Christening, Russian style
Recently, I attended a Russian Orthodox Christening of a little three months old boy. I believe if there is a torture which must be stopped then surely it is this practice. As a nonbeliever, I do not understand the wisdom behind any of these religious rituals, however what I witnessed on this day made me even stronger in my belief that some parts of religion are barbaric, mostly outdated and in this case pure torture. At least Muslims read a sentence in their six days old child’s ear and that is it. In Islam children suffer as adults, especially the girl-child. Surely more cruel.
I had never been witness to christening except to what I had watched in the movies and it usually involved grownups. This was the first time I witnessed one done to a three month old child. A non-practicing Muslim, married to a Russian woman and they had a boy. According to the father he and his wife made a trade off, both torturous to their son. He insisted to have the boy circumcised and she agreed only if he would consent to Christening of the boy.
The Christening ceremony began at a Russian Orthodox church with beautiful artifacts, lit with dim lights and scented candles were burning all around. A table was set in the middle of the hall and a Taufbecken (a giant wine glass made from putter) filled with water placed on the side of the table. Some items including a bible were placed on top of the table.
We all arrived at the church at the same time and the priest arrived in his glorious outfit and the ceremony began. The child was taken from his mother’s arms and placed in the arms of another woman (God mother), perhaps stranger to the child. The priest picked up a book, the mother a lit candle and the three of them moved to the front door of the church and the priest began the ritual and the child began to cry. The lauder the priest spoke the lauder the child cried. The child mother, grandmother and other Russian women present all had covered their heads with a scarf. We, the born Muslims, mostly nonbelievers had nothing over our heads, a disgrace to the holy place. The baby cried at time squealing and hollering while the priest continued reading some in German, Russian and some in English.
The cries of the baby would not let me concentrate to hear what the priest was reciting. But I did hear some statements which I consider ludicrous to be asked of a three month old baby.
The priest kept asking in German/Russian from the child,
“Say you reject satan. Say you take Jesus Christ to be your savior.”
I was shocked. Did the priest really expect the child to answer him? I wondered are these people insane? Why do they let this child to cry so hard? Why no one says a word? Why they don’t stop this ritual, madness?
Then the Christian congregation followed the priest from the front door to the center and made a circle around the table and the taufbecken. The priest continued reading while the child was screaming. I felt like the priest and the child were in competition to see who can stop first. The Muslim born nonbelievers stayed in their chairs. This plus the child’s behavior made the priest quite disgusted so he retorted at everyone to gather around him. He even told us that we were not spectators, but participants in this event.
I just about had enough of this nonsense and my options were either to or to leave the church. I decided to leave the church. I did not want to make a scene in front of the congregation. After all the grandparents of the child had made a trip from Russia to Northern California to witness the Christening of their grandson. In my opinion, this madness. Later on I learned that the grandfather was also disturbed by the cruelty of the event. However, he did not want to upset or disappoint his wife and daughter. So the child suffered while the grownups stayed quiet in order not to offend one another!
After the ceremony I learned from my husband that the child cried the entire time and then was three times plunged, head first into the Taufbecken. What I consider “water-boarding” of a child. The child then was dried, dressed and given to his mother where he finally fall asleep due to exhaustion. We all went to a wonderful luncheon reception. The baby slept while we dined and wined at a wonderful restaurant not realizing what had just been done to a three month old child in the name of God and religion.
At the luncheon I learned that the Russian Orthodox believe that if a child is not baptized and dies that child will go to hell. What a cruel God to send a three month old child to burn in hell just because the child was not “water boarded”.
As I think about this cruelty I am further strengthened in my non belief status and am glad that I did not torture my own child and he did not torture his children for a promise of an imaginary garden in the sky.
Parvin Darabi Truckee, CA 96161 | 
