What is the prayer of loosening the girdle?

In the Coptic rite, the priest usually assists those who have been baptized in putting on the white garments as well as girding them with a girdle and placing a crown on their heads.¹³⁸¹ The white garments resemble the new nature, which was granted to them, with its angelic purity. The girdle resembles the relationship between the Church and the baptized person, being a vital member in it. The crown is a sign of victory over Satan and enjoyment of divine glories.

In the rites of the early Church, when the newly baptized took communion (usually on the resurrection feast), they remained to the eighth day in the church clothed in their white garments. They rejoice in that week because of their new spiritual birth and hence the week was called, “the week of white garments.” This tradition was preserved in the Coptic Church

1378 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 1 (NPNF II/7:6).

1379 Joseph Bingham, The Antiquities of the Christian Church: in Ten Volumes (University Press, 1855): Volume 4, Book 12.4–6.

1380 Tertullian, De Corona (The Chaplet) 3 (ANF3).

1381 Unfortunately, this tradition has disappeared, even though it is preserved in current books of rites, which suggests that it was practiced in Egypt until recently.

in some churches in Upper Egypt but was neglected in the big cities (in Lower Egypt). Old manuscripts and modern church books preserve a rite that is performed on the eighth day of the holy baptism when the liturgy of “loosening the girdle” is prayed, during which the Church offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving to God who granted the person who was baptized this great gift. The Church prays for him to remain steadfast and to grow in the divine grace. After the prayers and supplications, the baptized person is bathed in blessed water, where he washes his white garment and girdle, and then the water is disposed in the sea, river, or pure field.

We can compare this beautiful, simple rite with the “Bathing Prayer” which is prayed on the eighth day of a child’s birth. Even though this prayer is still practiced today, the readings in the modern books are different than those in the old manuscripts. In my comparison, I will refer to the ones from St. Anthony’s monastery from a manuscript dated 13[th] of Thoout 1372 A. M. (1655 A.D.) and copied from a manuscript in St. Mary’s Church in Haret Zuweila, dated 1096 A. M. (1379 A. D.).

On the eighth day of the birth of the child, the Church prays the Bathing Prayer , as we thank God for the newborn child. The priest together with the parents, decide on the name of the newborn as the Church is the mother of all humanity, from the moment they are born, even before their baptism. The Church thanks God for His creation and care for every detail, including the process of choosing a name for the newborn. On the eighth day after the baptism, a sacrifice of thanksgiving is offered for the child’s spiritual birth and membership in the Church, being a child of God, and a member in the body of Christ.

In one tradition, the Pauline epistle is read after the thanksgiving prayer, without Psalm 50, while in another tradition, this Psalm is prayed. For during the Bathing Prayer, the Church offers the liturgy as a sacrifice of praise and joy because of the newborn, while awaiting his entry into the waters of baptism. As for the Liturgy of loosening the girdle, after the newborn is baptized and has received the spiritual white garment, he ought to preserve this purity through the continuous act of repentance.

In the Bathing Prayer, the Pauline epistle talks about the circumcision of the flesh (Phil. 3:1–9), which was performed on the eighth day in the Old Testament. In this passage, St. Paul explains that we should not have confidence in the flesh and the righteousness of the law, but in the faith of Christ Jesus, our true righteousness. For if we were born according to the flesh, we do need the new spiritual birth, so that “we worship God in the Spirit, rejoicing in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:3). As for the second practice, the Pauline epistle is about the crossing of the Red Sea in the cloud, when all ate the same spiritual food, and drank the same spiritual drink from the Rock which was Christ (1 Cor. 10:1–4). The Church declares to the baptized, that he has received what the people of the Old Testament could only enjoy through shadows and symbols. The baptized person did not cross the Red Sea, but holy healing waters. He was not liberated from Pharaoh’s slavery,

but from the authority of Satan. He did not pass in the cloud, but the Holy Spirit now dwells in him. He did not eat the manna, but delights in Christ Jesus Himself, the true Manna.

In the first tradition, the Church asks the parents to thank God for His gift, and to offer spiritual vows, oblations, and prayers, which will support their child until he grows in grace and stature: “Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High. I will go into Your house with burnt offerings; I will pay You my vows, which my lips have uttered.” In the second tradition, the Psalm that is read blesses the baptized person for the gift of forgiveness which he has received and which he ought to keep: “Blessed is he whose sins were forgiven, whose sins were covered. Blessed is the man whom God did not consider his sins, nor was deceit was found in his mouth.”

During the Bathing Prayer, the passage from the gospel about the circumcision of Christ is read, as He enters the altar and is carried by Simeon the elder, whose eyes were opened by seeing the salvation which God gave to all the nations (Luke 2:21–35). It is as if the Church is affirming to the parents the necessity of spiritually circumcising their child in Christ, to be held by the heavenly arms, and to delight in dwelling in the temple of God, becoming a blessing for many. As for the loosening of the girdle, the gospel of John’s baptism is read (Matt. 3:1–6), who prepared the path for the Lord by repentance, so that the baptized person could be in a continuous state of repentance so as not to lose the fruit of baptism.

During the Bathing prayer, the priest asks the Lord to bless the child and to prepare him to receive the Holy Baptism: “We ask and entreat Your goodness for Your servant … Bless him/her with all heavenly blessings. Bless also his/her birth. May his/her days be lengthened according to Your grace. Let him/her grow and increase a hundred fold and sixty fold and thirty fold. May his/her parents rejoice and be glad for his/her birth like Zacharias and Elizabeth unto whom You have granted John the prophet. And at the appointed time, may he/she be worthy of the washing of the new birth unto forgiveness of his/her sins, preparing him/her to be a temple for Your Holy Spirit.”

In loosening the girdle, we thank God for the gift of enlightenment, which the baptized has received, praying that he might remain steadfast in the orthodox faith to the end, and be ready for the eternal life and the Kingdom of heaven through Christ Jesus our Lord: “O Master Lord, our God, Giver of peace and blessing, to whom alone belongs goodness and love of mankind. Who has blessed us and sanctified us and enlightened us with the light of His Godhead. Who has made His servants worthy to receive the ineffable light from on high of our Christ Jesus, our Savior. Enlighten them with the light of the blessing, purify them, bless them, and renew them by Your grace through the baptism they have received in the power of Your life-giving Holy Spirit … Bless them with Your blessing and confirm them in Your orthodox faith unto the end. Bring them to maturity and adulthood. May they be guarded by good angels unto the end. Fill them with knowledge and every understanding … Make them worthy of the eternal life and the kingdom of the heavens in Christ Jesus our Lord …”

During the Bathing Prayer, we sing Psalms 148–149, and both traditions include the Lord’s Prayer, the absolution, the blessing of the water by the sign of the cross, then Psalm 150, and the concluding blessing after the child is bathed.