Sophia's Wedding

(I wrote this June 30, 2001...the day I started formally writing about liturgical life)

If I were liturgically sensitive, I would have begun a formal journal about the liturgical life of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church on some apparently more fitting day: Pascha, perhaps, or the Church New Year, September 1. But the Spirit blows where (or more accurately for my purposes, when) it wills, so today I begin. And as you shall see, in some ways today is a very fitting day.

June 30 - the Synaxis of the Most Holy Apostles. One might think that this would be our focus as we gathered today at Christ the Savior Orthodox Church in downtown Chicago. But, I must admit, we gave the feast barely a thought, it coming to mind only as Fr. Luke read the dismissal at the end of the service, naming each of the apostles in honor of this day. More importantly to the 12 (yes, there were really 12!) of us who had gathered was the long-awaited baptism of year-and-a-half old Sophia.

Christ the Savior is a beautiful church: a former Anglican cathedral that has been easternized by the presence of icons, candles, bells, and a beautiful acapella choir. The wood in the church is stained quite dark, giving the temple a deep, prayerful atmosphere. This made Sophia=s dazzling white satin gown and loud cries all the more salient. Little Sophia, who has a long mop of dark hair and a round, garnet-red mouth that makes her look more like a fashion model than a toddler, remained quite and pensive during the churching of her mother, but when her mother passed her to her soon-to-be godparents during the prayers of exorcism, all hell broke loose.

Although her mother held her at the beginning of the service, in reality Sophia is passionately attached to her father. When her godparents gladly received her into their arms, Sophia began to whimper, and then to wail. The only intelligible sound to be heard amidst the crying and blubbering was an occasional "Daddy!" But considering the day, such cries were actually apropos. What is the essence of baptism? Yes, it is participating in the death and resurrection of Christ, illumination, the defeat of Satan, the joining of a person to the Church. But ultimately, what does this mean? It is - in the final count - a uniting of a beloved child of God to the most Holy Trinity: Spirit, Son, and, of course, Father.

Finally, over halfway through the service, Fr. Luke performed the actual baptism. Sophia was stripped of the shorts and t-shirt she was wearing up until that moment; she was stripped also of her diaper (what does one do with a diaper while in the temple of God?). Fr. Luke took the naked and seemingly-petrified little girl in his arms, set her in the copper-colored font, and - pronouncing the baptismal affirmation - poured water over her head three times, signifying each Person of the Trinity. A soggy, screaming toddler was lifted into a large, warm white towel, adorned with a shiny gold cross by her proud godmother, and then fitted in a white, lacy dress with a big taffeta bow in back. Now safely in her beloved father=s arms, Sophia found peace and comfort that - to her - must have seemed eternal. The most compelling icon in the entire church at that moment was the two of them.

The choir - composed this day of Sophia's big brother's godparents - sang the baptismal troparion: Those who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Sophia had indeed put something on - a pretty white dress, one that echoed the wedding dress she may wear 20 or 30 years from now.

Last week at bible study, Deacon John read Malachi 2:15-16 with us:
Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. "I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel, "and I hate a man's covering himself with violence as well as with his garment," says the LORD Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith. (NIV)

We were discussing various translations of the text, but probably the most interesting question concerned the part of verse 16 that refers to a man's garment. Fr. John shared with us research on Aramaic and Arabic languages that showed that the word "garment" can be used as a euphemism for "spouse" (in this context, by the way, a more adequate translation of Malachi 2:16 becomes an indictment of spousal abuse).

Putting on Christ.... a new white dress.... "garment" as a euphemism for "spouse."

I began to wonder if this Mystery was as much matrimony as baptism. Through dying and rising again in the baptismal font, Sophia had put on a new Garment, a new Spouse: Christ. Her soul had become His bride. It is probably not a coincidence that there are similarities between the baptismal and wedding services, not the least of which is the participants being led by the priest three times around the table. Also not coincidentally, the service of monastic tonsure, which begins a life for a persons sometimes referred to as Christ's spouse, parallels that of baptism.

So today is definitely a day of new beginnings. For this amateur writer, it is the beginning of a journal chronicling heaven on earth, the services of the Eastern Orthodox Church. But for Sophia, it is the beginning of her new life in Christ. To the naked eye, today Sophia was dunked in water and slathered with oil, but to the noetic eye, a marriage of sorts was effected both on heaven and on earth. Christ will be sure to keep His part of this most holy covenant; let us pray that by the power of the Holy Spirit given to her in chrismation and the prayers of the Holy Apostles whom we celebrate this day, little Sophia will also keep hers. May she - and all of us baptized and chrismated into the Holy Orthodox Faith - take to heart the words about marriage spoken by the prophet Malachi, cited above: In flesh and spirit we are His, so let us guard ourselves in our spirit, and do not break faith.