October 2, 2000
The Pious Pastors
of the Holy Diocese of Denver
Beloved in the Lord,
I believe in one Baptism for the remission of sins.
In the last several years we have seen more and more of our priests making pilgrimages to the Holy Land. While there, our people often undergo a symbolic "baptism" in the River Jordan. This must never be confused with the Mystery (Sacrament) of Holy Baptism.
First and foremost, we believe in one baptism for the remission of
sins. This is a baptism (ideally by triple immersion) in the Name of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
which is a Mystery of the
Church that unites us to Christ.
We also drink or sprinkle ourselves with Holy Water, and we sprinkle our homes, as a blessing especially at Theophany, or even at the beginning of each month. Obviously this service is not a preparation for one's baptism, but it is for our health and sanctification.
When Orthodox Christians go on pilgrimages to holy places, they often encounter wells or springs that are regarded as holy, and drink some of that water, wash themselves in the water, even take some of that water with them to their homes. This water is a blessing, not a sacrament. It connects them symbolically with the holy place, and is a reminder of God's grace manifested on earth through His creation.
Similarly, when Orthodox pilgrims visit the Holy Land and the River
Jordan in which Christ was once baptized by John the Baptist and at
which time the Holy Trinity was manifest by the Spirit in the form of a
dove and the voice of the Father bearing witness to the Son, they seek
to be blessed
—not baptized—with these same waters. Ideally an
Orthodox Christian would be
blessed
in the Jordan by an Orthodox
hierarch or priest. If the priests of this Diocese lead the faithful on
a pilgrimage to the Holy Land they may bless them by sprinkling them
with Jordan River water and saying, The servant of God is blessed in
the Jordan, becoming a pilgrim of the Holy Land.
Or he may say, The
servant of God receives the waters of the Jordan, becoming a proskyniti
of the Holy Land.
Such a blessing
(we should always avoid the word baptism
to
minimize confusion or misinterpretation in the minds of the faithful)
makes one a proskyniti
or hadji
or pilgrim.
I pray that this explanation clears any misconceptions in the minds of our people.
With Paternal Blessings,
+Metropolitan Isaiah
Presiding Hierarch
of
the Diocese of Denver