Eastern Or Orthodox Church Life-Cycle Rituals

   The Eastern or Orthodox churches are territorial or national. This arrangement is unlike the close-knit unity of the Roman Catholic Church, whose clergy are under the authority of the Pope, regardless of their location. The Orthodox churches of Greece, Russia, Armenia, Bulgaria, Serbia, and other countries are autonomous and have always been closely identified with their own country. The life-cycle rituals of Orthodox churches are more elaborate than the other Christian churches.  Parents are allowed to bring their newborns to church for the first time 40 days after its birth. At that time, the priest offers special prayers and blessings for the infant. The baptism, usually held after the infant is three or four months old, is the first important event in a child's life. Baptism is the triple immersion of the baby by the priest in a baptismal tub filled with warm water. For the baptism, the baby's clothes are removed and discarded. After the triple dipping, the child is dried off by the godparents.
    The priest then performs the Chrismation, anointing the child with oil (chrism). This symbolic act is performed to keep the devil from grasping the child. Another symbolic act is for the priest to snip off a lock of the child's hair, representing the child's first donation to the church. After the immersion, the godparents dress the baby in their gift of new clothes, all white, a symbol of purity. They also give the infant a gold cross. The child is given a Christian name, usually chosen from one of the many saints and martyrs of the church. In some Catholic and Orthodox Christian communities, instead of celebrating a birthday, the children celebrate the "name day" of the saint or martyr they were named after. The "name day" is not the birth date of the child or the saint, but rather the designated date on which the church elevated a holy or godly person or martyr to sainthood. Each country or region of the world, ethnic group, or church has its own collection of saints and martyrs. The traditional Orthodox wedding takes place in the church, and it is usually a very long ceremony with many symbolic rituals. Each country, ethnic group, or church adds its own unique traditions to some of the following basic rituals. During the wedding the bride and groom wear crowns or wreaths to signify their elevation to king and queen of the home they will share.
    The couple jointly sip red wine from a cup to signify their togetherness, and double rings are blessed and exchanged as a visual ritual of unitv. The reception feast follows at the church hall, club or hotel ballroom, restaurant, or family home.  Orthodox Christian funerals are marked by long, involved rituals and ceremonies that vary by the ethnic group, the church, the community, and to some degree, the family's wishes. The burial service is more intense and dramatic than the Roman Catholic church service, taking it to a higher level of pageantry. Among some groups, it is customary, for the family mourners to cut a lock of hair to be buried with the dead; this act symbolizes that not even death will sever the strong family ties.