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Baptism

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" Matthew 28:19

Based on the Lord’s commandment, the mission of the Church is to preach the Gospel to all people and bring them into the Kingdom of God. As a sign of conversion and denial of the old self as well as spiritual cleansing, the baptismal ceremony requires immersion into the water three times in the name of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This immersion, as explained by the Elders of the Church, is a symbolic parallel to Christ’s Death and Resurrection after reposing for three days in the tomb. We die to sin and are reborn to a new life in Christ.
The effects of this Sacrament are cleansing of both ancestral and personal sin. The formal officiator is the bishop or the priest.
In regards to the formal ceremony, there are some exceptions made in cases of emergency:
•    in case of near death, the child or adult can be baptized by a layman when a priest cannot be summoned in time;
•    Martyred Baptism: when a person displayed unshakeable faith and the desire for baptism had been made known beforehand, and had gone through a martyr's death, is considered baptized in its own blood.
•    Baptism of Desire: when a mother had the intention of baptizing her child but the child had died before anyone had a chance to perform the baptism.
The necessity of this sacrament was affirmed by our Lord Himself:

"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God" (John 3:5);

Who can be baptized? As the Lord commanded, we are called to salvation and therefore all of us need to open the door of Paradise through Baptism. In the early days of the Church, baptisms were frequent among adults coming from all sorts of pagan backgrounds; that is why they were required a period of preparation before being baptized which included catechism (learning about the Christian faith and lifestyle). Many times an entire household including relatives, children and servants were baptized. After centuries, adult conversion rates declined as baptisms of children born to Christian families rose.
Today, most of baptisms are done for babies (usually before they are one year old). Some raise objections to infant baptism, since toddlers are too young to consciously accept Baptism in Christ. That is why it was the practice in the early Church that an adult will adopt spiritually this child, as Godparent, and undertake the responsibility of raising the child in the Christian Faith with the cooperation of its biological parents.
Click here for the Service of Holy Baptism.