The Holy Mystery of Baptism

Dear Parents,

In a few days you will experience in your family a special moment that will accompany your child throughout its life!
A new Christian Orthodox will accompany our church.
From our side we feel the need, in a spirit of love, to remind you and ask you to keep in mind the following points, which will assist in your participation during the service of the Mystery.

1. Baptism is not a simple social gathering and obligation neither a social event. It is the first main Mystery of our Church and the stamp of our faith. With Baptism the baptized is released from the original sin and is integrated into the body of our Orthodox Church. It is worth, then, for parents to have a deep-awareness and insight into the sanctity of the Mystery.
2. The Mystery of Baptism is performed in the normal order within the Holy Temple.
3. A prerequisite for the service of Marriage is the agreement and presence of both parents of the baptized, to be proven with their signature in the Declaration of Baptism, the day of the service of the Mystery.
4. The godparent must be Christian Orthodox. He or she recites during the Mystery the Symbol of Faith and is the guarantor in the Church on behalf of the baptized. He or she has an obligation to help the child to learn the Orthodox faith. So he or she can’t be non-Christian or even non-Orthodox (Roman Catholic, Protestant, etc.), or a person who refuses the Orthodox faith and embraces atheism. Also the godparent, if married, he or she must have had a religious wedding.
5. We kindly ask the godparent and the infant’s mother to be properly attired. The necessary respect to the sanctity of the setting and the Mystery is expressed by our decent and appropriately modest presence.
6. In the baptismal font all forms of decoration are prohibited. The decoration may comprise one or two flower stands in the solea of the Holy Temple, and the courtyard of the temple should not be converted into a social event with balloons, cartoons etc.
7. For everything else not mentioned in this note (material elements of Baptism), parents and godparents should reach an agreement with the vicars of the Holy Temple, where the Mystery will take place.

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS FOR BAPTISM
1. Certificate of registration of the Birth of the child.
2. Identity cards of the parents.
3. If the parents are residents in another parish, the transfer of baptism from their vicar is required.
4. In case of the absence from the baptism of one of the parents, it is required to register a written naming consent, validated for the authenticity of the signature.

After the baptism, the priest will issue a Statement of Baptism, which parents must submit to the municipality‘s registry of the birth of the child, within 90 days, to avoid administrative fines.