Baptismal liturgy in light of Christus Victor

[Terry Cornett]

In commenting on why the Orthodox liturgy includes exorcisms as part of the preparation for baptism, Alexander Schmemann writes

"In the baptismal rite, which is an act of liberation and victory, the exorcisms come first because on our path to the baptismal font we unavoidably "hit" the dark and powerful figure that obstructs this path. It must be removed, chased away, if we are to proceed The moment that the celebrant's hand has touched the head of a child of God and marked it with the sign of Christ, the Devil is there defending that which he has stolen from God and claims as his possession. We may not see him but the Church knows he is here. We may experience nothing but a nice and warm family "affair," but the Church knows that a mortal fight is about to begin whose ultimate issue is not explanations and theories but eternal life or eternal death. For whether we want it or not, know it or not, we are all involved in a spiritual war that has been raging from the very beginning. A decisive victory, to be sure, as been won by God but the Devil has not yet surrendered. On the contrary, according to the Scripture, it is when mortally wounded and doomed that he stages the last and most powerful battle. He can do nothing against Christ, but he can do much against us. Exorcisms therefore are the beginning of the fight that constitutes the first and essential dimension of Christian life."
--Alexander Schmemann, Of Water and the Spirit: A Liturgical Study of Baptism, (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press), pp. 23-24.

I think many of us who have baptized new converts in the city are well aware of being in a situation where the congregants understood the battle that was coming better than the person being baptized. In the Orthodox liturgy the priest speaks to the devil and bans him from interfering with the new convert. (I am struck by the fact that Pentecostal traditions often include something like this as well). It think that there is great value in being proactive here since we know things that the new convert may not. All in all, this seems to be integrative of good Christus Victor theology.

[Don Davis]

Exorcisms therefore are the beginning of the fight that constitutes the first and essential dimension of Christian life."
--Alexander Schmemann, Of Water and the Spirit: A Liturgical Study of Baptism, (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press), pp. 23-24.

I think many of us who have baptized new converts in the city are well aware of being in a situation where the congregants understood the battle that was coming better than the person being baptized. In the Orthodox liturgy the priest speaks to the devil and bans him from interfering with the new convert. (I am struck by the fact that Pentecostal traditions often include something like this as well). It think that there is great value in being proactive here since we know things that the new convert may not. All in all, this seems to be integrative of good Christus Victor theology.

Your Schmemann quote (from which I included the final amazing sentence) underscores the basic perspective and worldview shared by the early Church, and those traditions today that embrace a Christus Victor sense of Christian place in the world. You are so right in suggesting that Pentecostal traditions (among others) affirm the nature of Christianity as a fissure, a split, a fight between the forces of evil in the world and the Kingdom of God as expressed in the communal life of the Church. To resuscitate this vision, as difficult as it may be in traditions that don't necessarily share the same fundamental assumptions of the Orthodox liturgical way, must be the heart and soul of all authentic pastoral care in the city.

The plain truth of the matter is that the nature of life in urban America and beyond is dramatically illuminated against the backdrop of our Lord as victor over the powers of evil. Perhaps no environment in America today so starkly reveals the devil's vicious oppression than urban poor communities. Whether we embrace the extreme and poignant expression of the "clean break" demanded by the Gospel in Orthodox liturgy--an exorcism on new converts!--we must say a hearty amen to their understanding of the fundamental nature of faith. Saving faith in Jesus Christ must never be understood as mere assent to ideas or ethical retooling; rather, it is a fundamental change of allegiance, of membership, of citizenry, of loyalty.

Your quote regarding this extreme act of the Orthodox liturgy, then, is a fine example of what it means to take the lordship of Jesus seriously in lived faith. Whether one may quibble about the act of exorcism itself, there can and must be no denial of the fight. To say yes to Jesus is to enlist in mortal combat with his foes. Their liturgical act simply affirms allegiance and the truth of that fact.