Being a godparent is not just a formality. In addition to specific duties to the infant after the sacrament of baptism, godparents have obligations to be direct participants in the sacrament itself.
Godparents are directly involved in infant baptism. If the priest is the performer of the sacrament, then the godparents are the main assistants of the clergyman during the baptism of a child.
The infant, who was brought to the church for baptism, during the sacrament itself is in the arms of the godmother or godfather (this does not matter in principle - as it is more convenient and familiar to the baby, that godfather must hold the child). In addition, godparents take vows of renunciation of Satan and combination to Jesus Christ. It is this that should be attributed to the duties of godparents directly with participation in the sacrament. The priest asks special questions to which the godparents answer (along with the latter, the physiological parents themselves can answer about the renunciation of Satan).
After the baby is baptized in the holy font (the child is immersed in water), the godparents receive the newly-made Christian. That is why godparents are also called recipients. Then the godparents dress the baby. True, physiological parents can equally do this.
At a certain moment of baptism, the godparents, together with the baby in their arms and all those present at the baptism, walk around the font three times while the priest sings the words that those who were baptized into Christ put on it.
In some Orthodox churches there is a practice of reading certain prayers by the godparents during the sacrament of baptism. So, in some parishes, it is the godparents who read the Symbol of Faith (the main prayer of Orthodoxy, reflecting the meaning of the main dogmatic truths).
At the end of the sacrament of baptism, the godparents present the newly made Christian with an icon of the Lord Jesus Christ or the Mother of God, as well as an image of the saint, after whom the baby is named.
