cosmetics is excluded, the head must be covered with a scarf. To decorate the hair, weaving from different ribbons is used.

As a rule, the family of the Old Believer is large. The upbringing of children consists in honoring faith and parents; from an early age, children are taught to work. Children observe fasting and prayers from the age of 7. Children master writing and reading, learn the Old Slavonic language, which allows them to read old books.

In the life of an Old Believer, there are several special systems of amulets that can protect them for the Last Judgment support health. The main material amulets are dishes, a rosary, books, a cross, a ladder. But verbal amulets - a name and a prayer. Fasting is recognized by the Old Believers as the subordination of the body to his soul.

The main feature of the Old Believers is not to change the foundations of their being, only in modern world Protecting yourself from others, unfortunately, is not always possible.

The rite of baptism of the Old Believers

This rite provides for a three-fold immersion of a person in water, each of them must be complete. During baptism, the baby is put on a belt and a cross. The latter is not only a symbol of faith, but also a guard against evil spirits. It is for this reason that all children should wear it, even if they have not yet gone through the process of baptism.

The cross must be worn by the parents or the grandmother who took birth. The ceremony begins from the moment the cross is thrown. Whoever put it on has the same responsibility as the godparents.

Over the next 8 days, a person who has passed the rite of baptism should not wash, change clothes. The main feature of the rite is the naming of the name. He is chosen in accordance with the calendar. Girls a week after or before birth, and boys in accordance with the day of the rite of baptism. As for the choice of a patron for a child, it was the saint whose name was chosen.

The burial rite of the Old Believers

If the death of a person happened, then he was washed without delay, not for a minute. This procedure characterized the process of cleansing from sins. It needed to be washed fairly quickly.

At this time, a prayer was read, which contributed to the protection of the deceased from evil spirits. A person was buried in a special coffin - a deck combed out of a large deck. Some coffins were made during a person's lifetime.

Conspiracies of the Old Believers for a successful and rich existence

It is worth performing the ceremony taking into account the phase of the growing moon, at exactly 12 o'clock at night. On the table you need to put the Bible and the prayer book. Be sure to light a candle (brown, which you need to buy in the church). Say the words of the conspiracy:

“I am your servant of the Lord, name. I have three sheets to Jesus Christ. One of them was written by the hand of Mark, the second - by Nikita the Martyr, and another one - by Mary the Mother of God. In these three sheets of inscription, which burn with a flame, they give me, name, luxury and wealth. Amen".

After you read these ritual words, you need to open the Bible. The page must be chosen at random. Read the first eight lines. Then take the prayer book and read the prayer. Then blow out the candle and place it near the icons. Remove books from the table.

Here is another effective rite to attract money. You need to do it in the morning at dawn. First you need to write on a sheet the amount of money that will be needed to achieve the goals of the speaker. The amount must be supported by an inscription for which it is required. Then you need to crumple the paper and burn it. Drip the ashes in the yard under the tree that you liked the most. It is worth saying the following words:

“Virgin Mary, I ask for mercy on me, a slave with many of your sins, name. I ask for help to fulfill my goals, the embodiment of my idea, which we only know together. Our word is a real strong knot, no one can untie it. Amen".

In ancient times baptism took place on Holy Saturday. Baptized usually in natural reservoirs, rivers and streams. Modern worship does not have a historical element that has survived to this day: the night procession was in those days a procession around the temple of the newly baptized, dressed in white clothes and holding burning candles in their hands; as well as singing You are baptized into Christ, put on Christ, Alleluia"instead of the Trisagion at the Dining Room. Starting from the end of the 2nd century, in contrast to the modern rite, where the denial from Satan is performed three times, during this period it was repeated fifteen times. The practice of consecrating water for the performance of the Sacrament of Baptism in the Greek Church is also mentioned from the 2nd - 3rd centuries. The water of baptism is filled with mysterious power... It is the grave of the old man, the place of his decay and the place of conception and formation of a new, spiritual organism.

In the IV-V centuries, those wishing to accept Holy Baptism professed their faith in exact and definite words, according to the established form, while loudly, publicly, from a lofty place, in the presence of believers". Blessed Augustine (354-430) wrote that such a custom existed in his time in Rome. At the same time, a tradition was established to baptize mainly adults for the purpose of their conscious acceptance of the Christian faith. However, priests who rejected the need to baptize infants were criticized by the Council.

The rite of baptism

The Mystery of Baptism Old Believers-priests performed both in natural reservoirs and in the font. Baptism is performed by a priest, and only in exceptional cases, when there is no Old Believer priest in the area, and the person is very sick and there is a threat of his death to the unbaptized, baptism is performed by the laity. On the eighth day, the newly baptized is anointed.

rule St. Nicephorus the Confessor:

It is fitting for unbaptized babies, if someone who is not an existing priest baptizes, baptizes his father, or some kind of Christian person, there is no sin.

Accession immersion baptized among the Old Believer priests occurs without additional baptism, through the Sacrament. Those who do not have canonical baptism (those who have passed the rites of pouring, sprinkling) receive a full three-immersion baptism.

Baptized three times immersed in water. Water must be clean, without impurities. And here it is strictly required that at the first immersion the priest say: A servant of God or a servant of God (the name of the rivers) is baptized in the name of the Father, amen»; on the second dive: and Son, amen»; at the third: and the Holy Spirit, amen". Immersion in water means that the one being baptized dies for a life of sin and is buried with Christ in order to live with Him and in Him (Rom. 6:3-11; Col. 2:12-13). This is the most important thing in the Sacrament of Baptism.

The baptized person puts on white clothes as a sign of the spiritual purity he has received and as a reminder that now he must lead a bright, holy, pure life in a Christian society. Those who were baptized in ancient times wore this white garment for seven whole days and reverently spent all this time, keeping under it the anointing with holy chrism. Together with white clothes, a cross is laid on the newly baptized as a sign that now the baptized must fulfill the will of our Lord Jesus Christ crucified for us on the cross, even if the believer had to bear the cross of suffering and sorrow. Further, the baptized person is cut on his head in the form of a cross, which means complete obedience to Jesus Christ. Then the baptized infant is surrounded by godparents, and the adult himself walks around the font three times with lit candles, thereby expressing his spiritual joy that from a child of anger he became the beloved son of the Heavenly Father, from the dead through sins he became alive for God, from the dead - saved.

Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Don't be surprised at what I said to you: You must be born again.

From the words of the Lord, spoken by him in the night conversation to Nicodemus, it is clear that Sacrament of Baptism is of paramount importance to humans.

The rites of the Sacrament of Baptism are strictly observed by the Old Believers-priests. Interestingly, at the beginning of the last century, the famous Old Believer saint (Shvetsov), Bishop of the Urals, having studied " The rite of baptism”, made changes in it, making permutations that seemed to him more logical. Cleansing prayers were rearranged, the verbs were changed and some words in the prayers were set aside, insertions were also made in the rite of the infant burial, the great litany, the singing of the Trisagion before the Apostle, and other changes. July 29, 1908 The Consecrated Council considered questions about some inconsistencies compiled by Bishop Arseny of Ural " The rite of baptism”with the old printed Potrebniks and about the discrepancies compiled by him“ Guidelines on Affinities Forbidding Marriage with old printed books. The Council immediately issued a decree, explaining which books can be used:

Consecrated Council of Old Believer Bishops Decree. The Consecrated Council, which gathered in the reigning city of Moscow in the Church of the Nativity of Christ, on July 29, 1908, having considered the “rite of holy baptism”, compiled by Mr. Arseny, Bishop of the Urals and Orenburg, printed in a private printing house, when compared with two consumers , published under Patriarch Joseph of Moscow and All Russia in the 5th and 10th years of His patriarchate, turned out to be a disagreement, consisting in the rearrangement of cleansing prayers, the change of verbs and the deposition of some words in prayers. As well as inserts inrite of infant burial:the great litany, the singing of the Trisagion before the Apostle, and other changes. The consecrated Cathedral warns its flock that the holythis church takes no responsibilityfor the correction and publication of liturgical books by private individuals, if their originals have not been reviewed and approved for printing by the Consecrated Council of Bishops, or if they are an expenseIwith the originals printed under the first five Patriarchs of Moscow and All Russia, why the Council blesses to be guided only by those books, which were published before Nikon Patrasiarcha, or reprinted from them.As for the “guidelines on affinities forbidding marriage, compiled by Arseny, the Old Believer BishopUral fossil", permissionperplexities of kindred degrees as blood, two-kind, three-kind, as well as spiritual properties. The Consecrated Council DECIDED: To be guided by those instructions, which have been consecrated for centuries, as having perceived the power of the law, set forth in the books: Pilots, Nomocanon, Matthew the Ruler. A marriage license based on the definition of one or another of the said books should not be subject to clearance, even if it did not agree with another book. As for spontaneous abbreviations of kindred degrees that do not agree with the books said, then such should be rejected and by no means acceptable to the leadership of either saints or priests, according to the saying: already legitimized the essence. (Nomocanon, fox 743, v.) And so we invoke God's blessing on allTrue Orthodox Christiansobedient children of the holy church.

Bishop Arseniy was among the signatories of the conciliar decree. But his writing Anthony, Bishop of Tobolsk and Perm, says that he still did not agree with the Resolution of the Council.

Baptism of babies

Sacrament Baptisms of babies preceded by a series of prayers: prayers to the mother and prayers for naming the baby. In prayers to the mother in childbirth, the priest asks the Lord to forgive the sins of the mother of the baby, restore her health after childbirth and save her life and the life of the baby. In prayer, when naming an infant, the priest prays that the infant spend his life in accordance with God's commandments and be worthy to receive the Kingdom of Heaven. The baby is given the name of a saint as a sign that he is accepted into the union of the Church of heaven and earth and must follow in the footsteps of the saint in the deeds of good that lead from the earthly Church to the Heavenly Church.

In the 15th century, the custom appeared in Russia to have two godparents. This innovation was actively denounced by Metropolitan Photius of Kyiv and All Russia (XIV century - 1431). According to the ancient canons, there had to be one recipient, respectively: a man for a boy and a woman for a girl. Nevertheless, the tradition of having two successors was entrenched in Russia, and it is still adhered to.