Blog - Saint Mark's Church

The Holy Sacrament of Baptism and Chrismation

The Holy Sacrament of Baptism is the act by which the person being baptized identifies with the Lord Jesus Christ, His suffering, and death on Golgotha, and His glorious Resurrection. This means that everyone baptized takes upon themselves Christ's death on Golgotha to become participants in His Resurrection, which is the ultimate goal and meaning of existence for every individual and the entire world. Through Baptism, one enters into a new relationship with God, who, for the baptized, becomes the Father who grants them the experience of the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven even in this world. Baptism makes each person a member of the community that transcends all the divisions we humans create to identify ourselves. This community is the Church as the Body of Christ – a living organism of all those who believe in God, manifested visibly in the Holy Liturgy. In other words, Baptism is the recognition of each person being baptized to identify the Lord and God in the person of Jesus Christ, who became man for us, and to surrender to Him, live His life, and be filled with the love He has shown and continues to show toward all existence.

Chrismation is the Holy Sacrament that follows Baptism and represents the gift of the Holy Spirit to the newly baptized, identifying them with Christ as God's chosen and consecrated one, i.e., the Messiah. Chrismation also appoints Christians to the exalted service of God's people, known as the royal priesthood. From this arises the privilege that only Christians have, which is to call God their Father and to partake in the Body and Blood of Christ.

To be a Christian is the highest calling and dignity bestowed upon humanity. Everyone baptized is therefore obligated to sanctify everything around them, from the people near them to nature itself, through their life, showing God as the Father of goodness, mercy, and love, who calls all to His embrace. This is done by sharing life with God through Communion, praying, fasting, and striving to acquire virtues, showing the beauty and greatness of God's image within themselves and, consequently, God Himself. In other words, they are called to be witnesses of the love and richness of life that God has destined for all of creation.

To be baptized in the Orthodox Church, faith is essential – either the faith of the individual (if they are an adult) or the faith of the parents and godparent (if they are a baby or small child). Additionally, the following are required: a godparent of the Orthodox faith, white cloth, a candle, and a small container for hair. The baptism should be scheduled in agreement with the parish priest serving at the church closest to the place of residence. Any questions or uncertainties should be discussed with the parish priest.
The Holy Sacrament of Marriage

The Holy Sacrament of Marriage is the act that unites a man and a woman in a shared life founded on mutual love they recognize in one another. Marriage is the way of life for which God created man and woman, so they could express the mystery of God's life as the Holy Trinity and show the great mystery of the inseparable unity of Christ and the Church in their daily life. The unity of Christ and the Church is most evident in the Holy Liturgy, where Christians partake in the Body and Blood of Christ and share life with God and with one another. The Holy Sacrament of Marriage is an extension of the liturgical life of Christians, through which husband and wife share everything, including every aspect of their life, with one another. This means they voluntarily surrender all they possess, including their very lives, to their spouse.

The Holy Sacrament of Marriage is the confirmation of mutual love between husband and wife. At the same time, marriage represents a deep understanding that love and the desire to share life with another are not enough – it is necessary for Christ to transform that love into divine love. Every person has the need to love and to be loved. This shows that we do not possess love in its entirety but only partially. Therefore, we cannot fully give it to another. The only one who is love in the complete sense is God. The Holy Sacrament of Marriage is the gift of this selfless, unconditional, and all-encompassing love that God gives to the spouses at the wedding.

In human experience, within the reality of this world, God's love is possible only through the experience of the Cross – the readiness to give oneself for the life of others, just as the Lord Jesus Christ did. In marriage, spouses are called to live unreservedly for one another, ready to sacrifice their habits, personal comfort, lifestyle, etc. Such an attitude toward God, neighbors, and even enemies was shown in the Church's history by the Holy Martyrs. Through this readiness to lay down their lives for the sake of love, they were crowned with victorious wreaths. The crowns placed on the bride and groom at the wedding are those victorious wreaths as a gift of God's complete love, but they also carry a call to sacrifice. For this reason, the Holy Sacrament of Marriage is also called a Wedding, as the newlyweds are crowned with the wreaths of Christ's victory and love for each other.

To be married in the Orthodox Church, it is necessary for both the groom and bride to be of the Orthodox faith, not be engaged or in a church marriage with someone else, have no blood or spiritual (godparent) kinship, and the age difference should not be too great. All of this is confirmed during the premarital examination, which the couple should complete with their parish priest, with whom they will arrange all matters related to the Holy Sacrament of Marriage. In addition to the premarital examination, the following are required for the Sacrament of Marriage: four candles, a cloth, rings, and a common cup from which the couple will drink wine. The couple may also choose to make wedding wreaths instead of crowns for the wedding ceremony.
The Holy Sacrament of Confession/Repentance

The Holy Sacrament of Confession is the act through which one acknowledges all that constitutes sin, i.e., a wrongful action, word, or thought. The word sin means missing the target, or the purpose of life for which God created man. That purpose is eternal and unbreakable communion of life with God and others in love. All of God's commandments, starting with the Ten Commandments, as well as Christ's teachings and commandments in the New Testament, aim to guide man on a path whose goal is love, which, according to the Apostle Paul, is the bond of perfection. A life not in accordance with the Gospel of Christ is, in its essence, sinful, i.e., missed. Therefore, very often, even if someone seems to live a moral life, it does not mean that it is in line with the morality and virtue that the Gospel preaches.

Man's understanding and realization that various actions in life represent a heavy burden, destroy him from within, and ruin his relationships with people and, ultimately, with God, is what we would call repentance. Repentance is recognizing that actions in life, or at some period of life, are mistakes that discredit us and pull us down, and the simultaneous desire for fundamental change. It is a willingness to face the weaknesses and sins present in us, to accept that they are part of someone's personality, and not to try to justify them. From a Christian perspective, this is impossible without God's grace, or without the awareness that God exists and calls us to Himself with the desire to free us from all distress and suffering.

Confession before another, i.e., a priest, of all bad and sinful actions, words, or deeds is called confession. It is a visible manifestation of repentance that occurs in a person with the desire to rid himself of the evil and sin within him. Repentance is a voluntary acceptance of guilt and condemning oneself before God as the Judge with deep hope in His mercy, goodness, and love. The magnificence and incomprehensibility of the Holy Sacrament of Confession lie in the fact that instead of being condemned for one's deeds, as our logic dictates, one is, contrary to this, freed because the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, took upon Himself all our iniquities and justified us once and for all through His salvific suffering on Golgotha. Only in Christ can a person be reborn through repentance and, based on Christ's righteousness and love, be justified and restored to the dignity of the freedom of God's children. Man is restored to communion with God, and this communion is, in fact, the Holy Liturgy and the opportunity to share life with God through the Holy Communion.

The Holy Sacrament of Confession is performed in churches almost constantly. The best way is for a person to prepare for confession through fasting, prayer, and reading the Holy Scriptures, and if they have never confessed before, to consult with their parish priest and arrange when they will confess.

In the Church of Saint Mark the Evangelist, the Holy Sacrament of Confession is performed daily during the evening service.
The Holy Sacrament of Communion/Liturgy

Everything that God created, the entire world, cosmos, and nature, including man, was made to bestow upon all that exists the gift of sharing life with Him. The reason for this is that the motive for creation is God's unconditional and free love. This unity and life in communion with God are given through Jesus Christ. Christ shows us God's love for everything and everyone through His sacrificial love on the cross. The Lord reveals that being human means having the willingness to sacrifice, to lay down one's life for others even when they do not deserve it, and that perfect love is that which does not seek its own. By revealing what it means to be human, He simultaneously reveals what He has always been as God. The mystery of God's love, which gifts itself for us to exist and live within it, is manifested in the Holy Liturgy. As Christians, we are called to participate in this mystery because we are first introduced to a relationship with God as our Father through Baptism and to witness it to the whole world. If we do not participate in it, we do not have the life given to us through Christ's suffering and resurrection, and therefore, we cannot witness and show this life to others. Furthermore, the question arises whether one who does not share life with God can call themselves a Christian.

Participating in the life of the Risen Christ is called Communion. The word itself means participation, sharing. Through Communion, we share life with God and with each other in the Holy Liturgy. In this way, God is made present through Christians in the world, and they together form the Church as the Body of Christ. Every Christian is called and to some extent obliged to respond to the gift of life and God's presence through the Holy Communion by living virtuously, striving to love, forgive, care for, and help everyone around them, including nature. To be all things to all people, as the Apostle Paul says. In other words, we are called to carry, nurture, and enhance the joy and light we received at the Holy Liturgy in our daily lives.

The Holy Liturgy is primarily celebrated on Sundays when we commemorate the Resurrection of Christ, as well as on major feast days throughout the year when events from Christ's life, the feasts of the Mother of God, and feasts dedicated to saints are celebrated. According to Church custom and rule, the Holy Liturgy is celebrated in the morning. In Belgrade churches, it usually begins at 9 a.m. Each church has a posted schedule of services, and it is best for the faithful to become familiar with the times when Church services begin.

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