A new man was born! What could be more important than this event both for himself and for those who longed for his birth - the continuation of his kind? It seems that this is the main event in the life of each of us - birth. But history testifies that among all peoples belonging to the most different religions, the naming of the baby was considered no less, and often more important.
The name chosen for the newborn not only began his biography, but also “set” his future, his destiny, a specific goal, a specific program. To this day, many beliefs and superstitions are associated with this circumstance.
According to mythological concepts, the name is the essence of a person. In various parts of the world it is believed that if the sorcerer does not know someone's real name, then he will not be able to do any harm to him. In Russia, thanks to this belief, in some regions a kind of tradition has even developed: with one name the child was baptized, the other was called "in the world."
Another conviction is that one should not come up with a name for the newborn in advance: the baby may be born dead … It was not recommended to call girls by the name of their mother or maternal grandmother, otherwise the baby will often get sick. But the eldest son, named after his father, on the contrary, will be healthy and happy. Both in Russia and in England, there is still a common belief: babies are never given the name of a deceased relative - the child will either die at an early age, or will never marry (will not marry).
What was the attitude to the naming of the baby in pre-Christian Russia?
First of all, a ceremony close to baptism also existed. It was performed in temples, that is, in places specially designated for the worship of pagan idols. Secondly, the names themselves, the principle of their choice was very specific: every name given to the baby was certainly associated with the name of one of the gods who were worshiped in the area. For example, Yaroslav or Yaroslavna. Both of these names are derived from the word "Yarilo", that is, the sun, which our ancestors worshiped as the main god.
The connection of the name with higher powers secured for the newborn the right to special protection of God, gave the child additional strength and health, influenced his character, which means his fate.
Children, who received, in particular, their name from the sun, according to our ancestors, had to grow into people "furious": not angry, as we would think today, but possessing a powerful will, with great chances of power, they turned out to be beautiful warriors or mothers giving birth to warrior sons. No wonder Yaroslav - the name is primarily a princely!
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Similar principles for choosing names existed not only within Russia, but throughout the pagan world. Even now, in the tribes, for whatever reasons, remained outside the influence of civilization, they still operate.
Now, when we are trying to restore the traditions that were lost during the years of Soviet power, many parents again began to baptize their children, having previously undergone the baptism ceremony themselves.
There is no doubt that this procedure is strong and, what is especially important, immediately affects the condition of babies. Very often I hear that loud newborns become noticeably calmer after it, sleep better and get sick less. Today many people know about it.
It is generally accepted that the fate of a baptized person is distinguished by closeness to God, and therefore by stronger protection from adversity. He is not influenced, for example, by the zodiac sign, "bad" omens, he has much more chances to escape during natural disasters and wars …
Traditionally, Orthodox people look for a name for a child in the Holy Calendar, a collection of Christian names, depending on the date of birth of the baby. Because the names offered to parents to choose from are the names of saints and holy martyrs. Each of them has their own day of remembrance and remembrance at church services. According to tradition, the name of the saint is chosen whose memorial day is closest to the date of birth of the baby. But this rule has no strict prescription. If, for example, your daughter was born in September, then the closest saint to her is the Holy Martyr Raisa, but personally you would like to name the girl differently - good luck! Only the name must certainly be Christian - Ladas, Alla and other Oktyabrins are completely excluded.
But now the name has been chosen, and the priest begins the ceremony, by the way, the most inexpensive of all church services. Its price even in the central metropolitan churches does not exceed 5-6 USD. The prayers that are part of the rite of baptism have a dual purpose. A child is not only entrusted to God, receives protection in the person of a guardian angel and his saint, but also, thanks to special forbidding prayers, Satan and demons are forbidden to "enter him" for seven years, that is, to influence the consciousness and psyche of the baby. Until this period - seven years - a person born into the world is guarded by God and His angels in a special way. Even if, due to innate spiritual qualities that are inherited from parents, the baby is prone to bad deeds, his sins are not counted. And the forces of evil are not allowed, as already mentioned, even to tempt him. Responsibility for misdemeanors begins from the age of seven. A growing person acquires not only rights, but also obligations - in relation to the Creator, to the people around him and to himself. From how he behaves, how good or, on the contrary, evil, his fate will change.
Christianity is categorically against the attitude to fate as to some kind of "fate" from which "you cannot escape." According to the teaching of the Church, God really determines each person his future fate at birth, but He does not determine it unconditionally, but on the basis of foreseeing how a person will behave in the coming life - both earthly and eternal.
Suppose, over the years, someone has more and more clearly manifested a bad inclination, for example, to drinking. If a person himself realizes that the inclination is bad, and, most importantly, with all his soul wants to get rid of it and prays from God for this, help from above will surely come sooner or later. More precisely, not "late", but just in time, at the moment when the awareness of this vice reaches its fullness. But if at the same time the drinker blames everything on rock - I myself, they say, I understand that everything is terrible, but, you see, this is my fate - then there is no need to hope for God's help.
Thus, the baptized person becomes, in fact, one of the parties to the contract concluded between him and the Creator. Above, help is guaranteed in any, even the most difficult, situation, provided that the Commandments are observed (or at least the desire to comply with them), understanding which actions, thoughts and feelings correspond in yourself to these conditions, and which contradict.
At the same time, the person fully retains free will. Is it too difficult, sometimes completely impossible to live according to conscience? Well, complete freedom is given to act without orientation to the Commandments of Good. Moreover, God is never in a hurry with punishment, giving a person the opportunity to fully feel what values he is juggling with. What does he risk, what does he lose, what does he gain? After that, the choice is given at least one more time.
To make it clear what freedom and what choice are meant, I will tell you a story that happened last year in one of the central parishes of Moscow. The priest, who became one of the protagonists of this drama, called it bitterly a Russian poltergeist. We are talking about a very famous company, so I will change the name of the owner and his wife: let's call them Alexey and Valentina.
Both husband and wife were baptized as adults, succumbing, as they put it, to "fashion": in the early 90s, indeed, very many, including famous people, turned to the Church. True, not for everyone, unfortunately, this was a rather deeply thought-out step, not everyone understood that “playing” religion was life-threatening.
Soon after his baptism, Alexei started his own business. It spun up rather quickly, and he became a rich man. Later, he did not deny that the imminent wealth came largely thanks to his connections with criminal structures … In other words, it is ridiculous to talk about observance of the Commandments in this situation. All "higher matters" were forgotten firmly.
And then one day, when Aleksey and Valentina were peacefully sitting at supper, two shrill voices were heard from the next room - as if a drunken husband and wife were quarreling among themselves. Dumbfounded by surprise, the spouses after some time came to their senses and together rushed to see who it was who burst into them. And most importantly, how did the intruders manage to bypass the guards?
The room was empty … From that moment it began.
It became scary to be in the apartment: the invisible men became insolent to the point that they began to start their "scandals" even in public. Acquaintances poured into an "interesting" apartment. One of the employees of the company turned out to be bolder than the others, and at some point, despite the fact that the voices forbade everyone, including the owners, to enter "their" room, she nevertheless went there. Everything was quiet. Soon the woman returned with a mysterious smile. She said that she "agreed" with the spirits and now they will help the company …
It was from that moment on that rich clients and lucrative contracts poured into the firm, like peas from a leaky sack. However, it became completely impossible to live in a house with invisibles, who finally got loose and started throwing things at the owners, screaming at them almost round the clock. So it was decided to invite a priest to consecrate the apartment.
According to A.'s father, this was the first such case in his practice. When, after listening to this terrible story, he told the owners that their “guests” were ordinary demons, they were offended, began to argue, almost changed their minds about performing the rite of consecration. Nevertheless, after some hesitation, they agreed. In the next few hours, what was happening in the house resembled a living hell: every movement of the priest, every prayer caused a wild, already completely inhuman screeching now in the next room, now in the kitchen, now in the corridor. Finally, it was all over. The apartment has been consecrated, complete silence has reigned. It was never broken again.
Before leaving, the priest reminded the owners that they are baptized people, that this imposes certain responsibilities on them. He invited them to his temple for a conversation, offered to jointly analyze his life with him in order to get to the bottom of the reasons why God allowed such an open evil to take over their home. The owners promised, but they never showed up at the church.
As the priest Father A. said, to judge a situation, you need to know its finale. Know how it ended. Exactly one year after the consecration of the apartment, Alexei was shot dead in the entrance of his own house. His employee, who "negotiated" with the spirits, was soon involved in an accident in her new car and was killed. The wife ended up in a psychiatric hospital, and the company went bankrupt …
All of these events followed one after another with a difference of several weeks … Father A. said: “How long did God endure, for the sake of awakening conscience in these people, a miracle in their house - deliverance from demons … And even after that, he expected for a whole year that their souls will answer Him. A whole year was given to these people to come to their senses … Alas, greed for money and power won. After all, during all this time it did not even occur to them to look into the church for even a minute, even to light a candle as a sign of gratitude for getting rid of the horror … Why be surprised that everything was destroyed, including themselves, in a matter of months? If a person, baptized moreover, loses conscience and honor completely, completely surrenders to Evil, retribution is inevitable for him even here on earth …"
This is how important this rite is - baptism: not just a symbol of God's recognition of a person, but also a person's responsibility to the Creator for his actions, and inevitable retribution for a crime …
Olga VOLINA