Page "Ablution in Christianity" Paragraph 16

The newly-illumined ( newly-baptized person ) is brought back to the church by his Godparents for the ablutions.

The priest stands him in the center of the church, in front of the Holy Doors, facing east.

He loosens the belt of the baptismal robe and prays for him, that God may preserve the newly-illumined in purity and illumine him by grace.

He then dips a sponge in water and sprinkles him in the sign of the cross saying: " Thou art justified.

Thou art illumined.

Thou art sanctified.

Thou art washed: in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

" Then, as he says the next prayer, he washes each of the places where he had been anointed with Chrism.

Next he performs the Tonsure, symbolic of the life of self-sacrifice a Christian must lead.