Of course, the birth of a child is a gift from God. However, in order to fully present the baby before the Lord and allow the child to be reborn not in the earthly, but in the spiritual world, you need to baptize him and give him a name by which he will be known to God.
What is baptism
The baptism of a child is a sacrament, his first acquaintance with God and spiritual birth. This is not just a ceremony or a beautiful tradition, as it is often perceived in modern society, it is something more and more profound. At baptism, a child is cleansed from original sin, presented to God, and a patron is named who will accompany him and protect all earthly life. At baptism, a person is given God's good, which he undertakes not only to preserve and protect, but also to increase it and share it with others.
Modern tendencies are such that many not fully religious parents baptize their children only to pay tribute to traditions or so that the child is not "jinxed". Although their motives are not entirely correct, the very fact that children are nevertheless betrayed to the rite of baptism is already positive.
When to baptize a child
When to baptize a child, in infancy or conscious age, it is up to his parents to choose. However, the church recommends not delaying this and christening the child after 40 days from the date of his birth, because it is after 40 days that the original sin is removed from the mother of the child and she is allowed to enter the church.
Until the child reaches the age of 7, the baptism ceremony takes place only with the help of godparents, who accept the blessing of God and renounce Satan for the baby and undertake to be his guides to the world of God and the church.
What name to baptize a child
Which name to choose for the baptism of a child depends on what name and by what principle the child was named at birth. If a child was given a name at birth in honor of a particular saint, then there is no need to choose a name for baptism either, his own name will be ideal.
As a rule, the name for the ceremony is chosen according to the calendar, according to the Orthodox calendar, most often similar or close in sound to his name in documents. But this is not entirely correct. If parents chose a name for a child, starting simply from the beauty of the sound or in honor of relatives, then for baptism it must be chosen based on the saint whose life is close to the parents and somehow delighted them. The euphony and similarity of the name of the saint to the alias, of course, are also important. It often happens that there are several saints with the same names, and parents have the opportunity to choose who they would like to see as the patron saint of their child.
You can also take advantage of the practice and traditions of ancestors, using the name of the saint whose calendar is held on the day of the sacrament of baptism. It is not at all necessary that it repeat its own name or be close to it, the main thing is that this saint is close to a person.
