Leaving for the hospital

[尼古拉前执事]

So Thomas, it has been 8 days, when is the Baptism?

[TomS]

So Thomas, it has been 8 days, when is the Baptism?

My Greek in-laws say between 6 months and a year. Is that standard?

[尼古拉前执事]

Actually the standard I have heard is 8 days, although some wait the 40 days after birth so that the mother can come as well.

Just so that I am not mixing Slavic and Hellenic customs I checked the GOA site and at http://www.goarch.org/en/special/listen ... ion/learn/ it said, "In the Orthodox Church, both baby boys and baby girls are taken to the Church on the fortieth day after their birth. This is done in remembrance of the Theotokos and Joseph taking the infant Jesus to the Temple."

[TomS]

Yes, I am aware of the 40 day blessing. But I have not found anything concerning a common age for baptism in the Church.

[尼古拉前执事]

This from a Greek Orthodox site:

Greek Orthodoxy actually proves quite similar to Islam in many of these institutions regaurding the sanctity of human life. In Greek Orthodoxy, limitation of childbirth is discouraged. "The ability of man to procreate his kind is a gift of God. From the moment of conception, God's life-giving Spirit is very much in evidence." And, similarly, Greek Orthodoxy strictly prohibits abortion except in the case of grave and immediate danger to the mother's life. But even then, it is still viewed as a sin. The bringing of a child into the world and the first few days of his or her life means something slightly more to Orthodox believers than it does to Muslims in terms of spiritual significance. The newborn baby is baptized and chrismated as soon as possible in case of the unlikely, but tragic possibility that the child die at a very early age. This sacrament demonstrates the theological belief in the Greek Orthodox Church that baptism is necessary for entrance into heaven. In addition to baptism and chrismation, on the first, eighth, and fortieth days after birth, specific prayers, blessings, and other obligations are to be fulfilled on behalf of the child.

[Anastasios]

There isn't any standard. In Greece often people wait a year or two. I'd suggest you do it sometime after 40 days "just in case."

[Ekaterina]

The whole idea is to baptise.....the sooner the better.

In most Russian tradition, we baptise on the 40th day...mostly because the mothers want to be there and it also takes care of the Churching issue. However it can also be done sooner, I was once Godmother at a baptism where the mother was not present.., it was done somewhere around twenty days.

But really the "rule of thumb" is that as soon as the baby is strong enough you should baptise it. And if it's not strong enough, baptise even sooner.

Katya