Holy Baptism is one of the seven Orthodox church sacraments. This is the first rite of passage that a person begins who wants to enter the bosom of the Church. It is from the sacrament of baptism that a person becomes a member of the Church of Christ.
When preparing for the ordinance of baptism, some people may have the question, "How long does this sacrament take?" It should be borne in mind that in modern practice in Orthodox churches, together with the sacrament of baptism, chrismation is also performed, but since these sacred acts are now performed together, the time directly related to baptism will also include the anointing with holy chrism.
The sacrament of baptism itself (directly the duration of the rite) in different churches may differ and depends on various factors. First of all, it is worth considering the total number of those baptized, if there are several dozen, then the sacrament itself is longer. For convenience, let's take the average number of people participating in baptism - ten. In this case, the sacrament will take from 40 minutes to a little over an hour. If baptism in the temple is performed individually, then the sacred service can also be completed sooner.
It should also be borne in mind that during baptism, the priest explains to people the main points from the rite itself. In this sense, each clergyman has an individual approach, and each person's explanations can be a little more or less lengthy. But in any case, the baptism of ten people will not take more than one and a half (in rare cases, two) hours.
It is also worth mentioning the practice of performing baptism at home over a sick person. For the sake of mortal fear, such an order is greatly reduced and can take no more than ten minutes. The main thing is that the main action should be performed - the recitation of the secret formula and pouring water.
There is a practice when baptism is performed on an already dying person who is in consciousness. In this case, everything is done even faster. The mysterious formula is pronounced three times: "The servant of God (name) is baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" and the person is poured with water. It doesn't take more than a minute. At the same time, the sacrament of chrismation is not performed, since the priest simply physically may not have time to anoint the dying person with holy peace.
