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R.B. Becoming Christian through Separation and Incorporation 1 Introduction, Materials and Methods I remember as a child spending lunchtime in the schoolyard with my inner circle of friends. We formed a sort of club—a secret society, I suppose—with our own way of referring to outsiders, our own lore consisting of tall tales which may or may not have been completely true, our own secrets we would tell nobody else. Looking back at those innocent childhood days, I never realized incredibly astute we were at mimicking the world around us: the religious groups, the ethnic groups, the fraternity and sorority systems, and the in-crowds—all imitated by a group of children playing in the schoolyard during lunch. Religious groups in particular have set rituals to initiate new members into the group. The German ethnographer and folklorist Arnold van Gennep was the first to notice the common cross-cultural thread stringing together different religions in the way that they bring new members into their communities. He referred to these as rites de passage, an idea that has since hit the mainstream as evidenced in the heavy usage of the term “rites of passage” within and outside of the halls of academia. I recently had the opportunity to attend a Greek Orthodox baptism, and it was different from the types of baptisms to which I was accustomed. As an outsider to Greek Orthodox culture, I quietly observed the rituals unfolding before me, neither asking questions, nor being called on to participate. And as I observed the ceremony, I began to notice van Gennep’s rites de passage in the rituals playing out before me. 2 Results On the morning of October 14, 2006, I was invited to attend a Greek Orthodox baptism at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox church in Concord, California. I arrived a few minutes late to the church, which was relatively isolated and nestled among the rolling, golden foothills of the Diablo Range in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area. The round gray dome atop the church stood in stark contrast to the shapes of the type of churches I grew up intimately acquainted with in the Roman Catholic tradition. I knew from my Catholic high school education that the Western and Eastern churches remained as one unified church until the East-West Schism (also known as the Great Schism) in 1054, so this throwback to Byzantine architecture in the modern world was the first hint that perhaps this experience would be something different from what I was used to. Upon entering the church, my suspicions of differences between the Greek and Roman churches were confirmed: I saw twin infants being carried by their godparents right there in the narthex (the antechamber of the church), their parents and siblings gathered around them, while the priest presided. It was then that I consciously committed to studying this ceremony for this ethnography. I briefly (and potentially impolitely) detoured back towards the car to fish out a pencil and a piece of scrap paper lying around. With my tools in hand, I turned around and headed towards the doors of St. Demetrios. The infant twins were dressed in white, held by their godparents, fussing about as babies do. Everybody involved with the ceremony faced towards the exterior door of the church—the door I had just re-entered—while the priest said a series of exorcism prayers, culminating in a question posed to the sponsors about the rejection of Satan’s promises and works. The godparents replied “I do” for the infants. At the end of the exorcism prayers, the twins’ parents and godparents simultaneously made a spitting noise and turned 180-degrees towards the interior door of the church. The priest led more prayers, this time not of exorcism, but of affirmation to live with Christ. Again, questions were posed to the sponsors who answered for the children in the affirmative that they will accept Christ into their lives. At this point, the priest proclaimed “Unite yourself to Christ!” The priest then made the sign of the cross over the infants, and the sponsors and parents prayed the Nicene Creed to state their commitment to the faith. Only then did everybody move into the nave of the church. As I followed everybody into the church, I was awestruck by the vaulted ceilings with the iconic pictures of the saints painted onto them. It was truly a humbling experience having the saints’ collective gaze bearing down upon me from above. As I settled into a pew not far from the front of the church, the infants, their godparents, their parents, and their siblings took their places next to the baptismal font at the elevated region at the front of the church to the left of the altar. The next phase of the ceremony commenced: their names were conferred upon them in the presence of God and those who have come to witness the event. Soon after the naming rites were completed, the infants were removed from the room by their parents and godparents to be disrobed. In their absence, two baptismal candles (one for each baby) were lit and given to their two older siblings who were still in the room. The babies, by now cold and crying and naked, were brought back into the room by their godparents. They were taken back to the baptismal font, and the ceremony continued. The priest invoked the Holy Spirit in blessing the water in the font, and then made the sign on the cross thrice over the water. The babies were then anointed by the priest with blessed olive oil on the forehead, the back, the hands, the feet, the mouth, the ears, and the chest. The godparents then were called upon to rub the olive oil all over the infants’ bodies. The infants were then taken one by one to the baptismal font, where the priest fully submerged each baby thrice into the water. After each baby emerged for the third time from the water, he was wrapped in a white sheet by his godparents. The priest again anointed the babies—this time not with the same olive oil and not all over their bodies—saying “The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit, Amen.” The babies were then changed into new baptismal garments in the church. While the infants had their clothing changed, the priest lit some incense. Then everybody surrounding the baptismal font—the priest (with incense in hand), the infants, their godparents (holding the infants), their parents, and their siblings (each with one baptismal candle)—walked around the font three times while chanting. Following this, the priest took a pair of scissors and cut locks of the infants’ hair. Finally, the infants were brought to the altar, flanked on either side by their candle-bearers, and administered the Holy Communion. After some concluding remarks about the new members of the church community, the service ended and we all filed out of the church behind the babies and sponsors. 3 Discussion Van Gennep, in writing his landmark Les Rites de Passage in 1908, focused on the journey one makes from being part of the out-crowd to being part of the in-group (within the context of cult membership)—something that almost every former school-child can relate to, regardless of religious upbringing (or lack thereof). He likens this process to geographical passage out of one region, through a neutral zone, and to another, requiring a “letter of marque” to pass. Without such a letter, one is prohibited from making the passage; likewise, without the proper rite, one is “[prohibited] against entering a given territory” that is “intrinsically magico-religious” (van Gennep 1908). Les rites de passage can be subdivided into “rites of separation…, those [rites] executed during the transitional stage, and the [rites] of incorporation” (van Gennep 1908). It is with respect to these three subdivisions that my analysis of the Greek Orthodox baptismal rite will take place. 3.1 The Exorcism: a Rite of Separation According to a writer for the Catholic Encyclopedia, the narthex of a church was “reserved for the catechumens, energumens, and penitents who were not admitted amongst the congregation” (Cram 1911). The significance of the starting point for the baptism ceremony is that it lumps these soon-to-be-baptized infants among the uninitiated, the transitioning, the demon-possessed, and the sinners—basically, anybody who is not worthy to enter the nave of the church due to some sort of blemish on their eternal soul. To remove those blotches of imperfection that stain their souls, the priest exorcises the infants. Van Gennep characterized exorcism as a rite of separation (van Gennep 1908)—a separation from Satan, a separation from a Godless way of life, a separation from non-Christianity. Of course, this is all done with the help of a godparent whose capacity as a spiritual guide begins as a voice for the voiceless infant (Brown 1965). During the length of the exorcism, the infants are oriented towards the outside of the church, which can be seen not only as a rejection of Satan, but also a rejection of their former status as outsiders. Once initially purified, their orientation faces inwards towards the nave of the church: though they are not yet worthy to enter into the church, they have an intention to do so. Facing the entrance to the nave of the church seems to symbolize the intent to live in Christ as a member of the religious community. 3.2 The Compaction of the Liminal Period Victor Turner wrote that “on the whole, initiation rites…best exemplify transition” and therefore have “well-developed liminal periods” (Turner 1964). His definition of “well-developed” contextually seems to refer to both the distinctiveness of this liminal period in addition to its drawn out length of time (which without a doubt serves to distinguish it further), and yet, given that baptism is a way through which “one enters the threshold of the earthly Kingdom of God, and becomes a member of the Church” (Constantelos 1967), where is the “well-developed” liminal period Turner tells us to expect? It is now time for a crash course in the history of baptism. According to Alexander Schmemann, “there is a difference, maybe even a substantial difference—a difference in the entire sacramental vision” between the Eastern and Western churches’ baptismal rites (Schmemann 1978). He continues: Christian initiation is always that triple reality: first, baptism as such; then, what in the West has come to be called confirmation but which in the Eastern tradition is called the sacrament of chrismation; and finally, the third and essential part of the baptismal initiation, the eucharist. (Schmemann 1978) Originally, the newly-baptized was known as the catechumen and was “initiated into the lesser mysteries [of the church]” and “was permitted to attend religious assemblies…but was required to withdraw before the beginning of the true mysteries (the Mass)” (van Gennep 1908). The catechumen was thus a liminal persona betwixt and between (if I may pilfer Turner’s pithy prose) the heathen and the Christian, and was banished to the narthex, which served as a concrete liminal space, to view the Mass separate from the fully initiated faithful. Not surprisingly, then, do we find the infants in the narthex before even entering the nave of the church. After the performance of the initial rite of separation, they are indeed separate, first from the world outside, and second from the church itself. But whereas this liminal period was drawn out in the past—the catechumen was only deemed worthy to enter the nave after a series of exorcisms, the last of which could possibly not even come by the eve of death (van Gennep 1908)—the liminal period only lasts a few minutes in the Greek Orthodox ceremony. The infants are soon deemed worthy to enter the nave—to figuratively enter into the religious community itself—and are soon on their way to becoming fully incorporated into the community. The Western tradition offers another foil to the compaction of the liminal period in the Greek Orthodox baptism. The Roman Catholic Church still has these three sacraments of initiation separated: baptism usually occurs in infancy, but confirmation is usually delayed until the age of reason. The final facet of the “triple reality” is usually administered between the other two, but until a person is able to renounce Satan of his or her own volition—in other words, until the three sacraments are all received—then the initiate is not yet considered a full member of the church. 3.3 Of Water, Oil, and Bread: Three Rites of Incorporation The three-step initiation of baptism, chrismation, and eucharist is ubiquitous in different sects of the Christian faith (Schmemann 1978). The immersion in water during baptism is a throwback to the root of the word itself. Carl S. Tyneh describes the act of baptism as a death and resurrection [taking] place, a birth, or rather, a rebirth. First a death takes place, that’s why he who is to be baptized must be totally immersed in the water of the font, because this immersion symbolizes death. (Tyneh 2003) The death symbolism is interesting because van Gennep says that “rites of separation are prominent in funeral ceremonies” (van Gennep 1908). This suggests that baptism is not merely a rite of incorporation, but also a rite of separation. Baptism, then, simultaneously further separates the initiate from his or her former life and draws the initiate deeper into the community. Chrismation—the application of the holy myrrh after baptism—represents “the confirmation and seal that he who was baptized has received the gifts and charismata of the Holy Spirit” (Tyneh 2003) and “constitutes the completion of baptism” (Constantelos 1967). Thus, the anointing with myrrh signals one more step towards becoming a full-fledged member of the Greek Orthodox community. With the conference of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the initiate is said to have the strength and grace necessary to conquer the temptations of Satan with God’s help (Tyneh 2003). Though initiation is not fully complete at this stage, the liminal period is drawing to a close. To commemorate the occasion, the infants were given new clothes. These new clothes symbolize the beginning of a new life—a life as a member of the church community. If we are to fully immerse ourselves in van Gennep’s metaphor of making passage through borders, then the new clothes could very well be analogous to clothes one would wear in a foreign land to blend in and to belong. The final puzzle piece to the “triple reality” of initiation into the church falls into place with the administration of the Holy Eucharist. Van Gennep informs us that “only after [baptism and confirmation were] performed the neophytes were admitted to communion” (van Gennep 1908), which is the greatest mystery of the faith previously unrevealed to the former catechumen. Aiden Kavanaugh states that “Baptism in its fullness” [that is, the initiation as a whole, comprised of baptism by water, chrismation, and the administration of the communion] takes the convert out of the private sector definitively and makes him or her a radically public person of the church universal and local—a fidelis, one who is now empowered by the Spirit to sustain the word-become-flesh in act and praxis. (Kavanaugh 1978) In essence, it is only now that the liminal period definitively ends and that the initiate is now promoted to the status of being a full-fledged member of the church. Now the rite de passage is complete—the rites of separation have fully sequestered the newly-faithful from the outside world, through the liminal period “betwixt and between,” and the rites of incorporation have brought them into the community by imparting the knowledge of the church’s deepest, most secret mysteries to the infants. They are now Christian. 4 Conclusions “[A]lthough a complete scheme of rites of passage theoretically includes preliminal rights (rites of separation), liminal rites (rites of transition), and postliminal rites (rites of incorporation),” writes van Gennep (1908), “in specific instances these three types are not always…equally elaborated.” In the instance of the Greek Orthodox baptism ceremony, this is certainly true. The rite of passage does indeed include rites of separation in the practice of exorcism and in the baptism by water. It likewise contains rites of incorporation through baptism, chrismation, and the eucharist. But the liminal rites—those of transition between being indelibly marked with original sin and being a purified soul in residence with the rest of the church community—are missing. The truncation of the liminal period in the Greek Orthodox Church—the passage of mere minutes where historically and in the Roman Catholic Church it takes years—makes it difficult for rites of transition to be elaborated at all. Still, the ritual must meet the spiritual demands of the community—lacking in liminal rites though it may be—to be relatively unchanged since the Great Schism. But why did the liminal period become so truncated? What social pressures caused the need for the administration of the three rituals that comprise the “triple reality” of baptism all at once? I have no answer for this now, but in the future, it would be edifying to elucidate the stimuli that caused this to happen. 5 Sources Cited Brown, Henry F., 1965. Baptism through the Centuries. Pacific Press Publishing Association, Mountain View, CA. Constantelos, Demetrios J., 1967. The Greek Orthodox Church: Faith, History, and Practice. The Seabury Press, New York, NY. Cram, Ralph Adams, 1911. “Narthex.” The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. X. Available on the World Wide Web %lt;http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10704b.htm>, 2003 (accessed 12 November 2006). Gennep, Arnold van, 1908. Les Rites de Passage. Trans. Monika B. Vizedom and Gabrielle L. Caffee, 1960. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. Kavanaugh, Aidan, 1978. “Life-cycle Events and Civil Ritual.” Initiation Theology. Ed. James Schmeiser. The Anglican Book Centre, Toronto, Canada. Schmemann, Alexander, 1978. “The Eastern Church.” Initiation Theology. Ed. James Schmeiser. The Anglican Book Centre, Toronto, Canada. Turner, Victor W., 1964. “Betwixt and Between: The Liminal Period in Rites de Passage.” Reprinted in Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion: An Anthropological Study of the Supernatural, 5 ed. Ed. Arthur C. Lehmann and James E. Myers, 2001. Mayfield Publishing Company, Mountain View, CA. Tyneh, Carl S., Ed., 2003. Orthodox Christianity: Overview and Bibliography. 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