Baptism gives us what nothing else on earth can give us: It unites and combines with our natural Divine grace. Thus, a person comes away from the baptismal font like an article from some workshop. As an example, take a bell in which silver has been added to copper. A similar copper bell without silver may outwardly resemble the bell with silver, but their composition is different, their sound is different, and they are regarded differently with respect to quality and value. That is the difference between a person who has been baptized, and one who has not. The difference is that the grace of the Holy Spirit combines with the baptism, since the person receiving baptism is being baptized with water and, along with it, the Holy Spirit. By appearance, he is the same person as the unbaptized person, but in actual fact, in their composition, they are quite different.
Thus, during Holy Baptism, some new element, a supernatural one, is added to our composition, and it will remain inside us hidden and secretly acting. We receive baptism as children, and although we do not know what is happening within us, the grace nonetheless combines with us and then begins to act with us apart from our consciousness, according to the singular goodness of God, and for the sake of the faith of godparents and parents.
St. Theophan the Recluse
"The Spiritual Life"
Thus, during Holy Baptism, some new element, a supernatural one, is added to our composition, and it will remain inside us hidden and secretly acting. We receive baptism as children, and although we do not know what is happening within us, the grace nonetheless combines with us and then begins to act with us apart from our consciousness, according to the singular goodness of God, and for the sake of the faith of godparents and parents.
St. Theophan the Recluse
"The Spiritual Life"
