Complete service in Greek/English with an introduction and analysis of the services of Baptism and Chrismation by Fr. Peter A. Chamberas.

The purpose of this book is to introduce the reader to the Mysteries of Baptism and Chrismation by which we begin our Christian life in the Orthodox Church. Baptism is the starting point and the foundation of a Christian "world-view" and a "philosophy of life" that provides us with a permanent sense of direction, guiding us firmly throughout our entire life and supplying answers to our questions and our problems. While Baptism is practiced and "taken for granted" in the Church today, it is also absent from our life. It is absent because it has ceased to be a permanent reality and experience illuminating our whole life; it has ceased to be a source of joy and hope for the entire community of faith, as it seeks to integrate the new members into the new life of the Church. We seem to have forgotten that Baptism is our personal Pascha, Chrismation our personal Pentecost, as we pass from the old into the new life of the people of God, fulfilled in the Church.