What is the rite of the crown and the girdle?

This rite in its original form is not currently practiced although it may still be found in all the printed books that have the prayers of the baptism rite. What has survived of this rite is the girding the baptized person with a girdle. The priest also prays over a crown before placing it on the person’s head, saying, “O Lord, God, the Pantocrator, the Father of our Lord God, and the Savior Jesus Christ, who has crowned His holy Apostles and His prophets and martyrs who have pleased You with unfading crowns. You also now, bless these crowns, which we have prepared to set upon Your servants who have been reconciled by the Holy Baptism, that they may be united: crowns for glory and honor, amen. Crowns of virtue and righteousness, amen. Crowns of wisdom and understanding, amen. Strengthen them that may

1375 See St. Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor or Christ the Educator 11:53–55 (FOTC 23:242–243).

1376 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 3.16 (NPNF II/7:18).

fulfill your ordnances and Your commandments, to attain the good things of the Kingdom of heaven, in Christ, our Lord. To whom be the glory …”

The priest places the crown upon the baptized person’s head, after girding him/her with the girdle while saying: “Set, O Master, Lord God upon Your servants: Crowns from heaven, amen. Crowns of glory, amen. Crowns of invincible and unconquerable faith, amen. Crowns of confirmation, amen. Crowns of righteousness, amen. Grant Your servants that they may be filled with the grace of Your Holy Spirit through the compassion and love-of-mankind of Your only begotten Son Jesus Christ …”

Here, we need to pause a little bit to observe the fact that this is very similar to the rites of the Holy Matrimony, when the bridegroom is girded with a girdle like the one he received in baptism and the couple is also crowned. It is as if the Church views the sacraments of baptism and chrismation as the path to the heavenly Bridegroom. The groom is girded with a girdle as a sign of his hidden unity with the Bridegroom and with the Church, being a vital member in it. He is also crowned together with his bride because they together have become the true King’s bride.

The crown offered to us by God is His fiery Holy Spirit who unites us with our Bridegroom, and grants us victory over sin. He offers us the crown of the spiritual, marital life and of victory. St. Cyril of Jerusalem says that the apostles “partook of fire, not of burning but of saving fire; of fire which consumes the thorns of sins, but gives safety to the soul. This is now coming upon you also, and that to strip away and consume your sins which are like thorns, and to brighten yet more that precious possession of your souls, and to give you grace … He sat upon them in the form of fiery tongues, that they might crown themselves with new and spiritual diadems by fiery tongues upon their heads (Acts 2:3).”¹³⁷⁷