Of Water and the Spirit: Liturgical Study of Baptism

by Alexander Schmemann

In this study of the Orthodox understanding of Christian initiation, the rites of baptism and chrismation, Fr Schmemann invites us to 'rediscover' baptism. He penetrates the Church's rubrics and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0281029067
• ISBN13: 9780281029068
• Release Date: February 1976
• Publisher: SPCK Publishing
• Length: 170 Pages
• Weight: 1.11 lbs.

Customer Reviews

"Unless you..."

This is a book about an end and a beginning. T.S. Eliot summarizes the point that I wish to to make about Father Alexander's book: "What we call the beginning is often the end And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from." --V. 'Little Gidding' Yet many people, let us say even many "parishioner(s) in good standing" live by "...standards and philosophies of life having nothing to do with, if not openly opposed to, the Christian faith" (p. 9). As Father Alexander considers, they are not living according to the radical change of their own lives through Baptism. Said another way, we start from the end of death in Christ to be reborn anew in Christ. This is the start of the new creation. However sad to say, nominal Christians have been excised from active engagement in the Paschal mystery of Baptism. The author's enterprise in liturgical theology acknowledges this state of affairs, and calls for active participation among readers to re-graft Christians back to the living vine of Christ. His Mendelian feat retraces the steps of an ancient path in liturgical theology, whereby experience in Faith has always been connected with new life in the waters of Baptism. Reading, alone, will not achieve what Father Alexander advances, for the service of Baptism has become severed from the Paschal Liturgy of Holy Saturday. It may well be impossible to limit occasions for Baptism to Holy Saturday, as the author admits, but it is all the more important that readers understand the place of Pascha in Baptism. Each component part of the service of Baptism proclaims the end of death and start of new life in Christ, and, therefore, should never be omitted. Whereas rubrics of reverence remain about Baptism as the quintessential Paschal mystery, such as blessing the Baptismal water with previously blessed holy water, "liturgical decadence" (p. 38) describes how some priests omit this step to save time. According to the author, these priests demonstrate lack of recognizing the awesome ambiguity of water as giver and destroyer of life--water that Christ sanctifies by victory over death, and extends victory over death to those who immerse in it three times. They lack understanding in cutting things short, which extends to everyone gathered in the Sacramental experience. Some people might try to remedy liturgical decadence by a literal reconstruction of all ancient rubrics of Baptism out of a spirit of preserving cultural heritage or achieving legalistic purposes. They risk losing the evangelism that the rubrics portend each time the faithful gather to repeat them. Instead, Father Alexander calls for doing Theology each time Baptism occurs, where "to do" Theology implies active participation. All who gather before the waters of Baptism to initiate a candidate into Christ also refresh themselves in the same experience of the Gospel. Thus, witnessing Christ in Baptism becomes an occasion for the entire parish to engage in their own end and beg

The best primer

This is the very first book about Orthodox Christianity by a modern author that I sat down and seriously read (twenty five some years ago). Fr. Alexander did not write this book for doctoral candidates, but for the average layman of any denomination who wants a serious, but non-technical understanding of the Orthodox Church's mysteries (sacraments) and rites of initiation. Other works written by Fr. Alexander that are widely available and worth a read include his equally well written and interesting book about Great Lent, and an anthology "Ultimate Questions", which is a collection of essays by 19th and 20th Century Russian Orthodox thinkers -- some of whom have had considerable impact on Orthodox Christian thought over the last hundred and twenty five years.

Another classic

Fr. Alexander's rich text on Baptism is one of the best in print. Simple, to the point, this text presents the deep theological, mystical, spritual and liturgical themes of Baptism in a very approachable text. This is not a theological tome, but a deeply profound book that the layman can readily grasp, yet a theologian could ponder and study.