Baptism
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
- the sacrament in which a believer, through threefold immersion of the body in water with the invocation of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, dies to the carnal and sinful life and is reborn by the Holy Spirit into a spiritual and holy life. 'Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,' the Lord said, 'he cannot enter into the kingdom of God' (John 3:5). John the Forerunner began baptism with water: he 'verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus' (Acts 19:4).
Jesus Christ sanctified baptism by His own example when He received it from John, and after His resurrection solemnly commanded the apostles: 'Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost' (Matt 28:19).