How do candidates for baptism confess their faith?

The candidate for baptism turns his face from the west to the east, declaring his affiliation to the kingdom of light, having denounced the kingdom of darkness. In other words, he accepts Christ after rejecting Satan. As St. Ambrose says, “You turn to the east. For he who renounces the devil, turns to Christ, looks at him with direct gaze.”¹³⁵² The west is associated with the devil since he reigns in darkness as Christ Himself says: “But this is your hour and the power of darkness” (Luke 22:53). St. Paul the apostle says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). Hades is the place where the devil resides along with his soldiers in the outer darkness. Christ, however, is associated with the east since He is the Sun of Righteousness (Mal. 4:1; Matt. 1:16) who gives light to those who are sitting in darkness. The Lord is also called the one who covers Himself with light as with a garment (Ps. 104:2), He is the reason for our enlightenment (Ps. 27:1, 43:3), His children are called “children of light” (Luke 16:8), and the instruments of salvation are also called “the armor of light” (Rom. 13:12).

The candidate for baptism, facing the east, looks at Christ Himself who is the East (Zech. 6:12) and the Sun of righteousness and justice (Mal. 4:2). By turning to the east, we are looking towards the old Paradise, which God planted for us in Eden towards the east.¹³⁵³ Our hearts are also filled with longing for the second coming of Christ who ascended to the east and will return in the same way (Matt. 24:27, Acts 1:11), crying out with St. Methodius of Olympus : “Let us all hurry towards the east, let us be clothed in white garments and let us hold in our hands our lanterns.”¹³⁵⁴

Note that this rite consists of two parts: facing the west to renounce Satan; and then facing the east to accept Christ. This was the clear and central principle found in all baptism liturgies in the early Church. Confessing the faith has a central theological importance in baptism.

First: Christian baptism was referred to as baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 8:16; 19:5) where the candidate for baptism, or his sponsor in the case of infants, confesses their faith in our Lord Jesus the Savior. Then, the person can approach the mystery of the cross and may partake in His burial and resurrection. Therefore, the confession of the crucified Christ who rose from the dead is the cornerstone of all the creeds used in baptism since the beginning of the Church, as the apostle says, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be

1351 St. Ambrose of Milan, The Sacraments 1.1.2–3 (FOTC 44:269–270).

1352 Jean Daniélou, The Bible and the Liturgy (Darton, Longman & Todd, 1956): p. 31.

1353 St. Basil of Caesarea, On the Holy Spirit 27.66 (PP 42:104).

1354 Mart . Polyc. 9.3.

saved” (Rom. 10:9). The apostle considers this the cornerstone of the faith he received: “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3–4). Pagans knew this, which is why their concern was to oblige the faithful to renounce Christ.

Second: Since baptism is the gate by which one becomes a member of the Church, the confession of faith is the cornerstone on which the Church is built and is the reason for her existence.

Third: The confession of faith is an entry into a divine covenant or like a signed contract with God and is kept in a book in heaven. St. Theodore of Mopsuestia says of this: “We establish agreements and covenants with our Lord God by confessing the faith. By the mediation of the priest, we are prepared to enter His house, to see Him, to know Him and for Him to dwell within us that we may be counted among the citizens of that city and are counted trustworthy.”¹³⁵⁵ Again, he says, “By confessing the faith, you associate yourself with God by the bishop and you enter into a covenant in which you declare that you will be persistent in seeking the love of the divine nature.”¹³⁵⁶

In the current Coptic rite, the baptized or the sponsor publicly repeats the main aspects of the faith after the celebrant priest before baptism. In the early Church, the candidate would declare his or her faith from inside the waters of baptism. This was done in the form of questions that the priest or bishop would ask and to which the candidate would respond, as is mentioned in the Canons of St. Hippolytus .¹³⁵⁷