Baptism is a very secret ceremony that is important for every Orthodox family. But when is the best time to do it? This topic is worth trying to figure out today.
When to baptize a child
There is no specific date for this ceremony. Each parent is guided exclusively by his own discretion: someone prefers to do this in the first months of life, when the child can calmly be at the ceremony, someone also prefers an older age, referring to the awareness of the little person.
The origins of the rite
Previously, it was customary to hold the ceremony on the eighth day of life, then gradually moved on to the fortieth day. Many people today try to stick to these dates.
Why is it better to choose an early age
Everything is simple here: in the first months of life, the baby sleeps most of the time, waking up only for feeding and insignificant wakefulness. Therefore, with a sleeping baby it will be very easy to defend the whole ceremony.
In addition, the entire ceremony of the child must be held in the arms of his godparents. If the baby is just born, then this will be much easier. Further, the child is actively gaining weight and it becomes more and more difficult to keep it for a long time.
Why you shouldn't baptize a child at 2-3 years old
Answering this question, I would like to note that the older the baby becomes, the more wary and distrustful he is of new and unfamiliar people. So, having seen the priest who will contact the child during the baptism, the latter will be able to arrange the strongest hysteria, which will be difficult to stop.
If it was not possible to carry out the ceremony at a very early age, then it is more likely to be the right decision to postpone it until a more conscious age, when the child will already fully understand where and why he came.
