His Holiness Pope Shenouda III speaks about the meaning of “the mysteries” in the Church as a “hidden grace not seen” given through the priesthood and the visible rite. He explains that every sacrament has an outward act (a material or rite) and an invisible spiritual grace that affects the believer’s soul.

Examples of the sacraments and the hidden grace

• The anointing (Chrism): the outward act is anointing with myron and prayer, and the hidden grace is the descent of the Holy Spirit making the anointed person a temple of the Spirit.

• The Eucharist: the sacramental elements are bread and wine, and the hidden grace transforms them into the Body and Blood of Christ by the prayers of the priest.

• Holy Orders: the outward acts are laying on of hands, the breathing (epiclesis) and prayers, and the hidden grace is the authority of loosing and binding to perform the church’s sacraments.

• Marriage: the union of the two with a spiritual bond not separated except in certain cases, and the bond is an invisible grace given by God through the priesthood.

Baptism and its spiritual fruits

Baptism grants many invisible graces: forgiveness of original sin and past sins before baptism, the death of the old man and the resurrection of a new man in the image of God, and a second birth by water and Spirit. In baptism the priest sanctifies the water by prayer and adds part of the myron so that it becomes water with the Spirit able to give the new birth. Baptism also clothes the believer with Christ and makes him a member of the Church.

Biblical proofs and reasons for infant baptism

He cites verses that link faith and baptism (Acts and other passages) and explains that Old Testament types (circumcision, Passover lamb, and crossing the Red Sea) symbolize baptism and justify baptizing children by the faith of their parents, because salvation and membership in God’s people were passed through parental faith in Scripture.

Coptic Orthodox spiritual-educational dimension

The talk emphasizes a traditional Coptic Orthodox understanding: the mysteries are not mere symbols but real means of God’s grace, and the Church preserves the rites and prayers necessary for the transmission of these graces. Emphasis on the simplicity of children’s faith and their need for the church’s graces and not to deprive them, while affirming that faith together with the liturgical act complement the sacrament of salvation.

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