An adult catechumen was received into the Romanian Orthodox Church through the Mystery of Holy Baptism last Saturday at the Church of Sts Constantine and Helen in Comănești, Bacău County.
“Such an occasion reminds us that every baptism is first and foremost the victory of God’s love over human estrangement and the beginning of a person’s return to the Father’s house. It also calls both us and the newly baptised to remember the spiritual weapons with which we are equipped and to use them in the struggle against the unclean spirits we encounter in the Christian life we seek to live,” said the parish priest, Fr Simion Anăstăsoaie.
The baptism was celebrated by Fr Simion together with Fr Răzvan Țuglea, in the presence of the candidate’s family, godparents and parish faithful, who accompanied every stage of the baptismal rite in prayer.
After being clothed in the white baptismal garment, symbolising the new life he had entered, the catechumen confessed the Orthodox faith, renounced Satan and all his works, was united to Christ through the threefold immersion in the baptismal waters, received the gift of the Holy Spirit through the Sacrament of Chrismation, and then received Holy Communion for the first time.
The young man, who belonged to the Pentecostal Church before embracing Orthodoxy, received the name Joseph at baptism.
According to parish representatives, the ceremony also served as a reminder to the entire parish community to renew their own baptismal promises, recalling that the Church is continually built up through people who freely respond to Christ’s call.
Photo: Archdiocese of Roman and Bacău
