Note 9 — Chapter XV · THE SIBERIAN CHURCH.

1, On the day of delivery the priest goes to the house, and prays for mother and child; 2, on the eighth day the child should be taken to church to receive its name; and 3, on the fortieth day it should be taken by the mother to be received into the Church, according to the service for the reception of catechumens. In the course of this service the priest breathes in the catechumen’s face, pronounces three exorcisms, calls upon the catechumen or his sponsor to blow and spit upon Satan, which he essays to do, not metaphorically, but visibly; after which follows, 4, the administration of baptism, when the candidate is first anointed with oil, then completely immersed three times, then clothed by the priest with a white garment, and a cross is suspended on the neck. Immediately after the baptism follows, 5, confirmation, or anointing of the baptized with chrism on the forehead, eyes, nostrils, mouth, ears, breast, hands, and feet, with the words repeated each time, “The seal of the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Prayers are offered, an Epistle and Gospel read, and the benediction pronounced. Eight days after, the candidate is brought again to the church for, 6, the ablution of the chrism. The priest looses the candidate’s clothes and girdle, and with a sponge washes the parts that have been anointed; after which follows the last part of the service, namely, 7, the tonsure, in which the priest cuts the hair of the newly baptized in the form of a cross, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.